Process & Analyze BugHerd Data in Databricks (AWS)

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData, AWS, and Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live BugHerd Data.

Databricks is a cloud-based service that provides data processing capabilities through Apache Spark. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver, customers can use Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live BugHerd data. This article explains how to host the CData JDBC Driver in AWS, as well as connect to and process live BugHerd data in Databricks.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live BugHerd data. When you issue complex SQL queries to BugHerd, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to BugHerd and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze BugHerd data using native data types.

Install the CData JDBC Driver in Databricks

To work with live BugHerd data in Databricks, install the driver on your Databricks cluster.

  1. Navigate to your Databricks administration screen and select the target cluster.
  2. On the Libraries tab, click "Install New."
  3. Select "Upload" as the Library Source and "Jar" as the Library Type.
  4. Upload the JDBC JAR file (cdata.jdbc.api.jar) from the installation location (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData API Driver for JDBC\lib).
Loading the JDBC JAR File into AWS

Access BugHerd Data in your Notebook: Python

With the JAR file installed, we are ready to work with live BugHerd data in Databricks. Start by creating a new notebook in your workspace. Name the notebook, select Python as the language (though Scala is available as well), and choose the cluster where you installed the JDBC driver. When the notebook launches, we can configure the connection, query BugHerd, and create a basic report.

Configure the Connection to BugHerd

Connect to BugHerd by referencing the JDBC Driver class and constructing a connection string to use in the JDBC URL. Additionally, you will need to set the RTK property in the JDBC URL (unless you are using a Beta driver). You can view the licensing file included in the installation for information on how to set this property.

Step 1: Connection Information

driver = "cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver"
url = "jdbc:api:RTK=5246...;Profile=C:\profiles\BugHerd.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';"

Built-in Connection String Designer

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


java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

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

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the BugHerd Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\BugHerd.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for BugHerd (see below).

BugHerd API Profile Settings

BugHerd uses HTTP Basic authentication with an API key as the username. To obtain an API key:

  1. Sign in to your BugHerd account at https://www.bugherd.com
  2. Navigate to Settings > General Settings
  3. Locate the API Key section and copy the generated key

After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.

Set the following in the ProfileSettings connection property:

  • APIKey: Set this to your BugHerd API key. The driver uses the key as the Basic auth username and sets the password internally to the literal value 'x' as required by BugHerd.
Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)

Load BugHerd Data

Once you configure the connection, you can load BugHerd data as a dataframe using the CData JDBC Driver and the connection information.

Step 2: Reading the data

remote_table = spark.read.format ( "jdbc" ) \
	.option ( "driver" , driver) \
	.option ( "url" , url) \
	.option ( "dbtable" , "Tasks") \
	.load ()

Display BugHerd Data

Check the loaded BugHerd data by calling the display function.

Step 3: Checking the result

display (remote_table.select ("Id"))
Displaying BugHerd Data

Analyze BugHerd Data in Databricks

If you want to process data with Databricks SparkSQL, register the loaded data as a Temp View.

Step 4: Create a view or table

remote_table.createOrReplaceTempView ( "SAMPLE_VIEW" )

With the Temp View created, you can use SparkSQL to retrieve the BugHerd data for reporting, visualization, and analysis.

% sql

SELECT Id, Title FROM SAMPLE_VIEW ORDER BY Title DESC LIMIT 5
Displaying BugHerd Data

The data from BugHerd is only available in the target notebook. If you want to use it with other users, save it as a table.

remote_table.write.format ( "parquet" ) .saveAsTable ( "SAMPLE_TABLE" )

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for JDBC and start working with your live BugHerd data in Databricks. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from BugHerd with the API Driver

Connect to BugHerd