Connect to Live Neo4J Data in MicroStrategy through CData Connect AI

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with CData Connect AI, you gain database-like access to live Neo4J data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through connecting to Neo4J in Connect AI and connecting to Connect AI in MicroStrategy to create a simple visualization of Neo4J data.

As a cloud-based integration platform, Connect AI is ideal for working with cloud-based BI and analytics tools. With no servers to configure or data proxies to set up, you can simply use the web-based UI to create a live connection to Neo4J and connect from MicroStrategy to start performing analytics based on live Neo4J data.

Configure Neo4J Connectivity for Microstrategy

Connectivity to Neo4J from Microstrategy is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Neo4J data from Microstrategy, we start by creating and configuring a Neo4J connection.

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

2. Select "Neo4J" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Neo4J.

   To connect to Neo4j, set the following connection properties:

   • Server: The server hosting the Neo4j instance.
   • Port: The port on which the Neo4j service is running. The provider connects to port 7474 by default.
   • User: The username of the user using the Neo4j instance.
   • Password: The password of the user using the Neo4j instance.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Neo4J 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 Neo4J data from MicroStrategy.

Connect to and Visualize Neo4J Data Using MicroStrategy

You can connect to Neo4J in MicroStrategy by adding a data source based on the native SQL Server functionality. Once you have created a data source, you can build dynamic visualizations of Neo4J data in MicroStrategy.

1. Open MicroStrategy and select your account.
2. Click Add External Data, select Databases, and use Select Tables as the Import Option.
3. In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new Data Source.
4. Select "SQL Server" in the Database menu and select "SQL Server 2017" in the Version menu.
5. Sat the connection properties as follows:
   • Server Name: tds.cdata.com
   • Port Number: 14333
   • Database Name: the name of your Neo4J connection (e.g. Neo4j1)
   • User: a Connect AI user
   • Password: the PAT for your Connect AI user
   • Data Source Name: a name for the new external data source, like "CData Cloud Neo4J"
6. Expand the menu for the new data source and choose "Edit Catalog Options"
7. Edit the "SQL statement retrieve columns ..." query to include TABLE_SCHEMA = '#?Schema_Name?#' in the WHERE clause, and click Apply and then OK (the complete query is below).
   
   

   SELECT DISTINCT 
     TABLE_SCHEMA NAME_SPACE, 
     TABLE_NAME TAB_NAME, 
     COLUMN_NAME COL_NAME, 
     (CASE 
       WHEN 
         (DATA_TYPE LIKE '%char' AND (CHARACTER_SET_NAME='utf8' OR CHARACTER_SET_NAME='usc2')) 
       THEN 
         CONCAT('a',DATA_TYPE) 
       ELSE 
         DATA_TYPE 
     END) DATA_TYPE, 
     CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH DATA_LEN, 
     NUMERIC_PRECISION DATA_PREC, 
     NUMERIC_SCALE DATA_SCALE 
   FROM 
     INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
   WHERE 
     TABLE_NAME 
   IN 
     (#TABLE_LIST#) AND TABLE_SCHEMA='#?Schema_Name?#' 
   ORDER BY 
     1,2,3
   

8. Select the new data source and select the Namespace that corresponds to your virtual Neo4J database (like Neo4j1).
9. Drag tables into the pane to insert then. Note: Since we create a live connection, we can insert whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products to customize our datasets.
10. Click Finish, choose 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 Connect AI.
11. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display, and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Neo4J 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 Neo4J, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed by the CData SQL engine embedded in Connect AI.
12. Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using CData Connect AI with MicroStrategy, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Neo4J data. For more information on connecting to Neo4J (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Neo4J data in MicroStrategy.