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Get the Report →Use the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage in MicroStrategy Web
Connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage data in MicroStrategy Web using the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage.
MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage, you gain database-like access to live IBM Cloud Object Storage data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding IBM Cloud Object Storage as an external data source in MicroStrategy Web and creating a simple visualization of IBM Cloud Object Storage data.
The CData JDBC driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live IBM Cloud Object Storage data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to IBM Cloud Object Storage, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to IBM Cloud Object Storage and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze IBM Cloud Object Storage data using native MicroStrategy data types.
Connect to and Visualize IBM Cloud Object Storage Data using MicroStrategy Web
You can connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage in MicroStrategy Web by adding a data source based on the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage.* Before you begin, you will need install the JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage on the machine hosting the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that your instance of MicroStrategy Web is connected to. Once you have created a data source you can build dynamic visualizations of IBM Cloud Object Storage data in MicroStrategy Web.
- Open MicroStrategy Web and select your project.
- Click Add External Data, select Databases, and use Select Tables as the Import Option.
- In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new Data Source.
- Select Generic in the Database menu and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
- Click the link to show the connection string and opt to edit the connection string. In the Driver menu, select MicroStrategy Cassandra ODBC Driver (MicroStrategy requires a certified driver to interface through JDBC, the actual driver will not be used).
- Set the connection string to the following:
JDBC;MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER=PATH\TO\JAR\;DRIVER=cdata.jdbc.ibmcloudobjectstorage.IBMCloudObjectStorageDriver;URL={jdbc:ibmcloudobjectstorage:ApiKey=myApiKey;CloudObjectStorageCRN=MyInstanceCRN;Region=myRegion;OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=myOAuthClientSecret;};
Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage
If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:
- Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
- Navigate to the page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of Cloud Object Storage you just created.
Connecting using OAuth Authentication
There are certain connection properties you need to set before you can connect. You can obtain these as follows:
API Key
To connect with IBM Cloud Object Storage, you need an API Key. You can obtain this as follows:
- Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
- Navigate to the Platform API Keys page.
- On the middle-right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" to create a new API Key.
- In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Note the API Key as you can never access it again from the dashboard.
Cloud Object Storage CRN
If you have multiple accounts, you will need to specify the CloudObjectStorageCRN explicitly. To find the appropriate value, you can:
- Query the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud Object Storage instances along with the CRN for each.
- Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.
Connecting to Data
You can now set the following to connect to data:
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
- ApiKey: Set this to your API key which was noted during setup.
- CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): Set this to the cloud object storage CRN you want to work with. While the connector attempts to retrieve this automatically, specifying this explicitly is recommended if you have more than Cloud Object Storage account.
When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.
- Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
- Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the IBM Cloud Object Storage JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.ibmcloudobjectstorage.jar
Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.
When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.
- Right-click on the new data source, and choose Edit catalog options.
- Edit the SQL Statement to SELECT * FROM SYS_SCHEMAS to read the metadata from the JDBC Driver.
- Select the new data source to view the available tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
- Drag tables into the pane to import them. Note: Since we create a live connection, we can import whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products to customize our datasets.
- Click Finish, choose to the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier. Live connections are possible and effective, thanks to high-performance data processing native to CData JDBC drivers.
- Choose a visualization, choose fields to display and apply any filters to create a new visualization of IBM Cloud Object Storage data. Data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to IBM Cloud Object Storage, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the driver.
- Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.
Using the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage in MicroStrategy Web, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on IBM Cloud Object Storage data. Read our other articles on connecting to IBM Cloud Object Storage in MicroStrategy and connecting to IBM Cloud Object Storage in MicroStrategy Desktop for more examples.
Note: Connecting using a JDBC Driver requires a 3- or 4-Tier Architecture.