How to integrate Metabase with Amazon S3 Data



Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to live Amazon S3 data and create an interactive dashboard in Metabase from Amazon S3 data.

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live Amazon S3 data. This article describes how to connect to Amazon S3 and build a simple visualization using Amazon S3 data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Amazon S3, allowing you to easily integrate with live Amazon S3 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 Amazon S3, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Amazon S3 data.

Configure Amazon S3 Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Amazon S3 from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Amazon S3 data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Amazon S3 connection.

  1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
  2. Select "Amazon S3" from the Add Connection panel
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Amazon S3.

    To authorize Amazon S3 requests, provide the credentials for an administrator account or for an IAM user with custom permissions. Set AccessKey to the access key Id. Set SecretKey to the secret access key.

    Note: You can connect as the AWS account administrator, but it is recommended to use IAM user credentials to access AWS services.

    For information on obtaining the credentials and other authentication methods, refer to the Getting Started section of the Help documentation.

  4. Click Create & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Amazon S3 Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

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.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Amazon S3 data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

  1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
  2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
    • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
    • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Amazon S3 (Connect Cloud)")
    • Host: tds.cdata.com
    • Port: 14333
    • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. AmazonS31)
    • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. [email protected])
    • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
    • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute Amazon S3 Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query Amazon S3 and build visualizations.

  1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Amazon S3 data
  2. Write a SQL query based on the Amazon S3 connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.

    SELECT Name, OwnerId FROM ObjectsACL WHERE Name = 'TestBucket'
  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 Amazon S3 data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Amazon S3 data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Amazon S3 (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Amazon S3 data in Metabase today.

Ready to get started?

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

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