Connect to Amazon Data Sources

1 Menu: Create -> Data Source

2 Use EC2 instance credentials
The data source type should be set to "AWS Data Source". You should use "EC2 instance credentials". If EC2 instance credentials are not available, then see the Additional Connection Possibilities section below.

3 Enter Database connection info
JasperReports Server is able to detect your RDS and Redshift data sources. This is possible because the IAM Role associated with the EC2 instance is allowed to execute the actions "rds:Describe*" and "redshift:Describe*". It pre-populates the Database Name, Driver, and URL.

You must enter the database username and password. For security reasons Amazon does not store these credentials, so Jaspersoft cannot retrieve them.

The default database is automatically populated, but you may manually enter another if your RDS or Redshift instance has multiple databases.

4 Test
You should always test your connection. Testing actually does more than just testing. It's cool.

• It creates a DB Security Group.
• It adds the internal IP of the EC2 instance to the security group to authorize ingress to RDS.
• This is possible because the IAM Role provides the instance with credentials like "rds:CreateDBSecurityGroup" and "redshift:AuthorizeClusterSecurityGroupIngress".
• If you want to control details of the security group name or specify the IP address manually because you have a complex VPC Topology, then navigate to the menu Manage -> Server Settings -> AWS Settings

5 Create a Domain
Jaspersoft's metadata layer is called "Data Domains". Choose the menu Create -> Domain.

Follow the domain creation wizard to build a domain.

6 Analyze your data
Choose the menu Create -> Ad Hoc View. Find your newly created domain and use the ad hoc environment to begin analyzing your data.

7 Next steps
Refer to the Online Learning Portal for lots of details on creating domains, performing ad hoc analysis, and creating reports.

1 AWS Credentials

Under normal circumstances it's best to launch Jaspersoft BI on an EC2 instance with an associated IAM Role. This role provides the instance with EC2 credentials.

If this option is not available for some reason, then it's possible to use AWS credentials instead. If you already have AWS Credentials, you may enter the Access Key and Secret Key.

If you do not have AWS Credentials, you may run the CloudFormation Template "jrs-create-user" to generate credentials.

http://www.jaspersoft.com/jrs-create-user?region=us-east-1

http://www.jaspersoft.com/jrs-create-user?region=us-west-2

http://www.jaspersoft.com/jrs-create-user?region=us-west-1

http://www.jaspersoft.com/jrs-create-user?region=eu-west-1

http://www.jaspersoft.com/jrs-create-user?region=ap-northeast-1

http://www.jaspersoft.com/jrs-create-user?region=sa-east-1

2 JDBC / JNDI Connections

NOTE: When using JDBC for data source connections, the user will be responsible for managing the security groups to allow access from the Jaspersoft server to the data source. Please refer to the comparison of benefits of JDBC connections vs. AWS Data Sources, detailed below.

Amazon RDS or Redshift

When connecting to Amazon RDS or Redshift, it is best to use the data source type "AWS Data Source" to make configuration easier. If you prefer, JDBC connections may used to connect to Amazon RDS or Redshift, per below. To connect using JDBC, choose the data source type "JDBC Data Source". Enter all connection information and test. Alternatively, you can choose "JNDI Data Source" and refer to a data source defined in Apache Tomcat.

Benefits of defining your own JDBC connections:

• You have complete control

Benefits of using AWS Data Sources:

• Jaspersoft provides the driver and URL
• Data source automatically recovers if the IP address changes
• Data source automatically recovers if DB Security Groups are modified