====== Data Sources in BI PLUS ======

**Data Sources** in BI PLUS enable the connections set up to an external database from BI PLUS server. BI PLUS supports multiple Database drivers using which can connect to a specific database. You need to enter the connection URL, User Name, and Password to make this connection work (Your DBA team will provide you with this information). When the report runs, it first establishes a connection with database and then pulls the data according to your SQL query.

You can access the **Data Sources** feature from the **Admin** menu.

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This opens the **Data Source** dialog, which contains a list of all data-sources.

{{:biplus:documentation:Datasource_dialog.png?nolink&550|}}


The **Data Source** dialog allows you to **Add, Modify, Delete, Copy, Export and View Dependencies** of each datasource.

===== Adding a Data Source =====
Click on the **Add** button in **Data Source** dialog, which opens the **DataSource Properties -New DataSource** dialog, as shown below.

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**Identifier:** is the logical Name given to identify the data-source. This has to be unique but can be anything, even a value like 'Bob', since it is a logical name.

**Type:** Four datasource types are supported by BI PLUS: **Database, OLAP, ETL Target and Write-back**. Choose the type for the connection.

**Driver Name:** Choose the driver according to your database. Various database drivers are supported by BI PLUS. The most popular drivers are Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, My SQL, SAP, Sybase, but there are many more...

**Connection URL:** As databases are in general not located on your machine, you need to use a Connection String to connect to the database.

**User Name:** Username to make the connection to database.

**Password:** Password for the username which will make connection to database.

**Properties:** If there are any properties you wish to set for the connection (for instance, in Oracle, you could set the schema or other 'alter session set ..' variables). Example: Alter session set sort_area_size = 104857600

**Use Prepared Statement and Bind Variables:** To prevent hard parsing in Oracle, Postgres, Sybase, the statement is prepared with parameters and drilldown values, to encourage soft parsing. This can sometimes backfire when using Sql Server so be sure to experiment to see what works best in your environment.

**Groups:** You can restrict use of this data-source using groups. However, you need to create a Group of 'Group type' **Data source**. See the image below and [[biplus:documentation:admin_guide:user_groups_profiles#defining_groups|Defining Groups]]

{{:biplus:documentation:datasource_group.png?nolink&400|}}

Once all the required values are entered, Click on the **Test Connection** button to check the connection.

{{:biplus:documentation:datasource_connection_successful.png?nolink&550|}}

When you see **Data source connection successful** message then click on **OK** button to save the data-source.