Build Interactive Dashboards from Google Spanner Data in Amazon QuickSight

Amazon QuickSight allows users to build interactive dashboards in the cloud. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get direct access to Google Spanner data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Google Spanner in Connect Server and build dashboards in Amazon QuickSight with access to Google Spanner data.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Google Spanner, allowing you to easily build reports from live Google Spanner data in Quicksight — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Quicksight 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 Google Spanner, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Google Spanner data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Google Spanner 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 "Google Spanner" from Available Data Sources.
3. Google Spanner uses OAuth to authenticate. Click Connect to authenticate with Google Spanner.
4. 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 Google Spanner data from Quicksight.

Import Google Spanner Data into SPICE and Create Interactive Dashboards

The steps below outline creating a new data set based on the virtual Google Spanner database in Connect Server, importing the dataset into SPICE, and building a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into Amazon QuickSight and on the left panel click "Datasets"
2. Click "New dataset," select SQL Server as the data source, configure the connection to your Connect Server instance, and click "Create data source"
3. Select a table to visualize (or submit a custom SQL query for your data) and click Select.
4. Select "Import to SPICE for quicker analytics" and click "Visualize."
5. Select fields to visualize as well as a visual type.

Schedule Refreshes for SPICE Data Sets

QuickSight users can schedule refreshes for data sets that are imported into SPICE, ensuring that data being analyzed is only as old as the most recent refresh.

1. Navigate to the QuickSight home page.
2. Click "Manage data."
3. Select the data set you wish to refresh.
4. Click "Schedule refresh."
5. Click Create, configure the refresh settings (time zone, repeat frequency, and starting datetime), and click Create.

SQL Access to Google Spanner Data from Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to Google Spanner data from your Amazon QuickSight dashboard. You can create new visualizations, build interactive dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 250 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from applications like Amazon QuickSight, refer to our Connect Server page.