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

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

Configure SingleStore Connectivity for Metabase

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

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

   The following connection properties are required in order to connect to data.

   • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
   • Port: The port of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
   • Database (Optional): The default database to connect to when connecting to the SingleStore Server. If this is not set, tables from all databases will be returned.

   Connect Using Standard Authentication

   To authenticate using standard authentication, set the following:

   • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.
   • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.

   Connect Using Integrated Security

   As an alternative to providing the standard username and password, you can set IntegratedSecurity to True to authenticate trusted users to the server via Windows Authentication.

   Connect Using SSL Authentication

   You can leverage SSL authentication to connect to SingleStore data via a secure session. Configure the following connection properties to connect to data:

   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate. Used in the case of 2-way SSL, where truststore and keystore are kept on both the client and server machines.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSLClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSLServerCert: The certificate to be accepted from the server.

   Connect Using SSH Authentication

   Using SSH, you can securely login to a remote machine. To access SingleStore data via SSH, configure the following connection properties:

   • SSHClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate.
   • SSHClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSHClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSHClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSHPassword: The password that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
   • SSHPort: The port used for SSH operations.
   • SSHServer: The SSH authentication server you are trying to authenticate against.
   • SSHServerFingerPrint: The SSH Server fingerprint used for verification of the host you are connecting to.
   • SSHUser: Set this to the username that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SingleStore 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 SingleStore 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. "SingleStore (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. SingleStore1)
   • 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 SingleStore Data with Metabase

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

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

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