Build Kafka-Connected Visualizations in datapine

datapine is a browser-based business intelligence platform. When paired with the CData Connect AI, you get access to your Kafka data directly from your datapine visualizations and dashboards. This article describes connecting to Kafka in CData Connect AI and building a simple Kafka-connected visualization in datapine.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Kafka, allowing you to query data from Kafka without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Kafka, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Kafka data quickly.

Configure Kafka Connectivity for datapine

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

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

2. Select "Kafka" from the Add Connection panel

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

   Set BootstrapServers and the Topic properties to specify the address of your Apache Kafka server, as well as the topic you would like to interact with.

   Authorization Mechanisms

   • SASL Plain: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Plain'.
   • SASL SSL: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Scram'. UseSSL should be set to true.
   • SSL: The SSLCert and SSLCertPassword properties should be specified. UseSSL should be set to true.
   • Kerberos: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Kerberos'.

   You may be required to trust the server certificate. In such cases, specify the TrustStorePath and the TrustStorePassword if necessary.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Kafka 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 Kafka data from datapine.

Connecting to Kafka from datapine

Once you configure your connection to Kafka in Connect AI, you are ready to connect to Kafka from datapine.

1. Log into datapine
2. Click Connect to navigate to the "Connect" page
3. Select MS SQL Server as the data source
4. In the Integration step, fill in the connection properties and click "Save and Proceed"
   • Set the Internal Name
   • Set Database Name to the name of the connection we just configured (e.g. ApacheKafka1)
   • Set Host / IP to "tds.cdata.com"
   • Set Username to your Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Set Password to the corresponding PAT
   • Set Database Port to "14333"
   
5. In the Data Schema step, select the tables and fields to visualize and click "Save and Proceed"
6. In the References step, define any relationships between your selected tables and click "Save and Proceed"
7. In the Data Transfer step, click "Go to Analyzer"

Visualize Kafka Data in datapine

After connecting to CData Connect AI, you are ready to visualize your Kafka data in datapine. Simply select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize!

Having connect to Kafka from datapine, you are now able to visualize and analyze real-time Kafka data no matter where you are. To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from datapine, try CData Connect AI today!