Connecting to Actian Data Platform via JDBC

Actian delivers an operational data warehouse as a managed service in the cloud. Its developer-friendly high-performance analytics engine has been proven to outperform other popular analytics platforms without specialized hardware or complicated software development. Requires minimal setup, provides automatic tuning to reduce database administration effort, and enables highly responsive end-user BI reporting.

This is how to connect to Actian from a few popular BI tools using the Actian JDBC driver.

You can also connect to Actian from Pentaho, using the Actian JDBC driver.

A prerequisite is to have the Actian Data Platform JDBC driver downloaded and available in the environment where the tools run. The JDBC Driver is available via the Actian Data Platform, formerly Avalanche, console Drivers and Tools link.

Looker

Because Looker is a web-based tool, it already has the driver installed, so there is no need to download the driver.

This is how to connect from Looker to Actian Data Platform.

Login to your Looker Account.

If you have a Looker-hosted instance, you will need to put the Looker IP addresses on the Allow List in your Actian Data Platform console (Manage > Update Allow List IPs).

More information about the Looker IP addresses is available at Enabling Secure Database Access.

Go to Admin > Database > Connections.

Fill out the connection information (from the Actian Data Platform console Manage > Connect):

• Select Vector for the Dialect.
• Enter the host and the JDBC port in the Host:Port fields.
• Type db for the Database.
• Enter you database username and password in the Username and Password fields.
• In the Additional Params field type encryption=on.

Example:

Click on Test These Settings to confirm that the connection works.

DBVisualizer

Setting up DB Visualizer to connect to Actian Data Platform can be done by following these steps:

1. Add the Actian Data Platform JDBC driver to DBVisualizer.

Go to Tools > Driver Manager…

Add a new driver by clicking on the plus sign (+). Provide a name for the new driver, e.g. Actian Data Platform Driver. Use the folder button to add the jar file (iijdbc.jar) from where it was downloaded and uncompressed.

Select the driver class from the Driver Class drop down box. It should be com.ingres.jdbc.IngresDriver.

Exit the Driver Manager window.

2. Create a new database connection

Click on Create new database connection.

In the wizard, select the newly created driver, then edit the user name, password, and URL.

The URL should be taken from your Actian Data Cloud console (Manage > Connect).

Example:
jdbc:ingres://01c77d46010046ec7.vpaasstage.actiandatacloud.com:27839/db;encryption=on;

Once the connection configuration is completed, the database is available for querying.

To learn more about Actian Data Platform, our fully managed cloud data warehouse service, visit https://www.actian.com/data-platform/.

About Actian Corporation

Actian makes data easy. Our data platform simplifies how people connect, manage, and analyze data across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. With decades of experience in data management and analytics, Actian delivers high-performance solutions that empower businesses to make data-driven decisions. Actian is recognized by leading analysts and has received industry awards for performance and innovation. Our teams share proven use cases at conferences (e.g., Strata Data) and contribute to open-source projects. On the Actian blog, we cover topics ranging from real-time data ingestion, data analytics, data governance, data management, data quality, data intelligence to AI-driven analytics.