MicroStrategy ONE

Create a Database Connection

When you import data from a relational data source, you must establish communication between MicroStrategy and your data source. To establish communication, you create an database connection, which enables Workstation to retrieve data from your data source. Relational data sources include Google BigQuery, Hadoop, and Teradata, among others.

You can also import data into MicroStrategy databases that are not packaged with a MicroStrategy-branded driver. One way to connect to these databases is to use an existing DSN for the database. If a DSN is not available, you can create a direct connection to the database. When creating a direct connection to these types of databases, you must ensure that MicroStrategy can locate the correct driver for the database.

You must have the "Create and Edit Database Instances and Connections" and "Create and Edit Database Logins" privileges to define a new database connection.

If you plan to connect to a data source using a DSN, the DSN must be created and available. If a DSN is not available, you can use the DSNLess Connection option to connect to your data source.

An administrator must install the driver for your data source. Steps to install drivers for your data source are provided in the Installation and Configuration Help.

  1. Open a dashboard.
  2. Choose Add Data > New Data.
  3. To import data from a specific database, select the corresponding logo (Amazon Redshift, Apache Cassandra, Cloudera Hive, Google BigQuery, Hadoop, etc.). If you select Pig or Web Services, the Import from Tables dialog opens, bypassing the Select Import Options dialog, allowing you to type a query to import a table. If you select Pig or Web Services, go to step 5. If you select SAP Hana, you must build or type a query, instead of selecting tables.

  4. Click Select Tables.
  5. Click Next.
  6. If you are importing tables by browsing the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).
  7. On the Import from Tables dialog, click Add next to Data Sources/Projects. The Data Source Dialog opens.
  8. Select DSN-less Data Sources to connect directly to a data source.
  9. or

    Select DSN Data Source to connect to a data source that requires a DSN.

    or

    Select the Database and Version to connect using Hadoop.

  10. Complete the remaining fields. See the Installation and Configuration Help for a detailed list of information required for each database type.
  11. Click OK.

Related Topics

How to Manage Database Connections

How to Set User Privileges for Shared Data Sources