How to integrate Metabase with SAS Data Sets Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect AI, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live SAS Data Sets data. This article describes how to connect to SAS Data Sets and build a simple visualization using SAS Data Sets data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for SAS Data Sets, allowing you to easily integrate with live SAS Data Sets data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SAS Data Sets, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SAS Data Sets data.

Configure SAS Data Sets Connectivity for Metabase

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

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

2. Select "SAS Data Sets" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAS Data Sets.

   Set the following connection properties to connect to your SAS DataSet files:

   Connecting to Local Files

   • Set the Connection Type to "Local." Local files support SELECT, INSERT, and DELETE commands.
   • Set the URI to a folder containing SAS files, e.g. C:\PATH\TO\FOLDER\.

   Connecting to Cloud-Hosted SAS DataSet Files

   While the driver is capable of pulling data from SAS DataSet files hosted on a variety of cloud data stores, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE are not supported outside of local files in this driver.

   Set the Connection Type to the service hosting your SAS DataSet files. A unique prefix at the beginning of the URI connection property is used to identify the cloud data store and the remainder of the path is a relative path to the desired folder (one table per file) or single file (a single table). For more information, refer to the Getting Started section of the Help documentation.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAS Data Sets 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 SAS Data Sets data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "SAS Data Sets (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. SASDataSets1)
   • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT previously created
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
   

Execute SAS Data Sets Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query SAS Data Sets and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the SAS Data Sets data
2. Write a SQL query based on the SAS Data Sets connection in CData Connect AI, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT name, borough FROM restaurants WHERE cuisine = 'American'

   
3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from SAS Data Sets data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live SAS Data Sets data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to SAS Data Sets (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live SAS Data Sets data in Metabase today.