Connecting Power BI to Presto in watsonx.data

This topic provides the procedure to connect Power BI to Presto using an ODBC driver (Simba or CData). When you connect to the Presto engine in watsonx.data, you can access various connected data sources and build interactive data visualizations.

Prerequisites

Power BI Desktop: Download and install the latest version.
Download and install one of the following ODBC drivers:
- Simba ODBC driver for Presto: After installation, copy the received license file to ~\Simba Presto ODBC Driver\lib.
- CData ODBC driver for Presto.
Subscription to watsonx.data on IBM Cloud with a provisioned Presto engine.

Authentication

Power BI uses LDAP authentication to connect to Presto:

Username: ibmlhapikey_<username>
Password: The API key of the watsonx.data user.

Configuring the ODBC driver

Simba ODBC driver:

Open ODBC Data Source as administrator.
Click System DSN > Add. Select Simba Presto ODBC and click Finish.
Provide the following details:
- Data source name, Authentication Type (LDAP), Username (ibmlhapikey_<username>), Password (API key, see Generating the API key), Host (see Getting connection information), Port (see Getting connection information), Catalog, and Schema.
Click Test. Click Ok.

CData ODBC driver:

Open ODBC Data Source as administrator.
Click System DSN > Add. Select CData Presto.
Provide the following details:
- Data source name, Server (hostname, see Getting connection information), Port (see Getting connection information), Auth Scheme (LDAP), Username (ibmlhapikey_<username>), Password (API key, see Generating the API key), and Use SSL (True).
Click Test Connection. Click Ok.

Setting up Power BI and viewing tables

Open Power BI Desktop.
Click Get data from other sources > search and select ODBC > Connect.
From the Data source name list, select your data source and click Ok.
Provide username (ibmlhapikey_<username>) and password (API key, see Generating the API key). Click Connect.
The Navigator page shows schemas. Select a table and click Load or Transform Data.

Connecting to Presto by using Config files

You can select the catalog in Power BI from the watsonx.data console, and watsonx.data generates a Config file for the selected driver. This file enables direct access without Presto configurations.

Log in to the watsonx.data instance.
Go to Configurations > Connection information.
Expand BI Tools and select PowerBI.
From Connection Details, expand the Presto engine and use the Edit catalog icon to select the required catalog.
Click Export config files and select the config zip file (Simba config.zip or CData config.zip). The zip includes a .reg file and a .pbids file.
Run the .reg file to configure the database connection on Windows. Run the .pbids file to connect to the data source. Provide username and password.
The SSL certificate is available from the watsonx.data Connection Information > IBM Products > Instance details > SSL Certificate. For more information about retrieving the SSL certificate, see Getting connection information.
The Catalog page is displayed. Select schemas and tables for analysis.