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Use the API Server and Elasticsearch ADO.NET Provider to Access Elasticsearch Data in Microsoft PowerPivot
Use the API Server to connect to live Elasticsearch data in the PowerPivot business intelligence tool.
This article will explain how to use the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Elasticsearch (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers) to provide Elasticsearch data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's PowerPivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve and edit Elasticsearch data in Power Pivot.
About Elasticsearch Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Elasticsearch has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access both the SQL endpoints and REST endpoints, optimizing connectivity and offering more options when it comes to reading and writing Elasticsearch data.
- Connect to virtually every Elasticsearch instance starting with v2.2 and Open Source Elasticsearch subscriptions.
- Always receive a relevance score for the query results without explicitly requiring the SCORE() function, simplifying access from 3rd party tools and easily seeing how the query results rank in text relevance.
- Search through multiple indices, relying on Elasticsearch to manage and process the query and results instead of the client machine.
Users frequently integrate Elasticsearch data with analytics tools such as Crystal Reports, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to enable a single, federated access layer to all of their data sources, including Elasticsearch.
For more information on CData's Elasticsearch solutions, check out our Knowledge Base article: CData Elasticsearch Driver Features & Differentiators.
Getting Started
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Elasticsearch 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 Elasticsearch
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Elasticsearch, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Elasticsearch by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect. To authenticate, set the User and Password properties, PKI (public key infrastructure) properties, or both. To use PKI, set the SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword properties.
The data provider uses X-Pack Security for TLS/SSL and authentication. To connect over TLS/SSL, prefix the Server value with 'https://'. Note: TLS/SSL and client authentication must be enabled on X-Pack to use PKI.
Once the data provider is connected, X-Pack will then perform user authentication and grant role permissions based on the realms you have configured.
You can then choose the Elasticsearch entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Excel.
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.
Import Elasticsearch Tables in Power Pivot
Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:
- In Excel, click the PowerPivot Window icon in the PowerPivot tab to open PowerPivot.
- Click Home -> Get External Data -> From Data Service -> From OData Data Feed.
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Add authentication parameters. Click Advanced and set the Integrated Security option to Basic. You will need to enter the User Id and Password of a user who has access to the CData API Server. Set the password to the user's authtoken.
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In the Base URL box, enter the OData URL of the CData API Server. For example, http://localhost:8032/api.rsc.
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Select which tables you want to import and click Finish.
You can now work with Elasticsearch data in Power Pivot.
