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Visualize IBM Cloud Object Storage Data in Tableau Desktop (through CData Connect)


Create a virtual SQL Server database for IBM Cloud Object Storage data in CData Connect (or Connect Server) and build visualizations from live IBM Cloud Object Storage data in Tableau Desktop.

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect (or Connect Server), you can easily get access to live IBM Cloud Object Storage data within Tableau.

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

This article shows how to create a virtual SQL Server database for IBM Cloud Object Storage, connect to the virtual database in Tableau, and build a simple chart.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for IBM Cloud Object Storage 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 "IBM Cloud Object Storage" from Available Data Sources.
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage.

    Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage

    If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:

    1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
    2. Navigate to the page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of Cloud Object Storage you just created.

    Connecting using OAuth Authentication

    There are certain connection properties you need to set before you can connect. You can obtain these as follows:

    API Key

    To connect with IBM Cloud Object Storage, you need an API Key. You can obtain this as follows:

    1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
    2. Navigate to the Platform API Keys page.
    3. On the middle-right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" to create a new API Key.
    4. In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Note the API Key as you can never access it again from the dashboard.

    Cloud Object Storage CRN

    If you have multiple accounts, you will need to specify the CloudObjectStorageCRN explicitly. To find the appropriate value, you can:

    • Query the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud Object Storage instances along with the CRN for each.
    • Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.

    Connecting to Data

    You can now set the following to connect to data:

    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
    • ApiKey: Set this to your API key which was noted during setup.
    • CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): Set this to the cloud object storage CRN you want to work with. While the connector attempts to retrieve this automatically, specifying this explicitly is recommended if you have more than Cloud Object Storage account.

    When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.

    1. Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
    2. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.
  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 IBM Cloud Object Storage data from Tableau Desktop.

Visualize Live IBM Cloud Object Storage Data in Tableau Desktop

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual IBM Cloud Object Storage database in CData Connect and building a simple visualization from the data.

  1. Open Tableau and click "Microsoft SQL Server" under Connect -> To a Server.
  2. In the connection wizard, enter the values for your CData Connect instance and click "Sign In"
    • Server: the address of your Connect instance and port of the TDS endpoint, separated by a comma (default port is: 1433)
    • Database: the virtual database you configured for the IBM Cloud Object Storage data
    • Username & Password: the credentials for a CData Connect user
  3. Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINed tables as needed).
  4. Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.

SQL Access to IBM Cloud Object Storage Data from On-Premise Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live IBM Cloud Object Storage data from your Tableau Desktop workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 200 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including IBM Cloud Object Storage) from desktop applications like Tableau refer to our CData Connect page or download a free trial.