Model, Search, and Visualize Live Phoenix Data in ThoughtSpot

ThoughtSpot is a cloud-based analytics platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to help users analyze data and make decisions. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Phoenix data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Phoenix and build visualizations from Phoenix data in ThoughtSpot.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Phoenix, allowing you to easily build models and visualizations from live Phoenix data in ThoughtSpot. As you build visualizations, ThoughtSpot generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Phoenix, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Phoenix data.

Configure Phoenix Connectivity for ThoughtSpot

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

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

2. Select "Phoenix" from the Add Connection panel

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

   Connect to Apache Phoenix via the Phoenix Query Server. Set the Server and Port (if different from the default port) properties to connect to Apache Phoenix. The Server property will typically be the host name or IP address of the server hosting Apache Phoenix.

   Authenticating to Apache Phoenix

   By default, no authentication will be used (plain). If authentication is configured for your server, set AuthScheme to NEGOTIATE and set the User and Password properties (if necessary) to authenticate through Kerberos.

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

Model, Search, and Visualize Live Phoenix Data in ThoughtSpot

To establish a connection from ThoughtSpot to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

1. Log into ThoughtSpot
2. On the top navigation bar, click Data.
3. Click Create new > Connection.
4. Name the connection and click "SQL Server" as the data warehouse.
5. Click Continue on the top right.
6. Enter the connection settings:
   • Host: enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: : enter 14333
   • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, ApachePhoenix1).
   
7. Click Continue.
8. After connecting successfully, you will be able to choose which tables to include.
9. Click Create Connection.

After you successfully configure your connection, you can build models, search, and visualize your Phoenix data.

Real-Time Access to Phoenix Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Phoenix data from ThoughtSpot. You can model, search, and visualize your data from ThoughtSpot . For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from cloud applications like ThoughtSpot, refer to our Connect AI page.