How to connect to Denodo from Pentaho

Goal

This document describes how to connect to a Denodo Virtual DataPort server from Pentaho Report Designer and from Pentaho BI Server (User Console). This document explains how to configure these connections using JDBC.

Connecting to Denodo from Pentaho Report Designer

Pentaho Report Designer (PRD) allows us to configure several connections and data sources, including custom JDBC connections. As Denodo’s JDBC driver is not pre-installed as part of the PRD, the driver must be manually installed. The driver file can be copied from the folder <DENODO_HOME>/tools/client-drivers/jdbc of a Denodo installation to the <PRD_HOME>/lib folder. After adding the Denodo JDBC driver the PRD must be restarted.

Once the JDBC driver is added to the PRD installation, creating a new connection to access Denodo VDP from the PRD application is very simple. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Data >Add Datasource-> JDBC (datasource JDBC(Custom) is deprecated):

2. Click on  to create a new connection:

3. Select Generic Database as the connection type and JDBC as access type. Enter a connection name that uniquely describes this connection, and fill the Settings to configure it. The driver class name is com.denodo.vdp.jdbc.Driver, and the connection URL must be like this: jdbc:vdb://host:port/database.

Click on Test to verify that the connection was created successfully.

4. Now it is possible to create data sources using the Denodo VDP connection to make reports:

Connecting to Denodo from Pentaho User Console

First of all, to use the Denodo’s JDBC driver in the Pentaho User Console, the driver must be manually installed on the Pentaho BI Server. As before, the driver file can be copied from the folder <DENODO_HOME>/tools/client-drivers/jdbc of a Denodo installation to the <PENTAHO_BI_SERVER>/tomcat/lib folder of the BI Server. After adding the JDBC driver, the BI Server must be restarted.

Once the JDBC driver is installed, all the reports made with PRD and uploaded to the User Console can access the Denodo VDP server and can run in the User Console web application.

However, to add a new connection to Denodo VDP in the User Console interface and use it to make reports on the web application, follow these steps:

1. Create a new Database Connection: go to Manage Data Sources, click on and then click on New Connection:

2. Select Generic Database as the connection type and Native(JDBC) as acces. Provide a connection name and fill the Settings to configure it. As before, the driver class name is com.denodo.vdp.jdbc.Driver, and the connection URL must be like this: jdbc:vdb://host:port/database. Finally, test the connection to confirm that was created successfully.

3.  Now you can use the connection to create a new data source, and use it to access the data to make reports.

References

Set up native (JDBC) or OCI data connections for the Pentaho Server