Business Intelligence on Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance Using Toad Business Intelligence Suite This Dell technical white paper explains how to connect Toad Business Intelligence Suite to Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance Mayura Deshmukh Umesh Sunnapu
This document is for informational purposes only and may contain typographical errors and technical inaccuracies. The content is provided as is, without express or implied warranties of any kind. 2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell and its affiliates cannot be responsible for errors or omissions in typography or photography. Dell, the Dell logo, Boomi, and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, SQL Server, Excel, and Windows Server are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. April 2013 Rev 1.0 ii
Contents Introduction... 4 BI architecture... 4 Toad Data Point... 5 Connecting to Intelligence Central... 5 Connecting to data sources... 7 Decision Point... 8 Connecting to Intelligence Central... 8 Connecting to data sources using Decision Point... 10 Toad Intelligence Central... 13 Connecting to Data Sources using Intelligence Central... 14 Conclusion... 15 Figures Figure 1. BI architecture for Toad BI Suite and QSDW... 4 Figure 2. Data Point to Intelligence Central connection... 6 Figure 3. New user registration form on Intelligence Central... 7 Figure 4. New SQL connection... 8 Figure 5. Connection to Intelligence Central... 9 Figure 6. Decision Point to Intelligence central... 9 Figure 7. Select Data Range for Excel... 10 Figure 8. Column Selection for Excel... 11 Figure 9. Add ODBC driver... 11 Figure 10. SQL server objects listed from Decision Point... 12 Figure 11. Admin Console to Intelligence Central connection... 13 Figure 12. Established Intelligence Central connectivity using Admin Console... 14 Figure 13. Creating Data sources using Intelligence Central... 14 Figure 14. SQL DB Connecting using Intelligence Central... 15 iii
Introduction Every organization collects, stores, and analyzes a vast amount of data related to their products, customers, or competitors in order to derive greater efficiency and competitive advantage. This white paper discusses the Dell end-to-end solution that addresses these Business Intelligence (BI) requirements: Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance (QSDW), a bundled data warehousing solution that includes the hardware, software and implementation services, and Toad BI Suite. Toad BI Suite enables users to find and extract meaningful patterns and useful information from their data warehouse, and also provides useful tools for database administrators to simplify data management and administration. The following sections describe the BI architecture, installation, and connection to QSDW in detail. BI architecture Figure 1 explains how a sample BI architecture can be implemented. Figure 1. BI architecture for Toad BI Suite and QSDW 4
Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance (QSDW) QSDW is a comprehensive data warehousing solution that includes all of the hardware (Dell PowerEdge 12 th generation server), software (Windows Serve 2008 R2 SP1, SQL Server 2012 (Appliance Edition), and Dell Boomi ) together with implementation services to deliver a robust and powerful data warehouse system quickly. For additional information on QSDW, see Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance. Toad Data Point This desktop data management tool connects to nearly all traditional and non-traditional data sources through an intuitive dashboard. Toad Data Point can either directly connect to your QSDW, or communicate with the data warehouse through Toad Intelligence Central. Toad Data Point can be installed on a Virtual Machine (VM), on the client s desktop, or on the server that hosts Toad Intelligence Central. Toad Decision Point Toad Decision Point is a self-service desktop tool for business analytic experts that speeds data analysis and reporting, and also enables users to explore, analyze, and understand data through simple interactive views. It can connect to QSDW either directly or through Intelligence Central, and can also directly connect to a large number of both relational and non-relational data sources. Toad Decision Point is installed on the business user s desktop or laptop. Toad Intelligence Central Enables users of the Suite s desktop tools, Toad Data Point and Toad Decision Point, to easily share, view, and collaborate around data via either a virtual data layer or persisted snapshots published to the server. Intelligence Central can connect to multiple data sources such as SQL server, Oracle, Excel, and even nonrelational databases. It can be installed on a Virtual Machine (VM), on the QSDW, or on a separate Dell server. For more information on the Toad Business Intelligence Suite, or to download the trial version, see Toad Business Intelligence Suite. Toad Data Point Toad Data Point is a cross-platform query and data integration tool that simplifies data access, analysis, and provisioning for data management professionals. This data analysis tool provides nearly limitless data connectivity, desktop data integration, visual query building and workflow automation. Data Point connects to Intelligence Central to facilitate data sharing and also allows access to data sources to work directly with the databases. Connecting to Intelligence Central 1. Double-click the Data Point icon. 2. When the tool opens, click the icon to establish a connection to different types of destinations such as Intelligence Central and cross-platform databases. 5
Figure 2. Data Point to Intelligence Central connection 3. Select Intelligence Central as noted in Figure 2, and enter the information requested. If you do not know the information, consult with the administrator who installed Intelligence Central. Note: If you are connecting as the admin user and you intend to use the root password set up by the administrator, provide Root as the user name, and the password supplied by the administrator. If you are connecting as a user other than the admin user, you will need to register yourself as a new user on Intelligence Central. Intelligence Central allows selfregistration of users from both Toad Data Point and Toad Decision Point. To register, complete the required fields on the Register New User tab as shown in Figure 3. 6
Figure 3. New user registration form on Intelligence Central 4. Click Connect to access Intelligence Central. Note: Once you have connected using this user account within Intelligence Central, the account can be used from either Toad Data Point or Toad Decision Point. Connecting to data sources 1. Follow the same steps noted above for connecting to Intelligence Central. 2. As noted in Figure 4, select SQL Server from within the group box area, and enter Server name, Login, Password, and Database. 7
Figure 4. New SQL connection 3. Click Connect to establish a connection to the SQL server database. Decision Point Toad Decision Point is a self-service desktop BI tool that allows non-technical users to easily consolidate, prepare, browse, and analyze data. Toad Decision point delivers a complete set of features across the main functional BI areas such as connectivity, data preparation, and visualization. Decision Point allows the user to connect to different data sources to extract the necessary data, and Decision Point s connection to Intelligence Central permits extracted data to be shared with other Intelligence Central users. Connecting to Intelligence Central Once Decision Point is installed, connection to Intelligence Central takes just a few clicks. 1. Double click on the Decision Point icon. 8
2. Click on the Intelligence Central icon located at the top of Decision Point tool, and click on New Connection. Figure 5. Connection to Intelligence Central 3. Enter the information requested on the form. If you do not know the information, consult with the administrator who installed Intelligence Central. Note: If connecting Decision Point to a remote Intelligence Central for the first time you will need to self-register on the instance of Intelligence Central selected. Select the Register new login tab and enter the requested information. If you have already registered as a user on this instance of Intelligence Central from within Toad Data Point, you may select the Login tab and enter your previously recorded details. 4. Once the connection is established, clicking on the Intelligence Central icon will provide a drop-down list containing the established connections. 5. Managing the connections can be achieved as shown in the Figure 6. Figure 6. Decision Point to Intelligence central 9
Connecting to data sources using Decision Point Toad Decision Point allows you to connect to three types of data sources; Excel/CSV, ODBC, or Quest Data Services. The steps below describe connecting to SQL Server on the QSDW. Excel 1. Click on the File icon located in the ribbon bar at the top left of the screen 2. Select either excel or CSV from the drop down 3. When the file browser dialog box enter the file location in the file path text box 4. Then choose the sheet that you wish to import 5. Once selected, allow the wizard to select the range of cells you wish to use or deselect the automatic selection and choose the range yourself. Click Next Figure 7. Select Data Range for Excel 6. The column selection dialog will appear choose columns from the data set that you wish to import into your in memory db. 10
Figure 8. Column Selection for Excel 7. Click next and the finish page will appear choose to refresh the data, this will load the data into the in memory db for you to work with. ODBC Sources 1. Click on the ODBC icon located to the left of Decision Point. 2. A dialog box appears, providing the data source name, username, password and database/schema. 3. If you currently do not have any ODBC connections on your system, you will need to create first the data source name manually, and then select that name from the drop-down list. 4. Click on the manage ODBC data sources icon to create a new data source. 5. Click on Add as shown in Figure 9 to add the necessary SQL server driver. Figure 9. Add ODBC driver 11
6. Scroll to the bottom of the screen to select SQL server, and then click Finish. 7. When the new dialog box appears, provide the Name, Description and SQL server name to which the data source is created. 8. Click Next to specify the user credentials. 9. After your user credentials are entered, enter the default database and click Next. 10. A connection to the database will be created and displayed as depicted in Figure 10. Figure 10. SQL server objects listed from Decision Point Create a dataset to visualize the data inside Toad Decision Point by selecting one of the objects from the drop-down list. Quest Data Services Toad Decision Point has its own version of the underlying technology behind Toad Intelligence Central allowing it to connect as a standalone client to a number of other sources including business intelligence semantic layers like Business Objects and Salesforce.com. To connect to these sources, select Intelligence Central from the ribbon bar at the top left of the window. This will open a dialog allowing you to select either a connection to a remote Intelligence Central that you have connected to, or your local Intelligence Central to create connections. 12
Further guidance on creating connections is described in the section below. The console embedded in Toad Decision Point mimics the Toad Intelligence Central console used by admin staff to create connections on the server. However, the connections created in Toad Decision Point are housed in the local client tool and are only available to that user. Once the connection is established, datasets can be created based on need, and shared using Intelligence Central server. Toad Intelligence Central Toad Intelligence Central translates SQL statements into a language understood by a remote data source and returns the results in a familiar tabular row and column format. It also provides a Virtual Data Layer to access these results sets, and the ability to store persisted data as required to be shared with other Toad BI Suite users. It also provides a sandbox area for users to trial and prototype data and visuals. Toad Intelligence Central Admin Console must be installed in order to connect to Toad Intelligence Central. It is expected that readers of this paper should be familiar with this installation procedure. If needed, additional information along with installation guides can be found by visiting www.quest.com. Once Toad Intelligence Central Admin console and Toad Intelligence Central are installed, perform the following: 1. Double-click the Admin Console icon. 2. Click the icon to connect to Intelligence Central from Admin Console. A dialog box appears, prompting the user to enter Host address and Port number. Figure 11. Admin Console to Intelligence Central connection 13
Information regarding Host address, Port, user credentials can be obtained from the individual who installed Intelligence Central. 3. Click OK to connect to Intelligence Central. Figure 12. Established Intelligence Central connectivity using Admin Console Connecting to Data Sources using Intelligence Central With Intelligence Central connected to the Admin Console, creating a connection to data sources will then allow viewing of data in tabular row and column format. To connect to a SQL data source: Figure 13. Creating Data sources using Intelligence Central 1. Right-click the data sources icon under Intelligence Central Server as shown in Figure 13. 2. Create a name for the data source and select the Data source type as SQL Server. Once SQL Server is selected, more information regarding the SQL server Instance name and the database name will need to be provided as indicated in Figure 14. Note: Intelligence Central 2.0.0.286 does not currently support connecting to the SQL server using Windows Authentication. You must connect using SQL Authentication. 14
Figure 14. SQL DB Connecting using Intelligence Central 3. Click OK once the required information is entered, and the Intelligence Central server will connect to the data source. Conclusion Quickstart Data Warehouse gathers data from multiple data sources using Dell BOOMI, loading data into SQL where Toad BI can be used as an analyzing tool, and forming a complete BI solution. Toad BI Suite provides a platform to enable both data provisioners and data analysts to collaborate around data and visualizations in a secure and controlled environment. The suite provides an elastic solution with nearly unlimited connectivity which extends the Quickstart Data Warehouse platform s reach and flexibility. This allows data consumers within the organization to gain insight into their business more quickly, and to make more informed decisions. For more information on Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance, see http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/by-service-type-application-services-business-intelligencequickstart-data-warehouse?c=us&l=en&s=biz. For more information on Toad BI Suite, see http://www.quest.com/business-intelligence-suite/. 15