Use the CData JDBC Driver for HCL Domino in MicroStrategy Web

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with the CData JDBC Driver for HCL Domino, you gain database-like access to live HCL Domino data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding HCL Domino as an external data source in MicroStrategy Web and creating a simple visualization of HCL Domino data.

The CData JDBC driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live HCL Domino data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to HCL Domino, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to HCL Domino and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze HCL Domino data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to and Visualize HCL Domino Data using MicroStrategy Web

You can connect to HCL Domino in MicroStrategy Web by adding a data source based on the CData JDBC Driver for HCL Domino.^* Before you begin, you will need install the JDBC Driver for HCL Domino on the machine hosting the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that your instance of MicroStrategy Web is connected to. Once you have created a data source you can build dynamic visualizations of HCL Domino data in MicroStrategy Web.

1. Open MicroStrategy Web and select your project.
2. Click Add External Data, select Databases, and use Select Tables as the Import Option.
3. In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new Data Source.
4. Select Generic in the Database menu and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Click the link to show the connection string and opt to edit the connection string. In the Driver menu, select MicroStrategy Cassandra ODBC Driver (MicroStrategy requires a certified driver to interface through JDBC, the actual driver will not be used).
6. Set the connection string to the following: JDBC;MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER=PATH\TO\JAR\;DRIVER=cdata.jdbc.domino.DominoDriver;URL={jdbc:domino:Server=https://domino.corp.com;Database=names.nsf;Port=3002;SSLClientCertType=PEMKEY_FILE;SSLClientCert=full_path_of_certificate.pem;SSLServerCert=*};

   Prerequisites

   The connector requires the Proton component to be installed. Normally, Proton is distributed as part of the AppDev pack. See the HCL documentation for instructions on acquiring and installing Proton or the AppDev pack.

   Once the Proton service is installed and running, you will also need to create a user account and download its Internet certificate. This certificate can be used to set the connector certificate connection properties.

   Authenticating to Domino

   • Server: The name or IP address of the server running Domino with the Proton service.
   • Port: The port number that the Proton service is listening on.
   • Database: The name of the database file, including the .nsf extension.
   • SSLClientCertType: This must match the format of the certificate file. Typically this will be either PEMKEY_FILE for .pem certificates or PFXFILE for .pfx certificates.
   • SSLClientCert: The path to the certificate file.
   • SSLServerCert: This can be set to (*) if you trust the server. This is usually the case, but if you want to perform SSL validation, you may provide a certificate or thumbprint instead. See the documentation for SSLServerCert for details.

   Additional Server Configuration

   The connector supports querying Domino views if any are defined. Before views can be queried by the connector they must be registered with the design catalog.

   Please refer to the Catalog Administration section of the AppDev pack documentation for details on how to do this.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.domino.jar

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

   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.

7. Right-click on the new data source, and choose Edit catalog options.
8. Edit the SQL Statement to SELECT * FROM SYS_SCHEMAS to read the metadata from the JDBC Driver.
9. Select the new data source to view the available tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
10. Drag tables into the pane to import them. Note: Since we create a live connection, we can import whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products to customize our datasets.
11. Click Finish, choose to the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier. Live connections are possible and effective, thanks to high-performance data processing native to CData JDBC drivers.
12. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display and apply any filters to create a new visualization of HCL Domino data. Data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to HCL Domino, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the driver.
13. Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData JDBC Driver for HCL Domino in MicroStrategy Web, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on HCL Domino data. Read our other articles on connecting to HCL Domino in MicroStrategy and connecting to HCL Domino in MicroStrategy Desktop for more examples.

Note: Connecting using a JDBC Driver requires a 3- or 4-Tier Architecture.