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Access CockroachDB Data as OData Feeds in Tableau
Use the Tableau Desktop business intelligence tool to connect to CockroachDB data using the API Server.
The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for CockroachDB (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), provides CockroachDB data as OData Web services. This article will explain how to use the API Server to provide the underlying connectivity to CockroachDB data in Tableau's business intelligence tool.
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure CockroachDB OData services:
Deploy
The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.
The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.
Connect to CockroachDB
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for CockroachDB, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to CockroachDB by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
Set the following to connect to CockroachDB.
- Server: The host name or IP address of the server.
- Port: The port number of the CockroachDB server. If not specified, the default port is 26257.
- Database: The name of the Cockroach database. If not specified, you connect to the user's default database.
- User: The Cockroach DB user account used to authenticate.
- Password: The password used to authenticate the user.
When you configure the connection, 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.
You can then choose the CockroachDB entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Tableau.
Authorize API Server Users
After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.
Create Real-Time CockroachDB Data Visualizations
Follow the steps below to create data visualizations based on the remote CockroachDB data:
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In Tableau, select 'Connect to data'. In the 'On a server' section, click OData.
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In the resulting wizard, enter the URL of the OData endpoint for the API Server. Append the name of the table you want to access to the OData entry URL. For example:
https://your-server/api.rsc/Orders -
Select the
'Use a Username and Password' option and enter the username and password of a user who has access to the API Server.
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Tableau uses the table metadata exposed by the API Server to detect dimension and measure columns.
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To view the CockroachDB data, right-click under the table name in the Data section of the dashboard and select the View Data option. The CockroachDB data will appear in Tableau.
