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Direct DW Connection

How to connect directly to your database from SqlDBM

SqlDBM Support avatar
Written by SqlDBM Support
Updated over 3 months ago

SqlDBM supports live direct connections to leading cloud data platforms and platform-hosted OLTP databases. This feature allows fast and automatic DDL fetching for Reverse Engineer and Data Ops operations.

Supported Platforms and Databases

  • Snowflake (object-level filtering)

  • Azure Synapse

  • Databricks

  • Google Big Query

  • Redshift

  • SQL Server (on Azure)

Direct Connect

For supported databases, Direct Connection is available for the following features:

  • Create New Project (Reverse Engineer)

  • Reverse Engineer

  • Environments

  • Compare Revisions (Live DB Compare)

Create New Project

  • Select your database type

  • Click the "Existing Database" button.

Click the Connect to DW button and provide the connection details on the next screen.

For connections that support it, SSO may be used here. Otherwise, user username and password will be required. See the related article at the end of this page for more information.

Note that the direct connection and its parameters will only persist in the browser session. These credentials are not stored or recorded by SqlDBM.

Note that the direct connection and its parameters will only persist in the browser session. These credentials are not stored or recorded by SqlDBM.

Click on the database from the list of available databases available for import and choose the desired schema(s).

Press the "Apply" button to automatically generate the required DDL.

If using Snowflake, an additional step follows to allow for object-level filtering. By default, all schema objects are selected. Use the search bar and checkboxes to select/unselect desired objects.

Press the upload script button at the top after reviewing the DDL.

Once your DDL has been parsed, review the "Add Tables" options on the right to select which diagrams will be generated.

  • "Reverse Engineer Diagram" - generates an ER diagram with all the objects in the script and their relationships.

  • "RE: Schema Diagrams" - generates an ER Diagram per schema object in the DDL

  • Existing diagrams - select any existing diagram as the target for imported objects

When you're ready, press the "Import" button or triangle icon on the top menu bar to finish Reverse Engineering your database.

Reverse Engineer

For an existing project, the Reverse Engineer feature works exactly the same way as creating a new project, described above.

Click on "Reverse Engineer" on the left panel to get started. Press the "Connect to DW" and follow the steps above.

Environments

Environments is an Enterprise feature that allows a direct connection to be set up between different live database environments for instant comparison against project revisions.

SqlDBM supports live direct connections to Snowflake and Azure Synapse Analytics. For these, and all other databases, static DDL import is also supported.

To add your environments, select the "Environments" panel from the left menu.

Select the "+" button to add a new environment.

Name your environment and select an icon for easy reference.

Click the Connect to DW button and provide the connection details on the next screen.

Click the Continue button and provide the connection details on the next screen.

Click the "Connect to [DW]" button.

Click on the database from the list of available databases available for import and choose the desired schema(s).

If using Snowflake, an additional step follows to allow for object-level filtering. By default, all schema objects are selected. Use the search bar and checkboxes to select/unselect desired objects.

Your environment is now set up and ready for future reference.

Compare Revisions (Live DB Compare)

Select the "Compare Revisions" panel from the left menu. Click the "+" icon next to "Live DB Connection".

On the next screen, click the "Connect with (Snowflake / Azure)" button and follow the steps described above.

See also:

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