Connect your Redshift

Setting up the Redshift destination connector involves setting up Redshift entities (user, grants) through Redshift access, and configuring the Redshift destination connector using Whaly UI.

This page describes the step-by-step process of setting up the Redshift destination connector.

Step 1: Create a Whaly read only user in Redshift​

To set up the Redshift destination connector, you first need to connect to your Redshift server to run some SQL queries.

CREATE USER whaly_bi WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'some_password_here';
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE database_name to whaly_bi;
\c database_name

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE information_schema.tables TO looker;
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE information_schema.columns TO looker;

GRANT SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO whaly_bi;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO whaly_bi;

Password Constraints (taken from the Redshift ALTER USER documentation)

• 8 to 64 characters in length.

• Must contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number.

• Can use any printable ASCII characters (ASCII code 33 to 126) except ' (single quote), " (double quote), \`,/,@`, or space.

If you're using a schema other than public, run this command to grant usage permissions to Whaly:

GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA schema_name TO whaly_bi;

To make sure that future tables you add to the public schema are also available to the whaly_bi user, run these commands:

ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON tables TO whaly_bi;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON sequences TO whaly_bi;

Depending on your setup, the preceding commands may need to be altered. If another user or role is creating tables that the whaly_bi user needs future permissions for, you must specify a target role or user to apply the whaly_bi user's permission grants for:

ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES FOR USER <USER_WHO_CREATES_TABLES> IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON tables TO whaly_bi;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES FOR USER <USER_WHO_CREATES_TABLES> IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON sequences TO whaly_bi;
-- or
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES FOR ROLE <ROLE_THAT_CREATES_TABLES> IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON tables TO whaly_bi;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES FOR ROLE <ROLE_THAT_CREATES_TABLES> IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON sequences TO whaly_bi;

See ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES on Redshift's website for more information.

Step 2: Set up Redshift as a destination in Whaly

Navigate to the Whaly UI to set up Redshift as a destination. You can authenticate using username/password.

Host

The host IP or URL of your Redshift cluster.

Port

The Port to be used to connect to Redshift. Default is: 5439

Database

The name of the Redshift database to connect to on the server. Default is: postgres

User

The name of the user to use for Whaly BI. Default is: whaly_bi

Password

The password of the user created for Whaly BI

Step 3: Secure the database connection

Please make sure to properly whitelist Whaly IPs.