Introducing Rill and BI as Code with CrateDB Cloud

In the world of data analytics, Rill represents a revolutionary approach to Business Intelligence (BI), championing the concept of BI as code.

This methodology enables versioning, tracking, and collaboration on BI projects using code, which makes BI more efficient and scalable than traditional BI tools. By leveraging Rill in conjunction with CrateDB Cloud, you can harness the power of distributed SQL database technology for real-time analytics at scale.

Create a free-tier cluster

To begin setting up your CrateDB Cloud free-tier cluster, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the CrateDB Cloud Console at https://console.cratedb.cloud.

  2. Click on “Deploy Cluster.”

  3. Choose your desired region from the list provided.

  4. Select the “CRFEE” plan for the Free tier option.

  5. Enter a unique name for your cluster, such as “rilldata.”

  6. Click on “Deploy Cluster” to initiate the setup.

After you click Deploy, the console shows your username and password. Copy and store them securely. The cluster usually finishes provisioning in under 5 minutes.

Cluster setup|600x440

Connect to your cluster

When the cluster is ready, connect to it:

  • Go to the “Connecting to your cluster” section and scroll down to find the “psycopg3-sync” part.

  • Copy the PostgreSQL formatted DB-URI provided, which looks similar to this:

postgres://admin:<PASSWORD>@rilldata.aks1.westeurope.azure.cratedb.net:5432

  • Replace <PASSWORD> with the password you saved earlier to create a connection string like:

postgres://admin:Yl3dnY666YlPyVkHKdIYjtqk@rilldata.aks1.westeurope.azure.cratedb.net:5432

Setup

To integrate Rill with your CrateDB Cloud cluster:

  1. Install Rill by executing the shell install script:

curl https://rill.sh | sh

  1. Navigate to the directory where you wish to create your Rill project:

cd ~/my-rill-projects/

  1. Initiate a new Rill project named my-cratedb-rill-project:

rill start my-cratedb-rill-project

Usage

Rill opens a browser window at http://localhost:9009/welcome, so you can start adding data.

Rill setup|600x400

Select PostgreSQL as your data source when adding data.

Select PostgreSQL|380x400

Enter the following details:

SQL Query (or your own query):

SELECT classification, country, first_ascent, height, mountain, prominence, region FROM sys.summits

Name:

summits_table

PostgreSQL Connection String (Use the connection string you formed earlier)

postgres://admin:Yl3dnY666YlPyVkHKdIYjtqk@rilldata.aks1.westeurope.azure.cratedb.net:5432

image|690x323

Congratulations! You’re now ready to explore Rill with your CrateDB Cloud cluster.