Connecting to on-premise Data

If your BI solution already includes on-premise source data or an on-premise data warehouse, you can connect to these from the Cloud based TARGIT server in three ways:

• Directly, through Firewall
• Directly, OLAP over HTTP
• Indirectly, through the TARGIT Data Gateway client

Through Firewall

Probably the simplest option, directly through Firewall, where you can open access to the databases directly. E.g., SQL Server relational databases or SQL Server Analysis Services databases already have static port numbers that can be opened in the Firewall and used for communication.

Note: It is important that this type of communication is using SSL - otherwise your data will be send unencrypted over the Internet.

TARGIT needs only two IP adresses to be able to communicate with the databases. These two IP adresses are the IP adresses for the Tenant that are visible in the Cloud Control Panel. 

OLAP over HTTP

The best option to connect to an on-premise Analysis Services database, is to use OLAP over HTTP. This is fairly easy to set up by following this guide: OLAP over HTTP.

As this is something running through IIS, you can furthermore enhance your security settings by activating HTTPS. All you need is a DNS name and a SSL Certificate to configure IIS to use HTTPS. This is a standard configuration as documented here: How to Set Up SSL on IIS 7

The Firewall then only needs to be opened for the HTTPS communication, making this type of connection an extremely secure connection.

If necessary, you can connect to multiple databases with OLAP over HTTP - e.g., connecting to an OLAP database and connecting to a Tabular database at the same time.

Through TARGIT Data Gateway

As a third option, you can use the TARGIT Data Gateway to connect to on-premise data sources. Once you've set up the connection to a data source, you can then refer to that connection in the TARGIT Management client and reach a data source that is on-premise, while you are using our cloud software.

The upside of the TARGIT Data Gateway is that it is easy to set up and you don't need to mingle with your Firewall. It is as secure as the other options - it runs SSL by default.

The downside of the TARGIT Data Gateway is that it adds a slight overhead to the communication, potentially resulting in a slower connection.

Read this article: Data Gateway Overview