Specify data connections for BA design tools
The BA design tools need a way to connect to the place you store data, as well as to the Pentaho Server where you publish and share what you create in the design tools.
We support connecting to data stored in these ways:
- Pentaho data sources, such as relational Metadata data models or multi-dimensional Mondrian data models.
- JDBC databases.
JDBC Database Connections
How you connect to databases depends on which access protocol is best to use when creating reports and data models or publishing them. You can choose from these access protocols:
Native (JDBC)
This is a commonly used access protocol. Please see details in the Database Connection Access Type Decision Table.
This also is a commonly used access protocol. Please see details in the Database Connection Access Type Decision Table.
We do not support ODBC, but we make it available in case you need it. If you must use ODBC, contact Pentaho Support to ensure you are successful.
If you are connecting to an Oracle database, skip the rest and go on to define the OCI connection.
Explore Considerations | Choose Options | |
Native (JDBC) | JNDI | |
Summary | These connections are the easiest to define. However, they do not scale well and are not easy to maintain. If the connection information changes, you must change it in every unpublished or published data model or report you have created with the design tools. | These connections are easier to maintain since only the connection name is stored, if the connection properties are stored in a file on each workstation the runs design tools. |
Connection Behavior for Report Designer and Metadata Editor
| Connection Behavior for Report Designer and Metadata Editor
| |
Connection Behavior for Schema Workbench and Aggregation Designer
| Connection Behavior for Schema Workbench and Aggregation Designer
| |
Expertise | Knowledge of the JDBC driver and options for your RDBMS | |
Recommendation | Use for the Pentaho Trial Download and evaluation, but switch each report and data model to JNDI before publishing to avoid problems if connection information changes. | Use for production or when the work environment is distributed in a network. |
To learn how to specify data connections, see the articles below: