Denodo Platform, the data virtualization leader for unifying enterprise data and delivering data services for the business, is available on Azure as bring your own license (BYOL) virtual machine (VM). The VMs contain the latest versions of Denodo Solution Manager and Denodo VDP, optimized for use with the Azure Virtual Machines service.
Thank you for your confidence in Denodo and choosing the Denodo Platform for Azure as your data virtualization technology!
This quick start guide will give you an overview of the Denodo Platform and how to quickly start building data virtualization solutions on Azure.
This Denodo for Azure offering is based on a Bring Your Own License (BYOL) model under your Azure subscription.
It is expected that you already have an Azure subscription that you can use to logon to the Azure Marketplace in order to create and launch the Denodo VM BYOL through the Azure Portal. And you are responsible for operating your own Azure subscription.
The Denodo VM BYOL consists of the same engine as the Denodo Platform. Some of the key features include:
The VMs available are based on Windows Server:
In the sections below you can find more information on how to deploy.
This is a BYOL offering and requires you to work with Denodo directly to obtain licenses. If you currently do not hold a license agreement for Denodo Platform, please contact Denodo directly to get a license to use the software.
A Denodo license can be of one of the following types:
Depending on the Denodo license file you obtain, you have to follow different steps for your Denodo BYOL deployment.
Depending on the Denodo license you have obtained you have to follow different steps.
If you have obtained a Denodo Solution Manager license then:
Or, if you have obtained a Denodo Standalone license then:
Jump to the corresponding sections below according to your scenario above.
The high level list of steps needed to provision and configuring your Denodo SM BYOL on Azure is the following:
All the process can take an approximate time of 30 to 50 minutes.
You are responsible for operating your own Azure subscription.
You can create and launch your Denodo SM for Azure BYOL VM using your Azure subscription.
The Azure offering includes a Windows Server Virtual Machine with Denodo SM 8.0 installed.
Log on to the Azure Marketplace and search for the Denodo 8.0 for Azure listing.
After selecting the Denodo Solution Manager 8.0 BYOL on Windows Server available through the Azure Marketplace you have to complete some few configuration steps in order to launch the Denodo virtual machine through the Azure console.
NOTE: you will be requested to choose the username for the Administrator Account; don’t use denodo as the username for the Administrator Account as denodo is a local user already created in the VM.
NOTE: see Denodo SM Hardware Requirements before choosing the VM Size.
The Denodo services require a Denodo license to start.
Once the Denodo SM BYOL VM is running you have to log in Windows with your Administrator Account username through a Remote Desktop Connection. Detailed instructions are available on Connect to a Windows Virtual Machine.
Then copy your previously obtained Denodo Solution Manager license file to the Azure VM, rename the file as denodo.lic, and save it in the C:\Denodo\DenodoSolutionManager8.0\conf directory.
NOTE: the appropriate license is checked out after starting the Denodo Platform Control Center. If you already have the Denodo Platform Control Center open you can click the License information link to force the licence validation.
Logged in with your Administrator Account user through Remote Desktop Connection and once a Denodo license is installed you can start enjoying Denodo software.
Launch the Services app to start Denodo Servers in the following order:
The Solution Manager is a component to help you manage Denodo deployments.
Once you logged in, the Denodo Solution Manager Administration Tool provides a single point of entry to all the web applications of the Denodo deployment.
The URL to access Denodo Solution Manager Administration Tool has the following pattern:
http://<sm_ip>:19090/solution-manager-web-tool/Login
Where <sm_ip> is the IP address or DNS name for the Solution Manager virtual machine in the stack deployed.
NOTE: the application may take some time to start so you may need to wait for a couple of minutes before the link works correctly. You may get a connection error or a ‘404 Not Found’ error if you try to access it before the service has completely started.
The user is admin and the password by default is admin so the recommendation is to change the default password first thing:
Then logout and sign in again with admin as username and the new password.
A Denodo Environment is defined as a set of servers, of the same or different type, working together for a common purpose. For example, Production, Development or Staging environments.
For creating a new Standard Mode Environment from the Denodo Solution Manager Administration Web Tool:
Repeat above steps for all environments and clusters you want to set up.
With the environment and cluster created everything is ready to add Denodo servers like VDP or Scheduler.
Last step is registering deployed Denodo servers (like VDP or Schedulers) in created clusters.
Instructions on how to deploy a Denodo VDP Virtual Machine are available in a chapter below in this guide.
For adding a new Denodo server to a cluster from the Denodo Solution Manager Administration Web Tool:
Repeat above steps for all deployed Denodo servers.
The Design Studio provides a web interface to the developers to create data sources, base views, derived views, publish web services, etc.
The URL of the Design Studio Web Tool follows the pattern:
http://<sm_ip>:19443/denodo-design-studio/
Where <sm_ip> is the IP address or DNS name for the Solution Manager virtual machine in the stack deployed.
In the Solution Manager Web Tool homepage you have links to the Design Studio and Scheduler Web Tools: select the Environment and then click on the Open link for going to the homepage of the Design Studio preloaded with the connection data to the cluster in that environment.
Refer to Main Areas of the Design Studio for more information.
Note that certain administrative tasks like cache configuration, setting-up the authentication, user management, etc can be done by graphical way only by using the Virtual Dataport Administration tool (desktop based).
The high level list of steps needed to provision and configuring your Denodo VDP BYOL on Azure is the following:
All the process can take an approximate time of 15 to 20 minutes.
You are responsible for operating your own Azure subscription.
You can create and launch your Denodo VDP for Azure BYOL VM using your Azure subscription.
The Azure offering includes a Windows Server Virtual Machine with Denodo VDP and Scheduler 8.0 installed.
Log on to the Azure Marketplace, search for the Denodo 8.0 for Azure BYOL listing.
After selecting the Denodo VDP 8.0 BYOL on Windows Server available through the Azure Marketplace you have to complete some few configuration steps in order to launch the Denodo virtual machine through the Azure console.
NOTE: you will be requested to choose the username for the Administrator Account; don’t use denodo as the username for the Administrator Account as denodo is a local user already created in the VM.
The Denodo services require a Denodo license to start.
Log in the Denodo VDP for Azure BYOL virtual machine through Remote Desktop Connection with the Administrator Account user.
Then you can provide the license to Denodo through one of the following different ways.
This is typically used for trial and evaluation scenarios.
In the Denodo VDP for Azure BYOL VM logged as Administrator Account user:
This is typically used for production, staging and development scenarios.
You need a Denodo Solution Manager installed and running, and accessible from the Denodo VDP for Azure virtual machine. The Denodo servers need to be previously registered in the Denodo Solution Manager in one of the clusters for an environment. You can find more detailed information on the Denodo official documentation on how to create a server in the Solution Manager. Be sure of declaring the correct hostname of the Denodo server. You can register the following Denodo servers in the Denodo Solution Manager: VDP Server; Scheduler Server; Data Catalog Server.
Then, in the Denodo VDP for Azure BYOL VM logged as Administrator Account user:
Logged in with your Administrator Account user through Remote Desktop Connection and once a Denodo license is installed you can start enjoying Denodo software.
Launch the Services app to start Denodo Servers in the following order:
Additionally, if you don’t manage the Denodo servers from a Denodo Solution Manager (in a standalone deployment for example), you can start the following management services:
The Design Studio provides a web interface to the developers to create data sources, base views, derived views, publish web services, etc.
The URL of the Design Studio Web Tool follows the pattern:
http://<server_ip>:19443/denodo-design-studio/
Where <server_ip> is the IP address or DNS name where the Design Studio is available. That could be a Denodo Solution Manager host or a Denodo VDP host (for example, in a standalone deployment).
Refer to Main Areas of the Design Studio for more information.
Note that certain administrative tasks like cache configuration, setting-up the authentication, user management, etc can be done by graphical way only by using the Virtual Dataport Administration tool (desktop based).
There are a couple of optional steps that we recommend you to take in order to improve the security of your Azure deployment.
As the first step of the configuration of your new Denodo Platform virtual machine you should change the default administrator password. It is extremely important that you change this default password to ensure that you are operating under a secure environment.
Please, check first the list of Denodo Platform default ports to review which ones are needed for operating your environment.
When the Denodo Platform for Azure BYOL virtual machine is deployed it creates by default a new security group. This group contains an inbound port rule for RDP (for server administration). The default values specify that this port can be reached from any IP addresses - our strong recommendation is to modify the group so it can only be accessed from the range of authorized IP addresses that you control instead of being publicly accessible.
To do this, follow the steps in the Azure guide located at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-manage-nsg-arm-portal
You have to configure the Virtual DataPort server in order to receive connections from external clients to the VM.
The default ports for the Denodo Platform based on the connection protocol are:
VM must be configured to allow the connections to ports enumerated above according to the connection protocol needed:
As a side note, take into account that by default an ephemeral external IP address is assigned to the VM instance. If you require a static external IP address, you may promote the address to static. Be sure that the VDP server is set correctly for accepting connections through that IP by changing the Host Name in the VDP server.
Once you are all set to start building your data virtualization solutions on Azure, we recommend that you check out all the available information: