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Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to live Cloudant data and create an interactive dashboard in Metabase from Cloudant 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 Cloudant data. This article describes how to connect to Cloudant and build a simple visualization using Cloudant data.
CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Cloudant, allowing you to easily integrate with live Cloudant 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 Cloudant, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Cloudant data.
Configure Cloudant Connectivity for Metabase
Connectivity to Cloudant from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Cloudant data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Cloudant connection.
- Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
- Select "Cloudant" from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Cloudant.
Set the following connection properties to connect to Cloudant:
- User: Set this to your username.
- Password: Set this to your password.
- Click Create & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Cloudant 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.
- Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
- On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
- Give your PAT a name and click Create.
- 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 Cloudant 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.
- Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
- Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
- Database type: Select "SQL Server"
- Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Cloudant (Connect Cloud)")
- Host: tds.cdata.com
- Port: 14333
- Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. Cloudant1)
- 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 Cloudant Data with Metabase
Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query Cloudant and build visualizations.
- Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Cloudant data
- Write a SQL query based on the Cloudant connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
SELECT MovieRuntime, MovieRating FROM Movies
- 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 Cloudant data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Cloudant data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Cloudant (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Cloudant data in Metabase today.