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Azure Data Lake Storage Icon Azure Data Lake Storage ODBC Driver

The Azure Data Lake Storage ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Azure Data Lake Storage, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Azure Data Lake Storage data like you would a database - read, write, and update Azure Data Lake Storage ADLSData, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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Use the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage in MicroStrategy Desktop


Connect to Azure Data Lake Storage data in MicroStrategy Desktop using the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage.

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage, you gain database-like access to live Azure Data Lake Storage data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Azure Data Lake Storage as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Azure Data Lake Storage data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Azure Data Lake Storage data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Azure Data Lake Storage, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Azure Data Lake Storage and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Azure Data Lake Storage data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Azure Data Lake Storage as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Authenticating to a Gen 1 DataLakeStore Account

Gen 1 uses OAuth 2.0 in Azure AD for authentication.

For this, an Active Directory web application is required. You can create one as follows:

  1. Sign in to your Azure Account through the .
  2. Select "Azure Active Directory".
  3. Select "App registrations".
  4. Select "New application registration".
  5. Provide a name and URL for the application. Select Web app for the type of application you want to create.
  6. Select "Required permissions" and change the required permissions for this app. At a minimum, "Azure Data Lake" and "Windows Azure Service Management API" are required.
  7. Select "Key" and generate a new key. Add a description, a duration, and take note of the generated key. You won't be able to see it again.

To authenticate against a Gen 1 DataLakeStore account, the following properties are required:

  • Schema: Set this to ADLSGen1.
  • Account: Set this to the name of the account.
  • OAuthClientId: Set this to the application Id of the app you created.
  • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the key generated for the app you created.
  • TenantId: Set this to the tenant Id. See the property for more information on how to acquire this.
  • Directory: Set this to the path which will be used to store the replicated file. If not specified, the root directory will be used.

Authenticating to a Gen 2 DataLakeStore Account

To authenticate against a Gen 2 DataLakeStore account, the following properties are required:

  • Schema: Set this to ADLSGen2.
  • Account: Set this to the name of the account.
  • FileSystem: Set this to the file system which will be used for this account.
  • AccessKey: Set this to the access key which will be used to authenticate the calls to the API. See the property for more information on how to acquire this.
  • Directory: Set this to the path which will be used to store the replicated file. If not specified, the root directory will be used.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData ADLS Sys] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage Description = My Description Schema = ADLSGen2 Account = myAccount FileSystem = myFileSystem AccessKey = myAccessKey

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Azure Data Lake Storage Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Azure Data Lake Storage in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Azure Data Lake Storage in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Azure Data Lake Storage data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Azure Data Lake Storage data.

  1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
  2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
  3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
  4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData ADLS Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
  5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
  6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
  7. Create a SQL query for the Azure Data Lake Storage data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query. SELECT * FROM Resources NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
  8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
  9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Azure Data Lake Storage data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Azure Data Lake Storage, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver.
  10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Azure Data Lake Storage data. Read our other articles on connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage in MicroStrategy and connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.