Tableau Cloud is an analytics platform fully hosted in the cloud. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Snowflake data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Snowflake and build visualizations from Snowflake data in Tableau Cloud.
CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Snowflake, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live Snowflake data in Tableau Cloud without installing connectors or publishing worksheets and data sources from Tableau Desktop. As you build visualizations, Tableau Cloud generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Snowflake, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Snowflake data.
About Snowflake Data Integration
CData simplifies access and integration of live Snowflake data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:
- Reads and write Snowflake data quickly and efficiently.
- Dynamically obtain metadata for the specified Warehouse, Database, and Schema.
- Authenticate in a variety of ways, including OAuth, OKTA, Azure AD, Azure Managed Service Identity, PingFederate, private key, and more.
Many CData users use CData solutions to access Snowflake from their preferred tools and applications, and replicate data from their disparate systems into Snowflake for comprehensive warehousing and analytics.
For more information on integrating Snowflake with CData solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/snowflake-integrations.
Getting Started
Configure Snowflake Connectivity for Tableau Cloud
To work with Snowflake data from Tableau Cloud, we need to connect to Snowflake from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the Snowflake data.
Connect to Snowflake from Connect AI
CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
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Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "Snowflake" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Snowflake.
To connect to Snowflake:
- Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
- Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
- Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
- (Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
- (Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.
- (Optional) If MFA is enabled on your Snowflake account (via Duo Security), set MFACode to the passcode generated by your Duo authenticator app.
See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.
👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
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Click Save & Test
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Snowflake Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
👁 Updating permissions
Add a Personal Access Token
When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.
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Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
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On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
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The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
Configure Snowflake Endpoints for Tableau Cloud
After connecting to Snowflake, create a workspace for your desired table(s).
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Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
👁 The Workspaces page.
👁 Adding a new Workspace.
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Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
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Select the Snowflake connection (e.g. Snowflake1) and click Next.
👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
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Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
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Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Snowflake data from Tableau Cloud.
Visualize Live Snowflake Data in Tableau Cloud
The steps below outline creating a new data source in Tableau Cloud based on the virtual Snowflake database in Connect AI and building a simple visualization from the data.
- Log into Tableau Cloud, select a account, and create a new workbook.
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In the new workbook, choose the OData Connector from the data wizard and fill in the values for your Connect AI instance.
👁 Selecting OData connector in Tableau Cloud
- Set Server to the OData URL for your Workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
- Set Authentication to Username and Password
- Set Username to your Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
- Set Password to a PAT for the above user
👁 Connect to Connect AI from Tableau Cloud
- Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINad tables as needed).
👁 Choosing a Database and Tables
- Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.
👁 Visualizing Snowflake data in Tableau Cloud
Real-Time Access to Snowflake Data from Cloud Applications
At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Snowflake data from your Tableau Cloud workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more, with no need to publish data sources and workbooks from Tableau Desktop. For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from cloud applications like Tableau Cloud, refer to our Connect AI page.
