Connecting to Azure Table Storage

The Sisense Azure Table Storage connector is a certified connector that allows you to import data from the Azure Table API into Sisense via the Sisense generic JDBC connector. The Azure Table connector offers the most natural way to connect to integrate with Azure Table data, and provides additional powerful features.

The support for the connector is provided by Sisense and will be assisted by the certification partner's support, if needed. For any support issues or additional functionality requests, contact your Sisense representative or open a request through the Sisense Help Center. For advanced inquiries specific to driver functionality, you can also contact the certification partner's support directly via support@cdata.com.

After you have downloaded the driver, you can connect through a connection string in Sisense. The connection string is used to authenticate users who want to connect to Azure Table. Once you have connected to Azure Table, you can import a variety of tables from the Azure Table API.

This page describes how to download the Azure Table driver and deploy it, how to connect to Azure Table with a connection string, provides information about the Azure Table data model, and more.

Downloading the Azure Table Storage JDBC Driver

You can download the Azure Table JDBC driver here.

For a short video about downloading the driver, see below (the video uses the Box driver as an example).

Deploying the Azure Table Storage JDBC Driver

Prerequisite: The install file (setup.jar) is a Java Application that requires Java 6 (J2SE) or above to run.
To install the driver, double-click the setup.jar file and proceed with the instructions in the installation wizard.
Depending on the machine on which you are accessing the Sisense application, install the driver in one of the following locations:

• When Sisense is installed on your local machine, deploy the driver locally.
• For a non-local installation (when accessing Sisense on a remote Windows server, or accessing the Sisense hosted cloud environment), select one of the below methods:
  • Deploy the driver on the Sisense server machine, and then perform all the authentication on the server machine. OR
  • Deploy the driver on your local machine (or any other machine, as convenient), perform all the authentication on that machine, and then copy the JAR file to the remote server. For detailed instructions, see Copying a CData JAR File Installed Locally to a Remote Server.
• If you are on a Linux deployment, deploy the driver on your local machine (or any other machine), perform all the authentication on that machine, and then copy the JAR file to this location: /opt/sisense/storage/connectors/jdbcdrivers/driver_name_folder. For detailed instructions, see Copying a CData JAR File Installed Locally to a Remote Server.

For a short video of the process, see below (the video uses the Box driver as an example).

JAVA Troubleshooting

If you do not have Java 6 installed, you may download it from here.

If your system is not set up to run Java applications, execute the following command: java -jar setup.jar

Connecting to Azure Table Storage

After you have installed the Azure Table connector, you can import your data from Azure Table by connecting with a connection string. The connection string contains your Azure Table user credentials. Azure Table uses the connection string to authenticate your account and allow you to extract the relevant data for your account.
To create the connection string:

1. Open the lib directory for the connector. The default path is: C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for <Driver Name> 2019\lib

2. Double-click the JAR file in the lib directory.

   

   Alternatively, to open the JAR file from the command line, enter the following command in the command prompt (change the driver name to your driver):

   cd C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for <Driver Name> 2019\lib.

   Press Enter and then enter the following command (change the driver name to your driver):

   "C:\Program Files\Sisense\infra\jre\bin\java.exe" -jar cdata.jdbc.<Driver Name>.jar.

   Press Enter again.

   Example:

   

   The Connection String Builder opens.

3. Enter the values for the following connection properties (click in the Value column to enter a value or to modify an existing value):
   • Account: Set to the storage account name.
   • AccessKey: Set the AccessKey of the storage account to connect. If using Storage as the backend, follow the steps below to obtain these values:
     1. Log into the Azure portal and select Storage Accounts in the services menu on the left.
     2. If you currently do not have any storage accounts, create one by clicking the Add button.
     3. Click the link for the storage account you want to use and select Access Keys under Settings. The Access Keys window contains the storage account name and key (you can use either key1 or key2 to connect) that you will need to use in the driver. These properties map to the Account and AccessKey driver connection properties respectively.

If using CosmosDB as the backend, click here for instructions on obtaining these values.

• If the Connection String Builder has a InitiateOAuth property, set it to OFF to avoid entering the OAuth Authorization process. Note: This property may not appear for some connectors.
• Press Enter to add all the connection properties to the connection string.
  

  An example of the connection string:

  jdbc:azuretables:AccessKey=myAccessKey;Account=myAccountName;

• Click Test Connection. A new browser tab opens where you need to log in to your application in order to grant access.
  

  Close the Authorization Successful! message that opens.

• Go back to the Connection String Builder dialog, and click OK in the Test Connection Successful message to close it.
• Click Copy to Clipboard to obtain the connection string.

For a short video of the process, see below (the video uses the XML driver as an example):

You need to follow the above instructions only on first connect, and then when your credentials to the application change.
To help you create a connection string and test the connection, see Connection String Builder for Certified Connectors .
If you have any issues connecting to your data source, see Troubleshooting JDBC Data Connectors.

Adding Azure Table Storage Tables to your ElastiCube

1. Open Sisense. (For a non-local installation, open Sisense on the hosted cloud environment.)

2. In the Data page, open an ElastiCube or create a new ElastiCube.

3. In the Model Editor, click . The Add Data dialog box is displayed.

   

4. Click Generic JDBC to open the JDBC settings.

   

5. In Connection String, paste the string you obtained above.
6. In JDBC JARs Folder, enter the name of the directory where the Azure Table JAR file is located (see Deploying the Azure Table Storage JDBC Driver).
7. In Driver's Class Name, enter the following class name: cdata.jdbc.azuretables.AzureTablesDriver.
8. If you wish to secure the connection, enter your Azure Table credentials in User Name and Password and remove the relevant properties from the connection string. Otherwise, leave these fields blank.
9. Click Next. A list of tables in the database are displayed. All tables and views associated with the database will appear in a new window.
10. From the Tables list, select the relevant table or view you want to work with. You can click next to the relevant table or click Preview to see a preview of the data inside it.
11. (Optional) Click + to customize the data you want to import with SQL. See Importing Data with Custom Queries for more information.
12. After you have selected all the relevant tables, click Done. The tables are added to your data model.

For a short video of the process, see below (the video uses the XML driver as an example):

Azure Table Storage Connector: Additional Resources

For the full documentation set for the Azure Table connector, click here.

For connection string options, click here.

For information about the Azure Table data model, click here.