Use CData Connect Cloud to Access Elasticsearch Data in Microsoft Power Pivot



Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to live Elasticsearch data in the Power Pivot business intelligence tool.

This article will explain how to use CData Connect Cloud to present Elasticsearch data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's Power Pivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve and edit Elasticsearch data in Power Pivot.

About Elasticsearch Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Elasticsearch has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access both the SQL endpoints and REST endpoints, optimizing connectivity and offering more options when it comes to reading and writing Elasticsearch data.
  • Connect to virtually every Elasticsearch instance starting with v2.2 and Open Source Elasticsearch subscriptions.
  • Always receive a relevance score for the query results without explicitly requiring the SCORE() function, simplifying access from 3rd party tools and easily seeing how the query results rank in text relevance.
  • Search through multiple indices, relying on Elasticsearch to manage and process the query and results instead of the client machine.

Users frequently integrate Elasticsearch data with analytics tools such as Crystal Reports, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to enable a single, federated access layer to all of their data sources, including Elasticsearch.

For more information on CData's Elasticsearch solutions, check out our Knowledge Base article: CData Elasticsearch Driver Features & Differentiators.


Getting Started


Connect to Elasticsearch from Power Pivot

To work with Elasticsearch data from Power Pivot, we need to connect to Elasticsearch from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Elasticsearch data.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Elasticsearch through Connect Cloud.

  1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
  2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
  3. You can review and edit users from the Users page

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
  2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Connect to Elasticsearch from Connect Cloud

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

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

    Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect. To authenticate, set the User and Password properties, PKI (public key infrastructure) properties, or both. To use PKI, set the SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword properties.

    The data provider uses X-Pack Security for TLS/SSL and authentication. To connect over TLS/SSL, prefix the Server value with 'https://'. Note: TLS/SSL and client authentication must be enabled on X-Pack to use PKI.

    Once the data provider is connected, X-Pack will then perform user authentication and grant role permissions based on the realms you have configured.

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

Configure Elasticsearch Endpoints for Power Pivot

After connecting to Elasticsearch, create a workspace and virtual dataset for your desired table(s).

  1. Navigate to the Virtual Datasets page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
  2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
  3. Select the Elasticsearch connection (e.g. Elasticsearch1) and click Next.
  4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
  5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Elasticsearch data from Power Pivot.

Import Elasticsearch Tables in Power Pivot

Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:

  1. In Excel, click Data -> Get Data -> From Other Sources -> From OData Feed
  2. Fill out the OData feed URL (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name})
  3. On the next screen, select Basic and configure the username and password. Password will be your PAT.
  4. Select the tables that you would like to import into Excel

  5. After selecting your table(s) and clicking Load, you should see the data appear in an Excel spreadsheet

  6. Now, click the Power Pivot tab on the ribbon, and then select Add to Data Model. This can now work with your Elasticsearch data in Power Pivot.

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your Elasticsearch data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Power Pivot, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Cloud today! For more information on Connect Cloud and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect Cloud page.

Ready to get started?

Learn more about CData Connect Cloud or sign up for free trial access:

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