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Get the Report →Create an SAP BusinessObjects Universe on the CData ODBC Driver for Elasticsearch
Provide connectivity to Elasticsearch data through an SAP BusinessObjects universe.
This article shows how to create and publish an SAP BusinessObjects universe on the CData ODBC Driver for Elasticsearch. You will connect to Elasticsearch data from the Information Design Tool as well as the Web Intelligence tool.
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
Connect to Elasticsearch as an ODBC Data Source
If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
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.
When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.
Create an ODBC Connection to Elasticsearch Data
This section shows how to create a connection to the Elasticsearch ODBC data source in the Information Design Tool. After you create a connection, you can analyze data or create a BusinessObjects universe.
Right-click your project and click New -> New Relational Connection.
- In the wizard that is displayed, enter a name for the connection.
Select Generic -> Generic ODBC datasource -> ODBC Drivers and select the DSN.
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Finish the wizard with the default values for connection pooling and custom parameters.
Analyze Elasticsearch Data in the Information Design Tool
In the Information Design Tool, you can use both published and local ODBC connections to browse and query data.
In the Local Projects view, double-click the connection (the .cnx file) to open the Elasticsearch data source.
On the Show Values tab, you can load table data and enter SQL queries. To view table data, expand the node for the table, right-click the table, and click Show Values. Values will be displayed in the Raw Data tab.
On the Analysis tab, you can drag and drop columns onto the axes of a chart.
Publish the Local Connection
To publish the universe to the CMS, you additionally need to publish the connection.
In the Local Projects view, right-click the connection and click Publish Connection to a Repository.
Enter the host and port of the repository and connection credentials.
Select the folder where the connection will be published.
In the success dialog that results, click Yes to create a connection shortcut.
Create a Universe on the ODBC Driver for Elasticsearch
You can follow the steps below to create a universe on the ODBC driver for Elasticsearch. The universe in this example will be published to a repository, so it uses the published connection created in the previous step.
In the Information Design Tool, click File->New Universe.
Select your project.
Select the option to create the universe on a relational data source.
Select the shortcut to the published connection.
Enter a name for the Data Foundation.
Import tables and columns that you want to access as objects.
Enter a name for the Business Layer.
Publish the Universe
You can follow the steps below to publish the universe to the CMS.
In the Local Projects view, right-click the business layer and click Publish -> To a Repository.
In the Publish Universe dialog, enter any integrity checks before importing.
Select or create a folder on the repository where the universe will be published.
Query Elasticsearch Data in Web Intelligence
You can use the published universe to connect to Elasticsearch in Web Intelligence.
Open Web Intelligence from the BusinessObjects launchpad and create a new document.
Select the Universe option for the data source.
Select the Elasticsearch universe. This opens a Query Panel. Drag objects to the Result Objects pane to use them in the query.