Access Live AlloyDB Data in Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web)

Microsoft Excel for the web represents a cloud-native iteration of Microsoft Excel. When integrated with CData Connect Cloud, you gain immediate access to AlloyDB data directly from within Excel. This access facilitates data analysis, collaborative work, calculations, and more. This article provides a step-by-step guide on connecting to AlloyDB within your Connect Cloud instance and accessing live AlloyDB data in Excel for the web spreadsheets, whether for viewing or updating purposes.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for AlloyDB, allowing you to easily access live AlloyDB data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect Cloud Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to AlloyDB, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return AlloyDB data.

Configure AlloyDB Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to AlloyDB from Excel is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with AlloyDB data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a AlloyDB connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "AlloyDB" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to AlloyDB.

   The following connection properties are usually required in order to connect to AlloyDB.

   • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the AlloyDB database.
   • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
   • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.

   You can also optionally set the following:

   • Database: The database to connect to when connecting to the AlloyDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.
   • Port: The port of the server hosting the AlloyDB database. This property is set to 5432 by default.

   Authenticating with Standard Authentication

   Standard authentication (using the user/password combination supplied earlier) is the default form of authentication.

   No further action is required to leverage Standard Authentication to connect.

   Authenticating with pg_hba.conf Auth Schemes

   There are additional methods of authentication available which must be enabled in the pg_hba.conf file on the AlloyDB server.

   Find instructions about authentication setup on the AlloyDB Server here.

   Authenticating with MD5 Authentication

   This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to md5.

   Authenticating with SASL Authentication

   This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to scram-sha-256.

   Authenticating with Kerberos

   The authentication with Kerberos is initiated by AlloyDB Server when the ∏ is trying to connect to it. You should set up Kerberos on the AlloyDB Server to activate this authentication method. Once you have Kerberos authentication set up on the AlloyDB Server, see the Kerberos section of the help documentation for details on how to authenticate with Kerberos.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add AlloyDB Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to AlloyDB data from Excel for the web.

Access Live AlloyDB Data in Excel for the web

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Cloud from Excel to access live AlloyDB data.

1. Log into Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Office Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for CData Connect Cloud Add-In and install the Add-in.
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect Cloud Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud instance
6. In the CData Connect Cloud panel in Excel, click Import
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. AlloyDB1), Table (e.g. Orders), and Columns to import
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
9. Click Execute to import the data

Update AlloyDB Data from Excel

In addition to viewing AlloyDB data in Excel, CData Connect Cloud also lets you update and delete AlloyDB data. Begin by importing data (as described above).

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to AlloyDB (your changes will be in red)
2. In the CData Connect Cloud Add-In panel, select Update
3. Optionally highlight the cell(s) you wish to update and select an update option ("Update All" or "Update Selected")
4. Click Execute to push the updates to AlloyDB

A notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to AlloyDB Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live AlloyDB data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

Try CData Connect Cloud and get real-time data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.