Discover how a bimodal integration strategy can address the major data management challenges facing your organization today.
Get the Report →Analyze Databricks Data in SAP Analytics Cloud
Use CData Connect Cloud to create an OData API on top of Databricks data and visualize Databricks data in SAP Analytics Cloud.
SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based business intelligence platform. CData Connect Cloud creates a pure, cloud-to-cloud connection to Databricks and can be used to generate an OData API (natively supported in Analytics Cloud) for Databricks. By pairing SAP Analytics Cloud with CData Connect Cloud, you get true cloud-to-cloud connectivity to all of your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources — no need to migrate your data or write your integrations. Simply connect to Connect Cloud as you would any other OData service and get instant, consolidated access to all of your data.
In this article, we walk through connecting to Databricks from SAP Analytics Cloud (through CData Connect Cloud) to create a model and build a simple dashboard.
About Databricks Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Databricks has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access all versions of Databricks from Runtime Versions 9.1 - 13.X to both the Pro and Classic Databricks SQL versions.
- Leave Databricks in their preferred environment thanks to compatibility with any hosting solution.
- Secure authenticate in a variety of ways, including personal access token, Azure Service Principal, and Azure AD.
- Upload data to Databricks using Databricks File System, Azure Blog Storage, and AWS S3 Storage.
While many customers are using CData's solutions to migrate data from different systems into their Databricks data lakehouse, several customers use our live connectivity solutions to federate connectivity between their databases and Databricks. These customers are using SQL Server Linked Servers or Polybase to get live access to Databricks from within their existing RDBMs.
Read more about common Databricks use-cases and how CData's solutions help solve data problems in our blog: What is Databricks Used For? 6 Use Cases.
Getting Started
Connect to Databricks from SAP Analytics Cloud
To work with live Databricks data in SAP Analytics Cloud, we need to connect to Databricks from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Databricks data.
(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User
As needed, create Users to connect to Databricks through Connect Cloud.
- Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
- Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
- You can review and edit users from the Users page
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.
Connect to Databricks from Connect Cloud
CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
- Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
- Select "Databricks" from the Add Connection panel
-
Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Databricks.
To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.
Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, and selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.
- Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
- HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
- Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
- Click Create & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Databricks Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
Configure Databricks Endpoints for SAP Analytics Cloud
After connecting to Databricks, create a workspace and virtual dataset for your desired table(s).
- Navigate to the Virtual Datasets page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
- Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
- Select the Databricks connection (e.g. Databricks1) and click Next.
- Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
- Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
With the connection and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Databricks data from SAP Analytics Cloud.
Create a Model of Databricks Data in SAP Analytics Cloud
With the connection to Databricks configured and the OData endpoint(s) created, we can create a Model for Databricks data in SAP Analytics Cloud.
- Log into your Analytics Cloud instance and click Create -> Model from the menu.
- Choose "Get data from a datasource" and select "OData Services"
- Choose an existing connection to your Connect Cloud OData or Create a new one:
- Set Connection Name
- Set Data Service URL to the Base URL for your OData API: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
- Set Authentication Type to Basic Authentication
- Set User Name to the Connect Cloud user (e.g. [email protected])
- Set Password to the PAT for the above user
- Choose "Create a new query" and click Next
- Name the Execute, select an OData endpoint (like Customers) and click Next
- Drag the columns you wish to work with into the Selected Data workspace and click Create
- At this point, a Draft Data source is created; click the draft to finalize the model
- Perform any transformations, including creating calculated dimensions, location dimensions, and combining data sources, then click Create Model
- Name your model and click OK
Build a Dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud
With the model created, you are ready to create a dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud based on Databricks data.
- From the menu, click Create -> Story
- Click on SAP Analytics Template (this article uses the "Dashboard" template)
- Choose a layout and click Apply
- From the More menu, select a visualization to insert (Chart)
- Select a model to visualize
- Select a structure and the required Measures and Dimensions
- Save the store
More Information & Free Trial
Now, you have created a simple but powerful dashboard from live Databricks data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Databricks (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Databricks data in SAP Analytics Cloud.