Build Azure Synapse-Connected Dashboards in Redash

Redash lets you connect and query your data sources, build dashboards to visualize data and share them with your company. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Azure Synapse data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Azure Synapse and build visualizations from Azure Synapse data in Redash.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Azure Synapse, allowing you to easily build reports from live Azure Synapse data in Redash — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Redash generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Azure Synapse, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Azure Synapse data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Azure Synapse Data

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Azure Synapse" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Azure Synapse.

   Connecting to Azure Synapse

   In addition to providing authentication (see below), set the following properties to connect to a Azure Synapse database:

   • Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to Azure Synapse Analytics -> Select your database -> Overview -> Server name.
   • Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the Azure Synapse Analytics page.

   Authenticating to Azure Synapse

   Connect to Azure Synapse using the following properties:

   • User: The username provided for authentication with Azure.
   • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Azure Synapse data from Redash.

Visualize Azure Synapse Data in Redash

The steps below outline creating a new data source in Redash based on the virtual Azure Synapse database in Connect Server and building a simple visualization from the data.

Create a New Data Source

1. Log into Redash, click on your profile and click "Data Sources"
2. Click the " New Data Source" button
3. Select "Microsoft SQL Server" as the Data Source Type
4. On the configuration tab, set the following properties:
   • Name: Name the data source (e.g. Azure Synapse (CData Connect))
   • Host: The full URL to your CData Connect instance (e.g. https://connect_server_url)
   • Port: The port of the CData Connect SQL Server endpoint (e.g. 1433)
   • User: A CData Connect user
   • Password: The password for the above user
   • Database name: The name of the virtual database for Azure Synapse (e.g. AzureSynapse1)
   • Click the checkbox to Use SSQL
5. Click Create
6. Click the "Test Connection" button to ensure you have configured the connection properly

With the new Data Source created, we are ready to visualize our Azure Synapse data.

Create a Azure Synapse Data Visualization

1. Click Create -> New Query
2. Select the newly created Data Source (you can explore the data structure in the New Query wizard)
3. Write a SQL statement to retrieve the data, for example:
   SELECT Id, ProductName FROM Products WHERE ProductName = 'Konbu'
4. Click the "Execute" button to load Azure Synapse data into Redash via CData Connect
5. Use the Visualization Editor to create and analyze graphs from Azure Synapse data
6. You can schedule the query to refresh and update the visualization periodically

SQL Access to Azure Synapse Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to Azure Synapse data from Redash. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from cloud applications like Redash, refer to our Connect Server page.