Import Real-Time Splunk Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist

Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Splunk data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Splunk, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Splunk data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Splunk data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for Splunk and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (Data Source Name). This is the last step of the driver installation process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To authenticate requests, set the , , and properties to valid Splunk credentials. The port on which the requests are made to Splunk is port 8089.

The data provider uses plain-text authentication by default, since the data provider attempts to negotiate TLS/SSL with the server.

If you need to manually configure TLS/SSL, see Getting Started -> Advanced Settings in the data provider help documentation.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Splunk Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Splunk Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration. 👁 Populating driver properties
Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataSplunkODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection

Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

The following code queries the data source:

 
 <cfquery name="SplunkQuery" dataSource="CDataSplunkODBC"> 
 SELECT * FROM DataModels 
 </cfquery>

And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

 
 <cftable 
 query = "SplunkQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Name"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Owner</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Owner"/> 

 ...

 </cftable>

Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

 
 <html> 
 <head><title>CData Software | Splunk DataModels Table Demo </title></head> 
 <body> 
 <cfoutput>#ucase("Splunk DataModels Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
 <cfquery name="SplunkQuery" dataSource="CDataSplunkODBC"> 

 SELECT * FROM DataModels 

 </cfquery> 
 <cftable 
 query = "SplunkQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 
 <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Name"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Owner</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Owner"/> 

 ...

 </cftable> 
 </body> 

 </html>

Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Splunk data! 👁 Running the code

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example:

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Splunk and start building Splunk-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Splunk ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

👁 Splunk Icon
Splunk ODBC Driver

The Splunk ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Splunk, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Splunk like you would a database - read, write, and update Datamodels, Datasets, SearchJobs, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/splunk-odbc-coldfusion.rst