Connect to Sybase Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for Sybase into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for Sybase to transfer Sybase data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to Sybase in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to Sybase:

1. Add a new database driver for Sybase: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL:

   jdbc:sybase:
   

4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.sybase.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class:

   cdata.jdbc.sybase.SybaseDriver
   

   👁 The JDBC driver configuration. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
6. Create a new Sybase connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the Sybase driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   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.)
   

   A typical connection string is below:

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

10. Enter your username and password if necessary. 👁 The connection to the JDBC data source. (Salesforce is shown.)
    

You can now use your Sybase connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve Sybase data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. 👁 A Retrieve operation to select data. (Salesforce is shown.)
With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the Sybase data.