🔌Add a Databricks connector

How to connect a databricks cluster in Toucan

This connector support ‘on-demand’ clusters i.e.: self stopping clusters. Make sure to tick the ON DEMAND parameter on the connector’s configuration form to handle queries on a stopped cluster.

Live datasets might not work properly in case of self stopped cluster

The relevant driver must be installed and configured on your Toucan Toco workspace

Connector features

You can use the Toucan Databricks connector to connect to your Databricks account with a Personal Access token and access tables or views with a SQL query.

With this connection, you can fetch data from your Snowflake to fill your charts and dashboards.

Configuring a Databricks connection in Toucan

Retrieve ODBC connection information from Databricks as described here

Follow the steps described in Add a connector, choose Databricks and fill out the form with the following info:

Field	Format / Type	Description	Example
Name (mandatory)	String	Use it to identify your connection	MyDatabricksConnection
Host (mandatory)	String	hostname of databricks cluster can be found the cluster configuration	my-databricks-cluster.cloudprodiverdatabricks.net
Port (mandatory)	Integer	The listening port of your Databricks cluster	443 (default)
Http Path (mandatory)	String	Databricks compute resources URL, can be retrieved from Databricks UI cluster’s configuration in the ‘ODBC’ section	sql/protocol/v1/o/xxx/yyy
User (mandatory)	String	token"if you use a personal access token PAT, or username if you connect by username/password (deprecated since July 2024)	databricks_user
Password (mandatory)	String	Access token (generated from Databricks UI in user settings) (will be stored as a secret)	dapixxxxxx
ANSI	Boolean	Enforce compliance with the ANSI SQL standard for SQL operations and behaviors
On Demand	Boolean	if your cluster is self-stopping, make sure to tick this option. With this option, the connector will try to start the cluster if it’s stopped before any query
Retry Policy (optional)	Boolean	Boolean allows to configure a retry policy if the connection is flaky. max attempts: maximum number of retries before giving up max_delay: in seconds, above the connection is dropped wait_time: time in seconds between each retry
Slow Queries' Cache Expiration Time	Integer	Slow queries' cache expiration time

Click on the TEST CONNECTION button then SAVE the connection

After successfully configuring the connector, you will be able to find it in the Connector section of the DataHub "Datasource" tab

If the cluster is stopped, the connection test might fail, but you can SAVE the configuration anyway

Create a dataset from a Databricks connection

Please note that in case of a shutdown cluster, the query preview & live queries might be broken as of current state of the implementation. In such situations, the connector tries to start the cluster and wait for the cluster to be started. If you plan to use the connector in an ‘on-demand’ fashion (i.e.: with self-stopping clusters) use it only with stored datasets.

This data connector is only supported in code/SQL mode

To create a dataset from Databricks, click on the "create from icon", you will then be able to:

• QUERY: the SQL query you want to run

• PARAMETERS (optional): dict, allows to parameterize the query.

We specifically designed this connector to handle DATA REFRESH from an on-demand clusters. During this process, the connector will try to start the cluster and wait for it to be ready before running queries.*

After selecting data from your connector you will be able to create a dataset thanks to YouPrep using the selection as "source step".