Connect to Databricks

Learn how to connect your Databricks database to Retool.

You can use the Databricks integration to create a resource and make it available in Retool. Once complete, your users can write queries that interact with Databricks data.

Requirements

The Databricks integration requirements depend on whether you have a cloud-hosted or self-hosted Retool organization. You may also need to make Databricks configuration changes before creating the resource.

Cloud-hosted organizations

Sufficient user permissions to create resources

All users for Retool organizations on Free or Team plans have global Edit permissions and can add, edit, and remove resources. If your organization manages user permissions for resources, you must be a member of a group with Edit all permissions.

Allow Retool to access the data source

If the data source is behind a firewall or restricts access based on IP address, then you must ensure that your Retool organization can access it. If necessary, configure your data source to allow access from Retool's IP addresses.

CIDR IP addresses

3.77.79.248/30
35.90.103.132/30
44.208.168.68/30

Individual IP addresses

3.77.79.249
3.77.79.250
35.90.103.132
35.90.103.133
35.90.103.134
35.90.103.135
44.208.168.68
44.208.168.69
44.208.168.70
44.208.168.71

Retool is building support for querying firewalled resources without allowlisting Retool’s IP address. To learn more or be considered for early access, contact cloud-connect@retool.com.

Databricks settings and authentication

You must have sufficient access and familiarity with your Databricks data source so you can provide:

• Required connection settings (e.g., URL and server variables).
• Authentication credentials (e.g., API keys).

In some cases, you may need to make changes to your Databricks configuration, such as generating authentication credentials or allowing access through a firewall. Refer to the configuration and authentication sections to learn more.

Self-hosted organizations

Sufficient user permissions to create resources

All users for Retool organizations on Free or Team plans have global Edit permissions and can add, edit, and remove resources. If your organization manages user permissions for resources, you must be a member of a group with Edit all permissions.

Allow your deployment to access the data source

Your self-hosted deployment must have access to the data source. Ensure that any potential firewall rules for either the data source or your deployment instance are updated to allow them to communicate.

Databricks settings and authentication

You must have sufficient access and familiarity with your Databricks data source so you can provide:

• Required connection settings (e.g., URL and server variables).
• Authentication credentials (e.g., API keys).

In some cases, you may need to make changes to your Databricks configuration, such as generating authentication credentials or allowing access through a firewall. Refer to the configuration and authentication sections to learn more.

Configure the resource

Sign in to your Retool organization and navigate to the Resources tab. Click Create new > Resource, then select Databricks.

Configuration

Specify the name, location, and description to use for your Databricks resource. Retool displays the resource name and type in query editors to help users identify them.

Provide the following configuration settings to create the resource. Depending on how your data source is configured, you may also need to provide optional settings for Retool to connect.

You can automatically populate resource configuration fields by providing a database connection string.

Cloud-hosted organizations

Name

The name to use for the resource.

Description

A description of the resource.

Host

The host server address.

Port

The host server connection port.

Path

The HTTP path of the SQL warehouse.

Schema

The default schema to use.

Connection options

Key-value pairs to configure the connection.

Catalog

The default catalog to use.

Database name

The name of the database to use.

Disable converting queries to prepared statements

Whether to disable SQL injection protection that allows dynamically generated SQL using JavaScript.

Override default outbound Retool region

Retool connects to your data source from the us-west-2 region. Choosing a different outbound region can improve performance through geographic proximity.

Region	Location
us-west-2	US West (Oregon)
eu-central-1	Europe (Frankfurt, Germany)
ap-southeast-1	Asia-Pacific (Singapore)

Self-hosted organizations

Name

The name to use for the resource.

Description

A description of the resource.

Host

The host server address.

Port

The host server connection port.

Path

The HTTP path of the SQL warehouse.

Catalog

The default catalog to use.

Schema

The default schema to use.

Connection options

Key-value pairs to configure the connection.

Disable converting queries to prepared statements

Whether to disable SQL injection protection that allows dynamically generated SQL using JavaScript.

Authentication

The Databricks integration supports the following authentication methods. Depending on which authentication method you use, you may need to make changes to your Databricks configuration.

Cloud-hosted organizations

API key

Authentication is performed using the API key. You must be able to obtain and provide these credentials to create the resource.

Self-hosted organizations

API key

Authentication is performed using the API key. You must be able to obtain and provide these credentials to create the resource.

SSL/TLS validation

Retool strongly recommends enabling SSL/TLS certificate validation whenever it's available. This ensures the connection is secure and prevents attackers from using invalid server certificates to gain access to your data.

Some resources support or require SSL/TLS validation. If needed, provide the following information to configure SSL.

CA Cert

The CA certificate to use.

Client key

The client key.

Client cert

The client certificate.

Verification mode

The mode with which Retool performs SSL/TLS verification.

Mode	Description
Full verification	Verifies the server host matches the name stored in the server certificate and checks the CA certificate.
Verify CA certificate	This verifies the server by checking the certificate chain up to the root certificate stored on the client.
Skip CA certificate verification Caution	This establishes an encrypted connection without CA certificate verification. This mode is not recommended as your server could be vulnerable.

Test the connection

Click Test Connection to verify that Retool can successfully connect to the data source. If the test fails, check the resource settings and try again.

Testing a connection only checks whether Retool can successfully connect to the resource. It cannot check whether the provided credentials have sufficient privileges or can perform every supported action.

Save the resource

Click Create resource to complete the setup. You can then click either Create app to immediately start building a Retool app or Back to resources to return to the list of resources.

Enable the Java DB Connector

For Retool Self-hosted users, Retool provides a Java DBConnector, designed to enhance the performance and stability of certain integrations. This connector is required for the Amazon SQS, Databricks, and Kafka connectors.

The instructions for enabling the Java DB connector differ based on whether you use Helm as a package manager:

With Helm

Always upgrade your deployment to use the latest version of Retool's Helm chart. The latest version is v6.4.2.

Run helm search repo retool/retool to check the current version of Retool's Helm chart that is installed. Use helm upgradeto then upgrade the Helm chart version, if required.

Upgrade Retool Helm chart version

helm upgrade -f values.yaml my-retool retool/retool --version v6.4.2

Next, add the following to values.yaml:

dbconnector:
  java:
    enabled: true

Restart your Retool deployment instance for these changes to take effect.

Without Helm

Set the DISABLE_JAVA_DBCONNECTOR environment variable to true, then Restart your Retool instance for these changes to take effect.

Next steps

Your Databricks resource is now ready to use. Check out related queries and code documentation to learn how to interact with Databricks data.

Queries and code quickstart

Fundamental concepts of queries and code.

Resource query tutorial

Hands-on introduction to querying APIs and databases.

Explore database schemas

Learn how to explore database schemas.

Read SQL data

Learn how to retrieve data with SQL.

Write SQL data

Learn how to write data with SQL.