Use the CData ODBC Driver for SingleStore in MicroStrategy Web

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with the CData ODBC Driver for SingleStore, you gain database-like access to live SingleStore data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding SingleStore as external data in MicroStrategy Web and creating a simple visualization of SingleStore data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SingleStore data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to SingleStore, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SingleStore and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze SingleStore data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to SingleStore as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to SingleStore follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for SingleStore must be installed on the machine hosting the connected MicroStrategy Intelligence Server).

The following connection properties are required in order to connect to data.

• Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
• Port: The port of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
• Database (Optional): The default database to connect to when connecting to the SingleStore Server. If this is not set, tables from all databases will be returned.

Connect Using Standard Authentication

To authenticate using standard authentication, set the following:

• User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.
• Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.

Connect Using Integrated Security

As an alternative to providing the standard username and password, you can set IntegratedSecurity to True to authenticate trusted users to the server via Windows Authentication.

Connect Using SSL Authentication

You can leverage SSL authentication to connect to SingleStore data via a secure session. Configure the following connection properties to connect to data:

• SSLClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate. Used in the case of 2-way SSL, where truststore and keystore are kept on both the client and server machines.
• SSLClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
• SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
• SSLClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
• SSLServerCert: The certificate to be accepted from the server.

Connect Using SSH Authentication

Using SSH, you can securely login to a remote machine. To access SingleStore data via SSH, configure the following connection properties:

• SSHClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate.
• SSHClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
• SSHClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
• SSHClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
• SSHPassword: The password that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
• SSHPort: The port used for SSH operations.
• SSHServer: The SSH authentication server you are trying to authenticate against.
• SSHServerFingerPrint: The SSH Server fingerprint used for verification of the host you are connecting to.
• SSHUser: Set this to the username that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for SingleStore in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize SingleStore Data using MicroStrategy Web

Once you have created a database instance in MicroStrategy Developer and connected it to a project, you can perform a data import of SingleStore data from MicroStrategy Web. Alternatively, you can create a new data source based on the ODBC Driver.^*

1. Open MicroStrategy Web and select your project.
2. Click Add External Data, select Databases, and choose Select a Table as the Import Option.
3. In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new data source.
   • Select DSN Data Sources
   • Set the DSN property to the previously configured DSN (CData SingleStore Sys)
   • Set the Version property to Generic DBMS
   • Set the User and Password properties (or use filler values)
   • Set the Data Source Name
4. After creating the data source, click to edit the catalog options and set the following queries and click OK.
   • SQL statement to retrieve tables available in the data source

     SELECT
       CatalogName NAME_SPACE,
       TableName TAB_NAME
     FROM
       SYS_TABLES
         

   • SQL statement to retrieve columns for the selected tables

     SELECT DISTINCT 
       CatalogName NAME_SPACE, 
       TableName TAB_NAME, 
       ColumnName COL_NAME, 
       DataTypeName DATA_TYPE, 
       Length DATA_LEN, 
       NumericPrecision DATA_PREC, 
       NumericScale DATA_SCALE 
     FROM 
       SYS_TABLECOLUMNS 
     WHERE 
       TableName IN (#TABLE_LIST#) 
     ORDER BY
       1,2,3
         

5. Drag a table into the pane. Note: Since we create a live connection, we can import whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
6. Click Finish, choose to the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier.
7. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display, and apply any filters to create a new visualization of SingleStore data. Data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to SingleStore, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the driver.
8. Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for SingleStore in MicroStrategy Web, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on SingleStore data. Read our other articles on connecting to SingleStore in MicroStrategy and connecting to SingleStore in MicroStrategy Desktop for more examples.

Note: connecting using a ODBC driver requires a 3- or 4-tier architecture.