MongoDB Connector for BI

Looker can access MongoDB using the MongoDB Connector for BI using two options:

  • Using the MongoDB Connector for BI in MongoDB Atlas.
  • Using a MongoDB Connector for BI installed on the same server as the MongoDB database.

MongoDB Atlas

Your MongoDB Atlas must use an M10+ cluster. For Looker to use a MongoDB database running on MongoDB Atlas, you must use the MongoDB Connector for BI (MongoBI). Enabling the BI Connector for Atlas requires that MongoDB Atlas use a M10+ cluster.

You must also create a user account that has read permissions for the desired database.

Configuring the MongoDB Connector for BI

Before creating a connection in Looker, your MongoDB or Atlas administrator needs to set up the MongoDB Connector for BI using the following steps, which are explained on this page:

Adding the Looker server to the Atlas IP access list

Atlas only allows client connections from entries in the project's IP access list. Add the Looker IP address to the Atlas project's IP access list:

  1. Get the Looker IP address.
  2. Follow the Atlas IP access list setup instructions to add the Looker IP address to the Atlas IP access list.

Enabling the MongoDB Connector for BI

Enable the MongoDB Connector for BI:

  1. Verify that you are on a M10+ cluster.
  2. In Atlas, open the Connect page for the cluster. Make a note of the hostname, port, and user. You'll need to use that information when configuring the connection in Looker.

MongoDB on the same server

Before creating a connection in Looker, your MongoDB administrator should set up MongoDB and the Mongo Connector for BI using the following steps, which are explained on this page:

Installing the Mongo Connector for BI

Install the MongoDB Connector for BI on the same server as the MongoDB database, as explained on the Install BI Connector On Premises MongoDB documentation page.

Encrypting network traffic

The MongoDB Connector for BI requires using SSL encryption between MongoDB's server and the Looker application. Follow the SSL setup instructions on the Configure SSL for BI Connector MongoDB documentation page.

Setting up the Looker user and permissions

In the MongoDB shell, enter the use command to switch to the database that Looker will connect to. Then, create a user for Looker with db.createUser() with the role readWrite:

use looker_database

db.createUser({ user: looker,
                pwd: `some_password_here`,
                roles: [ "readWrite" ]
              })

Installing the MongoBI JDBC driver files

For both MongoDB Connector for BI options, Looker requires configuring JDBC driver files by doing the following steps:

Download these two JAR files:

Follow the steps on the Unpackaged JDBC drivers documentation page using the following values:

driver symbol: mongobi

driver entry:

- name: mongobi
  dir_name: mongobi
  module_path: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
  override_jdbc_url_subprotocol: mysql

If you are on Looker 6.2 or earlier:

- name: maria15x
  dir_name: mongobi
  module_path: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
  override_jdbc_url_subprotocol: mysql

For the step to put the driver in your dialect's directory, the paths to these files will look like this:

  • looker/custom_jdbc_drivers/mongobi/mongosql-auth-1.0.0-rc0.jar
  • looker/custom_jdbc_drivers/mongobi/mysql-connector-java-5.1.47.jar

Allowing use of regular derived tables (recommended)

Derived tables are important tools in Looker that enable you to expand the sophistication of your analyses. They can also play a valuable role in enhancing query performance. At a high level, the Looker derived table capability provides a way to create new tables that don't already exist in your database.

The MongoDB Connector for BI supports temporary regular derived tables but does not support persistent derived tables.

Since regular derived tables are temporary, they don't need to be stored. Thus, you don't need to create a schema for them. However, you need to grant the dbOwner role to looker_tmp schema, even if that schema does not exist.

Follow the Modify MongoDB Users section on this MongoDB documentation page about configuring database users to add the dbOwner role on looker_tmp for the user Looker will use to connect.

db.grantRolesToUser("looker", [ {role: "dbOwner", db: "looker_tmp"} ])

Creating the Looker connection to your database

Follow these steps to create the connection from Looker to your database:

  1. In the Admin section of Looker, select Connections, and then click Add Connection.

  2. Select MongoBI from the Dialect drop-down menu.

  3. Fill out the connection details. The majority of the settings are common to most database dialects. See the Connecting Looker to your database documentation page for information.

  4. To verify that the connection is successful, click Test. See the Testing database connectivity documentation page for troubleshooting information.

  5. To save these settings, click Connect.

Using SQL functions and operators with MongoDB Connector for BI

When developing using a MongoDB Connector for BI connection, you can use the SQL functions and operators listed in the MongoDB documentation.

Feature support

For Looker to support some features, your database dialect must also support them.

MongoBI supports the following features as of Looker 24.20:

Feature Supported?
Support Level
Supported
Looker (Google Cloud core)
No
Symmetric Aggregates
No
Derived Tables
Yes
Persistent SQL Derived Tables
No
Persistent Native Derived Tables
No
Stable Views
No
Query Killing
Yes
SQL-based Pivots
No
Timezones
No
SSL
Yes
Subtotals
No
JDBC Additional Params
Yes
Case Sensitive
Yes
Location Type
Yes
List Type
No
Percentile
No
Distinct Percentile
No
SQL Runner Show Processes
Yes
SQL Runner Describe Table
Yes
SQL Runner Show Indexes
Yes
SQL Runner Select 10
Yes
SQL Runner Count
Yes
SQL Explain
Yes
Oauth Credentials
No
Context Comments
Yes
Connection Pooling
No
HLL Sketches
No
Aggregate Awareness
No
Incremental PDTs
No
Milliseconds
No
Microseconds
No
Materialized Views
No
Approximate Count Distinct
No

In addition: