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

  • Your Exasol SaaS database must be running. For more information, see Database Management.

  • The IP address of the host where the tool is running must be in the allowed IP address list. For more information, see Network Security.

  • Exasol ODBC driver is installed
  • A running Instance of SAP BusinessObjects

ODBC Connection

Get ODBC Driver and Connection Details

To connect to your Exasol SaaS database from a tool you need a valid connection string. You must also allow network access to the database from the tool, and make sure that the latest Exasol ODBC driver is installed.

  1. On the Databases page in the web console, click on Connect via tools on the cluster that you want to connect to.

    connect via tools

  2. In the wizard, enter the IP address of the client or server that will connect to the database and click Add IP, then click Next. This will add the IP address to the list of IP addresses that are allowed network access to the cluster. The allow list is found on the Security page in the web console. For more information, see Network Security.

    If the IP address is already present in the allow list, just click Next.

    enter ip address

  3. If the latest ODBC driver for your operating system is not already installed, select the driver type and operating system and click on Download to download the latest driver to your local system. For more information about how to install the driver, see ODBC Driver.

    download driver

  4. Click on Next to view your connection details:

    connection details

  5. Copy the Connection string, Port, and User name values from the Connect details dialog. You will need to enter this information in the tool that should connect to the Exasol SaaS database.

  6. To generate a new Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication in the client, click on the Password row, then click on Copy to copy the PAT to your clipboard. For more information, see Personal Access Token.

    generated pat

    The generated PAT is only shown once and cannot be retrieved after you have closed the wizard.

  7. Click on Done to close the wizard.

Configure the Driver

To set up the ODBC driver in Windows ODBC Administration:

  1. Configure the Exasol ODBC driver and datasource as described in Configure the driver and data sources.
  2. Open odbc.prm file from the ODBC installation directory and modify the following parameters.
    <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. For more information, see Using ODBC Driver.

JDBC Connection

Get JDBC Driver and Connection Details

To connect to your Exasol SaaS database from a tool you need a valid connection string. You must also allow network access to the database from the tool, and make sure that the latest Exasol JDBC driver is installed.

  1. On the Databases page in the web console, click on Connect via tools on the cluster that you want to connect to.

    connect via tools

  2. In the wizard, enter the IP address of the client or server that will connect to the database and click Add IP, then click Next. This will add the IP address to the list of IP addresses that are allowed network access to the cluster. The allow list is found on the Security page in the web console. For more information, see Network Security.

    If the IP address is already present in the allow list, just click Next.

    enter ip address

  3. If the latest JDBC driver for your operating system is not already installed, select the driver type and operating system and click on Download to download the latest driver to your local system. For more information about how to install the driver, see JDBC Driver.

    download driver

  4. Click on Next to view your connection details:

    connection details

  5. Copy the Connection string, Port, and User name values from the Connect details dialog. You will need to enter these details in the tool that should connect to the Exasol SaaS database.

  6. To generate a new Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication in the client, click on the Password row, then click on Copy to copy the PAT to your clipboard. For more information, see Personal Access Token.

    generated pat

    The generated PAT is only shown once and cannot be retrieved after you have closed the wizard.

  7. Click on Done to close the wizard.

Configure the Driver

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

  1. Go to the JDBC driver folder in the BusinessObjects installation directory.
    For example, C:\BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\dataAccess\connectionServer\jdbc
  2. Copy the exajdbc.jar into the directory.
  3. Create a copy of the jdbc.sbo file.
  4. Open the file in a text editor and add the following lines in the new file.
    <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>
  5. Save the file.

You can now connect to Exasol using JDBC driver, see Using JDBC Driver.

Connect SAP BusinessObjects to Exasol

Using ODBC Driver

Do the following to connect to Exasol using ODBC driver:

  1. Open the Information Design Tool from Start> SAP Business Intelligence > SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4 Client Tools.
  2. Create a new local project:
    1. Select File > New > Project.
    2. Add a name for the project.
    3. Click Finish.
  3. Right-click the Project and select New > Relational Connection.
  4. In New Relational Connection dialog, add resource name, description, and click Next.
  5. Do the following in the Database Middleware Driver Selection dialog:
    • Select GENERIC > Generic ODBC Datasource > ODBC driver.
    • Add username and password.
    • Choose a data source name for the ODBC alias.
  6. Click Finish.

Using JDBC Driver

Do the following to connect to Exasol using JDBC driver:

  1. Open the Information Design Tool from Start> SAP Business Intelligence > SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4 Client Tools.
  2. Create a new local project:
    1. Select File > New > Project.
    2. Add a name for the project.
    3. Click Finish.
  3. Right-click the Project and select New > Relational Connection.
  4. In New Relational Connection dialog, add resource name, description, and click Next.
  5. Do the following in the Database Middleware Driver Selection dialog:
    • Select GENERIC > Exasol JDBC > JDBC driver.
    • Add JDBC-URL: jdbc:exa:<host-range>:<port>
    • Add JDBC Class: com.exasol.jdbc.EXADriver
  6. Click Finish.