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Analyze Google Cloud Storage Data in R


Create data visualizations and use high-performance statistical functions to analyze Google Cloud Storage data in Microsoft R Open.

Access Google Cloud Storage data with pure R script and standard SQL. You can use the CData ODBC Driver for Google Cloud Storage and the RODBC package to work with remote Google Cloud Storage data in R. By using the CData Driver, you are leveraging a driver written for industry-proven standards to access your data in the popular, open-source R language. This article shows how to use the driver to execute SQL queries to Google Cloud Storage data and visualize Google Cloud Storage data in R.

Install R

You can complement the driver's performance gains from multi-threading and managed code by running the multithreaded Microsoft R Open or by running R linked with the BLAS/LAPACK libraries. This article uses Microsoft R Open (MRO).

Connect to Google Cloud Storage as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Google Cloud Storage follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Authenticate with a User Account

You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. After setting InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH, you are ready to connect.

When you connect, the Google Cloud Storage OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions, then the OAuth process completes

Authenticate with a Service Account

Service accounts have silent authentication, without user authentication in the browser. You can also use a service account to delegate enterprise-wide access scopes.

You need to create an OAuth application in this flow. See the Help documentation for more information. After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH.
  • OAuthJWTCertType: Set this to "PFXFILE".
  • OAuthJWTCert: Set this to the path to the .p12 file you generated.
  • OAuthJWTCertPassword: Set this to the password of the .p12 file.
  • OAuthJWTCertSubject: Set this to "*" to pick the first certificate in the certificate store.
  • OAuthJWTIssuer: In the service accounts section, click Manage Service Accounts and set this field to the email address displayed in the service account Id field.
  • OAuthJWTSubject: Set this to your enterprise Id if your subject type is set to "enterprise" or your app user Id if your subject type is set to "user".
  • ProjectId: Set this to the Id of the project you want to connect to.

The OAuth flow for a service account then completes.

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.

Windows

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.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Google Cloud Storage in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData GoogleCloudStorage Source] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Google Cloud Storage Description = My Description ProjectId = 'project1'

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Load the RODBC Package

To use the driver, download the RODBC package. In RStudio, click Tools -> Install Packages and enter RODBC in the Packages box.

After installing the RODBC package, the following line loads the package:

library(RODBC)

Note: This article uses RODBC version 1.3-12. Using Microsoft R Open, you can test with the same version, using the checkpoint capabilities of Microsoft's MRAN repository. The checkpoint command enables you to install packages from a snapshot of the CRAN repository, hosted on the MRAN repository. The snapshot taken Jan. 1, 2016 contains version 1.3-12.

library(checkpoint) checkpoint("2016-01-01")

Connect to Google Cloud Storage Data as an ODBC Data Source

You can connect to a DSN in R with the following line:

conn <- odbcConnect("CData GoogleCloudStorage Source")

Schema Discovery

The driver models Google Cloud Storage APIs as relational tables, views, and stored procedures. Use the following line to retrieve the list of tables:

sqlTables(conn)

Execute SQL Queries

Use the sqlQuery function to execute any SQL query supported by the Google Cloud Storage API.

buckets <- sqlQuery(conn, "SELECT Name, OwnerId FROM Buckets WHERE Name = 'TestBucket'", believeNRows=FALSE, rows_at_time=1)

You can view the results in a data viewer window with the following command:

View(buckets)

Plot Google Cloud Storage Data

You can now analyze Google Cloud Storage data with any of the data visualization packages available in the CRAN repository. You can create simple bar plots with the built-in bar plot function:

par(las=2,ps=10,mar=c(5,15,4,2)) barplot(buckets$OwnerId, main="Google Cloud Storage Buckets", names.arg = buckets$Name, horiz=TRUE)

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Google Cloud Storage ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

Google Cloud Storage Icon Google Cloud Storage ODBC Driver

The Google Cloud Storage ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Google Cloud Storage, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Google Cloud Storage data like you would a database.

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