Skip to main content
Nekt has already completed the entire process to ensure that your data, generated in different places, is organized all together. Now it’s time to connect this data to a visualization tool, where you can effectively work with it and generate meaningful visuals. If your tool for data visualization is Metabase, here’s the guide to create the connection. For further information, access Athena Connection docs.
Use this guide to learn how to connect with your catalog data but keep in mind that we still don’t have a connector with this data visualization tool, so creating a Visualization at Nekt will have no impact on the connection. It only helps you to get organized about your existing dashboards, but won’t affect integration.
First of all, you need to generate some AWS credentials - Access Key ID and Secret Access Key. Use this guide from AWS to learn how.

​
1. Select Amazon Athena as your database

In case it’s your first time using Metabase, there will be an option for you to choose your database during the platform’s onboarding. If you already have your Metabase account set up, you have to go to Admin settings (find it on the gear icon menu), choose the Databases tab and then click on the button to Add a database. In both cases, choose Amazon Athena as your database - this is the service Nekt uses to make your data available - and the fields to set it up will appear right below it.

​
2. Add connection details

Fill in requested information with your company credentials:
💡 Don’t forget to ask for your company slug through our Slack or WhatsApp channels! You should replace {your_company_slug} with the provided slug both on the connection details and the policy from Section 3.
  • Display name: Nekt
  • Region: us-east-1 (this is the default region, but please double check where your AWS account is hosted)
  • Workgroup: primary
  • S3 staging directory: s3://nekt-lakehouse-{your_company_slug}
  • Catalog: AwsDataCatalog
  • Access key and secret: you should create them directly on the AWS portal (tutorial here)
Click on the Save button and move on to the next section!

​
3. Add policy to your IAM user

If you’re using an IAM user for generating the access credentials required on Metabase, you have to attach the following policy to this user in order to allow Metabase to access your data: 
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": [
        "athena:BatchGetQueryExecution",
        "athena:CancelQueryExecution",
        "athena:GetCatalogs",
        "athena:GetExecutionEngine",
        "athena:GetExecutionEngines",
        "athena:GetNamespace",
        "athena:GetNamespaces",
        "athena:GetQueryExecution",
        "athena:GetQueryExecutions",
        "athena:GetQueryResults",
        "athena:GetQueryResultsStream",
        "athena:GetTable",
        "athena:GetTables",
        "athena:ListQueryExecutions",
        "athena:RunQuery",
        "athena:StartQueryExecution",
        "athena:StopQueryExecution",
        "athena:ListWorkGroups",
        "athena:ListEngineVersions",
        "athena:GetWorkGroup",
        "athena:GetDataCatalog",
        "athena:GetDatabase",
        "athena:GetTableMetadata",
        "athena:ListDataCatalogs",
        "athena:ListDatabases",
        "athena:ListTableMetadata",
        "athena:GetQueryRuntimeStatistics",
        "athena:StartQueryExecution",
        "athena:CreatePreparedStatement",
        "athena:UpdatePreparedStatement",
        "athena:GetPreparedStatement",
        "athena:DeletePreparedStatement",
        "athena:ListPreparedStatements"
      ],
      "Resource": ["*"],
      "Effect": "Allow"
    },
    {
      "Action": [
        "glue:GetDatabase",
        "glue:GetDatabases",
        "glue:GetTable",
        "glue:GetTables",
        "glue:GetPartition",
        "glue:GetPartitions",
        "glue:BatchGetPartition"
      ],
      "Resource": ["*"],
      "Effect": "Allow"
    },
    {
      "Action": ["s3:GetBucketLocation"],
      "Resource": ["arn:aws:s3:::nekt-lakehouse-{your_company_slug}"],
      "Effect": "Allow"
    },
    {
      "Action": ["lakeformation:GetDataAccess"],
      "Resource": ["*"],
      "Effect": "Allow"
    },
    {
      "Action": "s3:*",
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::nekt-lakehouse-{your_company_slug}/*",
        "arn:aws:s3:::nekt-lakehouse-{your_company_slug}"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow"
    }
  ]
}

​
4. Explore your data

Once the connection configuration is done on Metabase and the policy is attached to your IAM user, you should be ready to go and explore your data!
For further information, access Using the Amazon Athena Metabase Connector. Let us know through our chat if you face any blocker and we’ll be glad to help!