Connect to Snowflake Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for Snowflake into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for Snowflake to transfer Snowflake data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to Snowflake in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to Snowflake:

1. Add a new database driver for Snowflake: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL: jdbc:snowflake:
4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.snowflake.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.snowflake.SnowflakeDriver
6. Create a new Snowflake connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the Snowflake driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   To connect to Snowflake:

   1. Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
   2. Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
   3. Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
   4. (Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
   5. (Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.

   See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.snowflake.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   A typical connection string is below:

   User=Admin;Password=test123;Server=localhost;Database=Northwind;Warehouse=TestWarehouse;Account=Tester1;
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your Snowflake connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve Snowflake data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the Snowflake data.