SAP BusinessObjects

The section explains how to connect SAP BusinessObjects to your Exasol database using the Exasol ODBC and JDBC drivers.

SAP BusinessObjects is a business intelligence software and big data analytics platform that helps you explore, analyze, and share real-time business analytics easily. For more information, see SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform.

Exasol takes no responsibility for changes in functionality or terms of use for third-party tools. For more details about the compatibility and use of these tools with Exasol, refer to the respective software vendor’s website.

Prerequisites

  • You must have a running Instance of SAP BusinessObjects.

  • Your Exasol database must be running and reachable from the environment where the tool is used.

  • Exasol ODBC or JDBC driver must be installed. For more information, see Drivers and libraries.

Exasol SaaS

  • The IP address of the host where the tool is running must be in the allowed IP address list in Exasol SaaS. To learn how to allow traffic to your database, see Network security (SaaS).

  • To connect the tool to an Exasol SaaS cluster you will need the connection string and a personal access token (PAT) for authentication. To learn how to get the connection details, see Connect to Exasol SaaS.

ODBC connection

Configure the driver

  1. Download and install the Exasol ODBC driver and create a DSN to your Exasol database.

  2. Open the odbc.prm file from the Exasol ODBC driver installation directory and modify the following parameters:

    Copy 
    <Parameter Name="DB_TYPE">GENERIC</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="EXT_JOIN">YES</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="CONCAT">||</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="COMMA">||' '||</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="OUTERJOINS_GENERATION">USUAL</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="LEFT_OUTER">$(+)</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="RIGHT_OUTER">$(+)</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="EXT_JOIN_INVERT">YES</Parameter>

  3. Save the file.

You can now connect to Exasol using the ODBC driver.

JDBC connection

To set up the JDBC driver for Exasol, do the following:

  1. Copy the exajdbc.jar into the driver folder in the BusinessObjects installation directory.
  2. Create a copy of the jdbc.sbo file and add the following lines:
    Copy
    <JDBCDriver>
        <ClassPath>
            <Path>$ROOT$/drivers/java/dbd_jdbcwrapper.jar</Path>
            <Path>C:\JDBC-drivers\exajdbc.jar</Path>
        </ClassPath>
    ...
    <Databases>
            <DataBase Active="Yes" Name="Exasol JDBC">
                    <Parameter Name="JDBC Class">com.exasol.jdbc.EXADriver</Parameter>
                    <Parameter Name="URL Format">jdbc:exa:$DATASOURCE$</Parameter>
  3. Save the new file.

You can now connect to Exasol using the JDBC driver.

Connect SAP BusinessObjects to Exasol

Using ODBC

  1. In the Information Design Tool, create a new local project and a new relational connection.

  2. In the Database Middleware Driver Selection dialog, select GENERIC > Generic ODBC Datasource > ODBC driver and set the following parameters:

    • User Name: The name of the Exasol user.

    • Password: The password of the Exasol user.

      For Exasol SaaS, use a valid personal access token as password.

    • Data Source Name: the DSN for your Exasol database.

  3. Click on Finish.

Using JDBC

  1. In the Information Design Tool, create a new local project and a new relational connection.

  2. In the Database Middleware Driver Selection dialog, select GENERIC > Exasol JDBC > JDBC driver and set the following parameters:

    • JDBC-URL: jdbc:exa:<host>:<port>

      To learn about supported URL structures for the JDBC driver, see Exasol URL.

      For Exasol SaaS, use the connection string provided in the web console as hostname.

    • JDBC Class: com.exasol.jdbc.EXADriver

  3. Click on Finish.