Important:

IBM Cloud Pak® for Data Version 4.7 will reach end of support (EOS) on 31 July, 2025. For more information, see the Discontinuance of service announcement for IBM Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.X.

Upgrade to IBM Software Hub Version 5.1 before IBM Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.7 reaches end of support. For more information, see Upgrading IBM Software Hub in the IBM Software Hub Version 5.1 documentation.

IBM Watson Query connection

To access your data in Watson Query, create a connection asset for it. A Watson Query connection is created automatically in a catalog or project when you publish a virtual object to a catalog or assign it to a project. The Watson Query connection was formerly named the Data Virtualization connection.

Watson Query integrates data sources across multiple types and locations and turns all this data into one logical data view. This virtual data view makes the job of getting value out of your data easy.

Create a Watson Query connection

To create the connection asset, you need these connection details:

  • Database name
  • Hostname or IP address of the database
  • Port number
  • Instance ID
  • Credentials information
  • SSL certificate (if required by the database server)

Credentials

Use one of these methods to authenticate to a Watson Query instance:

Connecting to a Watson Query instance in Cloud Pak for Data

  • User credentials: Enter your Cloud Pak for Data username and password.
  • API key: Enter an API key value with your Cloud Pak for Data username and a Cloud Pak for Data API key. Use this syntax: user_name:api_key
  • Use my platform login credentials. This option is available If you select Personal credentials and the User credentials authentication method. The Watson Query service must be deployed on the same instance of Cloud Pak for Data where you are creating the connection. With platform credentials, the connection to Watson Query is established by using your current session JSON Web Token (JWT).

Connecting to a Watson Query instance in IBM Cloud

  • API key: Enter an IAM API key. Prerequisites:
    1. Add the user ID as an IAM user or as a service ID to your IBM Cloud account. For instructions, see the Console user experience section of the Identity and access management (IAM) on IBM Cloud topic.
    2. The Watson Query Manager of the Watson Query instance must add IAM users by selecting Data > Watson Query > Administration > User management from the Cloud Pak for Data as a Service navigation menu.

For Credentials and Certificates, you can use secrets if a vault is configured for the platform and the service supports vaults. For information, see Using secrets from vaults in connections.

Choose the method for creating a connection based on where you are in the platform

In a project
Click Assets > New asset > Data access tools > Connection. See Adding a connection to a project.
In a catalog
Click Add to catalog > Connection. See Adding a connection asset to a catalog.
In a deployment space
Click Add to space > Connection. See Adding connections to a deployment space.
In the Platform assets catalog
Click New connection. See Adding platform connections.

Next step: Add data assets from the connection

Where you can use this connection

You can use Watson Query connections in the following workspaces and tools:

Projects

This list provides examples of how a Watson Query connection can be used.

  • Cognos Dashboards (Cognos Dashboards service)
  • Data quality rules (Watson Knowledge Catalog)
  • Data Refinery (Watson Studio or Watson Knowledge Catalog)
  • DataStage (DataStage service). See Connecting to a data source in DataStage.
  • Metadata enrichment (Watson Knowledge Catalog)
  • Metadata import (Watson Knowledge Catalog)
  • Notebooks (Watson Studio). Click Read data on the Code snippets pane to get the connection credentials and load the data into a data structure. See Load data from data source connections.
  • SPSS Modeler (SPSS Modeler service)

Catalogs

  • Platform assets catalog

  • Other catalogs (Watson Knowledge Catalog)

Connected assets in governed catalogs can be used for the enforcement of data protection rules in Watson Query.

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance

The IBM Watson Query connection is compliant with FIPS. However, SSL certificates that you paste into the SSL certificate field are not supported. As a workaround, you can add the certificate to the OpenShift secret named connection-ca-certs. See Using a CA certificate to connect to internal servers from the platform for the procedure.

Setup

Installing Watson Query

Restriction

You can use this connection only for source data. You cannot write to data with this connection.

Learn more

Parent topic: Supported connections