MicroStrategy Desktop

This article explains how to connect MicroStrategy Desktop to your Exasol database.

For more information about MicroStrategy, see MicroStrategy Learning Center.

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
  • MicroStrategy installed

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.

Connect MicroStrategy Desktop to Exasol

Follow the steps below to establish a connection to an existing Exasol database:

  1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and click New Dossier on the left panel.

  2. On the dossier window, click on New Data to add data to the dossier.

  3. From the list of data sources, search for EXASolution and select it.

  4. The Select Import Options window is displayed. To import specific tables from your Exasol instance, click Select tables.

  5. The Import from Table window is displayed. To define a data source, click the + next to DATA SOURCES.

  6. Do one of the following on the Data Source window:
    1. Select DSN-less Data Sources and add the following details from the Get ODBC Driver and Connection Details procedure:
      • Database and Version: Set the database and version field to EXASolution.
      • Host name: Port number: Enter the Host string you copied from the web console followed by the port 8563.
      • User: Enter your user name you copied from the web console.
      • Password: Enter your Personal Access Token you copied from the web console.
      • Data Source Name: Enter a name for the data source. For example, Exasol.

    2. Select DSN Data Sources and add the following details from the Get ODBC Driver and Connection Details procedure:
      • DSN: Select the DSN that you created earlier.
      • Version: Select EXASolution from the drop-down.
      • User: Enter the user name you copied from the web console.
      • Password: Enter your Personal Access Token you copied from the web console.
      • Data Source Name: Enter a name for the data source. For example, Exasol via DSN.

      The data source name will be displayed under DATA SOURCES in the Import from Table screen.

      Note: If there is nothing listed in the DSN drop-down menu, then make sure you have created and tested a System DSN on your Windows operating system using the ODBC Data Source Administrator.

  7. Click on the data source name and select the schema you want to use followed by the tables.

  8. Click Finish.
  9. On the Data Access Mode screen, you can choose to either Connect Live or Import as In-memory Dataset. We recommend you to select Connect Live.

You can now create dashboards using MicroStrategy Desktop.

Additional Information