Analyzing MemSQL data in Spotfire®

MemSQL Connector for TIBCO Spotfire

Spotfire includes native support for MemSQL. The MemSQL connector is designed for rapid insight into terabyte-scale data sets by being able to push live direct queries into MemSQL while also being able to extract row-level data on demand when needed.

For details about the MemSQL connector please see the documentaion.

Optimizing analysis files

When you create large and complex analyses in Spotfire, there are many things you can do to improve performance. These best-practices tips can help you optimize your analysis and reduce the load on MemSQL.

Combining push-down queries with on-demand imported data

One way to optimize your analysis file is to use the data loading methods External and On-demand for your data tables together in appropriate ways. By combining these data loading methods in your analysis file, you can reduce the number of rows being scanned by MemSQL and the number of queries pushed into MemSQL.

Cascading filters and caching in Spotfire

Spotfire supports cascading filters, which means that the values displayed in filters are dependent on any other filter selections you have made. Only relevant values are available, and any values that have already been filtered out by filter selections in other filters are not displayed. 

When you use the External loading method to access data from your MemSQL instance with push-down queries, cascading filters are disabled by default. If you have enabled cascading filters and are using many filters and/or filters with many unique values, you might experience long waiting times for visualizations and filter content to be refreshed. This is because all filters will be re-calculated using push-down queries when you change filter settings.

You can enable cascading filters in the data connection settings (select Data > Data connection properties on the menu bar and then click Settings…). This is also where you configure the push-down query cache. Unless you are analyzing high-velocity data it's recommended to increase the cache expiration time from minutes to hours.

Learn more about the data connection performance settings user documentation.

Alternative: Connect to MemSQL with Spotfire Information Services

Since Information Services extracts row-level data from MemSQL, it's recommended to utilize the Spotfire on-demand data tables. With on-demand data tables, you will be able to pull in rows of data on the fly as users interact with dashboards and analysis files instead of loading rows upfront and then doing the analytics.

Quick-start instruction - download from Resources below.

getting_started_with_memsql_in_spotfire_with_information_services.pdf