Build Interactive Dashboards from SAS xpt 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 SAS xpt data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for SAS xpt in Connect Server and build dashboards in Amazon QuickSight with access to SAS xpt data.

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

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

   Connecting to Local SASXpt Files

   You can connect to local SASXpt file by setting the URI to a folder containing SASXpt files.

   Connecting to S3 data source

   You can connect to Amazon S3 source to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

   • URI: Set this to the folder within your bucket that you would like to connect to.
   • AWSAccessKey: Set this to your AWS account access key.
   • AWSSecretKey: Set this to your AWS account secret key.
   • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

   Connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

   You can connect to ADLS Gen2 to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

   • URI: Set this to the name of the file system and the name of the folder which contacts your SASXpt files.
   • AzureAccount: Set this to the name of the Azure Data Lake storage account.
   • AzureAccessKey: Set this to our Azure DataLakeStore Gen 2 storage account access key.
   • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

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 SAS xpt data from Quicksight.

Import SAS xpt Data into SPICE and Create Interactive Dashboards

The steps below outline creating a new data set based on the virtual SAS xpt 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 SAS xpt Data from Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to SAS xpt 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.