Getting started with the Teradata connector

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1 Getting started with the Teradata connector This document provides instructions to quickly get you up and running connecting to Teradata in TIBCO Spotfire, using the Spotfire Teradata connector. The Spotfire Teradata connector supports both the in-database and in-memory use case. In-memory is when you import the data into Spotfire and then manipulate the data in the Spotfire data engine. However, as Teradata is specifically designed to handle massive amounts of data, importing all that data into Spotfire is typically not an option. That s when you want to use the in-database load method; that is, sending live queries and using Teradata as an alternative data engine and have Teradata perform the various data calculations and manipulations, without having to move the data, and bring back only the aggregated view into Spotfire. Prerequisites The TIBCO Spotfire Teradata connector is available in Spotfire version 5.0 and later. The Teradata connector is enabled by default, but because the Teradata connector provides direct client access to the Teradata database, it requires that the.net Data Provider for Teradata is installed on the computer running the Spotfire client. The.NET Data Provider for Teradata must be installed on all computers that are running Spotfire clients that will connect to Teradata, including computers running Spotfire Automation Services or Web Player services. For information about the supported versions of the.net Data Provider for Teradata, see the official System Requirements for the Spotfire Teradata Connector. To download the.net Data Provider for Teradata, go to Teradata Downloads. You need a Teradata Downloads account, which you can create one for free by clicking Register.

2 Connecting to Teradata Note: In this guide, version 7.11 of Spotfire is used for images and examples. To access the Teradata connector in a Spotfire installed client, select File > Add Data Tables. In the Add Data Tables dialog box, click Add and, in the drop-down menu, select Connection to > Teradata. See Figure 1. Figure 1, load data from Teradata. If the menu item for the Teradata connector is grayed out, and listed under Unavailable Connectors, this is an indication that the.net Data Provider for Teradata is not installed. See Figure 2. Figure 2, indication of missing.net Data Provider. When you select Connection To > Teradata in the Add drop-down menu, you are presented with the Teradata Connection dialog box, where you can enter the information required to connect to your Teradata instance. See Figure 3.

3 Figure 3, the Teradata Connection dialog box. To connect to your Teradata instance, you need to supply the following minimum information: Under Server, enter the Teradata server name or IP address. Port number must be specified only when not using the Teradata default 1025 port. In that case, the format is <server-name>:<port-number> Select the authentication method, either Teradata authentication, LDAP or Windows authentication. Teradata authentication corresponds to TD2 authentication, whereas Windows Authentication is Kerberos/SPNEGO. LDAP authentication was introduced in Spotfire version Username is applicable for the Teradata and LDAP authentication methods, in which case it must be the username of the Teradata database user or LDAP user respectively Password is applicable for the Teradata and LDAP authentication methods; it must be the password of the Teradata database user or LDAP user respectively

4 Figure 4, advanced and query banding options in the Teradata Connection dialog box. When you connect to Teradata in Spotfire, you can of course also configure other settings (see figure 4). You can specify timeouts and configure the connection to use query banding. You can also enable X Views, to only show the tables and databases that you have access to, which can speed up metadata loading. After you have entered all mandatory information, click Connect. When the connection has been established, the Database drop-down menu is populated with the available databases. Depending on whether X Views is used (introduced in Spotfire version 6.0), the list of available databases might look different for the same user login. Select the database of interest and click OK, to proceed to the Views in Connection dialog box, where you specify what data in the database that you want to access in Spotfire. See figure 5.

5 Figure 5, the Views in Connection dialog box where you select data to load from Teradata. In the Views in Connection dialog box, you can quickly choose data by selecting the database tables and columns that you want to include. You can also easily access more powerful capabilities, which enable you to design a data connection that includes just the data that you want to analyze in Spotfire, for example: Create parameterized custom queries. Use Relations to automatically join related database tables into a single Spotfire data tables, or manually create new relations. Define prompts, enabling the end user of the connection to specify which data should be loaded. Rename the columns that will be included in the resulting Spotfire data tables, by simply right-clicking columns in the Columns in selected view list and selecting Rename.

6 When you have selected all the data that you want to include in the connection, click OK to proceed. In the Add Data Tables dialog box, you can define the load method for each data table in the connection; whether to work with the data in-memory or in-database, before clicking OK to load and start analyzing the data in Spotfire. Troubleshooting Question: The Teradata connector is not visible, or is disabled, in Spotfire. Answer: Make sure that the.net Data Provider for Teradata has been properly installed on the target machine. Spotfire has a mechanism for limiting what s visible to an end user in the Spotfire client UI and the Teradata connector has been configured to be visible by default. This is controlled through the Spotfire Administration Manager UI, see Figure 4. If the.net driver has been successfully installed and the connector still does not show as an option in the Spotfire Add Data Tables user interface, make sure that it hasn t been explicitly disabled for a particular user or group of users. Figure 6, the Spotfire Administration Manager.

7 Important note, these are not licenses in the traditional sense, they are only used to control what s visible to an end user; you don t need a separate license key to use the Teradata connector in Spotfire. Question: I get an error message when I click the Connect button in the Teradata connector login dialog Answer: Make sure you use the correct authentication information, e.g., that the username and password supplied for Teradata authentication are actual database user information and not an LDAP user. If the problem remains, enable DEBUG logging in Spotfire, located under the Help -> Support Diagnostics and Logging on the Logging tab, and then try to reconnect to Teradata. The log file provides additional information that can help diagnose the issue. Question: Where can I find more information about the Teradata connector in Spotfire? Answer: For detailed information about the Teradata connector, see the Spotfire Analyst User s Guide. There you can find information about the different connection options, supported data types and functions. The User s Guide is available on the TIBCO Product Documentation Portal. Select your version of Spotfire, and then click Web Help. The chapters that cover the Teradata connector are available under Connectors > Teradata. Another source of information is the official System Requirements for the Spotfire Teradata Connector.