Create an SAP BusinessObjects Universe on the CData JDBC Driver for RabbitMQ

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Provide connectivity to RabbitMQ data through an SAP BusinessObjects universe.

This article shows how to use the CData JDBC Driver for RabbitMQ to connect to RabbitMQ from SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence applications. You will use the Information Design Tool to analyze RabbitMQ data and create a universe on the CData JDBC Driver for RabbitMQ. You will then connect to the universe from Web Intelligence.

Create the JDBC Connection to RabbitMQ

Follow the steps below to create a connection to the RabbitMQ JDBC data source in the Information Design Tool.

  1. Copy the CData JAR and .lic file into the following subfolder in the installation directory for BusinessObjects: dataAccess\connectionServer\jdbc\drivers\jdbc. The CData JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
  2. Right-click your project and click New -> New Relational Connection.
  3. In the wizard that results, click Generic -> Generic JDBC datasource -> JDBC Drivers.
  4. On the next page of the wizard enter the connection details.
  5. On the next page, set the Authentication Mode option to "Use specified username and password". Enter the username, password, and JDBC URL. The JDBC URL begins with jdbc:api: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

    About RabbitMQ Management HTTP API

    RabbitMQ is an open-source message broker that supports multiple messaging protocols. The RabbitMQ Management HTTP API provides HTTP-based access to management and monitoring data for a RabbitMQ server. The API exposes information about virtual hosts, exchanges, queues, bindings, connections, channels, consumers, users, permissions, policies, and cluster-wide statistics.

    The Management plugin must be enabled on the RabbitMQ server for the HTTP API to be available. By default, the management interface listens on port 15672.

    Using Basic Authentication

    RabbitMQ Management HTTP API uses HTTP Basic authentication. You must supply the username and password of a RabbitMQ management user.

    To enable access to the management API:

    1. Ensure the RabbitMQ Management plugin is enabled on your server (rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management).
    2. Use an existing management user or create one with the appropriate management tag (management, policymaker, monitoring, or administrator).
    3. Note the full base URL of your RabbitMQ Management HTTP API (e.g., http://localhost:15672).

    After configuring your RabbitMQ server, set the following connection properties to connect:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to Basic.
    • URL: Set this to the base URL of your RabbitMQ Management HTTP API (e.g., http://localhost:15672).
    • User: Set this to your RabbitMQ management username (e.g., guest).
    • Password: Set this to your RabbitMQ management password.

    Example connection string:

    Profile=C:\profiles\RabbitMQ.apip;AuthScheme=Basic;URL=http://localhost:15672;User=guest;Password=guest;
    

    Available Tables

    The RabbitMQ profile provides access to the following tables:

    • Overview - Cluster-wide statistics and information about the RabbitMQ node
    • Nodes - Information about individual nodes in the RabbitMQ cluster
    • NodeMemory - Detailed memory usage breakdown for a specific cluster node
    • Connections - List of all open AMQP connections to the broker
    • Channels - List of all open AMQP channels across all connections
    • Consumers - List of all consumers registered across all queues
    • Exchanges - List of exchanges declared across all virtual hosts
    • Queues - List of queues declared across all virtual hosts
    • Bindings - List of all bindings between exchanges and queues
    • VirtualHosts - List of virtual hosts configured on the broker
    • VhostPermissions - User permissions within a specific virtual host
    • Users - List of all RabbitMQ users
    • Permissions - Permission records for all users across all virtual hosts
    • TopicPermissions - Topic-level permission records for all users
    • Policies - List of policies applied to queues and exchanges in virtual hosts
    • OperatorPolicies - List of operator policies applied to queues in virtual hosts
    • Parameters - List of component parameters (e.g., federation, shovel) per virtual host
    • GlobalParameters - List of global parameters that apply across all virtual hosts
    • VhostLimits - Resource limits configured for specific virtual hosts
    • UserLimits - Resource limits configured for specific users
    • FeatureFlags - List of feature flags and their enabled/disabled state on the node
    • DeprecatedFeatures - List of deprecated features and their usage state
    • AuthAttempts - Authentication attempt statistics for the node
    • ClusterName - The name of the RabbitMQ cluster
    • WhoAmI - Information about the currently authenticated management user
    • ExchangeBindingsSource - Bindings for which a specific exchange is the source
    • ExchangeBindingsDestination - Bindings for which a specific exchange is the destination
    • QueueBindings - Bindings for a specific queue within a virtual host

    Built-in Connection String Designer

    For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the RabbitMQ JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

    java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.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.

    A typical JDBC URL is below:

    jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\\RabbitMQ.apip;AuthScheme=Basic;URL=http://localhost:15672;User=guest;Password=guest;
    
  6. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
  7. Finish the wizard with the default values for connection pooling and custom parameters.

Analyze RabbitMQ Data in the Information Design Tool

You can use the JDBC connection to analyze RabbitMQ data in the Information Design Tool.

  1. In the Local Projects view, double-click the connection (the .cnx file) to open the RabbitMQ data source.
  2. On the Show Values tab, you can load table data and enter SQL queries. To view table data, expand the node for the table, right-click the table, and click Show Values. Values will be displayed in the Raw Data tab.
  3. On the Analysis tab, you can then analyze data by dragging and dropping columns onto the axes of a chart.

Publish the Local Connection

To publish the universe to the CMS, you additionally need to publish the connection.

  1. In the Local Projects view, right-click the connection and click Publish Connection to a Repository.
  2. Enter the host and port of the repository and connection credentials.
  3. Select the folder where the connection will be published.
  4. In the success dialog that results, click Yes to create a connection shortcut.

Create a Universe on the JDBC Driver for RabbitMQ

You can follow the steps below to create a universe on the JDBC driver. The universe in this example will be published to a repository, so it uses the published connection created in the previous step.

  1. In the Information Design Tool, click File->New Universe.
  2. Select your project.
  3. Select the option to create the universe on a relational data source.
  4. Select the shortcut to the published connection.
  5. Enter a name for the Data Foundation.
  6. Import tables and columns that you want to access as objects.
  7. Enter a name for the Business Layer.

Publish the Universe

You can follow the steps below to publish the universe to the CMS.

  1. In the Local Projects view, right-click the business layer and click Publish -> To a Repository.
  2. In the Publish Universe dialog, enter any integrity checks before importing.
  3. Select or create a folder on the repository where the universe will be published.

Query RabbitMQ Data in Web Intelligence

You can use the published universe to connect to RabbitMQ in Web Intelligence.

  1. Copy the cdata.jdbc.api.lic file to the following subfolder in the BusinessObjects installation directory: \dataAccess\connectionServer\jdbc\drivers\jdbc. The license file is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
  2. Open Web Intelligence from the BusinessObjects launchpad and create a new document.
  3. Select the Universe option for the data source.
  4. Select the RabbitMQ universe. This opens a Query Panel. Drag objects to the Result Objects pane to use them in the query.

Ready to get started?

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