SAP BusinessObjects

SAP BusinessObjects is a business intelligence software and big data analytics platform that helps you explore, analyze, and share real-time business analytics easily. You can connect SAP BusinessObjects with Exasol using JDBC or ODBC drivers.

Prerequisite

Running Instance of SAP BusinessObjects
Installed Exasol's JDBC Driver or ODBC Driver
A running Exasol SaaS database. For more information, see Manage Databases and Clusters.
The IP address of the client or server where the tool is running must be listed in the allowed IP address list. For more information, see Network Security.

Drivers Settings

The section covers the settings that you need to do for your driver (ODBC or JDBC) before you connect to Exasol.

ODBC

Before you can proceed with connecting to your database from a tool, you need to download the latest Exasol ODBC driver and get the connection string. Follow these steps to get your connection details:

Click Databases in the web console to open the Databases page.
Click on the cluster you want to connect to and then click Connect via tools.
In the Connect to cluster wizard, enter the IP address of the client or server which will connect to the database and click Add IP. Then click Next. If the IP address was already added, just click Next.
If not already installed, download the latest ODBC driver for your operating system and install it.

Installing the latest ODBC driver requires you to uninstall a previous version of the Exasol ODBC Driver. After installation, the ODBC driver will be used for all Exasol ODBC connections from your local machine. The ODBC driver is backwards compatible and will work with any existing database connections.

Click Next and proceed through the wizard until you see your connection details:

Copy the HOST, PORT, USERNAME, and PASSWORD. You can generate a new Personal Access Token by clicking Generate. You will need this information to connect to your database.

Do the following to set up the ODBC driver in Windows ODBC Administration:

Configure the Exasol driver and datasource as described in Configure Driver and Data Sources.

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>

Save the file.

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

JDBC

Before you can proceed with connecting to your database from a tool, download the latest Exasol JDBC driver and get the connection details. Follow these steps to get your connection details:

Click Databases in the web console to open the Databases page.
Click on the cluster you want to connect to and then click Connect via tools.
In the Connect to cluster wizard, enter the IP address of the client or server which will connect to the database and click Add IP. Then click Next. If the IP address was already added, just click Next.
If not already installed, download the latest JDBC driver for your operating system and install it.
Click Next and proceed through the wizard until you see your connection details:

Copy the HOST, PORT, USERNAME, and PASSWORD. You can generate a new Personal Access Token by clicking Generate. You will need this information to connect to your database.

Do the following to set up the JDBC driver for Exasol:

Go to the JDBC driver folder in the BusinessObjects installation directory.
For example, C:\BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\dataAccess\connectionServer\jdbc
Copy the exajdbc.jar into the directory.
Create a copy of the jdbc.sbo file.

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>

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:

Open the Information Design Tool from Start> SAP Business Intelligence > SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4 Client Tools.
Create a new local project:
1. Select File > New > Project.
2. Add a name for the project.
3. Click Finish.
Right-click the Project and select New > Relational Connection.
In New Relational Connection dialog, add resource name, description, and click Next.
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.
Click Finish.

Using JDBC Driver

Do the following to connect to Exasol using JDBC driver:

Open the Information Design Tool from Start> SAP Business Intelligence > SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4 Client Tools.
Create a new local project:
1. Select File > New > Project.
2. Add a name for the project.
3. Click Finish.
Right-click the Project and select New > Relational Connection.
In New Relational Connection dialog, add resource name, description, and click Next.
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
Click Finish.

Further Information

For more information, see SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform.