Yellowfin

This article explains how to connect Yellowfin to an Exasol database.

Yellowfin is a business intelligence tool that supports analytics and collaborative BI. For more information, refer to the Yellowfin website.

Prerequisites

  • A running Exasol SaaS database. 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 JDBC driver is installed
  • Yellowfin is installed

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 this information in your client to connect to your 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 Yellowfin to Exasol

Login to Yellowfin

  1. After you have installed Yellowfin, navigate to the Yellowfin installation directory and start the Yellowfin services by clicking the Yellowfin startup batch (startup.bat) file.
  2. Once Yellowfin is running, open a web browser and enter the following URL: http://<server-ip>:8080
  3. Enter the login credentials and click Login. For example: 

    4. Username: admin@yellowfin.com.au
    Password: test


Install Exasol Driver

To be able to connect Exasol to Yellowfin, you must first install the Exasol JDBC driver. You can use the Plugin Management page in Yellowfin to install and manage the drivers.

  1. From the menu button on the left corner of the screen, select Administration to open the Admin Console.
  2. In the Admin Console, select the Plugin Management option.

  3. In the Plugin Management page, click the Add button to add a plugin/driver.

  4. In the New Plugin screen, enter a name and description for the plugin/driver.

  5. Next, drag and drop the Exasol JDBC driver file. Once the driver is added, click Submit.

  6. You will now see the driver you added in the Plugin Management page.

Add Exasol as Data source

Once you have Yellowfin running and the Exasol driver installed, you can connect Exasol as the data source to Yellowfin. Follow these steps to add Exasol as a data source:

  1. On the default Yellowfin screen, click the plus sign.
  2. Select Data Source from the Create menu.

  3. Next, select the Database option in the New Connection screen.

  4. Enter the following connection details for the database as shown in the screen shot below:
    • Name: Name of the database
    • Description: Description for the database.
    • Database Type: The type of the database.
    • Include Schema in SQL: Select this check box to add the schema name when addressing database tables in SQL queries.
    • Database Host: Name or IP address of the server hosting the Exasol database.
    • Database Port: Port number for this connection.
    • Default Schema: Default schema to be opened on login.
    • JDBC Driver: JDBC driver to talk to Exasol database.
    • Username: Username of your database account.
    • Password: Password for your database account.

  5. Once you have entered all the connection information, you can test the connection. Click the down arrow next to the Create View button and select Test Connection.


  6. When the connection is successful, a Connection Succeeded message is displayed in the New Connection screen.

  7. Next, you can create views by clicking the Create View button.
  8. Save the connection by selecting the Save & Close option when you click the down arrow as shown below.

See also

For additional information on Yellowfin, see: