Adding connections to analytics projects (Watson Studio and Watson Knowledge Catalog)

You need to create a connection asset for a data source in an analytics project before you can load data to or from it. A connection asset contains the information necessary to establish a connection to a data source.

You can create a connection asset from a platform-level connection, or create a platform-level connection from a connection asset that you create in a project. For information about differences between creating connections at the service level or at the platform level, see Connecting to data sources.

You create connections to these types of data sources:

• Platform-level connections
• IBM Cloud services
• Other cloud services
• On-premises databases

See Supported data sources for the list of data sources.

To create a new connection in a project:

1. Click Add to project > Connection.

2. If you want to use a platform-level connection, click the From platform tab.

3. Choose a data source.

4. Enter the connection information that is required for the data source. Typically, you need to provide information like the hostname, port number, username, and password.
5. If the data source supports personal credentials, select Shared to enter credentials to make the data source and its credentials accessible to all collaborators in the project, or select Personal if you want each collaborator to provide their own credentials to use the data source. The default setting is Shared. An administrator can disable shared credentials.
6. If a vault is set up for the platform and the service support secrets, in the Credentials section you can select to use secrets from a vault. In Cloud Pak for Data, secrets can be used only for connections with personal credentials. See Using vault secrets in connections for information.
7. Click Create. The connection appears on the Assets page. You can edit the connection by clicking the connection name on the Assets page.
8. Add tables, files, or other types of data from the connection by creating a connected data asset.
9. Optional: Convert the connection asset to a platform-level connection that can be accessed from any feature in Cloud Pak for Data:
   1. Locate the connection in the project's Assets tab in the Data assets section.
   2. From the overflow menu (), select Publish to Catalog.
   3. Select Platform assets catalog and click Publish.
   4. You can confirm that the connection is added by going to Data > Platform connections.

Connections with personal credentials are marked with a key icon () on the Assets page and are locked. If you are authorized to access the connection, you can unlock it by entering your credentials the first time you select it. This is a one-time step that permanently unlocks the connection for you. After you have unlocked the connection, the key icon is no longer displayed. Connections with personal credentials are already unlocked if you created the connections yourself.

Watch this video to see how to create a connection and add connected data to a project.

Next step

Go to Data Refinery, and select the connection. Drill down to a schema, and table or view.

Learn more

Connecting to data sources at the platform level

Parent topic: Adding data to a project