How to integrate Metabase with Azure Analysis Services Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live Azure Analysis Services data. This article describes how to connect to Azure Analysis Services and build a simple visualization using Azure Analysis Services data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Azure Analysis Services, allowing you to easily integrate with live Azure Analysis Services data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Azure Analysis Services, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Azure Analysis Services data.

Configure Azure Analysis Services Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Azure Analysis Services from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Azure Analysis Services data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Azure Analysis Services connection.

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

   To connect to Azure Analysis Services, set the Url property to a valid server, for instance, asazure://southcentralus.asazure.windows.net/server, in addition to authenticating. Optionally, set Database to distinguish which Azure database on the server to connect to.

   Azure Analysis Services uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Azure Analysis Services using the browser. You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. See the Help documentation for more information.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Azure Analysis Services Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Azure Analysis Services data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Azure Analysis Services (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. AAS1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute Azure Analysis Services Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query Azure Analysis Services and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Azure Analysis Services data
2. Write a SQL query based on the Azure Analysis Services connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT Country, Education FROM Customer WHERE Country = 'Australia'

3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from Azure Analysis Services data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Azure Analysis Services data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Azure Analysis Services (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Azure Analysis Services data in Metabase today.