Connectors → Local Files

About the Local Files connector

The Local Files connector allows you to connect to directory that is available to the host of the Analytics Service. The directory is typically a shared mount, but can also be the same path to the data folder for a given tenant in Shared Storage. The Local Files connector supports ingesting one or more files of the following types:

  • Text (.csv, .tsv, .tab, .txt)
  • Excel (.xlsx)
  • Parquet (.parquet)
  • Optimized Row Columnar (.orc)

The Local Files connector also supports the use of Remote tables. Remote tables enable you to access large CSV, Parquet, and ORC files without loading them into memory. Duplicating these large files wastes disk space and uses too much memory when only a small portion of this data might be needed.

Important

It is not possible to utilize the Local Files connector as a Remote table for Microsoft Excel files.

The Local File connector supports the following configurations as a data source for a physical schema table:

Feature Supported
Chunking ✔
Data Agent
Encryption at Ingest
Incremental Load ✔
Multi-Source ✔
OAuth
Performance Optimized ✔
Remote ✔
Single-Source ✔
Spark Extraction
Webhook Callbacks ✔
Important

An Linux Administrator or Systems Administrator for the host with directory access must provide the necessary access to the directory for the incorta Linux user or other Linux user that is running the Analytics Service or Loader Service process.

Steps to use the Local Files connector

Here are the high level steps to use the Local Files connector:

Create an external data source

Here are the steps to create a external data source with the Local Files connector:

  • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Data.
  • In the Action bar, select + New → Add Data Source.
  • In the Choose a Data Source dialog, in Data lake, select Data Lake - Local Files.
  • In the New Data Source dialog, specify the applicable connector properties.
  • To test, select Test Connection.
  • Select Ok to save your changes.

Local Files connector properties

Here are the properties for the Local Files connector:

Property Control Description
Data Source Name text box Enter the name of the data source
Directory text box Enter the parent directory path.

Create a schema with the Schema Wizard

Here are the steps to create a Local Files schema with the Schema Wizard:

  • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Action bar, select + New → Schema Wizard

  • In (1) Choose a Source, specify the following:

    • For Enter a name, enter the schema name.
    • For Select a Datasource, select the Local Files external data source.
    • Optionally create a description.
  • In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
  • In (2) Manage Tables, in the Data Panel, navigate the directory tree as necessary to select the Local Files files. You can either check the Select All checkbox or select individual sheets.
  • In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
  • In (3) Finalize, in the Schema Wizard footer, select Create Schema.

Create a schema with the Schema Designer

Here are the steps to create a Local Files schema using the [Schema Designer]:

  • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Action bar, select + New → Create Schema.
  • In Name, specify the schema name, and select Save.
  • In Start adding tables to your schema, select Data Lake.
  • In the Data Source dialog, specify the Local Files table data source properties.
  • Select Add.
  • In the Table Editor, in the Table Summary section, enter the table name.
  • To save your changes, select Done in the Action bar.

Local Files table data source properties

For a schema table in Incorta, you can define the Local Files specific data source properties as follows:

Property Control Description
Type drop down list Default is Data Lake
Data Source drop down list Select the Local Files external data source
Remote toggle Enable this option to remotely access file data, which means no data is loaded to Incorta. See the Summary of Data Access Methods table for details on how setting this and the Performance Optimized property affects data accessibility.
File Type drop down list Select a file type option:
  • Text (csv, tsv, tab, txt)
  • Excel (xlsx) - not an option with Remote enabled
  • Parquet
  • ORC
    		•
    Incremental toggle Enables incremental loading for the schema table
    Has Header? toggle This property appears when Remote is disabled and the File Type is Text. Enable this property to indicate the data source has a header row.
    Rows to Skip text box This property appears when Remote is disabled and the File Type is Text. Enter the number of rows to skip from the top of the file.
    Wildcard Union toggle Enable this property to get incremental data file updates from an existing directory
    File Path text box This property appears when Wildcard Union is disabled. Enter the path to the data file, relative to the root directory configured in the data source.
    Worksheet text box This property appears when Wildcard Union is disabled and the File Type is Excel. Select the data file worksheet of interest.
    Update File text box This property appears when Incremental is enabled and Wildcard Union is disabled. Enter the path to the update file, relative to the root directory configured in the data source.
    Update Worksheet text box This property appears when the File Type is Excel, Incremental is enabled, and Wildcard Union is disabled. Select the update file worksheet of interest.
    Incremental Extract Using drop down list This property appears when Incremental and Wildcard Union are enabled. Select an incremental load method.
    Timestamp format in file name drop down list This property appears when the Timestamp in File Name option is selected for the Incremental Extract Using property. Select the timestamp format that appears in the file name.
    Directory Path text box This property appears when Wildcard Union is enabled. Enter the path to the directory, relative to the root directory configured in the data source. To use the root directory, enter ./ or .
    Apply Include Pattern on drop down list This property appears when Wildcard Union is enabled. Select either:
  • File Name - apply pattern on all file names in the selected directory path
  • File Relative Path - apply pattern on relative path in the selected directory path
    		•
    Include text box This property appears when Wildcard Union is enabled. So that only those files matching the prefix are loaded, enter a prefix to compare against:
  • The names of the files in a directory if Apply Include Pattern on has a value of File Name. For example, entering sales* .parquet will load only those files that start with the word sales and end with .parquet.
  • The relative path in a directory if Apply Include Pattern has a value of File Relative Path. For example, entering sales will load those files in the sales directory.
    		•
    Include Sub-Directories toggle This property appears when Wildcard Union is enabled. Enable this property to load files within all subdirectories of the directory path hierarchy. If an Include prefix is specified, only files or relative paths in the subdirectories matching the prefix will be loaded.
    Include Filename as a Column toggle This property appears when Wildcard Union is enabled. Enable this property to add the file name as the first column in the schema table.
    Date Format drop down list This property appears when the File Type is Text<. Select the text file date format.
    Timestamp Format drop down list This property appears when the File Type is Text. Select the text file timestamp format.
    Character Set drop down list This property appears when the File Type is Text. Select the text file character set.
    Separator drop down list This property appears when the File Type is Text. Select the text file separator.
    Enable Chunking toggle This property appears when the File Type is Text. Turn this property on to process the text file in chunks.
    Callback toggle Enable this property on to expose the Callback URL field
    Callback URL text box This property appears when the Callback toggle is enabled. Specify the URL.

    Summary of Data Access Methods Based on Remote and Performance Optimized Settings

    Table Properties Data Source
    Properties    		 Parquet DDM Memory SQLi Materialized
    View    		 Analytics
    Performance Optimized = Off Remote = On No No No Yes Yes No
    Performance Optimized = Off Remote = Off Yes Yes No Yes Yes No, unless created
    a materialized view
    or Notebook
    Performance Optimized = On Remote = Off Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

    Incremental Extract Methods

    • Last Successful Extract Time: This option will load data from the time the last successful extract occurred.

      Here is an example use case of Last Successful Extract Time:

      • A directory containing all the sales data is located at /path/to/sales
      • The directory contains the following files: /path/to/sales/sales_california.parquet, /path/to/sales/sales_newyork.parquet, /path/to/sales/illinois.parquet

      When you perform a full load, the union of all existing files will be extracted into the same table. After that, if the directory receives a new file, such as /path/to/sales/sales_ohio.parquet, the next incremental load will pick up this file since its last modified timestamp will be more recent than that of the files extracted in the previous full load.

    • Timestamp in File Name: This option will load data from the time specified in the file name.

      Here is an example use case of Timestamp in File Name:

      • A directory containing all the sales data is located at /path/to/sales
      • The directory receives a new file on daily basis: /path/to/sales/sales_2020-04-01.parquet, /path/to/sales/sales_2020-04-02.parquet, /path/to/sales/sales_2020-04-03.parquet

      When you perform a full load, the union of all existing files will be extracted into the same table. After that, if the directory receives a new file, such as /path/to/sales/sales_2020-04-04.parquet, the next incremental load will pick up this file since the timestamp in the file name is more recent than that of the files extracted in the previous full load.

    Timestamp Formats in File Name

    • yyyy-MM-dd
    • dd.MM.yyyy
    • dd-MMM-yy
    • dd-MMM-yyyy
    • yyyy-MM-dd HH.mm.ss
    • Unix Epoch (seconds)
    • Unix Epoch (milliseconds)

    Text File Date Format

    • yyyy-MM-dd
    • dd/MM/yyyy
    • dd.MM.yyyy
    • dd/MMM/yyyy
    • dd-MMM-yy
    • dd-MMM-yyyy
    • MM/dd/yyyy
    • yyyy/MM/dd
    • Unix Epoch (seconds
    • Unix Epoch (milliseconds)
    • Other

    Text File Timestamp Format

    • yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss
    • yyyy-MM-dd HH.mm.ss
    • yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS
    • dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss
    • dd/MM/yyyy HH.mm.ss
    • dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss.SSS
    • Unix Epoch (seconds
    • Unix Epoch (milliseconds)
    • Other

    Text File Character Set

    • US-ASCII
    • ISO-8859-1
    • UTF-8
    • UTF-16BE
    • UTF-16LE
    • UTF-16

    Text File Separator

    • Comma
    • Tab
    • Other

    View the schema diagram with the Schema Diagram Viewer

    Here are the steps to view the schema diagram using the Schema Diagram Viewer:

    • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
    • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
    • In the list of schemas, select the Local Files schema.
    • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Diagram.

    Load the schema

    Here are the steps to perform a Full Load of the Local Files schema using the Schema Designer:

    • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
    • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
    • In the list of schemas, select the Local Files schema.
    • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Load → Load Now → Full.
    • To review the load status, in Last Load Status, select the date.

    Explore the schema

    With the full load of the Local Files schema complete, you can use the Analyzer to explore the schema, create your first insight, and save the insight to a new dashboard.

    To open the Analyzer from the schema, follow these steps:

    • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
    • In the Schema Manager, in the List view, select the Local Files schema.
    • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Explore Data.
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