Create Dashboards and Visualize Live EnterpriseDB Data in Geckoboard

Geckoboard is a business intelligence tool that simplifies the visualization of key performance indicators (KPIs) by creating live dashboards. It allows teams to consolidate data from various sources - such as Salesforce, Snowflake, Google Analytics, and spreadsheets - and display it in a visually engaging and easy-to-understand format. Designed for simplicity and clarity, Geckoboard helps businesses monitor performance, track goals, and make data-driven decisions.

When used with CData Connect AI, you gain instant, cloud-to-cloud access to EnterpriseDB data from Geckoboard for dashboards, monitoring, visualizations, and more. This article explains how to connect to EnterpriseDB and create visualizations using EnterpriseDB data in Geckoboard.

CData Connect AI offers a seamless SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for EnterpriseDB, enabling you to effortlessly create dashboards and visualizations using live EnterpriseDB data in Geckoboard. While building visualizations, Geckoboard requires SQL queries to retrieve the necessary data. With built-in optimized data processing, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (such as filters and JOINs) directly to EnterpriseDB, utilizing server-side processing for fast and efficient data retrieval of EnterpriseDB data.

Configure EnterpriseDB connectivity for Geckoboard

Connectivity to EnterpriseDB from Geckoboard is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with EnterpriseDB data from Geckoboard, we start by creating and configuring a EnterpriseDB connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "EnterpriseDB" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to EnterpriseDB.

   The following connection properties are required in order to connect to data.

   • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the EnterpriseDB database.
   • Port: The port of the server hosting the EnterpriseDB database.

   You can also optionally set the following:

   • Database: The default database to connect to when connecting to the EnterpriseDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.

   Connect Using Standard Authentication

   To authenticate using standard authentication, set the following:

   • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the EnterpriseDB server.
   • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the EnterpriseDB server.

   Connect Using SSL Authentication

   You can leverage SSL authentication to connect to EnterpriseDB data via a secure session. Configure the following connection properties to connect to data:

   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate. Used in the case of 2-way SSL, where truststore and keystore are kept on both the client and server machines.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSLClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSLServerCert: The certificate to be accepted from the server.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add EnterpriseDB Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. 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 and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to EnterpriseDB data from Geckoboard.

Connect live EnterpriseDB data in Geckoboard

Follow these steps to establish a connection from Geckoboard to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server API.

1. Log into Geckoboard
2. Add a custom dashboard name and click Add widget
3. Search for "Databases" in the Connect your data search bar
4. Select SQL Server as the Database type
5. Fill in the connection details:
   • Connection name: enter a name for the connection to CData Connect AI
   • Host: enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: : enter 14333
   • Database name: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, EnterpriseDB1)
   • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected]
   • Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page
   
6. Click Connect

After successfully configuring your connection, you can query and visualize your EnterpriseDB data.

Visualize live EnterpriseDB data in Geckoboard

To visualize live EnterpriseDB data in Geckoboard, follow these steps:

1. Write an SQL query to select the specific EnterpriseDB data needed for visualization in Paste your SQL query compiler screen

Depending on your use case, you can also generate the desired SQL query using the Data Copilot or Query Builder features of CData Connect AI


2. Choose the visualization type (Line Chart, Bar Chart, or Column Chart) that best suits your business requirements
3. The selected chart will be displayed on Geckoboard
4. Click the menu (three dots in the top-right corner of the graph) and select Edit to modify the SQL query or set a refresh interval for the chart

Live access to EnterpriseDB data from cloud applications

At this stage, you have established a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live EnterpriseDB data in Geckoboard. This enables you to create dashboards to monitor and visualize your data seamlessly.

For more details on accessing live data from over 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources through cloud applications like Geckoboard, visit our Connect AI page.