Connect Databricks to Row Zero

Row Zero's built-in Databricks connector makes it easy to connect your spreadsheets to Databricks using a personal access token or Databricks OAuth. Row Zero supports all cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, and GCP).

Choosing the right authentication method

Personal Access Token authentication is appropriate for individual Row Zero accounts or for connecting service accounts in larger organizations. For the second use case, we recommend creating a dedicated user in Databricks for this purpose, then connecting Row Zero using personal access token. Once the connection is created in Row Zero, you can securely share it with the appropriate people in your organization.

OAuth is the best authentication method for organizations where users have their own Databricks credentials. Any queries using OAuth connections respect the database permissions of the person who runs the query, including RLS and RBAC.

Connect using Personal Access Token

Follow the instructions below to connect to Databricks using a Personal Access Token.

  1. In a Row Zero workbook, click on the 'Data' icon in the upper right-hand corner and then click the button to '+ Add connection.' connect spreadsheet to databricks
  2. The Databricks connector requires a few pieces of information, defined below. Databricks connector in spreadsheet
    • Connection name: This field can be anything that helps identify the data source being connected (e.g. "Production Data" or "Product Metrics"). It will be visible to all users who have access to this connection.
    • Server hostname: This is the Databricks warehouse name, which can be found in your Databricks portal under the SQL Warehouses menu. In SQL Warehouses, click on the warehouse you wish to connect to. Your server hostname is listed under 'Connection details' and is the long string of letters and numbers under "server hostname" at the top of the screen (e.g. cbd-9hfliu9u-83jd.cloud.databricks.com). Databricks server hostname
    • Access Token: Your access token can be generated by going to your account icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Databricks portal, selecting 'Settings' and then 'Developer.' Click the blue button to generate your access token. If you do not see a blue button, contact your Databricks account admin. Databricks access token screen Databricks generate access token
  3. Once all the information is entered, hit 'Test connection' to ensure the information is correct.
  4. Once the connection turns green, you can select which of your Databricks SQL Warehouses you want to use for Row Zero queries and click '+ Add source'. Databricks choose warehouse

Connect using Databricks OAuth

If you wish to use Databricks's built-in OAuth capabilities to provide OAuth-based authentication for your users when they query Databricks from Row Zero, follow the steps in the Databricks documentation here. You will need administrator privileges in your Databricks account.

You will need the following information:

  • Application Name: Row Zero
  • Redirect URLs: https://oauth.rowzero.com/oauth/authorization-code/1
  • Access scopes: SQL
  • Client Secret: Generate a client secret

Make sure to remember the client ID and client secret.

Once you have added an App connection, contact us at Row Zero so we can schedule a meeting to configure the OAuth integration on our end.

This is the information that we will need from you:

  1. The Server hostname for your Databricks workspace, e.g. https://dbc-00000000-0000.cloud.databricks.com.
  2. The Client ID from the App connection that you configured in the steps above.
  3. The Client Secret from the App connection that you configured in the steps above. Do not share this via email or other unsecured means. We will give you a secure way to provide your secret.