Connect to Elasticsearch in SpagoBI



Create reports featuring live Elasticsearch data in SpagoBI Studio. Host Elasticsearch reports on SpagoBI Server.

The CData JDBC Driver for Elasticsearch enables you to connect to live Elasticsearch data from business intelligence and data mining tools that support the JDBC standard. This article shows how to integrate Elasticsearch data into a report in SpagoBI Studio and host it on SpagoBI Server.

About Elasticsearch Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Elasticsearch has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access both the SQL endpoints and REST endpoints, optimizing connectivity and offering more options when it comes to reading and writing Elasticsearch data.
  • Connect to virtually every Elasticsearch instance starting with v2.2 and Open Source Elasticsearch subscriptions.
  • Always receive a relevance score for the query results without explicitly requiring the SCORE() function, simplifying access from 3rd party tools and easily seeing how the query results rank in text relevance.
  • Search through multiple indices, relying on Elasticsearch to manage and process the query and results instead of the client machine.

Users frequently integrate Elasticsearch data with analytics tools such as Crystal Reports, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to enable a single, federated access layer to all of their data sources, including Elasticsearch.

For more information on CData's Elasticsearch solutions, check out our Knowledge Base article: CData Elasticsearch Driver Features & Differentiators.


Getting Started


Deploy the JDBC Driver in SpagoBI Server

Follow the steps to create a JDBC data source for Elasticsearch in SpagoBI Server.

  1. Copy the driver JAR into %CATALINA_BASE%/lib. These files are located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
  2. Add a Elasticsearch driver resource to the context. The following resource definition can be added to the GlobalNamingResources element in server.xml: <Resource name="jdbc/elasticsearch" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource" driverclassname="cdata.jdbc.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchDriver" factory="org.apache.tomcat.jdbc.pool.DataSourceFactory" maxactive="20" maxidle="10" maxwait="-1"/>

  3. Add the following resource link to give access to Web applications. For this article, add the following line to META-INF\context.xml for SpagoBI. <ResourceLink global="jdbc/elasticsearch" name="jdbc/elasticsearch" type="javax.sql.DataSource"/>
  4. Restart the server.

After adding the driver to the resources for the SpagoBI server, add the data source: In SpagoBI, click Resources -> Data Source -> Add and enter the following information:

  • Label: Enter a unique identifier for the driver.
  • Description: Enter a description for the driver.
  • Dialect: Select Default Dialect.
  • Read Only: Select the read-only option. This option determines whether the data source is the default database to save datasets created by the end user.
  • Type: Select JDBC.
  • URL: Enter the JDBC URL using the required connection string properties:

    Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect. To authenticate, set the User and Password properties, PKI (public key infrastructure) properties, or both. To use PKI, set the SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword properties.

    The data provider uses X-Pack Security for TLS/SSL and authentication. To connect over TLS/SSL, prefix the Server value with 'https://'. Note: TLS/SSL and client authentication must be enabled on X-Pack to use PKI.

    Once the data provider is connected, X-Pack will then perform user authentication and grant role permissions based on the realms you have configured.

    Built-in Connection String Designer

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

    java -jar cdata.jdbc.elasticsearch.jar

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

    A typical JDBC URL is below:

    jdbc:elasticsearch:Server=127.0.0.1;Port=9200;User=admin;Password=123456;
  • Driver: Enter the class name for the driver: cdata.jdbc.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchDriver

Create Reports in SpagoBI Studio

Follow the steps below to populate reports based on Elasticsearch data in SpagoBI Studio. You will create a dataset that populates a chart with the results of an SQL query. In the next section, you will host this report on SpagoBI Server.

First, you will need to connect to Elasticsearch data from a report in SpagoBI Studio:

  1. In SpagoBI Studio, click File -> New -> Project and select Report Project in the Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools folder.
  2. Click File -> New -> Report and select Blank Report.
  3. In the Data Explorer view, right-click Data Sources and click New Data Source.
  4. Select JDBC Data Source and enter a name for the data source.
  5. Click Manage Drivers and click Add to add the driver JAR, cdata.jdbc.elasticsearch.jar. The driver JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
  6. In the Driver Class menu, select the driver class, cdata.jdbc.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchDriver.
  7. In the Database URL box, enter the JDBC URL. A typical JDBC URL is below: jdbc:elasticsearch:Server=127.0.0.1;Port=9200;User=admin;Password=123456; See the "Getting Started" chapter of the driver help for a guide to obtaining the required connection properties.

After you have connected to Elasticsearch data, create a dataset that contains the results of an SQL query:

  1. Right-click the DataSet folder and click New Data Set. Select the JDBC data source for Elasticsearch and enter a name for the dataset.
  2. Build the SQL query. In this example, this query will be used to add a chart to the dashboard. For example: SELECT Orders.Freight, Customers.ContactName FROM Customers INNER JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerId=Orders.CustomerId

You can use the dataset to populate report objects. Follow the steps below to create a chart.

  1. In the Palette view, drag a chart onto the canvas.
  2. In the Select Chart Type tab, select a bar chart.
  3. In the Select Data tab, click the Use Data From option and select the Elasticsearch data set from the menu.
  4. Drag OrderName from the table to the series for the x-axis.
  5. Drag Freight from the table to the series for the y-axis.

Host Elasticsearch Reports on SpagoBI Server

Follow the steps below to host documents based on live Elasticsearch data on SpagoBI Server. You will use the report you created in the previous section as a template. To enable report users to access the live data, create placeholder parameters to be replaced by the Elasticsearch JDBC data source on the server:

  1. If you have not already done so, open the Report Design perspective in SpagoBI Studio.
  2. In the Data Explorer view, right-click the Report Parameters folder and click New Parameter. Add the url parameter and assign an empty value to it. This parameter is a placeholder for the JDBC data source on the SpagoBI Server.
  3. Right-click the Elasticsearch data source and click Edit.
  4. In the Property Binding node, set the JDBC Driver URL binding property to the url parameter: Click the box for the property. In the Category section, select Report Parameters. Select All in the Subcategory section and double-click the parameter.

    You can also enter the following in the JavaScript syntax:

    params["url"].value

Next, create a new document for the report on SpagoBI Server.

  1. In SpagoBI Server, click Documents Development -> Create Document -> Generic Document. The Document Details page is displayed.
  2. To create the document, enter the following:
    • Label: Enter a unique identifier for the document.
    • Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the document.
    • Type: Select Report from the menu.
    • Engine: Select BIRT Report Engine.
    • Data Source: Select the Elasticsearch Data Source you created in Create a JDBC Data Source for Elasticsearch in SpagoBI Server.
  3. In the Show Document Templates section, select the folder where you want the document to be stored.
  4. In the Template section, click Choose File. Navigate to the folder containing your report project. Select the .rptdesign file.

    Note: You can find the path to the project in the project properties.

  5. Click the Save button.

When you run the report on the server, the placeholder url parameter is replaced with the JDBC URL defined on the server.

Ready to get started?

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