Connecting Bold BI to Amazon Redshift Database

Using the Amazon Redshift connection type, you can connect an Amazon Redshift database.

Click Data Source button in the configuration panel to add a new data connection.

Click CREATE NEW to launch a new connection from the connection type panel.

Click Amazon Redshift connection button in the connection type panel.

Set the server Name and port number where the Amazon Redshift service is running.

Enter the user name and password to connect to the Amazon Redshift.

There are two connection types available in a data source:

• Live mode
• Extract mode

Live mode connection

In this connection type, a data source is directly fetched from source. Choose the Live mode option for this connection.

NOTE: To connect data source with SSH, enable the SSH check box in the NEW DATA SOURCE configuration panel and enter the required credentials.

The selected database will be opened in the data design view window.

Drag and drop the table from table list, and click Save button to save the data source with valid name.

Extract mode connection

In this connection type, a data source is fetched from source periodically. Choose the Extract mode option for this connection.

NOTE: Initially, data will be extracted based on the Max Rows selected in order to proceed with data model creation. The remaining records (there is no limit) will be extracted during the next refresh.

Refresh Settings

Steps to configure the data source refresh settings:

1. Click Refresh Settings in the configuration panel.

2. Select the recurrence type, recurrence start, and end dates in the Refresh Setting dialog box.

   • Data refresh can be scheduled hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.
   • Application Time Zone is displayed below the date picker. Start time of the schedule is converted to the client Time Zone and shown at the right-side for users convenience. After selecting, click Schedule.

Preview and data import

1. Click Connect to redshift server with configured details.

2. The Extract Data dialog opens. This dialog has two modes of connection either via Table or Custom query.

   • Under custom query option, write the required query and click Connect.
   • Under the Table option, This dialog displays list of tables and views in treeview. Select the required table(s) or view(s) from treeview to use in the designer. The option is available for configuring incremental refresh column (The table must have a primary key column and date column to configure this option) for the selected items in the right side panel. If you configured it, then the data source will work on Incremental update, otherwise works on Full load concept. And finally click Connect.

1. Now, the data design view page with the selected table schema opens. Drag the table.

• You can use the Code View option for passing query to display data.

Click Save to save the data source with a relevant name.

NOTE: In future, you can edit the connection information for both live and extract mode connections using the Edit Connection option.

Connecting Bold BI to Amazon Redshift Data Source via REST API

Prerequisites

Type while creating the data source needs to be redshift.

Rest API - v4.0

Modes

Through the REST API, only the live mode data source can be created and edited.

Parameters for creating Data Source

Parameters for adding expressions when creating Data Source

Parameters for editing Data Source

NOTE: For editing Data Source via API. All the parameters are optional. The parameter which needs to be changed can be provided.

Parameters for modifying expressions when editing Data Source

Connection Sample for Table Mode

For creating connection:

"Connection": [
{
"Servername": "string",
"Port": "string",
"Username": "string",
"Password": "string",
"Database": "string",
"Schemaname": "string",
"Tablename": "string",
"AdvancedSettings": "string",
"CommandTimeout": "string",
"IsSshConnection": "false",
"SshServerName": "string",
"SshPort": 0,
"SshUsername": "string",
"SshPassword": "string",
"Expressions" : [{
"Name": "Expression1",
"Expression" : "SUM(numeric expression)"
    },
    {
"Name": "Expression2",
"Expression" :  "UPPER(string expression)"
}]
}
]

For editing connection:

"Connection": [
{
"Servername": "string",
"Port": "string",
"Username": "string",
"Password": "string",
"Database": "string",
"Schemaname": "string",
"Tablename": "string",
"AdvancedSettings": "string",
"CommandTimeout": "string",
"IsSshConnection": "false",
"SshServerName": "string",
"SshPort": 0,
"SshUsername": "string",
"SshPassword": "string",
"Expressions" : [{
"Name": "Expression1",
"Expression" : "SUM(numeric expression)",
"NewName" : "Sum",
"Action": "edit"
    },
    {
"Name": "Expression2",
"Expression" :  "UPPER(string expression)"
"Action": "delete"
}]
}
]

NOTE: Through Rest API, the data source can be created or edited with only one table. If different table is provided in edit data source, the table will be replaced. The widgets will be retained only if the schema is same as the previous table.

Connection Sample for Code View Mode

"Connection": [
{
"Servername": "string",
"Port": "string",
"Username": "string",
"Password": "string",
"Database": "string",
"Query": "string",
"AdvancedSettings": "string",
"CommandTimeout": "string",
"IsSshConnection": "false",
"SshServerName": "string",
"SshPort": 0,
"SshUsername": "string",
"SshPassword": "string",
"Expressions" : [{
"Name": "Expression1",
"Expression" : "SUM(numeric expression)"
    },
    {
"Name": "Expression2",
"Expression" :  "UPPER(string expression)"
}]
}
]

Related links

Data Transformation

Editing a Data Connection

Dashboard Designer Walkthrough

Blog post for Amazon Redshift

Amazon Redshift Integration