Connectors → Amazon Web Services (AWS) Athena

About Amazon Web Services (AWS) Athena

Amazon AWS Athena is an interactive query service that makes it easy to analyze data in Amazon S3 using standard SQL. Athena is serverless, so there is no infrastructure to manage, and you pay only for the queries that you run.

AWS Athena Connector

The AWS Athena Connector enables Incorta to access files stored in an S3 bucket. Simply point to your data in Amazon S3, define the schema, and start querying using standard SQL.

The AWS Athena connector supports the following Incorta specific functionality:

Feature	Supported
Chunking
Data Agent	✔
Encryption at Ingest
Incremental Load	✔
Multi-Source	✔
OAuth
Performance Optimized	✔
Remote	✔
Single-Source	✔
Spark Extraction
Webhook Callbacks	✔

Steps to connect AWS Athena and Incorta

To connect AWS Athena and Incorta, here are the high level steps, tools, and procedures:

Create an external data source
Create a schema with the Schema Wizard
or, Create a schema with the Schema Designer
Load the schema
Explore the schema

Create an external data source

Here are the steps to create a external data source with the AWS Athena connector:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Data.
In the Action bar, select + New → Add Data Source.
In the Choose a Data Source dialog, in Query service, select Athena.
In the New Data Source dialog, specify the applicable connector properties.
To test, select Test Connection.
Select Ok to save your changes.

AWS Athena connector properties

Here are the properties for the AWS Athena connector:

Property	Control	Description
Data Source Name	text box	Enter the name of the data source
Access Key ID	text box	Enter the API Key ID required to access the data
Secret Access Key	text box	Enter the Secret Access Key required to access the data
Connection Pool	text box	Enter the connection pool. The default is 30.
Bucket	text box	Enter the path to the AWS S3 bucket
Region	drop down list	Select the region of the AWS S3 bucket. This property is required for Incorta version 4.9.1 and later.
Connection Properties	text box	Optionally enter connector properties for a custom connection to AWS Athena in the format: `propertyName=propertyValue`, where each connector property is on a new line. The available connector properties are specified by `com.simba.athena.jdbc.Driver`. Refer to the Installing and Using Simba Athena JDBC Driver section of the Simba Athena JDBC Driver Installation and Configuration Guide for further information.
Use Data Agent	toggle	Enable using a data agent to securely ingest data from an external data source that is behind a firewall. For more information, please review Tools → Data Agent and Tools → Data Manager.
Data Agent	drop down list	Enable Use Data Agent to configure this property. Select from the data agents created in the tenant, if any.

Important: Data Agent

A data agent is a service that runs on a remote host. It is also a data agent object in the Data Manager for a given tenant. An authentication file shared between the data agent object and the data agent service enables an authorized connection without using a VPN or SSH tunnel. With a data agent, you can securely extract data from one or more databases behind a firewall to an Incorta cluster. Your Incorta cluster can reside on-premises or in the cloud. A CMC Administrator must enable and configure an Incorta cluster to support the use of Data Agents. Only a Tenant Administrator (Super User) or user that belongs to a group with the SuperRole role for a given tenant can create a data agent that connects to a data agent service. To learn more, see Concepts → Data Agent and Tools → Data Agent.

Create a schema with the Schema Wizard

Here are the steps to create an AWS Athena schema with the Schema Wizard:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the Action bar, select + New → Schema Wizard
In (1) Choose a Source, specify the following:
- For Enter a name, enter the schema name.
- For Select a Datasource, select the AWS Athena external data source.
- Optionally create a description.
In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
In (2) Manage Tables, in the Data Panel, navigate the directory tree as necessary to select the AWS Athena files. You can either check the Select All checkbox or select individual sheets.
In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
In (3) Finalize, in the Schema Wizard footer, select Create Schema.

Create a schema with the Schema Designer

Here are the steps to create an AWS Athena schema using the Schema Designer:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the Action bar, select + New → Create Schema.
In Name, specify the schema name, and select Save.
In Start adding tables to your schema, select SQL Database.
In the Data Source dialog, specify the AWS Athena table data source properties.
Select Add.
In the Table Editor, in the Table Summary section, enter the table name.
To save your changes, select Done in the Action bar.

AWS Athena table data source properties

For a schema table in Incorta, you can define the following AWS Athena specific data source properties as follows:

Property	Control	Description
Type	drop down list	Default is SQL Database
Data Source	drop down list	Select the AWS Athena external data source
Remote	toggle	Enable this option to remotely access file data, which means no data is loaded to Incorta. See the Summary of Data Access Methods table for details on how setting this and the Performance Optimized property affects data accessibility.
File Type	text box	Displays the read-only type of AWS S3 file the table is sourced from
File Location	text box	Displays the read-only location of the AWS S3 file the table is sourced from
Incremental	toggle	Enable the incremental load configuration for the schema table
Fetch Size	text box	Used for performance improvement, fetch size defines the number of records that will be retrieved from the database in each batch until all records are retrieved. The default is 5000.
Query	text box	Enter the SQL query to retrieve data from the AWS Athena database
Update Query	text box	Enable Incremental to configure this property. Enter the SQL query to retrieve data updates from the AWS Athena database.
Incremental Field Type	drop down list	Enable Incremental to configure this property. Select the format of the table date column: ● TImestamp ● Unix Epoch (seconds) ● Unix Epoch (milliseconds)
Callback	toggle	Enable this option to call back on the source data set
Callback URL	text box	Enable Callback to configure this property. Specify the URL.

Summary of Data Access Methods Based on Remote and Performance Optimized Settings

Table Properties	Data Source Properties	Parquet	DDM	Memory	SQLi	Materialized View Notebooks	Dashboard Insight
Performance Optimized = Off	Remote = On	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Performance Optimized = Off	Remote = Off	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No, unless populated via MV/Notebook
Performance Optimized = On	Remote = Off	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

View the schema diagram with the Schema Diagram Viewer

Here are the steps to view the schema diagram using the Schema Diagram Viewer:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the list of schemas, select the AWS Athena schema.
In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Diagram.

Load the schema

Here are the steps to perform a Full Load of the AWS Athena schema using the Schema Designer:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the list of schemas, select the AWS Athena schema.
In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Load → Full Load.
To review the load status, in Last Load Status, select the date.

Explore the schema

With the full load of the AWS Athena schema complete, you can use the Analyzer to explore the schema, create your first insight, and save the insight to a new dashboard.

To open the Analyzer from the schema, follow these steps:

In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the Schema Manager, in the List view, select the AWS Athena schema.
In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Explore Data.

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