IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL connection

Last updated: Dec 11, 2024

To access your data in IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL, create a connection asset for it.

IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL is an open source object-relational database that is highly customizable. It’s a feature-rich enterprise database with JSON support.

Create a connection to IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL

If you set up an integrated cloud service, select the service instance to automatically fill in the fields in the connection form. Confirm that all the fields are complete.

To create the connection asset, you need these connection details:

Database name
Hostname or IP address of the database
Port number
Username and password
SSL certificate (if required by the database server)

For Private connectivity, to connect to a database that is not externalized to the internet (for example, behind a firewall), you must set up a secure connection.

Choose the method for creating a connection based on where you are in the platform

In a project: Click Assets > New asset > Connect to a data source. See Adding a connection to a project.
In a catalog: Click Add to catalog > Connection. See Adding a connection asset to a catalog.
In a deployment space: Click Import assets > Data access > Connection. See Adding data assets to a deployment space.
In the Platform assets catalog: Click New connection. See Adding platform connections.

Next step: Add data assets from the connection

Where you can use this connection

You can use IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL connections in the following workspaces and tools:

Projects

Cognos Dashboards (Cognos Dashboard Embedded service)
DataStage (DataStage service). For more information, see Connecting to a data source in DataStage.
Metadata import (IBM Knowledge Catalog)
Notebooks (watsonx.ai Studio). Click Read data on the Code snippets pane to get the connection credentials and load the data into a data structure. For more information, see Load data from data source connections.
SPSS Modeler (watsonx.ai Studio)

Catalogs

Platform assets catalog
Other catalogs (IBM Knowledge Catalog)

Data Virtualization service: You can connect to this data source from Data Virtualization.

Data lineage

Metadata import (lineage) (IBM Knowledge Catalog and IBM Manta Data Lineage)

IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL setup

Restriction

For SPSS Modeler, you can use this connection only to import data. You cannot export data to this connection or to an IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL connected data asset.

Running SQL statements

To ensure that your SQL statements run correctly, refer to the IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL documentation for the correct syntax.

Configuring lineage metadata import for IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL

When you create a metadata import for the IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL connection, you can set options specific to this data source, and define the scope of data for which lineage is generated. For details about metadata import, see Designing metadata imports.

To import lineage metadata for IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL, complete these steps:

Create a data source definition. Select PostgreSQL as the data source type.
Create a connection to the data source in a project.
Create a metadata import. Learn more about options that are specific to IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL data source:
- When you define a scope, you can analyze the entire data source or use the include and exclude options to define the exact databases and schemas that you want to be analyzed. See Include and exclude lists.
- Optionally, you can provide external input in the form of a .zip file. You add this file in the Add inputs from file field. The file must have a supported structure. See External inputs.
- Optionally, specify advanced import options.

Include and exclude lists

You can include or exclude assets up to the schema level. Provide databases and schemas in the format database/schema. Each part is evaluated as a regular expression. Assets which are added later in the data source will also be included or excluded if they match the conditions specified in the lists. Example values:

myDB/: all schemas in myDB database.
myDB2/.*: all schemas in myDB2 database.
myDB3/mySchema1: mySchema1 schema from myDB3 database.
myDB4/mySchema[1-5]: any schema in my myDB4 database with a name that starts with mySchema and ends with a digit between 1 and 5.

External inputs

If you use external SQL scripts for IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL , you can add them in a .zip file as an external input. You can organize the structure of a .zip file as subfolders that represent databases and schemas. After the scripts are scanned, they are added under respective databases and schemas in the selected catalog or project. The .zip file can have the following structure:

    <database_name>
        <schema_name>
           <script_name.sql>
    <database_name>
        <script_name.sql>
    <script_name.sql>
    replace.csv

The replace.csv file contains placeholder replacements for the scripts that are added in the .zip file. For more information about the format, see Placeholder replacements.

Advanced import options

Extract extended attributes: You can extract extended attributes like primary key, unique and referential integrity constraints of columns. By default these attributes are not extracted.
Extraction mode: You can decide which extraction mode to run for the imported metadata. You have the following options:

Prefetch: use it for relational databases.
Parallel bulk: use it for analytical processing engines.
Single-thread: use it to avoid parallelism and large queries during extraction. When you select this mode, performance might be low.

Transformation logic extraction: You can enable building transformation logic descriptions from SQL code in SQL scripts.

Learn more

IBM Cloud Databases for PostgreSQL documentation

Parent topic: Supported connections