Access Live SQL Analysis Services Data in Coginiti Pro

Coginiti Pro is a single tool for all your SQL data and analytics needs, designed specifically for data engineers, analysts, and data scientists. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services, Coginiti Pro can access and query live SQL Analysis Services data. This article describes how to connect to and query SQL Analysis Services data from Coginiti Pro.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SQL Analysis Services data. When you issue complex SQL queries to SQL Analysis Services, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SQL Analysis Services and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). In addition, its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze SQL Analysis Services data using native data types.

Gather Connection Properties and Build a Connection String

Download the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services installer, unzip the package, and run the JAR file to install the driver. Then gather the required connection properties.

To connect, provide authentication and set the Url property to a valid SQL Server Analysis Services endpoint. You can connect to SQL Server Analysis Services instances hosted over HTTP with XMLA access. See the Microsoft documentation to configure HTTP access to SQL Server Analysis Services.

To secure connections and authenticate, set the corresponding connection properties, below. The data provider supports the major authentication schemes, including HTTP and Windows, as well as SSL/TLS.

• HTTP Authentication

  Set AuthScheme to "Basic" or "Digest" and set User and Password. Specify other authentication values in CustomHeaders.

• Windows (NTLM)

  Set the Windows User and Password and set AuthScheme to "NTLM".

• Kerberos and Kerberos Delegation

  To authenticate with Kerberos, set AuthScheme to NEGOTIATE. To use Kerberos delegation, set AuthScheme to KERBEROSDELEGATION. If needed, provide the User, Password, and KerberosSPN. By default, the data provider attempts to communicate with the SPN at the specified Url.

• SSL/TLS:

  By default, the data provider attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store. To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats.

You can then access any cube as a relational table: When you connect the data provider retrieves SSAS metadata and dynamically updates the table schemas. Instead of retrieving metadata every connection, you can set the CacheLocation property to automatically cache to a simple file-based store.

See the Getting Started section of the CData documentation, under Retrieving Analysis Services Data, to execute SQL-92 queries to the cubes.

NOTE: To use the JDBC driver in Coginiti Pro, you may need a license (full or trial) and a Runtime Key (RTK). For more information on obtaining this license (or a trial), contact our sales team.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the SQL Analysis Services JDBC Driver. Double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.ssas.jar

Fill in the connection properties (including the RTK) and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

Create a JDBC Data Source for SQL Analysis Services Data

1. Open Coginiti Pro and in the File menu, select "Edit Drivers."
2. In the newly opened wizard, click "Add" and select "Generic." 👁 Adding a Generic JDBC Driver.
   

3. In the "JDBC Drivers" wizard, set the driver properties (below) and click "Create Driver."

   • Set JDBC Driver Name to a useful name, like CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services.
   • Click "Add Files" to add the JAR file from the "lib" folder in the installation directory (e.g. cdata.jdbc.ssas.jar)
   • Select the Class Name: cdata.jdbc.ssas.SSASDriver.
   👁 Creating a new Generic data source (Salesforce is shown).
   

Create a Connection using the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services

1. In the File menu, click "Edit Connections."
2. In the newly opened wizard, click "Add" and select "Generic." 👁 Adding a Generic JDBC Connection.
   
3. In the "Connections" wizard, set the connection properties.
   • Set Connection name to an identifying name.
   • Set Database JDBC driver to the Driver you configured earlier.
   • Set JDBC URL to the JDBC URL configured using the built-in connection string designer (e.g. jdbc:ssas:User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;URL=http://localhost/OLAP/msmdpump.dll;
   👁 Creating a connection (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Click "Test" to ensure the connection is configured properly. Click "Save."

Query SQL Analysis Services Using SQL

1. Open the Connections tab by clicking on database icon: .
2. Click the plus sign () to add a new query tab.

3. Once the query console is open, write the SQL script you wish to execute and click "Run at Cursor".

   NOTE: You can use the explorer on the left to determine table/view names and column names.

   Using the explorer

   1. In the "Select connection" field, select the connection you wish to query.
   2. Expand your newly created connection, expand the "CData" catalog, and expand the SQL Analysis Services catalog.
   3. Expand "Tables" or "Views" to find the entity you wish to query.
   4. Expand your selected entity to explore the fields (columns).
   👁 Querying data (Salesforce is shown).
   

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services and start working with your live SQL Analysis Services data in Coginiti Pro. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.