Create Sage X3 Cloud-Connected Dashboards in Grafana

Grafana is an open-source platform that allows users to analyze, monitor, and visualize telemetry from various data sources. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to Sage X3 Cloud data for business dashboards. This article outlines the process of connecting to Sage X3 Cloud using Connect AI and creating a basic dashboard from Sage X3 Cloud data within Grafana.

CData Connect AI offers a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Sage X3 Cloud, enabling the creation of dashboards directly from live Sage X3 Cloud data within Grafana, all without the need for data replication to a native database. As you build visualizations, Grafana generates SQL queries to gather data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Sage X3 Cloud. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Sage X3 Cloud data.

Configure Sage X3 Cloud Connectivity for Grafana

Connectivity to Sage X3 Cloud from Grafana is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Sage X3 Cloud data from Grafana, we start by creating and configuring a Sage X3 Cloud connection.

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

2. Select "Sage X3 Cloud" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage X3 Cloud.

   Sage X3 Cloud uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials flow, and an X-API-Key is also required for API access. Set AuthScheme to OAuth and specify the following connection properties:

   • URL: The base URL of your Sage X3 Cloud instance.
   • OAuthAccessTokenUrl: The OAuth token endpoint (e.g., https://your-auth-domain/oauth/token).
   • OAuthClientId: Your OAuth application client ID.
   • OAuthClientSecret: Your OAuth application client secret.
   • Audience: The API audience value for the token request.
   • XAPIKey: The X-API-Key provided by your Sage X3 Cloud administrator.
   • Folder: The Sage X3 folder name (e.g., SEED). This folder is used as the default schema.
   • Folders (optional): A comma-separated list of Sage X3 folders (e.g., SEED,PERF). Each folder is exposed as a separate schema, so you can query across folders with the Schema.Table syntax.

   The driver obtains an access token with the Client Credentials flow and sends it with the X-API-Key on every API request. With InitiateOAuth set to GETANDREFRESH (the default), the driver acquires and refreshes the token automatically.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage X3 Cloud 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 Sage X3 Cloud data from Grafana.

Visualize Live Sage X3 Cloud Data in Grafana

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

1. If you have not already done so, download and install Grafana for your operating system from the Grafana Website. Once installed, access Grafana at http://localhost:3000/.
2. Log in to Grafana with your username and password for Grafana. If this is your first time logging in, the username is admin and the password is admin.
3. On the navigation menu, click Sources > Add new connection. On this page, you can search for Microsoft SQL Server and select it as your data source.
4. Select Microsoft SQL Server and click Add new data source.
5. Enter a name for the new data source and then enter the following connection settings:
   • Host: tds.cdata.com:14333
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, SageX3Cloud1).
   • 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 previously generated.
   
6. Click Save & Test. A Database Connect OK message appears when you have a successful connection established.

Create a Dashboard

Once you create the data source for Sage X3 Cloud, you can start building dashboards on Sage X3 Cloud data. Start in the navigation menu and click Dashboards

1. On the Dashboards page, click + Create dashboard, then click + Add visualization.
2. This opens the Select data source window where you can select your created connection.
3. After selecting your connection, you can choose the tables and columns that you want to query for your visualization. Then press Run Query to run the generated query.
4. After running your query, the resulting data is populated above the query editor. Here you can select the visualization that you want to use to present your data on the dashboard panel.
5. When you have finished editing your panel, you can click Save dashboard to save the changes made to your Dashboard.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect AI today!