Semantic Layer Sync
Semantic Layer Sync synchronizes the data model of a semantic layer from Cube to BI tools. It's the easiest way to connect a BI tool to Cube.
Semantic Layer Sync with Metabase, Preset, and Superset is available in Cube Cloud on all tiers (opens in a new tab). Support for Tableau and Power BI is available on Enterprise and above (opens in a new tab) tiers.
Semantic Layer Sync programmatically connects a BI tool to Cube via the SQL API and creates or updates BI-specific entities that correspond to entities within the data model in Cube, e.g., cubes, views, measures, dimensions.
In general, here's how Cube entities match BI-specific ones:
| Cube | BI tool |
|---|---|
| Deployment, branch | Database |
| Cube, view | Dataset, table, data source |
| Measure, dimension, segment | Column, dimension, metric |
Supported tools
Semantic Layer Sync supports the following BI tools. Check relevant pages for details on configuration and features for specific tools:
Creating syncs
You can create a new sync by navigating to the Semantic Layer Sync tab on the BI Integrations page and clicking + Create Sync.
Follow the steps in the wizard to create a sync with any of supported BI tools.
Configuration
Under the hood, Semantic Layer Sync is configured using the semantic_layer_sync
option in the configuration file.
This function accepts a security context and returns an array of configured syncs. It can also be asynchronous, allowing for dynamic definition of syncs, e.g., loading the configuration from a remote API endpoint.
Each sync is configured with a mandatory name and a type as well as the
config object with BI-specific credentials, e.g., a workspace URL and an API
key. config also includes the database name that will be created and updated
in the corresponding BI tool.
A sync can be disabled by setting active to false; such syncs will not run
automatically. If active is undefined, a sync is considered enabled.
Example configuration with a single disabled sync:
Multitenancy
If multiple security contexts are defined via the
scheduledRefreshContexts configuration option,
semanticLayerSync can provide custom configuration for each of them.
By default, multitenancy support in semanticLayerSync is disabled. Please
contact support to enable multitenancy support in semanticLayerSync for your
Cube Cloud account.
You can synchronize the data model of each tenant to a different BI tool or a different database in a single BI tool, or implement another scenario that makes sense in your use case.
Example configuration for the case when each department wants have their data model synchronized to a dedicated database in a BI tool:
Example confguration for the case when only admin data model should be
synchronized with a couple of BI tools:
Running syncs
When the data model is updated, all configured syncs will automatically run.
If data model is updated dynamically and the
schemaVersion configuration option is used to
track data model changes, syncs will not automatically run. This behavior is
disabled by default. Please contact support to enable running syncs when the
data model is updated dynamically for your Cube Cloud account.
You can also run a sync manually by navigating to the Semantic Layer Sync tab on the BI Integrations page and clicking Start Sync next to a relevant sync.
During the sync, Cube will either create from scratch or update a database in the corresponding BI tool and the data model associated with it. Syncing a branch in development mode will create a separate database, leaving the one associated with the production branch intact.
Viewing history
You can view the history of runs for a particular sync by navigating to the Semantic Layer Sync tab on the BI Integrations page and clicking Show History next to a relevant sync.
Cleaning up
You can remove the synced assets (e.g., data sources and datasets) from BI tools by clicking on ... of a respective tool and choosing Remove synced assets. It would remove the assets synced from the branch you're currently on, i.e., your development mode branch, shared branch, or main branch.