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Use the API Server and IBM Informix ADO.NET Provider to Access IBM Informix Data in Microsoft PowerPivot
Use the API Server to connect to live IBM Informix data in the PowerPivot business intelligence tool.
This article will explain how to use the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for IBM Informix (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers) to provide IBM Informix 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 IBM Informix data in Power Pivot.
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure IBM Informix 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 IBM Informix
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for IBM Informix, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to IBM Informix by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
Set the following properties to connect to IBM Informix
- Server: Set this to the name of the server running IBM Informix.
- Port: Set this to the port the IBM Informix server is listening on.
- Database: Set this to the name of the IBM Informix database.
- User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
- Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.
You can then choose the IBM Informix 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 IBM Informix 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 IBM Informix data in Power Pivot.
