Visualize Phoenix Data in Tableau Desktop (through CData Connect)

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 Phoenix data within Tableau.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Phoenix, allowing you to easily build reports from live Phoenix 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 Phoenix, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Phoenix data.

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

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

   Connect to Apache Phoenix via the Phoenix Query Server. Set the Server and Port (if different from the default port) properties to connect to Apache Phoenix. The Server property will typically be the host name or IP address of the server hosting Apache Phoenix.

   Authenticating to Apache Phoenix

   By default, no authentication will be used (plain). If authentication is configured for your server, set AuthScheme to NEGOTIATE and set the User and Password properties (if necessary) to authenticate through Kerberos.

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 Phoenix data from Tableau Desktop.

Visualize Live Phoenix Data in Tableau Desktop

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual Phoenix 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 Phoenix 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 Phoenix Data from On-Premise Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Phoenix 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 Phoenix) from desktop applications like Tableau refer to our CData Connect page or download a free trial.