Build Semantic Layer Views for Okta Data in APOS Live Data Gateway

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use the CData Connect AI and APOS Live Data Gateway to build Semantic Layer Views for Okta data.

APOS Live Data Gateway (LDG) serves as a data connection and data transformation solution, facilitating live data connectivity and broadening data source possibilities for SAP Analytics Cloud and other SAP solutions. When integrated with CData Connect AI, users have the capability to construct semantic layer views for real-time access to Okta data, enabling real-time analytics on Okta in a manner akin to working with a relational database.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated SQL Server interface for Okta, enabling data querying directly from Okta without the need to replicate data to a native database. With pre-optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently directs all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Okta. This harnesses server-side processing to swiftly retrieve the requested Okta data.

Configure Okta Connectivity for APOS Live Data Gateway

Connectivity to Okta from APOS Live Data Gateway is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Okta data from APOS Live Data Gateway, we start by creating and configuring a Okta connection.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Okta" from the Add Connection panel
    3. Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Okta.

    To connect to Okta, set the Domain connection string property to your Okta domain.

    You will use OAuth to authenticate with Okta, so you need to create a custom OAuth application.

    Creating a Custom OAuth Application

    From your Okta account:

    1. Sign in to your Okta developer edition organization with your administrator account.
    2. In the Admin Console, go to Applications > Applications.
    3. Click Create App Integration.
    4. For the Sign-in method, select OIDC - OpenID Connect.
    5. For Application type, choose Web Application.
    6. Enter a name for your custom application.
    7. Set the Grant Type to Authorization Code. If you want the token to be automatically refreshed, also check Refresh Token.
    8. Set the callback URL:
      • For desktop applications and headless machines, use http://localhost:33333 or another port number of your choice. The URI you set here becomes the CallbackURL property.
      • For web applications, set the callback URL to a trusted redirect URL. This URL is the web location the user returns to with the token that verifies that your application has been granted access.
    9. In the Assignments section, either select Limit access to selected groups and add a group, or skip group assignment for now.
    10. Save the OAuth application.
    11. The application's Client Id and Client Secret are displayed on the application's General tab. Record these for future use. You will use the Client Id to set the OAuthClientId and the Client Secret to set the OAuthClientSecret.
    12. Check the Assignments tab to confirm that all users who must access the application are assigned to the application.
    13. On the Okta API Scopes tab, select the scopes you wish to grant to the OAuth application. These scopes determine the data that the app has permission to read, so a scope for a particular view must be granted for the driver to have permission to query that view. To confirm the scopes required for each view, see the view-specific pages in Data Model < Views in the Help documentation.
    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Okta Connection page and update the User-based permissions. Updating 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. Creating a new PAT
  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 Okta data in the APOS Live Data Gateway.

Connecting to Okta & Creating a Semantic Layer View

After configuring the connection in CData Connect AI you are ready to connect to Okta in the Live Data Gateway Admin tool and build a semantic layer view in the Live Data Gateway Web UI.

Configuring the Connection to Okta

  1. Log into your APOS Live Data Gateway Manager Logging into the APOS LDG Manager
  2. If you haven't already, update your APOS LDG license file
    1. Click File -> Configurations
    2. Click on the "..." Menu for the License
    3. Select the license file from the APOS team that includes your CData Connect AI license
  3. In the APOS Live Data Gateway Manager, click "Add"
  4. In the APOS Live Data Gateway On the Connection tab, configure the connection:
    • Set Data Source to "Database"
    • Set Database to "JDBC Generic"
    • Set Connection String to a connection string similar to the following, using the name of the connection you configured earlier, e.g. 
      jdbc:sqlserver://tds.cdata.com:14333;databaseName=Okta1
    • Set Driver Class to "com.CData.connect.Driver" (this should be set by default)
    Configuring the Connection (Salesforce is shown).
  5. Click Test Connection
  6. Click Save
  7. Give your connection a unique prefix (e.g. "okta")
  8. Highlight the newly created connection and click File -> "Approve Users For Web UI" Approving Users For Web UI.
  9. Approve the appropriate DB users to create views and click "Save" Configuring which DB users can create views.

At this point, we are ready to build our semantic layer view in the Live Data Gateway Web UI.

Creating a Semantic Layer View

  1. In your browser, navigate to the APOS Live Data Gateway Portal
  2. Select a Connection (e.g. "okta")
  3. Set User Name and Password to your Connect AI username and PAT .
  4. Click "Login" Connecting from the Web UI (Salesforce is shown).
  5. Once connected, click "Semantic Layer" to create a new semantic layer view
  6. Click "New Semantic Layer View" Adding a new semantic layer view.
  7. Set the Semantic Layer View Prefix and Semantic Layer View Name Setting the semantic layer view prefix and name.
  8. Click "Step 2"
  9. Select the table(s) and column(s) you wish to include in your view Selecting table(s) and column(s).
  10. Click "Step 3"
  11. Select the Measures from the available table columns Selecting the measure(s).
  12. Click "Step 5" (we skipped the "Extra Dimensions" step)
  13. Add any Variable Prompts
  14. Click "Step 6"
  15. Define any Table Joins
  16. Click "Review"
  17. Review you semantic layer view and click "Save" Saving the semantic layer view.

With the Semantic Layer View created, you are ready to access your Okta data through the APOS Live Data Gateway, enabling real-time data connectivity to Okta data from SAP Analytics Cloud and other SAP solutions.

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