Create Databricks Dashboards in Bold BI

Bold BI allows you to create, share, and collaborate on interactive BI dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Databricks data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Databricks and build reports from Databricks data in Bold BI.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Databricks, allowing you to easily build reports from live Databricks data in Bold BI — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Bold BI generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Databricks, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Databricks data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Databricks Data

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

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Databricks" from Available Data Sources.
3. 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).
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 Databricks data from Bold BI.

Visualize Live Databricks Data in Bold BI

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from Bold BI to create a new Databricks data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into your Bold BI instance, click the data sources tab, create a new data source, and choose the SQL Server connector.
2. Choose the basic configuration and set the connection properties:
   • Name: Name your connection
   • Server name: Your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
   • Port: 1433
   • Username: Your Connect Server username
   • Password: Your Connect Server password
   • Mode: Choose Live to query Databricks on-demand or choose Extract to load the data into Bold BI
   • Database: Choose the database you created from the drop-down menu (databricksdb)
3. Click Connect
4. Select the table to visualize and drag it onto the workspace.
5. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
6. Click the gear icon for the visualization to configure the visualization properties and assign columns to the visualization.

SQL Access to Databricks Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Databricks data from your Bold BI workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Databricks data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect page.