How to integrate Metabase with Greenplum 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 Greenplum data. This article describes how to connect to Greenplum and build a simple visualization using Greenplum data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Greenplum, allowing you to easily integrate with live Greenplum 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 Greenplum, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Greenplum data.

Configure Greenplum Connectivity for Metabase

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

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

   To connect to Greenplum, set the Server, Port (the default port is 5432), and Database connection properties and set the User and Password you wish to use to authenticate to the server. If the Database property is not specified, the default database for the authenticate user is used.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Greenplum 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 Greenplum 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. "Greenplum (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. Greenplum1)
   • 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 Greenplum Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query Greenplum and build visualizations.

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

   SELECT Freight, ShipName FROM Orders WHERE ShipCountry = USA

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 Greenplum data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Greenplum data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Greenplum (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Greenplum data in Metabase today.