Connect to Quickbase Data in as an External Source in Dremio

The CData JDBC Driver for Quickbase implements JDBC Standards and allows various applications, including Dremio, to work with live Quickbase data. Dremio is a data lakehouse platform designed to empower self-service, interactive analytics on the data lake. With the CData JDBC Driver, you can include live Quickbase data as a part of your enterprise data lake. This article describes how to connect to Quickbase data from Dremio as an External Source.

The CData JDBC Driver enables high-speed access to live Quickbase data in Dremio. Once you install the driver, authenticate with Quickbase and gain immediate access to Quickbase data within your data lake. By surfacing Quickbase data using native data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, the CData JDBC Driver grants seamless access to Quickbase data.

Build the ARP Connector

To use the CData JDBC Driver in Dremio, you need to build an Advanced Relation Pushdown (ARP) Connector. You can view the source code for the Connector on GitHub or download the ZIP file (GitHub.com) directly. Once you copy or extract the files, run the following command from the root directory of the connector (the directory containing the pom.xml file) to build the connector.

mvn clean install

Once the JAR file for the connector is built (in the target directory), you are ready to copy the ARP connector and JDBC Driver to your Dremio instance.

Installing the Connector and JDBC Driver

Install the ARP Connector to %DREMIO_HOME%/jars/ and the JDBC Driver for Quickbase to %DREMIO_HOME%/jars/3rdparty. You can use commands similar to the following:

ARP Connector

docker cp PATH\TO\dremio-quickbase-plugin-20.0.0.jar dremio_image_name:/opt/dremio/jars/

JDBC Driver for Quickbase

docker cp PATH\TO\cdata.jdbc.quickbase.jar dremio_image_name:/opt/dremio/jars/3rdparty/

Connecting to Quickbase

Quickbase will now appear as an External Source option in Dremio. The ARP Connector built uses a JDBC URL to connect to Quickbase data. The JDBC Driver has a built-in connection string designer that you can use (see below).

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.quickbase.jar

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

User Authentication Method

To authenticate with user credentials, specify the following connection properties:

1. Set the User and Password.
2. If your application requires an ApplicationToken;, you must provide it otherwise an error will be thrown. You can find the ApplicationToken under SpecificApp > Settings > App management > App properties > Advanced settings > Security options > Manage Application Token.

User Token Authentication

To authenticate with a user token, specify the following connection properties:

1. Set UserToken and you are ready to connect. You can find the UserToken under Quick Base > My Preferences > My User Information > Manage User Tokens.

NOTE: To use the JDBC Driver in Dremio, you will need a license (full or trial) and a Runtime Key (RTK). For more information on obtaining this license (or a trial), contact our sales team.

Add the Runtime Key (RTK) to the JDBC URL. You will end up with a JDBC URL similar to the following:

jdbc:quickbase:RTK=5246...;User=user@domain.com;Password=password;Domain=myinstance.quickbase.com;ApplicationToken=bwkxrb5da2wn57bzfh9xn24

Access Quickbase as an External Source

To add Quickbase as an External Source, click to add a new source and select QuickBase. Copy the JDBC URL and paste it into the New QuickBase Source wizard.

Save the connection and you are ready to query live Quickbase data in Dremio, easily incorporating Quickbase data into your data lake.

More Information & Free Trial

Using the CData JDBC Driver for Quickbase in Dremio, you can incorporate live Quickbase data into your data lake. Check out our CData JDBC Driver for Quickbase page for more information about connecting to Quickbase. Download a free, 30 day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Quickbase and get started today.