Integrate Sybase Data in the Pentaho Report Designer

The CData JDBC driver for Sybase data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to Sybase data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on Sybase data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.

3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new Sybase connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

   • Custom Connection URL property: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:sybase: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     To connect to Sybase, specify the following connection properties:

     • Server: Set this to the name or network address of the Sybase database instance.
     • Database: Set this to the name of the Sybase database running on the specified Server.

     Optionally, you can also secure your connections with TLS/SSL by setting UseSSL to true.

     Sybase supports several methods for authentication including Password and Kerberos.

     Connect Using Password Authentication

     Set the AuthScheme to Password and set the following connection properties to use Sybase authentication.

     • User: Set this to the username of the authenticating Sybase user.
     • Password: Set this to the username of the authenticating Sybase user.

     Connect using LDAP Authentication

     To connect with LDAP authentication, configure Sybase server-side to use the LDAP authentication mechanism.

     After configuring Sybase for LDAP, you can connect using the same credentials as Password authentication.

     Connect Using Kerberos Authentication

     To leverage Kerberos authentication, begin by enabling it setting AuthScheme to Kerberos.

   See the Using Kerberos section in the Help documentation for more information on using Kerberos authentication.

   You can find an example connection string below:

   Server=MyServer;Port=MyPort;User=SampleUser;Password=SamplePassword;Database=MyDB;Kerberos=true;KerberosKDC=MyKDC;KerberosRealm=MYREALM.COM;KerberosSPN=server-name

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Sybase JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.sybase.jar
   

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

   Below is a typical JDBC URL:

   jdbc:sybase:User=myuser;Password=mypassword;Server=localhost;Database=mydatabase;Charset=iso_1;

4. Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.sybase.SybaseDriver.
5. User Name: The username to authenticate with.
6. Password: The password to authenticate with. 👁 Required connection properties defined in the JDBC URL. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Add Sybase Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with Sybase data.

1. Add the Sybase source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

   SELECT Id, ProductName FROM Products WHERE ProductName = Konbu

   👁 The query to retrieve data, specified in the JDBC data source configuration wizard. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the Products table.
4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.