How to Set Up the Amazon Athena Data Connector for Looker Studio Dashboards

About

This connector lets you visualize your Amazon Athena warehouse data in Looker Studio dashboards. It enables you to create visualizations and reports using your Athena data without requiring intermediate data processing steps.

Before using the connector, ensure you have:

1. A Looker Studio account
2. An active Amazon Web Services (AWS) account
3. Access to Amazon Athena service
4. Required AWS credentials (Access Key ID and Secret Access Key)
5. An S3 bucket for query results

Connector Configuration Fields

When setting up the connector in Looker Studio, you'll need to provide the following information:

• AWS Access Key ID: Your AWS access key
• AWS Secret Access Key: Your AWS secret key
• AWS Region: The AWS region where your Athena is located (e.g., us-east-1)
• Database Name: The name of your Athena database
• Output Bucket: The S3 bucket name for storing query results
• SQL Query: Your SQL query to fetch data

Get Amazon Athena Secrets

To obtain your AWS credentials:

1. Log in to your AWS Management Console
2. Navigate to IAM (Identity and Access Management)
3. Go to Users → Security credentials
4. Create or locate your access key
5. Note down your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key

Grant Access to user

To grant access to the user:

1. Log in to AWS Management Console
2. Navigate to IAM (Identity and Access Management)
3. Go to Users → Security credentials
4. Click on the user you want to grant access to
5. Click on the "Add permissions" button
6. Select "Attach existing policies directly"
7. Search for "AmazonAthenaFullAccess"
8. Select the policy
9. Click on the "Add permissions" button
10. Search for "AmazonS3FullAccess"
11. Select the policy
12. Click on the "Add permissions" button

Create Result Bucket

To create an S3 bucket for query results:

1. Log in to AWS Management Console
2. Navigate to S3 service
3. Click "Create bucket"
4. Choose a unique name
5. Select the same region as your Athena setup
6. Configure bucket settings (default settings are usually sufficient)
7. Create the bucket

About SQL Query

When writing your SQL query:

• Use standard SQL syntax supported by Athena
• Include all necessary columns in your SELECT statement
• Be mindful of query performance and cost
• Test your query in Athena console before using it in the connector
• Consider using LIMIT for initial testing

Cost

Important!The connector is free to use.

Athena charges based on:

• Amount of data scanned per query
• Number of queries executed
• Data storage in S3

To optimize costs:

• Use specific column names instead of SELECT *
• Add appropriate WHERE clauses to limit data scanned
• Consider partitioning your data
• Use appropriate data formats (Parquet, ORC) for better compression

Troubleshooting

Connection Failed

• Verify AWS credentials are correct
• Check if the region matches your Athena setup
• Ensure the database name exists

Query Execution Error

• Check SQL syntax
• Verify table and column names
• Ensure proper permissions on S3 bucket

Slow Performance

• Optimize your SQL query
• Check if data is properly partitioned
• Consider reducing the amount of data scanned

Missing Data

• Verify table permissions
• Check if the query returns expected results in Athena console
• Ensure all required columns are included in SELECT statement

Support

For assistance with the connector:

1. Documentation
   • Review this guide thoroughly
   • Check Looker Studio documentation
   • Consult AWS Athena documentation
2. Getting Help
   • For immediate assistance, contact support through OWOX support (bi@owox.com)
   • Include specific error messages and steps to reproduce issues
   • Provide relevant screenshots when possible