Add BI Sources

You can add BI Servers to your Alation catalog as sources. As of the latest release, Alation supports:

• Tableau Server

• MicroStrategy Intelligence Server

• SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

Adding a BI server to your catalog follows a common scenario for all supported BI servers, with a number of specific parameters to be provided on the Settings page of the source.

Note that before cataloging connection to BI servers, you may need to enable the corresponding feature flags. Feature flags are covered in sections dedicated to each supported BI server and summarized in How To Set BI Tool Feature Flags.

Note

If a feature flag exists for a BI server and is set to False, then this BI server will not be available as an option in Alation.

Flags must be enabled for:

• SSRS

There are also a number of feature flags that turn on specific features for certain BI connectors. They are covered in respective sections.

Before you add a connection to a BI server to your catalog, please address a number of prerequisites in order to move through the configuration in Alation faster:

• Enable the dedicated feature flags.

• Collect the connection information. In most cases, you need:

  • server URL, port number, and other connection information, which may vary depending on the specific BI server;

  • service account with the required permissions. Service Account permissions are specific to each BI server type.