What is the MongoDB Connector for BI?
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Traditional business intelligence tools work with flat, tabular data. These tools aren't sophisticated enough to understand three-dimensional data stored in MongoDB databases.
The MongoDB Connector for Business Intelligence (BI) allows you to create queries with SQL to visualize, graph, and report on your three-dimensional MongoDB data using relational business intelligence tools such as Tableau and Power BI.
Note
As an alternative to using third-party data visualization tools and the BI Connector, you can use MongoDB Charts to create data visualizations directly from your MongoDB collections.
The MongoDB Connector for BI acts as a layer that translates queries and data between a
mongod or mongos instance and your reporting tool. The BI Connector
stores no data, and purely serves to bridge your MongoDB cluster with
business intelligence tools.
System Components
The BI Connector deployment includes the following components:
- BI tool
- Visualization and reporting tool, such as Tableau and PowerBI.
- JDBC or ODBC driver
- Provides a standard method to connect to the BI Connector and MongoDB databases from a BI tool. Depending on what your BI tool supports, you can use JDBC or ODBC drivers to connect to the BI Connector.
- BI Connector
- Provides a relational schema and translates SQL queries between your BI tool and MongoDB.
- MongoDB database
- MongoDB database deployment, either a self-managed MongoDB server or hosted MongoDB Atlas cluster.
Your BI tool and driver typically run on your local machine. Your BI Connector instance and your database can run on your local machine, in a data center, or hosted in the cloud.
BI Connector Configurations
The following table outlines the supported configurations for the BI Connector and MongoDB database deployments:
BI Connector configuration | Atlas Database (hosted) | MongoDB Database (self-managed) |
|---|---|---|
Atlas BI Connector (hosted) | Clusters M10 and greater only | |
BI Connector (self-managed) |
The following sections describe these configurations:
Hosted Database and BI Connector
In this configuration, your database and BI Connector applications both run on MongoDB Atlas, MongoDB's fully-managed database-as-a-service. Databases hosted on MongoDB Atlas natively support the BI Connector.
Note
You must have an M10 or higher MongoDB Atlas cluster to enable the built-in BI Connector.
Enable the BI Connector for MongoDB Atlas, then use the connection information that Atlas provides to configure your JDBC or ODBC driver.
Hosted Database and Self-Managed BI Connector
In this configuration, your MongoDB database runs on any tier of Atlas cluster and you install and manage the BI Connector locally or on your network.
Install and launch the BI Connector, specifying a remote database address, then configure your JDBC or ODBC driver to connect to the BI Connector.
Self-Managed Database and BI Connector
In this configuration, you install and manage both the MongoDB database and BI Connector applications, either locally or on your network.
Install and launch the BI Connector, then configure your JDBC or ODBC driver to connect to the BI Connector server address.
Local Database and BI Connector
For testing and all-in-one-box local experimentation, you can run MongoDB and the BI Connector on your desktop. This configuration might be helpful for proofs of concept or as a way to explore the possibilities of data visualization with the BI Connector.
Learn more about setting up a local BI Connector test installation in the Quick Start Guide.