Query Amazon Athena Data in MySQL Workbench

MySQL Workbench allows users to administer MySQL environments and gain better visibility into databases. When paired with CData Connect (on-premise or Connect Server), you get live access to Amazon Athena data as if it were a MySQL database. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Amazon Athena in Connect and work with live Amazon Athena data in MySQL Workbench.

Create a Virtual MySQL Database for Amazon Athena Data

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

1. Login to Connect and click Connections.
2. Select "Amazon Athena" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Amazon Athena.

   Authenticating to Amazon Athena

   To authorize Amazon Athena 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: Though you can connect as the AWS account administrator, it is recommended to use IAM user credentials to access AWS services.

   Obtaining the Access Key

   To obtain the credentials for an IAM user, follow the steps below:

   1. Sign into the IAM console.
   2. In the navigation pane, select Users.
   3. To create or manage the access keys for a user, select the user and then select the Security Credentials tab.

   To obtain the credentials for your AWS root account, follow the steps below:

   1. Sign into the AWS Management console with the credentials for your root account.
   2. Select your account name or number and select My Security Credentials in the menu that is displayed.
   3. Click Continue to Security Credentials and expand the Access Keys section to manage or create root account access keys.

   Authenticating from an EC2 Instance

   If you are using the CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 from an EC2 Instance and have an IAM Role assigned to the instance, you can use the IAM Role to authenticate. To do so, set UseEC2Roles to true and leave AccessKey and SecretKey empty. The CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 will automatically obtain your IAM Role credentials and authenticate with them.

   Authenticating as an AWS Role

   In many situations it may be preferable to use an IAM role for authentication instead of the direct security credentials of an AWS root user. An AWS role may be used instead by specifying the RoleARN. This will cause the CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 to attempt to retrieve credentials for the specified role. If you are connecting to AWS (instead of already being connected such as on an EC2 instance), you must additionally specify the AccessKey and SecretKey of an IAM user to assume the role for. Roles may not be used when specifying the AccessKey and SecretKey of an AWS root user.

   Authenticating with MFA

   For users and roles that require Multi-factor Authentication, specify the MFASerialNumber and MFAToken connection properties. This will cause the CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 to submit the MFA credentials in a request to retrieve temporary authentication credentials. Note that the duration of the temporary credentials may be controlled via the TemporaryTokenDuration (default 3600 seconds).

   Connecting to Amazon Athena

   In addition to the AccessKey and SecretKey properties, specify Database, S3StagingDirectory and Region. Set Region to the region where your Amazon Athena data is hosted. Set S3StagingDirectory to a folder in S3 where you would like to store the results of queries.

   If Database is not set in the connection, the data provider connects to the default database set in Amazon Athena.

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Amazon Athena from MySQL Workbench.

Query Amazon Athena from MySQL Workbench

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual Amazon Athena database in Connect from MySQL Workbench and issuing basic queries to work with live Amazon Athena data.

Connect to Amazon Athena through Connect

1. In MySQL Workbench, click to add a new MySQL connection.
2. Name the connection (CData Connect).
3. Set the Hostname, Port, and Username parameters to connect to the SQL Gateway.
4. Click Store in Vault to set and store the password.
5. Click Test Connection to ensure the connection is configured properly and click OK.

Query Amazon Athena Data

1. Open the connection you just created (CData Connect).
2. Click File -> New Query Tab.
3. Write a SQL query to retrieve Amazon Athena data, like SELECT * FROM athenadb.Customers;

With access to live Amazon Athena data from MySQL Workbench, you can easily query and update Amazon Athena, just like you would a MySQL database. Request a demo of the CData Connect and start working with Amazon Athena just like a MySQL database today.