Table Of ContentRedash v5 Quick Start Guide
Create and share interactive dashboards using Redash
Alexander Leibzon
Yael Leibzon
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Redash v5 Quick Start Guide
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First published: September 2018
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Foreword
It's amazing to realize that Redash started five years ago. It started as a hackathon project,
which was open sourced two months later. I remember getting excited about the first 5
companies that started using Redash.
Today, Redash is a company on its own, and there are over 4500 teams around the world
using Redash, both the open source project and the SaaS service. Reading the first book on
Redash is another important milestone in Redash’s maturity.
Alexander and Yael are great candidates to write the book. Alexander contributed code to
the project and is very familiar with its internals, while Yael used it in various data projects
for multiple companies since the early days of Redash.
I hope you will find this book useful, and it will help you start using Redash. You should
also remember that Redash is an active open source project, which means it keeps
evolving constantly. I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the knowledge base along
with the active community. Happy querying!
Arik Fraimovich,
Redash Creator/Founder
Contributors
About the authors
Alexander Leibzon is a software infrastructure consultant and backend software developer
with over 15 years' experience in the software development industry.
Alexander is a contributor to Redash and several other open source projects.
Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Alexander was a data infrastructure engineer
at EverythingMe, the company where Redash was initially developed during a hackathon.
Alexander holds a BSc degree in physics and computer science.
I would like to thank my wife Yael, and kids for their patience and support throughout the
writing process of the book, Arik for creating Redash, Kirk for keeping me on track with the
schedule, and Tal for very helpful reviews.
Yael Leibzon is a data analyst with 8 years' experience in the industry. Yael has been an
extensive user of Redash for over 3 years.
Yael holds an MSc in biomedical engineering. During Yael's academic research , Yael
developed finite element computational models, which were published in biomedical
literature.
I would like to thank my husband, Alexander, for giving me the opportunity to write this
book with him and for his enormous support and never-ending motivation. I would like to
thank my children for keeping me happy through tough deadlines. Finally, I'd like to thank
the Packt publishing team and reviewers of this book.
About the reviewer
Arik Fraimovich created Redash as a hackathon project while working for EverythingMe in
2013. He founded the Redash company in 2015 to make sure Redash has a sustainable
future. Arik is also a developer and entrepreneur, developing software professionally for
over 15 years and has passion for solving real users' problems.
Tal Maizels is a chief technology officer with extensive experience in the marketing and
advertising industry. Tal has led projects and teams in start-ups for the last 10 years in the
fields of EdTech, consumer networks, and finance. An IT professional with a BSc in
computer science and mathematics from Bar-Ilan University, Tal has over 20 years'
experience in software development, design, and management, and is skilled in mobile
applications, Java, Software as a Service (SaaS), Continuous Integration, and Scrum.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Introducing Redash 5
Data challenges experienced by companies on a daily basis 6
An example dashboard 7
Ideal tools for targeting challenges 10
Meeting Redash 12
What exactly is Redash? 12
Redash architecture 16
Summary 17
Chapter 2: Installing Redash 18
Sizing – choosing the right machine to do the job 19
Installation options and installation walkthrough 20
Installation options 20
AWS-predefined image 21
Launching an instance using Redash AMI 23
Launching an instance using Bitnami Redash AMI 24
Welcome to Redash setup page 27
GCE-Predefined image 30
Docker-based installation 34
Provisioning script installation 36
Explaining the setup.sh script 37
Troubleshooting 39
Configuration and setup 40
Email configuration 40
Using Google OAuth to log in to Redash 44
Redash environment settings 45
HTTPS (SSL) Setup 49
Permissions in Redash 49
Groups 49
Creating and editing groups 51
Creating users 53
Summary 54
Chapter 3: Creating and Visualizing your First Query 55
Creating and testing the Data Source 55
Alternative static Data Source definition 60
Creating your first query 61
Creating the visualization 66
Table of Contents
Creating the dashboard 71
Summary 74
Chapter 4: Connecting to Data Sources 75
Supported Data Sources 75
Adding a new Redash Data Source 81
A detailed walk-through of the selected Data Sources 83
Connecting to PostgreSQL 84
Connecting to ElasticSearch 85
Connecting to MongoDB 86
Connecting to GoogleSpreadsheet 88
Connecting to Url 89
Connecting to Query Results (beta) 91
Connecting to Amazon Athena 93
Connecting to BigQuery 94
Connecting to Redshift 96
Connecting to DynamoDB 97
Summary 99
Chapter 5: Writing and Executing Queries 100
Query listing 101
Query editor overview 102
Query operations 105
Creating a query 105
Editing a query 109
Forking a query 109
Archiving a query 111
Scheduling a query 113
Query results and filters 116
Query results 116
Query filters 118
Parametrized queries 122
Parameter settings 124
Query snippets 126
Alerts 128
Alert statuses 129
Creating Alerts 130
Alert destinations 134
Summary 135
Chapter 6: Creating Visualizations 136
The benefits of visualizations 136
An overview of visualization types 138
Boxplot 138
Chart 139
Map (Choropleth map) 142
[ ii ]
Table of Contents
Cohort 143
Counter 143
Funnel 144
Map (Markers map) 144
Pivot table 145
Sankey 147
Sunburst sequence 148
Word cloud 149
Table 149
Visualizations in action 150
Creating and editing visualizations 151
Going over Redash visualizations 153
Boxplot 154
Chart 155
Map (Choropleth) 158
Cohort 160
Counter 161
Funnel 162
Map (Markers) 163
Pivot Table 164
Sankey 165
Sunburst sequence 165
Table 166
Word Cloud 168
Special actions on visualizations 168
Summary 170
Chapter 7: Dashboards and Practical Tips 171
Dashboard how-tos 171
Creating/editing dashboards 172
Dashboard query filters, hashtags, and favorite dashboards 173
Dashboard-level filters 173
Dashboard hashtags 173
Favorite Dashboards 175
Sharing dashboards 176
Dashboard guidelines 177
Tips and tricks 179
Summary 182
Chapter 8: Customizing Redash 183
Redash API 184
API authentication 184
API calls overview 186
API usage examples 190
Extending Redash code 191
Installing Redash for development 191
Installing a Docker-based developer environment 192
[ iii ]
