How to integrate Metabase with Adobe Experience Manager Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect AI, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live Adobe Experience Manager data. This article describes how to connect to Adobe Experience Manager and build a simple visualization using Adobe Experience Manager data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Adobe Experience Manager, allowing you to easily integrate with live Adobe Experience Manager data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Adobe Experience Manager, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Adobe Experience Manager data.

Configure Adobe Experience Manager Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Adobe Experience Manager from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Adobe Experience Manager data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Adobe Experience Manager connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Adobe Experience Manager" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Adobe Experience Manager.

   The driver connects to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) instances that expose the JCR repository over WebDAV. It supports both on-premises AEM and AEM as a Cloud Service deployments.

   To establish a connection, set the following properties:

   • URL: The WebDAV-enabled JCR server URL.
     • AEM as a Cloud Service: https://author-pXXXXX-eXXXXX.adobeaemcloud.com/crx/server
     • Local development: http://localhost:4502/crx/server
   • User: Your AEM username.
   • Password: Your AEM password.

   Note: Tables are dynamically generated based on the JCR repository structure. Ensure that the configured user has sufficient permissions to access the required content paths in the AEM repository.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Adobe Experience Manager Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the 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.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Adobe Experience Manager data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Adobe Experience Manager (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. AdobeExperienceManager1)
   • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT previously created
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
   

Execute Adobe Experience Manager Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query Adobe Experience Manager and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Adobe Experience Manager data
2. Write a SQL query based on the Adobe Experience Manager connection in CData Connect AI, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT Id, Name FROM Content WHERE Name = 'example'

   
3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from Adobe Experience Manager data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Adobe Experience Manager data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Adobe Experience Manager (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Adobe Experience Manager data in Metabase today.