Metabase

Connecting to Metabase

Metabase is an open-source business intelligence platform. You can use Metabase’s user interface to explore, analyze, and visualize data, query databases, generate reports, and create dashboards.

This guide shows you how to set up a Firebolt connector for a self-hosted Metabase instance and how to create a connection. If you are using either the managed or cloud-hosted version of Metabase Cloud, you can skip directly to the Create a Connection.

You can also watch a short video on how to connect Metabase to Firebolt:

Topics:

  1. Set up a connector to metabase
  2. Create a connection to metabase
  3. Additional Resources

Set up a connector to metabase

Metabase can be deployed as a self-hosted instance, which is a version that you install and manage on your own server infrastructure. If you are using either the managed or cloud-hosted version of Metabase Cloud, you can skip directly to the Create a Connection.

For self-hosted deployments on-premises, the Firebolt connector must be installed manually using the following steps:

  1. Download the Firebolt Metabase driver
  2. Move the driver file to the plugins directory
    • Save the downloaded driver file in the /plugins directory on your Metabase host system.
    • By default, the /plugins directory is located in the same folder where the metabase.jar file runs. After completing these steps, the Firebolt connector will be available for configuration within Metabase.

Create a connection to metabase

After setting up the Firebolt connector, use the following steps to create a connection between Metabase and your Firebolt database:

  1. Open your Metabase instance’s home page in a web browser.

  2. Select Settings from the top-right menu of the Metabase interface.

  3. Select Admin from the dropdown menu.

  4. On the Admin page, select Databases in the top navigation bar.

  5. Select the Add Database button.

  6. From the Database Type dropdown list, select Firebolt.

    Fill out the required connection details using the descriptions provided in the following table:

    Field Description
    Display Name A name to identify your database in Metabase. Use the same name as your Firebolt database for simplicity.
    Client ID The service account ID associated with your Firebolt database.
    Client Secret The secret for the service account associated with your Firebolt database.
    Database name Specify the name of the Firebolt database you want to connect to.
    Account name The name of your Firebolt account, which is required to log in and authenticate your database connection.
    Engine name Provide the name of the Firebolt engine that will be used to run queries against the database.
    Additional JDBC options Add any extra parameters needed for the connection, such as connection_timeout_millis=10000. For more options, access the JDBC connection parameters guide.
  7. Select Save to store your database configuration.

Verify the connection by confirming that Metabase displays a success message indicating that your Firebolt database has been added successfully. If the connection fails, double-check your settings and ensure all required fields are correct.

Additional Resources

For more information about Metabase configuration and troubleshooting, refer to the following resources: