Oracle TimesTen is an in-memory database that can be used as the core database of record or as a cache database for Oracle.  When used as a core database for data intensive workloads, we’re seeing significant demand to setup an Oracle Database Gateway to federate TimesTen data for downstream applications, including those built on Oracle.

Downstream with Oracle TimesTen without a paddle

If you search Oracle Support, you’ll find that the Oracle TimesTen client by itself is not supported with the Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC per Oracle Support, “Connecting Oracle to Timesten Using DG4ODBC in Linux x86 and x86-64 (Doc ID 1444607.1)”.  This is because the Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC (DG4ODBC) 11g is ODBC V3 while TimesTen ODBC-Driver/Manager only supports ODBC V2 calls.

The result is typically an error from the HS trace such as: Failed to load ODBC library symbol: /u01/app/TimesTen/tt1122/lib/libtten.so(SQLAllocHandle)+

DataDirect Unix/Linux driver manager for Oracle TimesTen to the rescue

DataDirect is the only commercial ODBC Driver Manager recommended by Oracle per Doc ID 813942.1, and our Unix/Linux driver manager is able to support the Oracle TimesTen client from the Oracle Database Gateway, as well as other downstream applications including other real-time database federation technologies like Sybase ECDA.  The driver manager can also load the Oracle TimesTen client directly from other non-Oracle business applications including SAS/Access, IBM Cognos, or SAP Business Objects.

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Oracle TimesTen Gateway

Setup the Gateway to Oracle TimesTen

1. Assume Database Gateway for ODBC (DG4ODBC) is installed (article is for Linux x64).  DG4ODBC is included with Oracle Databases, or available for download from Oracle.com if you want to set it up on a separate tier.

2. Download the Connect for ODBC Unix/Linux Driver Manager which is included in the standard DataDirect Connect64 for ODBC package and comes included with any ODBC driver installation.  Verify the version is 07.13.0081 (U0075) or higher by running the ddtestlib utility included with the install package on the driver manager library, libodbc.so.

3. Configure Database Gateway for ODBC using our white paper.

4. The specific steps include adding the DataDirect Unix/Linux driver manager path and file “libodbc.so” (or odbc.so on AIX) to the HS_FDS_SHAREABLE_NAME initialization property configured in the .  The location of the shared library path to the driver manager library should also be added to the ENVS variable in the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/listener.ora file.

5. Below are example data sources to add to the odbc.ini installed with DataDirect, or sys.odbc.ini installed with the TimesTen client:

[ODBC Data Sources]
Oracle Wire Protocol=DataDirect 7.1 Oracle Wire Protocol
cachedb1_cs=DataDirect 7.1 TimesTen

[cachedb1_1122]
Driver=/home/oracle/11.2.2.5.1/TimesTen/tt112251/lib/libtten.so
DataStore=/home/oracle/11.2.2.5.1/TimesTen/tt112251/info/cachedb1_1122
PermSize=40
TempSize=32
PLSQL=1
DatabaseCharacterSet=AL32UTF8

6. Create the $ORACLE_HOME/hs/admin/init<sid>.ora file as follows:

HS_FDS_CONNECT_INFO = cachedb1_1122
HS_FDS_TRACE_LEVEL = DEBUG
HS_FDS_SHAREABLE_NAME = /opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/lib/libodbc.so

set ODBCINI=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/odbc.ini

7) Modified the listener.ora file under $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin to include following service

(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME =dg4odbc)
(ORACLE_HOME =/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1)
(PROGRAM =dg4odbc)
(ENVS=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/lib/libodbc.so:
/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/lib:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/network/lib:
/home/oracle/11.2.2.5.1/TimesTen/tt112251/lib)
)

8) Modify the tnsnames.ora file under $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin to include following tns entry

CACHEDB1=
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = shoe-tt)(PORT = 1521))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SID = dg4odbc)
)
(HS = OK)
)

Use tnsping CACHEDB1 to check whether there is any issue or not. It should be ok.

9) Create and test the database link as follows:

SQL> CREATE DATABASE LINK TT CONNECT TO :”user” IDENTIFIED BY “password” USING ‘CACHEDB1′;

SQL> select * from ttuser.test@TT;

A
———-
1
2
3

Got data connectivity questions?

Call 1-800-876-3101 to speak with a Systems Engineer to learn how other organizations are making progress with real-time gateway connectivity to Oracle TimesTen, as well as other data sources for which we supply both the driver manager and ODBC driver including SQL Server, DB2, Salesforce, Hadoop Hive, MongoDB, Cloudera Impala and more.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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I am hearing more about Alteryx as a means for organizations to supplement a big data Hadoop platform with key dimensions from business applications.  With the migration of several business operations to SaaS applications, DataDirect Cloud is providing unlimited potential to Alteryx data objects for analysis.

DataDirect Cloud supports the ODBC standard that Alteryx uses for  input data to sources for instant access by data artisans.  The growing list of available connectors include those to the latest APIs for Salesforce, Eloqua Marketo, Hubspot, Force.com, Rollbase, as well as connecting ODBC over HTTPS to RDBMS systems such as SQL Server, Oracle, or DB2 that reside in a public cloud or behind a firewall.  These ODBC SaaS connectors expose data in real-time through an ANSI SQL interface, similar to SQL Server or Oracle, so you can import data in a standard way from Alteryx via tables, Visual Query Builder or SQL Editor.

Getting started with Alteryx and its new SaaS connectors from DataDirect Cloud

1. Sign up and log-in to your DataDirect Cloud account.

2. From DataDirect Cloud, select a data source.  In this case, I am selecting Eloqua since I have a production account.

3. From DataDirectCloud, configure your connection information to Eloqua.  My Eloqua admin setup an account and I received an e-mail from support@eloqua.com with the connection information.

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4. Download the DataDirect Cloud ODBC client to the Alteryx system and configure the local ODBC data source to connect to Eloqua.

5. Launch Alteryx Designer

6. Select In/Out tab and drag “Input Data” icon to the designer pane

7. Select “Input Data” and create “New ODBC Connection”

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8. Select the System ODBC data source we created for Eloqua using the DataDirect Cloud ODBC client available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.  Use your Progress ID to authenticate with DataDirect Cloud.

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9. Select the table object to import data, construct a query, or write a SQL statement similar to any relational data source.  It’s pretty cool when you execute SQL statements against SaaS applications complete with joins, aggregation, and scalar functions.

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10. Drag a browse icon into the pane to view the data; and draw an arrow connecting them.

11. Select the “Preparation” menu and drag the “select” icon in between to inspect the data type mappings.

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12. Click the green arrow to execute the job and output data can be stored in target ODBC databases, as well as a number of popular formats.

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13. Now that Alteryx is connected to new and exciting data sources, I will defer to the data artisans to do really cool stuff.

Get started loading unlimited data into Alteryx

Start a trial of the DataDirect Cloud Connectivity Service to load data from any ODBC source into Alteryx or call 1-800-876-3101 to speak with a systems engineer on ODBC data connectivity to SaaS, Big Data, SQL, NoSQL, and more.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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Following Data Summit 2014 in Manhattan, I spoke with panels of industry experts about NoSQL technologies related to financial services.  Coincidentally, MongoDB headquarters is down the street and they have very clever business cards.

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I was able to speak with conference attendees about their use of MongoDB and learned how valuable it is for ingesting and storing raw data for operational use including tick data, FIX messages, SWIFT, FpML, etc. I learned about several high data volume use cases being driven by regulations such as Dodd-Frank and EMIR.  The consensus was that standards based SQL access provides greater potential for adoption of MongoDB by seamlessly integrating from a wide range of BI or warehousing tools for regulatory reporting and analytics directly from the source system.

Avoid the loss of data from flattening collections for SQL

The feedback I hear from financial services shops with SQL access to NoSQL is that the sampling of data to define a schema introduces potential for data loss, which is not an option for regulatory reporting.  What happens to embedded arrays?  What if the “schema” on read changes?  Will my ETL, Pig or Map/Reduce jobs break as document structures change?

A new SQL approach to MongoDB so you can have your cake and eat it too

DataDirect introduces the first reliable MongoDB ODBC connector that provides flexible normalized “schema on read” functionality to query MongoDB using SQL, while optimizing SQL queries against the expanding MongoDB query API.  This logical schema does not require additional ETL steps or data movement, and is yet another engineering marvel for DataDirect R&D.

The case for standards based connectivity to MongoDB

1. BI Infrastructure: Instantly connect any versions of your BI tools across SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, Tableau, Oracle Business Intelligence (OBIEE), Microstrategy, SQL Server Reporting Services, SAS, SPSS, Qlikview, Spotfire, and more.  Or extract the data with less development time using ETL platforms such as IBM DataStage, Informatica, Ab Initio, SSIS and more.  A JDBC driver will be available as well for those building organic warehousing infrastructure.

2. Database Federation: Given the tiered economics of database storage, MongoDB can serve as a lower cost staging area for either structured or unstructured data that is accessible directly in real-time using ODBC in conjunction with RDBMS federation technologies including Oracle Database Gateway and SQL Server Linked Server.

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3. Democratization of MongoDB: Standard SQL access to data enables a larger audience to derive business value.  Especially for self service analysts or citizen developers who are unfamiliar with MongoDB APIs.  It’s common for them to run Microsoft Office, Data Visualization Tools, or even SaaS BI applications that have open JDBC support such as Birst.

Are we the Splice of MongoDB?

We’re not guaranteeing ACID compliance, but it sure does look like an RDBMS through our connection.

Learn more about SQL access to MongoDB

We expect GA later this month after which point you can Download the DataDirect MongoDB ODBC driver.

Register to meet the core product owners at MongoDB World behind this engineering feat, or call us at 1-888-332-6797 to learn about our direct connection to MongoDB that gives you the power of both SQL and NoSQL.

If you’re a business intelligence or data warehousing professional in financial services for which MongoDB is one of many sources you consume, here’s a great webinar to learn more about why your operations team adopted MongoDB: How to Drive Business Value in Financial Services with MongoDB

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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Things are off to a great start at MongoDB World, and the show couldn’t have come at a better time, as we’ve just announced the expansion of Progress DataDirect on-premise connectivity to support MongoDB and Amazon Redshift. DataDirect now offers data integration for MongoDB and Amazon Redshift via both ODBC and JDBC standards.

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Many of today’s business critical systems are being developed with MongoDB and Amazon Redshift, so the demand to connect to such data is growing rapidly. Progress DataDirect provides simple, scalable, secure real-time connectivity to these sources and others without the traditional complications of doing so, such as data loss and data “flattening.” Now users can easily connect MongoDB data with their existing data management, analytics or enterprise data warehouse (EDW) ecosystems.

In addition to the expanded connectivity, we’ve also added the following list of certification updates:

• SQL Server 2014
• Teradata 14.10
• DB2 V11 for z/OS
• Windows 8.1

If you’re at the conference, make sure you come by our booth #119 to learn more about DataDirect and see firsthand the new connectivity to MongoDB. Or, if you want to learn more about Progress’ newest acquisition, Modulus, stop by their booth right next door! Modulus is a cloud platform that allows developers to build new applications using Node.js to connect to MongoDB data.

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If you’re unable to attend the conference, I still encourage you to take advantage of a 15-day free trial of Progress DataDirect, so you can see for yourself.

Tableau analysts may or may not know about the challenges in exposing NoSQL data sources, such as MongoDB, to data visualization tools like Tableau, Qlikview, Spotfire, Microstrategy, SAP Lumira, SAS, Birst, etc.  Progress DataDirect loves a good challenge and engineered the first reliable SQL connector to MongoDB using ODBC/JDBC.  Progress Software acquired the Modulus Node.js and MongoDB development platform, so we might know a thing or two about MongoDB data – rather than follow the widely unpopular flattened schema approach.

Getting Started on reliable Tableau connectivity to MongoDB:

1- Download and install the DataDirect MongoDB ODBC driver (32-bit or 64-bit depending on version of Tableau). Tutorial shows Tableau 8.2 working with the 64-bit MongoDB ODBC driver.

2- Create an ODBC Data Source to connect to MongoDB (see end of tutorial for sample data with arrays of embedded documents)

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3- Launch Schema Tool and select “Normalized View” to create an intelligent virtual schema with a single click of the OK button

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4- Launch Tableau and connect to MongoDB ODBC data source

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5- Bring in normalized virtual tables WORLDCUP and WORLDCUP_TEAMS.  Note, this data resides in MongoDB within a single collection.

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6. Now, you can ask a simple question such as goals by country and last name.

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7. For comparison, it’s impossible to ask the same question as step #6 when the data is exposed in a flattened schema like existing SQL connectors.  Note how each individual team’s players and goals are all separate measures and dimensions from the flattened view of the Worldcup data (TEAMS1_GOALS, TEAMS2_GOALS, TEAMS3_GOALS, etc).  This approach does not represent MongoDB or NoSQL technology very well from Tableau.

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What’s the alternative to DataDirect’s normalized and scalable virtual schema for Tableau?

To get an equivalent reliable connectivity experience from Tableau, you would need to:

• Sample MongoDB data to understand the data model
• Write mapping code to extract and normalize the data
• Physically load it into a relational database
• Create some kind of CDC capability for near real-time data connectivity

In summary, use the DataDirect MongoDB ODBC driver.

Sample Data:

> db.worldcup.insert({ “_id” : 1, “year” : 2014, “location” : “Brazil”, “teams”: [ {"country" : "Brazil", "first" : null, "last" : "Jefferson", "goals" : 0 },{"country" : "Brazil", "first" : "Dani", "last" : "Alves", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Brazil", "first" : "Thiago", "last" : "Silva", "goals" : 1 } , {"country" : "Chile", "first" : "Claudio", "last" : "Bravo", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" :"Chile", "first" : "Eugenio", "last" : "Mena", "goals" : 0 } , {"country" : "Colombia", "first" : "David", "last" : "Ospina", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Colombia", "first" : "Cristian", "last" : "Zapata", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Colombia", "first" : "Mario", "last" : "Yepes", "goals" : 0 } , { "country" :"Germany", "first" : "Manuel", "last" : "Neuer", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Germany", "first" : "Kevin", "last" : "Grosskreutz", "goals" : 0 } , {"country" : "Mexico", "first" : "Jose", "last" : "Corona", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Mexico", "first" : "Francisco", "last" : "Rodriguez", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Mexico", "first" : "Carlos", "last" : "Salcido", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Mexico","first" : "Rafael", "last" : "Marquez", "goals" : 1 } , { "country" : "USA", "first" : "Tim", "last" : "Howard", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "DeAndre", "last" : "Yedlin", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "Omar","last" : "Gonzalez", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "Michael", "last" : "Bradley", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "Matt", "last" :"Besler", "goals" : 0 } ] } )

WriteResult({ “nInserted” : 1 })

> db.worldcup.insert({ “_id” : 2, “year” : 2010, “location” : “South Africa”, “teams” : [ {"country" : "Uruguay", "first" : "Fernando", "last" : "Muslera", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Uruguay", "first" : "Diego", "last" : "Lugano", "goals": 0 } , { "country" : "Netherlands", "first" : "Maarten", "last" : "Stekelenburg", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Netherlands", "first" : "Gregory", "last" : "van der wiel", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Germany", "first" : "Manuel", "last" :"Neuer", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Germany", "first" : "Marcell", "last" : "Jansen", "goals" : 1 }, { "country" : "Spain", "first" : "Iker", "last" : "Casillas", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Spain", "first" :"Raul", "last" : "Albiol","goals" : 0  } ] })

WriteResult({ “nInserted” : 1 })

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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Many powerful vertical solutions are now available on the Force.com platform via the AppExchange – For ITSM (IT Service Management), there is BMC’s Remedyforce. Navatar Group offers Financial Services solutions, and ERP and accounting solutions are available from FinancialForce and RootStock. Veeva offers a CRM solution for the life sciences, to highlight just a few.

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Standard Remedyforce Dashboard

Force.com solutions provide varying capabilities when it comes to reporting or analytics. Being based on the Force.com platform, the integrated reporting or analytics will likely be delivered via your browser. If you’re a Force.com developer, this means that you will be providing some level of reporting or analytics in your application. If you’re a user of an application built on the platform, you will likely be using the BI or reporting features delivered with your solution. (I’ll be using a Remedyforce sandbox here.)

What if you’d like to access your data from other applications? Maybe you’re more comfortable with SQL than SOQL? If you’re a developer, are requests for custom reports from your customers driving you crazy?  If you’re a user of a Force.com solution, perhaps your company has standardized on particular BI or analytics applications – what if you could use them with your Force.com data ? But of course, all of this can only be done if it can be done securely.

Developers or end-users – unlock your data! You can now access the data that’s in virtually any Force.com solution that stores data in custom or standard Salesforce objects from your favorite BI/reporting/analytics applications! App Dev environments. Even from data federation applications such as Oracle’s Database Gateway for ODBC!

For example, with Datadirect Cloud, Remedyforce users, as well as users of almost any Force.com solution that stores data in standard or custom objects, can use ODBC-compatible visualization applications like Tableau to access their data.

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Remedyforce Reporting with Tableau via ODBC

They can also use Microsoft Excel or Access.

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Remedyforce Reporting via Microsoft Excel or Access and ODBC

Enterprise BI applications, such as MicroStrategy, are compatible.

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Remedyforce Reporting with MicroStrategy and ODBC

JDBC-compatible applications like DbVisualizer will work, too.

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Remedyforce Reporting via DbVisualizer and JDBC

Even web appdev platforms like Adobe ColdFusion can easily integrate Force.com data.

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Remedyforce integration with Adobe ColdFusion via JDBC and Datadirect Cloud – Admin Server

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Remedyforce integration with Adobe ColdFusion Builder via JDBC and Datadirect Cloud

Datadirect Cloud gives you realtime SQL access via ODBC or JDBC to your data stored in standard or custom Salesforce objects. Powerful, easy-to-setup and easy-to-use. No ETL required! And fully secured over SSL and HTTPS.

Do you work with Force.com solutions? Enduser or developer – unlock your data TODAY. Try Datadirect Cloud for free.

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Greg Stasko

Principal Sales Engineer, Progress Software at Progress DataDirect

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To facilitate the migration from the deprecated MySQL ODBC interface to RightNow, or Oracle Service Cloud (OSC) – DataDirect Cloud has added real-time direct SQL connectivity using the secure public APIs over HTTPS. We know what we’re doing after introducing standards based SaaS connectivity to Salesforce.com back in 2006. I’m starting with Crystal Reports, but similar steps apply to the following popular tools:

• Tableau
• Qlikview
• Spotfire
• Microstrategy
• SSIS
• Linked Server
• Pentaho
• Talend
• Alteryx
• Birst

Getting started connecting Crystal Reports 2013 to Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow)

1- Create Datadirect Cloud Login to start your trial

2- Create data source in DataDirect Cloud connecting to your Oracle Service Cloud instance

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3. Download and install 32-bit DataDirect Cloud ODBC client (JDBC clients and OData production are also supported); and create an ODBC data source named “RightNow32” for Oracle Service Cloud from step 2 that is local to the Crystal Reports machine.

4. Launch Crystal Reports 2013 and create a blank report

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5. Launch the database expert

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6. Select “RightNow32” ODBC data source and navigate the schema.

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7. Your data will be in the RIGHTNOW schema and you will notice tables and stored procedures. Tables are the OSC entities or objects; and procedures expose your native reports. If you have more than 8000, check out SAP article to display them all titled, “1215994 – Unable to see all database objects in Crystal Reports”

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8. You will notice that the OSC interface in DataDirect Cloud is ANSI SQL-92 compliant with standard ODBC escape syntax, and you can find a list of supported scalar functions for Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow) in our documentation.

I’m a data hippie and love standards and interoperability. But if you have reports hard coded against MySQL specific commands, please let us know of any challenges you’re facing.

Got any questions RightNow, or maybe later?

1. Start a trial of DataDirect Cloud OData production at DataDirect Cloud.
2. Talk to us @DataDirect_News or @SAsInSumit
3. Or call 1-800-876-3101 to learn more

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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One of my favorite onsite meetings is with R&amp;D teams at Financial Services shops for the following reasons:
<ul>
<li>Smart and talented R&amp;D teams</li>
<li>Build and deliver highly sophisticated systems and operate similar to a software company</li>
<li>Do real work with real data</li>
<li>Adopt and experiment with the latest technologies</li>
</ul>
<h1>DataDirect Custom Connectivity for Financial Services R&amp;D</h1>
I’ve learned a lot from meeting with finserv database R&amp;D teams around data connectivity, and I want to give back to my new techie friends with <a href=”https://www.progress.com/products/open-access?sfdcid=701a0000002MkKS&amp;cmpid=ddblog”>DataDirect OpenAccess SDK</a>.  The most common thing I’m hearing is the challenge of consuming the latest disruptive technologies for developers since they don’t always play nicely with business systems, in a highly regulated vertical.  We solve this with our commercial drivers in most cases (<a href=”https://blogs.datadirect.com/2014/06/sql-access-mongodb-odbc-expanded-adoption-financial-services.html”>similar to MongoDB which we solved</a>), but we want to enable your R&amp;D teams to address every possible case.
<h1>Leave no data behind | Common custom data connectivity projects across financial services</h1>
<ul>
<li>SQL enable semantic data layers to query enterprise business logic from existing infrastructure such as <a href=”https://blogs.datadirect.com/2011/04/enabling-cognos-with-custom-data-sources-in-real-time-yep-we-got-that.html”>IBM Cognos</a> or <a href=”https://blogs.datadirect.com/2011/08/tableau-odbc-connectivity-to-salesforce-web-services-soa-and-data-services-blown-wide-open.html”>Tableau</a>.</li>
<li>Access data directly and in real-time from <a href=”https://www.progress.com/customers/hp”>flat file compliance archives</a>. This same architecture applies to any intermediary repository or data lake with real-time data connectivity requirements</li>
<li>Databases as a service in private clouds where DataDirect OpenAccess SDK is used to build a combination of the client connectivity and virtual layer over databases. It’s a very similar use case as to what <a href=”https://www.progress.com/customers/netsuite”>NetSuite has done using the SDK</a> for their public cloud application, except I’m going to take a wild guess you want private clouds.</li>
<li>Enterprise search integration to enrich intelligence from indexed customer data with dashboards used by financial reps.</li>
</ul>
<a href=”https://blogs.progress.com/data-connections/files/2014/02/oasolr.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-8496″ src=”https://blogs.progress.com/data-connections/files/2014/02/oasolr.jpg” alt=”oasolr” width=”535″ height=”270″ /></a>
<h1>Build a prototype today to open up new data opportunities</h1>
I recently built <a href=”https://blogs.datadirect.com/2014/02/querying-apache-solr-rest-api-obiee-business-objects-qlikview-bi-platforms.html”>ODBC, JDBC, and ADO.NET connectivity to Apache Solr</a> using <a href=”https://www.progress.com/products/open-access?sfdcid=701a0000002MkKS&amp;cmpid=ddblog”>DataDirect OpenAccess SDK</a> in less than an hour; and have built drivers to proprietary flat files on layovers to the west coast.

<a href=”http://forms.progress.com/forms/driverdownload?sfdcid=701a0000002MkKS&amp;cmpid=ddblog”>Download a free trial</a> to build a couple prototypes, and we should already have legal evaluation agreements in place for evaluations where required.  We even provide run-time installers and branding capabilities if you want to start distributing the software to end clients.
<h1>Tweet @SAsInSumit on what you’re planning to build next</h1>
That was a little finserv humor, so call us at 1-800-876-3101 to speak under NDA.  We should already have them in place at all the top shops.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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A few weeks back a colleague and I were driving through Seattle, and we began to debate the reach of ODBC as a key data standard.  His perspective was that ODBC was really a C/C++ technology, and that as people have largely moved to other programming languages, the importance of ODBC has declined as well.  Well, I didn’t buy that argument but needed to do some research before I could refute him.  As I mainly tinker with iOS development these days, my awareness of what is happening in the programming world at large is well out-of-date.

Well, it didn’t take long to dig up some examples:

• ODBC for PHP.  Basically, as long as you have an ODBC driver, PHP will support it just lovely.  Here is the manual on how to configure it:  http://us2.php.net/manual/en/book.uodbc.php
• ODBC for Erlang.  Well, that is pretty cool.  Trying to write a highly parallelized application that deals with a lot of data?  Can’t get much better of a combo than this!   Here’s the manual pages that show how to set this up too:  http://www.erlang.org/doc/man/odbc.html
• ODBC for Python.  Okay, I think I’m starting to prove my point.  Here’s the link to setting this up: https://wiki.python.org/moin/ODBC
• ODBC for Perl.  Well, since this one is listed on our site, this was a no brainer.  http://www.datadirect.com/resources/resource-library/odbc-developer-center/odbc-tutorials/using-datadirect-odbc-drivers-with-perl
• ODBC for Ruby.  Alright, I’m going to stop now.  Here is how to set this up:  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/835868/simple-remote-odbc-database-connection-with-ruby

What is interesting is that most of the examples here refer to relational databases.  But in case you didn’t already know, what Progress DataDirect also does really well is make any cloud application and Big Data, NoSQL database look and feel just like a relational database.  So let’s say you want to do things like:

• Connect PHP to Salesforce
• Connect Erlang to MongoDB
• Connect Python to Apache Hive
• Connect Perl to Marketo
• Connect Ruby to Microsoft Dynamics
• Etc…

You can download Progress DataDirect for ODBC to make each of these data sources feel as if it were a SQL Server or MySQL database.  Start here if you’re interested: http://www.datadirect.com/products/datadirect-connect/odbc-drivers

And to my colleague, you owe me a burger and beer.  I’ll see you in Austin!

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Dion Picco

Director, Product Marketing, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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For “big data” connectivity, I see a very high percentage of projects delivering business value from big data initiatives that require data connectivity from DataDirect.  This was specifically around providing Universal data connectivity to Hadoop Hive and related low latency interfaces (Impala, Hawq, Drill, Stinger, etc).

From recent active projects, we’re connecting systems in the other direction which takes success to new levels; and that is when you can move data sets aggregated by the Hadoop big data ecosystem; and move them to relational databases managed by strict corporate security policies which means your data is above the radar now.  The most common is the requirement to connect to SQL Server from Linux using Windows Authentication (example from Hortonworks community).

How ODBC and JDBC SQL Server Windows Authentication from Linux works:

DataDirect is your exclusive partner in data connectivity providing unique support for Windows Authentication from Linux across both ODBC and JDBC connectivity.  Sqoop is a JDBC utility to move data between Hadoop Ecosystems and relational databases such as SQL Server.  On the ODBC side, we’re seeing Python/Ruby wrappers that need to connect to relational DBs.  Microsoft recommends using integrated security over mixed mode authentication for secure SQL Server platforms.

DataDirect invented “wire protocol” technology to connect to data without data source specific dependencies; and our implementation for windows authentication from Unix/Linux is no exception.  You simply need to configure the driver with your Windows credentials in plain text.  For Kerberos support, no credentials would be required.

Getting started with ODBC and JDBC SQL Server NTLM authentication from Linux:

Not even the sexiest data scientist and Hadoop platform are above corporate security, so here’s how you can connect from JDBC and ODBC to SQL Server to remain in compliance:

ODBC

Download the DataDirect Connect(64) for ODBC drivers for Unix/Linux and follow the quick start guides supplied with the download.  The SQL Server data source in the odbc.ini file should be configured as follows for NTLM authentication:


[SQLServer]
Driver=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/lib/ddsqls27.so
Description=DataDirect 7.1 SQL Server Wire Protocol
AuthenticationMethod=9
Database=test
Domain=AMERICAS
EnableBulkLoad=0
#Connecting to SQL Server Named Instance
HostName=172.30.57.75\SQL2008R2SP2
LoadBalancing=0
Pooling=0
# PortNumber not required when connecting to Named Instance
#PortNumber=1433


During test connect with the DataDirect samples/example utility, specify the following credentials for windows ntlm authenticated user “AMERICAS\SUMITS” and note domain is not required as part of user name since it was configured in the data source:

sumits@nc-lnx16 /opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/samples/example> example
example DataDirect Technologies, Inc. ODBC Example Application.
Enter the data source name : topptt01_cs
Enter the user name        : SUMITS
Enter the password         : my_windows_auth_pwd
Enter SQL statements (Press ENTER to QUIT)
SQL>

Here is a related article on connecting with Windows Auth credentials from Unix/Linux: http://progresscustomersupport-survey.force.com/ConnectKB/articles/Article/000030786

JDBC

Download the DataDirect Connect for JDBC drivers for and follow the quick start guides supplied with the download.  The SQL Server JDBC connection URL should be configured as follows for NTLM authentication:

jdbc:datadirect:sqlserver://server1:1433;AuthenticationMethod=ntlmjava;Domain=Americas;User=SUMITS;Password=my_windows_auth_pwd

See the Connect (XE) for JDBC User’s Guide for complete reference.

Got a huge big data driven project on the horizon?

1. Download free 15 day trial of the DataDirect Connect ODBC and JDBC SQL Server drivers to securely connect to your SQL Server databases from Hadoop land; or vice versa.

2. Or call 1-800-876-3101 to speak with a Systems Engineer to learn more.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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Oracle TimesTen is an in-memory database that can be used as the core database of record or as a cache database for Oracle.  When used as a core database for data intensive workloads, we’re seeing significant demand to setup an Oracle Database Gateway to federate TimesTen data for downstream applications, including those built on Oracle.

Downstream with Oracle TimesTen without a paddle

If you search Oracle Support, you’ll find that the Oracle TimesTen client by itself is not supported with the Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC per Oracle Support, “Connecting Oracle to Timesten Using DG4ODBC in Linux x86 and x86-64 (Doc ID 1444607.1)”.  This is because the Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC (DG4ODBC) 11g is ODBC V3 while TimesTen ODBC-Driver/Manager only supports ODBC V2 calls.

The result is typically an error from the HS trace such as: Failed to load ODBC library symbol: /u01/app/TimesTen/tt1122/lib/libtten.so(SQLAllocHandle)+

DataDirect Unix/Linux driver manager for Oracle TimesTen to the rescue

DataDirect is the only commercial ODBC Driver Manager recommended by Oracle per Doc ID 813942.1, and our Unix/Linux driver manager is able to support the Oracle TimesTen client from the Oracle Database Gateway, as well as other downstream applications including other real-time database federation technologies like Sybase ECDA.  The driver manager can also load the Oracle TimesTen client directly from other non-Oracle business applications including SAS/Access, IBM Cognos, or SAP Business Objects.

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Oracle TimesTen Gateway

Setup the Gateway to Oracle TimesTen

1. Assume Database Gateway for ODBC (DG4ODBC) is installed (article is for Linux x64).  DG4ODBC is included with Oracle Databases, or available for download from Oracle.com if you want to set it up on a separate tier.

2. Download the Connect for ODBC Unix/Linux Driver Manager which is included in the standard DataDirect Connect64 for ODBC package and comes included with any ODBC driver installation.  Verify the version is 07.13.0081 (U0075) or higher by running the ddtestlib utility included with the install package on the driver manager library, libodbc.so.

3. Configure Database Gateway for ODBC using our white paper.

4. The specific steps include adding the DataDirect Unix/Linux driver manager path and file “libodbc.so” (or odbc.so on AIX) to the HS_FDS_SHAREABLE_NAME initialization property configured in the .  The location of the shared library path to the driver manager library should also be added to the ENVS variable in the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/listener.ora file.

5. Below are example data sources to add to the odbc.ini installed with DataDirect, or sys.odbc.ini installed with the TimesTen client:

[ODBC Data Sources]
Oracle Wire Protocol=DataDirect 7.1 Oracle Wire Protocol
cachedb1_cs=DataDirect 7.1 TimesTen

[cachedb1_1122]
Driver=/home/oracle/11.2.2.5.1/TimesTen/tt112251/lib/libtten.so
DataStore=/home/oracle/11.2.2.5.1/TimesTen/tt112251/info/cachedb1_1122
PermSize=40
TempSize=32
PLSQL=1
DatabaseCharacterSet=AL32UTF8

6. Create the $ORACLE_HOME/hs/admin/init<sid>.ora file as follows:

HS_FDS_CONNECT_INFO = cachedb1_1122
HS_FDS_TRACE_LEVEL = DEBUG
HS_FDS_SHAREABLE_NAME = /opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/lib/libodbc.so

set ODBCINI=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/odbc.ini

7) Modified the listener.ora file under $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin to include following service

(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME =dg4odbc)
(ORACLE_HOME =/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1)
(PROGRAM =dg4odbc)
(ENVS=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/lib/libodbc.so:
/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/lib:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/network/lib:
/home/oracle/11.2.2.5.1/TimesTen/tt112251/lib)
)

8) Modify the tnsnames.ora file under $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin to include following tns entry

CACHEDB1=
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = shoe-tt)(PORT = 1521))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SID = dg4odbc)
)
(HS = OK)
)

Use tnsping CACHEDB1 to check whether there is any issue or not. It should be ok.

9) Create and test the database link as follows:

SQL> CREATE DATABASE LINK TT CONNECT TO :”user” IDENTIFIED BY “password” USING ‘CACHEDB1′;

SQL> select * from ttuser.test@TT;

A
———-
1
2
3

Got data connectivity questions?

Call 1-800-876-3101 to speak with a Systems Engineer to learn how other organizations are making progress with real-time gateway connectivity to Oracle TimesTen, as well as other data sources for which we supply both the driver manager and ODBC driver including SQL Server, DB2, Salesforce, Hadoop Hive, MongoDB, Cloudera Impala and more.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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I am hearing more about Alteryx as a means for organizations to supplement a big data Hadoop platform with key dimensions from business applications.  With the migration of several business operations to SaaS applications, DataDirect Cloud is providing unlimited potential to Alteryx data objects for analysis.

DataDirect Cloud supports the ODBC standard that Alteryx uses for  input data to sources for instant access by data artisans.  The growing list of available connectors include those to the latest APIs for Salesforce, Eloqua Marketo, Hubspot, Force.com, Rollbase, as well as connecting ODBC over HTTPS to RDBMS systems such as SQL Server, Oracle, or DB2 that reside in a public cloud or behind a firewall.  These ODBC SaaS connectors expose data in real-time through an ANSI SQL interface, similar to SQL Server or Oracle, so you can import data in a standard way from Alteryx via tables, Visual Query Builder or SQL Editor.

Getting started with Alteryx and its new SaaS connectors from DataDirect Cloud

1. Sign up and log-in to your DataDirect Cloud account.

2. From DataDirect Cloud, select a data source.  In this case, I am selecting Eloqua since I have a production account.

3. From DataDirectCloud, configure your connection information to Eloqua.  My Eloqua admin setup an account and I received an e-mail from support@eloqua.com with the connection information.

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4. Download the DataDirect Cloud ODBC client to the Alteryx system and configure the local ODBC data source to connect to Eloqua.

5. Launch Alteryx Designer

6. Select In/Out tab and drag “Input Data” icon to the designer pane

7. Select “Input Data” and create “New ODBC Connection”

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8. Select the System ODBC data source we created for Eloqua using the DataDirect Cloud ODBC client available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.  Use your Progress ID to authenticate with DataDirect Cloud.

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9. Select the table object to import data, construct a query, or write a SQL statement similar to any relational data source.  It’s pretty cool when you execute SQL statements against SaaS applications complete with joins, aggregation, and scalar functions.

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10. Drag a browse icon into the pane to view the data; and draw an arrow connecting them.

11. Select the “Preparation” menu and drag the “select” icon in between to inspect the data type mappings.

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12. Click the green arrow to execute the job and output data can be stored in target ODBC databases, as well as a number of popular formats.

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13. Now that Alteryx is connected to new and exciting data sources, I will defer to the data artisans to do really cool stuff.

Get started loading unlimited data into Alteryx

Start a trial of the DataDirect Cloud Connectivity Service to load data from any ODBC source into Alteryx or call 1-800-876-3101 to speak with a systems engineer on ODBC data connectivity to SaaS, Big Data, SQL, NoSQL, and more.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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Following Data Summit 2014 in Manhattan, I spoke with panels of industry experts about NoSQL technologies related to financial services.  Coincidentally, MongoDB headquarters is down the street and they have very clever business cards.

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I was able to speak with conference attendees about their use of MongoDB and learned how valuable it is for ingesting and storing raw data for operational use including tick data, FIX messages, SWIFT, FpML, etc. I learned about several high data volume use cases being driven by regulations such as Dodd-Frank and EMIR.  The consensus was that standards based SQL access provides greater potential for adoption of MongoDB by seamlessly integrating from a wide range of BI or warehousing tools for regulatory reporting and analytics directly from the source system.

Avoid the loss of data from flattening collections for SQL

The feedback I hear from financial services shops with SQL access to NoSQL is that the sampling of data to define a schema introduces potential for data loss, which is not an option for regulatory reporting.  What happens to embedded arrays?  What if the “schema” on read changes?  Will my ETL, Pig or Map/Reduce jobs break as document structures change?

A new SQL approach to MongoDB so you can have your cake and eat it too

DataDirect introduces the first reliable MongoDB ODBC connector that provides flexible normalized “schema on read” functionality to query MongoDB using SQL, while optimizing SQL queries against the expanding MongoDB query API.  This logical schema does not require additional ETL steps or data movement, and is yet another engineering marvel for DataDirect R&D.

The case for standards based connectivity to MongoDB

1. BI Infrastructure: Instantly connect any versions of your BI tools across SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, Tableau, Oracle Business Intelligence (OBIEE), Microstrategy, SQL Server Reporting Services, SAS, SPSS, Qlikview, Spotfire, and more.  Or extract the data with less development time using ETL platforms such as IBM DataStage, Informatica, Ab Initio, SSIS and more.  A JDBC driver will be available as well for those building organic warehousing infrastructure.

2. Database Federation: Given the tiered economics of database storage, MongoDB can serve as a lower cost staging area for either structured or unstructured data that is accessible directly in real-time using ODBC in conjunction with RDBMS federation technologies including Oracle Database Gateway and SQL Server Linked Server.

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3. Democratization of MongoDB: Standard SQL access to data enables a larger audience to derive business value.  Especially for self service analysts or citizen developers who are unfamiliar with MongoDB APIs.  It’s common for them to run Microsoft Office, Data Visualization Tools, or even SaaS BI applications that have open JDBC support such as Birst.

Are we the Splice of MongoDB?

We’re not guaranteeing ACID compliance, but it sure does look like an RDBMS through our connection.

Learn more about SQL access to MongoDB

We expect GA later this month after which point you can Download the DataDirect MongoDB ODBC driver.

Register to meet the core product owners at MongoDB World behind this engineering feat, or call us at 1-888-332-6797 to learn about our direct connection to MongoDB that gives you the power of both SQL and NoSQL.

If you’re a business intelligence or data warehousing professional in financial services for which MongoDB is one of many sources you consume, here’s a great webinar to learn more about why your operations team adopted MongoDB: How to Drive Business Value in Financial Services with MongoDB

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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Things are off to a great start at MongoDB World, and the show couldn’t have come at a better time, as we’ve just announced the expansion of Progress DataDirect on-premise connectivity to support MongoDB and Amazon Redshift. DataDirect now offers data integration for MongoDB and Amazon Redshift via both ODBC and JDBC standards.

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Many of today’s business critical systems are being developed with MongoDB and Amazon Redshift, so the demand to connect to such data is growing rapidly. Progress DataDirect provides simple, scalable, secure real-time connectivity to these sources and others without the traditional complications of doing so, such as data loss and data “flattening.” Now users can easily connect MongoDB data with their existing data management, analytics or enterprise data warehouse (EDW) ecosystems.

In addition to the expanded connectivity, we’ve also added the following list of certification updates:

• SQL Server 2014
• Teradata 14.10
• DB2 V11 for z/OS
• Windows 8.1

If you’re at the conference, make sure you come by our booth #119 to learn more about DataDirect and see firsthand the new connectivity to MongoDB. Or, if you want to learn more about Progress’ newest acquisition, Modulus, stop by their booth right next door! Modulus is a cloud platform that allows developers to build new applications using Node.js to connect to MongoDB data.

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If you’re unable to attend the conference, I still encourage you to take advantage of a 15-day free trial of Progress DataDirect, so you can see for yourself.

Tableau analysts may or may not know about the challenges in exposing NoSQL data sources, such as MongoDB, to data visualization tools like Tableau, Qlikview, Spotfire, Microstrategy, SAP Lumira, SAS, Birst, etc.  Progress DataDirect loves a good challenge and engineered the first reliable SQL connector to MongoDB using ODBC/JDBC.  Progress Software acquired the Modulus Node.js and MongoDB development platform, so we might know a thing or two about MongoDB data – rather than follow the widely unpopular flattened schema approach.

Getting Started on reliable Tableau connectivity to MongoDB:

1- Download and install the DataDirect MongoDB ODBC driver (32-bit or 64-bit depending on version of Tableau). Tutorial shows Tableau 8.2 working with the 64-bit MongoDB ODBC driver.

2- Create an ODBC Data Source to connect to MongoDB (see end of tutorial for sample data with arrays of embedded documents)

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3- Launch Schema Tool and select “Normalized View” to create an intelligent virtual schema with a single click of the OK button

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4- Launch Tableau and connect to MongoDB ODBC data source

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5- Bring in normalized virtual tables WORLDCUP and WORLDCUP_TEAMS.  Note, this data resides in MongoDB within a single collection.

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6. Now, you can ask a simple question such as goals by country and last name.

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7. For comparison, it’s impossible to ask the same question as step #6 when the data is exposed in a flattened schema like existing SQL connectors.  Note how each individual team’s players and goals are all separate measures and dimensions from the flattened view of the Worldcup data (TEAMS1_GOALS, TEAMS2_GOALS, TEAMS3_GOALS, etc).  This approach does not represent MongoDB or NoSQL technology very well from Tableau.

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What’s the alternative to DataDirect’s normalized and scalable virtual schema for Tableau?

To get an equivalent reliable connectivity experience from Tableau, you would need to:

• Sample MongoDB data to understand the data model
• Write mapping code to extract and normalize the data
• Physically load it into a relational database
• Create some kind of CDC capability for near real-time data connectivity

In summary, use the DataDirect MongoDB ODBC driver.

Sample Data:

> db.worldcup.insert({ “_id” : 1, “year” : 2014, “location” : “Brazil”, “teams”: [ {"country" : "Brazil", "first" : null, "last" : "Jefferson", "goals" : 0 },{"country" : "Brazil", "first" : "Dani", "last" : "Alves", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Brazil", "first" : "Thiago", "last" : "Silva", "goals" : 1 } , {"country" : "Chile", "first" : "Claudio", "last" : "Bravo", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" :"Chile", "first" : "Eugenio", "last" : "Mena", "goals" : 0 } , {"country" : "Colombia", "first" : "David", "last" : "Ospina", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Colombia", "first" : "Cristian", "last" : "Zapata", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Colombia", "first" : "Mario", "last" : "Yepes", "goals" : 0 } , { "country" :"Germany", "first" : "Manuel", "last" : "Neuer", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Germany", "first" : "Kevin", "last" : "Grosskreutz", "goals" : 0 } , {"country" : "Mexico", "first" : "Jose", "last" : "Corona", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Mexico", "first" : "Francisco", "last" : "Rodriguez", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Mexico", "first" : "Carlos", "last" : "Salcido", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Mexico","first" : "Rafael", "last" : "Marquez", "goals" : 1 } , { "country" : "USA", "first" : "Tim", "last" : "Howard", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "DeAndre", "last" : "Yedlin", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "Omar","last" : "Gonzalez", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "Michael", "last" : "Bradley", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "USA", "first" : "Matt", "last" :"Besler", "goals" : 0 } ] } )

WriteResult({ “nInserted” : 1 })

> db.worldcup.insert({ “_id” : 2, “year” : 2010, “location” : “South Africa”, “teams” : [ {"country" : "Uruguay", "first" : "Fernando", "last" : "Muslera", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Uruguay", "first" : "Diego", "last" : "Lugano", "goals": 0 } , { "country" : "Netherlands", "first" : "Maarten", "last" : "Stekelenburg", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Netherlands", "first" : "Gregory", "last" : "van der wiel", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Germany", "first" : "Manuel", "last" :"Neuer", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Germany", "first" : "Marcell", "last" : "Jansen", "goals" : 1 }, { "country" : "Spain", "first" : "Iker", "last" : "Casillas", "goals" : 0 }, {"country" : "Spain", "first" :"Raul", "last" : "Albiol","goals" : 0  } ] })

WriteResult({ “nInserted” : 1 })

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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Many powerful vertical solutions are now available on the Force.com platform via the AppExchange – For ITSM (IT Service Management), there is BMC’s Remedyforce. Navatar Group offers Financial Services solutions, and ERP and accounting solutions are available from FinancialForce and RootStock. Veeva offers a CRM solution for the life sciences, to highlight just a few.

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Standard Remedyforce Dashboard

Force.com solutions provide varying capabilities when it comes to reporting or analytics. Being based on the Force.com platform, the integrated reporting or analytics will likely be delivered via your browser. If you’re a Force.com developer, this means that you will be providing some level of reporting or analytics in your application. If you’re a user of an application built on the platform, you will likely be using the BI or reporting features delivered with your solution. (I’ll be using a Remedyforce sandbox here.)

What if you’d like to access your data from other applications? Maybe you’re more comfortable with SQL than SOQL? If you’re a developer, are requests for custom reports from your customers driving you crazy?  If you’re a user of a Force.com solution, perhaps your company has standardized on particular BI or analytics applications – what if you could use them with your Force.com data ? But of course, all of this can only be done if it can be done securely.

Developers or end-users – unlock your data! You can now access the data that’s in virtually any Force.com solution that stores data in custom or standard Salesforce objects from your favorite BI/reporting/analytics applications! App Dev environments. Even from data federation applications such as Oracle’s Database Gateway for ODBC!

For example, with Datadirect Cloud, Remedyforce users, as well as users of almost any Force.com solution that stores data in standard or custom objects, can use ODBC-compatible visualization applications like Tableau to access their data.

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Remedyforce Reporting with Tableau via ODBC

They can also use Microsoft Excel or Access.

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Remedyforce Reporting via Microsoft Excel or Access and ODBC

Enterprise BI applications, such as MicroStrategy, are compatible.

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Remedyforce Reporting with MicroStrategy and ODBC

JDBC-compatible applications like DbVisualizer will work, too.

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Remedyforce Reporting via DbVisualizer and JDBC

Even web appdev platforms like Adobe ColdFusion can easily integrate Force.com data.

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Remedyforce integration with Adobe ColdFusion via JDBC and Datadirect Cloud – Admin Server

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Remedyforce integration with Adobe ColdFusion Builder via JDBC and Datadirect Cloud

Datadirect Cloud gives you realtime SQL access via ODBC or JDBC to your data stored in standard or custom Salesforce objects. Powerful, easy-to-setup and easy-to-use. No ETL required! And fully secured over SSL and HTTPS.

Do you work with Force.com solutions? Enduser or developer – unlock your data TODAY. Try Datadirect Cloud for free.

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Greg Stasko

Principal Sales Engineer, Progress Software at Progress DataDirect

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To facilitate the migration from the deprecated MySQL ODBC interface to RightNow, or Oracle Service Cloud (OSC) – DataDirect Cloud has added real-time direct SQL connectivity using the secure public APIs over HTTPS. We know what we’re doing after introducing standards based SaaS connectivity to Salesforce.com back in 2006. I’m starting with Crystal Reports, but similar steps apply to the following popular tools:

• Tableau
• Qlikview
• Spotfire
• Microstrategy
• SSIS
• Linked Server
• Pentaho
• Talend
• Alteryx
• Birst

Getting started connecting Crystal Reports 2013 to Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow)

1- Create Datadirect Cloud Login to start your trial

2- Create data source in DataDirect Cloud connecting to your Oracle Service Cloud instance

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3. Download and install 32-bit DataDirect Cloud ODBC client (JDBC clients and OData production are also supported); and create an ODBC data source named “RightNow32” for Oracle Service Cloud from step 2 that is local to the Crystal Reports machine.

4. Launch Crystal Reports 2013 and create a blank report

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5. Launch the database expert

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6. Select “RightNow32” ODBC data source and navigate the schema.

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7. Your data will be in the RIGHTNOW schema and you will notice tables and stored procedures. Tables are the OSC entities or objects; and procedures expose your native reports. If you have more than 8000, check out SAP article to display them all titled, “1215994 – Unable to see all database objects in Crystal Reports”

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8. You will notice that the OSC interface in DataDirect Cloud is ANSI SQL-92 compliant with standard ODBC escape syntax, and you can find a list of supported scalar functions for Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow) in our documentation.

I’m a data hippie and love standards and interoperability. But if you have reports hard coded against MySQL specific commands, please let us know of any challenges you’re facing.

Got any questions RightNow, or maybe later?

1. Start a trial of DataDirect Cloud OData production at DataDirect Cloud.
2. Talk to us @DataDirect_News or @SAsInSumit
3. Or call 1-800-876-3101 to learn more

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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One of my favorite onsite meetings is with R&D teams at Financial Services shops for the following reasons:

• Smart and talented R&D teams
• Build and deliver highly sophisticated systems and operate similar to a software company
• Do real work with real data
• Adopt and experiment with the latest technologies

DataDirect Custom Connectivity for Financial Services R&D

I’ve learned a lot from meeting with finserv database R&D teams around data connectivity, and I want to give back to my new techie friends with DataDirect OpenAccess SDK. The most common thing I’m hearing is the challenge of consuming the latest disruptive technologies for developers since they don’t always play nicely with business systems, in a highly regulated vertical. We solve this with our commercial drivers in most cases (similar to MongoDB which we solved), but we want to enable your R&D teams to address every possible case.

Leave no data behind | Common custom data connectivity projects across financial services

• SQL enable semantic data layers to query enterprise business logic from existing infrastructure such as IBM Cognos or Tableau.
• Access data directly and in real-time from flat file compliance archives. This same architecture applies to any intermediary repository or data lake with real-time data connectivity requirements
• Databases as a service in private clouds where DataDirect OpenAccess SDK is used to build a combination of the client connectivity and virtual layer over databases. It’s a very similar use case as to what NetSuite has done using the SDK for their public cloud application, except I’m going to take a wild guess you want private clouds.
• Enterprise search integration to enrich intelligence from indexed customer data with dashboards used by financial reps.

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Build a prototype today to open up new data opportunities

I recently built ODBC, JDBC, and ADO.NET connectivity to Apache Solr using DataDirect OpenAccess SDK in less than an hour; and have built drivers to proprietary flat files on layovers to the west coast.

Download a free trial to build a couple prototypes, and we should already have legal evaluation agreements in place for evaluations where required. We even provide run-time installers and branding capabilities if you want to start distributing the software to end clients.

Tweet @SAsInSumit on what you’re planning to build next

That was a little finserv humor, so call us at 1-800-876-3101 to speak under NDA. We should already have them in place at all the top shops.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

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A prevalent data challenge today is unlocking your applications’ data to a broader set of users as well as for business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools—and implementing it in a way that is both secure and controlled. Of course, you could optionally use high-performance ODBC or JDBC data drivers, but those solutions access the databases directly, potentially bypassing any controls and policies put in place by the encompassing application. How can you securely manage data access while providing superior data insights to more users?

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Today we are delivering a new, much-anticipated version of our Progress DataDirect OpenAccess SDK for building customized data connectivity. Besides delivering a spectrum of performance and efficiency enhancements, there are two key Interface Protocol (IP) features that address that data challenge head on:

• An Interface Provider wizard tool for web services using the REST API, for implementing secure and easy access to SaaS application data
• A full-function Interface Provider for Progress OpenEdge applications, pre-built and ready to go

OpenAccess SDK Version 8, now generally available, enables a quick and easy implementation with customized access to your application’s data.  The SDK helps expose the application’s data through standard APIs like ODBC or JDBC and enable SQL access. SQL execution is optimized by leveraging the data source query execution engine that comes with the SDK. This enables you to customize access to application data by SQL-izing or transforming a proprietary API into a standard one with very little additional code that must be written. OpenAccess accelerates business analysis by presenting the data in a way familiar to the application user and with rapid return on investments. It helps deliver more value to your end users, expanding the relevance of their applications within their ecosystems. OpenAccess enables a quick and easy implementation, and is the fastest way to make your application compatible with data-centric tools, such as BI and analytics, and ETL tools. The SDK includes an optimized SQL engine, and all the tools you need to build customized connectivity to the business logic within your clients’ applications for secure and controlled access to application data.

A recent case study for VoltDB tells another OpenAccess success story. Their in-memory database customers required the ability to visualize and access data through standard analytics and business intelligence solutions such as Tableau and Microstrategy. To VoltDB, the DataDirect leadership and proven success in the market was a compelling reason to partner with Progress. After some competitive comparisons, the VoltDB team settled on the OpenAccess SDK from DataDirect for building and customizing the data connectivity they needed. The result? VoltDB was able to reduce their time to market by 50% versus other solutions. In the end, they were able to develop a prototype in one month, releasing the new driver in just three months.

Check out the new OpenAccess V8 and start your free trial now.

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Jeff Reser

Cloud Connectivity Technologist, Progress Software at Progress Software

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In my previous blog about connectivity from Business Objects to Salesforce, we talked about creating Salesforce Universes for direct and real-time data connectivity to use in business intelligence (BI). As new requirements come to your team, it makes sense to expand your data warehouse (like SAP HANA) to include cloud data.

Expand Your Data Warehouse to Include Cloud Data

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Clik here to view.Today, I’m working off that theme and discussing couple of SAP Business Objects Data Services (BODS) 4.2 Linux projects I’ve been engaged with, connecting cloud data sources such as Salesforce and NetSuite using Progress® DataDirect® ODBC adapters. These ODBC adapters enable native data services extraction, transformation and loading.

DataDirect ODBC adapters are built on the same technology as the relational adapters bundled with BODS out-of-box. With them you can instantly browse any cloud application schema similar to existing relational sources and targets from within the Designer interface. And YES, we can write to Salesforce.com as a target from BODS!

Using ODBC adapters with Salesforce and NetSuite

This tutorial will focus on Salesforce and NetSuite, but similar steps can be followed to connect BODS 4.2 to any commercial DataDirect ODBC drivers across big data, NoSQL and cloud. In addition, this mini tutorial applies to third-party ODBC drivers you might obtain from other application vendors such as NetSuite.com, ServiceNow, Plex Systems, VoltDB and Deltek, to name a few.

Connecting BODS 4.2 to Salesforce and NetSuite: Getting Started

To get started connecting BODS to cloud sources, follow these steps:

1. Download a trial of the 32-bit and 64-bit Progress® DataDirect Connect® and Connect64 XE for ODBC Salesforce drivers. 32-bit ODBC drivers will run on the BODS client designer; 64-bit on the application server. This tutorial focuses on UNIX and Linux application servers.
2. Verify that your DataDirect test connection works independently from BODS by following the corresponding quick start guide, available with the trial download.
3. Update the BODS profile with the ODBC shared library path (for example, LIBPATH on AIX, SHLIB_PATH on HP-UX pa-risc, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH on Solaris, Linux and HP-UX (Itanium). For example, the default installation location for Salesforce will be:

   /opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/lib

   For other drivers such as NetSuite, an additional environment variable is required:

   $OASDK_ODBC_HOME

   Refer to the instructions from the application vendor for a complete reference.

4. Modify the appropriate ini files. The architecture of BODS 4.2 requires two odbc.ini files (ds_odbc.ini and odbc.ini).
5. Default locations for odbc.ini and ds_odbc.ini:
   

   /app/bods/sapbo/dataservices/DataDirect/odbc/odbc.ini
   /app/bods/sapbo/dataservices/bin/ds_odbc.ini

   ds_odbc.ini serves as a pass through to the DataDirect Unix/Linux ODBC Driver Manager where the desired ODBC data source name is in brackets. For example:

   [Salesforce]
    Driver=/home/boxiadm/app/bodsx/dataservices/DataDirect/odbc/lib/libodbc.so
    OdbcConformanceLevel=3
    LazyLoading=
    DriverUnicodeType=
    ODBC64SqlLenSize=64
    ODBC64SqlHandleSize=64
    #RebrandedLib=TRUE

   In odbc.ini, you should configure the actual library (ddsfrc27.so for DataDirect Connect64 for ODBC Salesforce v7.1.4 or ivoa22.so for NetSuite.com). Note that the ODBC DSN name in brackets must match between ds_odbc.ini and odbc.ini.

   [Salesforce]
    Driver=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/lib/ddsfrc27.so
    Description=DataDirect 7.1 Salesforce
    ConfigOptions=(MapSystemColumnNames=0;CustomSuffix=Include;AuditColumns=All)
    CreateDB=1
    EnableBulkLoad=False
    Extended Options=
    HostName=test.salesforce.com
    JVMClasspath=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71/java/lib/sforce.jar
    SecurityToken=
    StmtCallLimit=0
    TransactionMode=1

   Make sure the client ODBC data source on Windows is configured with the same properties in the ODBC Administrator.

6. Create and run a job using the Salesforce ODBC DSN created above

Why Use the ODBC Driver vs. the Salesforce Adapter from SAP?

SAP recommends the use of DataDirect drivers when you need:

• To access Salesforce using a newer Salesforce API version to expose data from all the latest features (Spring ’15 was a whopper!). We stay current with the latest Salesforce API versions in the ODBC driver.

• Read/Write access to the Salesforce Platform. The ODBC driver works as a target and supports INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE using either standard or bulk APIs, which are transparent to BODS.

My BODS Prediction for 2015

I guarantee you will see requirements from BODS to consume at least one of the following cloud data sources over the next 8 months:

• Salesforce
• NetSuite
• Amazon Redshift
• Oracle Marketing Cloud (Eloqua)
• ServiceNow
• Marketo
• Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow)
• Google Analytics
• WorkDay

Tweet @SAsInSumit or ping me on LinkedIn to let me know if I’m right (be nice!).

How Can We Help?

We are always ready to help our customers with whatever they need. To contact us, post a comment below, tweet to @DataDirect_News or call 1-800-876-3101. We are partners with SAP on TSANET  and happy to collaborate on your behalf for any connectivity project.

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Sumit Sarkar

Principal Systems Engineer, Progress DataDirect at Progress Software

Data Access Evangelist, Speaker and World's leading consultant on direct SQL access to Cloud Data.

Sumit Sarkar has been working in the data connectivity field for 10 years. His interests include performance tuning of the data access layer for which he has developed a patent pending technology for its analysis; business intelligence and data warehousing for SaaS platforms; and data connectivity for aPaaS environments - with a focus on standards such as ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET, and ODATA.

He is an IBM Certified Consultant for IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and TDWI member.

He has presented sessions on data connectivity at various conferences including IUC34, IUC35, Progress Revolution, Oracle User's Group, Collaborate 12, Dreamforce 2012, Cloud Computing Expo 2012, PRGS13 Exchange, Dreamforce 2013, Oracle OpenWorld 14, PRGS14, DF14

Presented related webinars in collaboration with IOUG, DZone, Progress DataDirect and Progress Communities.

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