Access Live SQL Analysis Services Data in Google Sheets through Connect Spreadsheets

Google Sheets is a web-based spreadsheet program provided by Google. When integrated with Connect Spreadsheets by CData, you can effortlessly gain access to SQL Analysis Services data directly within Google Sheets for tasks such as data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more. This article offers a comprehensive guide on connecting to SQL Analysis Services within Connect Spreadsheets and accessing live SQL Analysis Services data seamlessly within Google Sheets.

Connect Spreadsheets is the easiest way to get all your live data into Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets - no more downloading, wrangling, and uploading files again. Just connect to your data, select the dataset you'd like to see, and import it into your spreadsheet.

Configure SQL Analysis Services Connectivity for Google Sheets

Connectivity to SQL Analysis Services from Google Sheets is made possible through Connect Spreadsheets. To work with SQL Analysis Services data from Google Sheets, we start by creating and configuring a SQL Analysis Services connection.

1. Log into Connect Spreadsheets, click Sources and click Add Connection
2. Select "SQL Analysis Services" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SQL Analysis Services.

   To connect, provide authentication and set the Url property to a valid SQL Server Analysis Services endpoint. You can connect to SQL Server Analysis Services instances hosted over HTTP with XMLA access. See the Microsoft documentation to configure HTTP access to SQL Server Analysis Services.

   To secure connections and authenticate, set the corresponding connection properties, below. The data provider supports the major authentication schemes, including HTTP and Windows, as well as SSL/TLS.

   • HTTP Authentication

     Set AuthScheme to "Basic" or "Digest" and set User and Password. Specify other authentication values in CustomHeaders.

   • Windows (NTLM)

     Set the Windows User and Password and set AuthScheme to "NTLM".

   • Kerberos and Kerberos Delegation

     To authenticate with Kerberos, set AuthScheme to NEGOTIATE. To use Kerberos delegation, set AuthScheme to KERBEROSDELEGATION. If needed, provide the User, Password, and KerberosSPN. By default, the data provider attempts to communicate with the SPN at the specified Url.

   • SSL/TLS:

     By default, the data provider attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store. To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats.

   You can then access any cube as a relational table: When you connect the data provider retrieves SSAS metadata and dynamically updates the table schemas. Instead of retrieving metadata every connection, you can set the CacheLocation property to automatically cache to a simple file-based store.

   See the Getting Started section of the CData documentation, under Retrieving Analysis Services Data, to execute SQL-92 queries to the cubes.

   
4. Click Create & Test

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SQL Analysis Services data from Google Sheets.

Access Live SQL Analysis Services Data from Google Sheets

The steps below outline connecting to Connect Spreadsheets from Google Sheets to access live SQL Analysis Services data.

1. Log into Google Sheets, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Add-ons and click Get Add-ons (if you have already installed the Add-on, jump to step 5).
3. Search for Connect Spreadsheets Add-On and install the Add-on.
4. Authorize the Add-On.
5. Back in Google Sheets, click Add-ons and open the Connect Spreadsheets Add-On.
6. In the Add-On panel, click "Log in" to sign into and authenticate with your Connect Spreadsheets account
7. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Google Sheets, click Import
8. Choose a Connection (e.g. SSAS1), Table (e.g. Adventure_Works, and Columns to import
9. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
10. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one.

Live Access to SQL Analysis Services Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live SQL Analysis Services data from your Google Sheets workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

Try Connect Spreadsheets and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.