dbt Cloud - Import
Bridge Requirements
This bridge:requires Internet access to https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and/or other tool sites to download drivers into <TDC_HOME>/data/download/MIMB/.
Bridge Specifications
Vendor | dbt Labs |
Tool Name | dbt Cloud |
Tool Version | Core v1.3 to current |
Tool Web Site | https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/ |
Supported Methodology | [Data Integration] Multi-Model, Metadata Repository, ELT (Source and Target Data Stores, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing) via Cloud Administrative, GraphQL API on JSON File |
Data Profiling | ![]() |
Incremental Harvesting | ![]() |
Multi-Model Harvesting | ![]() |
Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection | ![]() |
SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: dbt Labs / dbt Cloud version Core v1.3 to current via Cloud Administrative, GraphQL API on JSON File
See https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/
Metadata: [Data Integration] Multi-Model, Metadata Repository, ELT (Source and Target Data Stores, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing)
Component: DbtCloudApi version 11.2.0
DISCLAIMER
This import bridge requires internet access to download third-party libraries:
- such as https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ to download open source third-party libraries,
- and more sites for other third-party software such as database specific JDBC drivers.
The downloaded third-party libraries are stored into $HOME/data/download/MIMB/
- If HTTPS fails, the import bridge then tries with HTTP.
- If a proxy is used to access internet, you must configure that proxy in the JRE (see the -j option in the Miscellaneous parameter).
- If the import bridge does not have full access to internet, that $HOME/data/download/MIMB/ directory can be copied from another server with internet access where the command $HOME/bin/MIMB.sh (or .bat) -d can be used to download all third-party libraries used by all bridges at once.
By running this import bridge, you hereby acknowledge responsibility for the license terms and any potential security vulnerabilities from these downloaded third-party software libraries.
OVERVIEW
dbt is a transformation workflow based Data Integration (DI/ETL) tool.
dbt Cloud is the (paid license) Cloud deployed version based on dbt Core.
https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/introduction
https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/cloud/about-cloud/dbt-cloud-features
dbt projects are deployed as dbt jobs. The runtime execution of a dbt job generates a manifest.json which is a single file containing a full representation of your dbt project's resources (models, tests, macros, etc), including all node configurations and resource properties.
https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/artifacts/manifest-json
This import bridge uses the REST API of the dbt Cloud server to retrieve the dbt core manifest.json of the dbt jobs, then parses the dbt manifest.json files to determine the source/target data connections and the column level data flow lineage between such data connections.
Upon specifying a URL in GraphQL API format, the import bridge automatically converts the specified URL into the Administrative API format (ONLY to define the namespace of models), make sure that {YOUR_ACCESS_URL} is the same for both API endpoints.
E.g. https://metadata.metaintegration.cloud.getdbt.com/graphql will be converted to https://metaintegration.cloud.getdbt.com
Further information regarding dbt Core versions is available at https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/dbt-versions/core
REQUIREMENTS
Requires access to the Administrative API (even when using the GraphQL API) to define the namespace of dbt models (which account, project, environment, job and run it belongs to).
Requires permissions that permit the import of dbt Cloud using GraphQL - Member, Account Admin, Job Admin and Read-Only. The "Metadata-only" permission set is not suitable, as it does not have access to the Administrative API.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
n/a
LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at MIMB Known Limitations or bundled in Documentation/ReadMe/MIMBKnownLimitations.html
The supported dbt Core versions are currently limited to v1.5.
SUPPORT
Provide a troubleshooting package with:
- the debug log (can be set in the UI or in conf/conf.properties with MIR_LOG_LEVEL=6)
- the metadata backup if available (can be set in the Miscellaneous parameter with -backup option, although this common option is not implemented on all bridges for technical reasons).
Bridge Parameters
Parameter Name | Description | Type | Values | Default | Scope |
URL | The URL to enable connectivity to a private dbt tenant. The Data Build Tool uses two ways to get models: Administrative (REST) API - https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/dbt-cloud-apis/admin-cloud-api E.g. https://{YOUR_ACCESS_URL} Discovery (GRAPHQL) API - https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/dbt-cloud-apis/discovery-querying E.g. https://metadata.{YOUR_ACCESS_URL}/graphql Note: If you want to use Discovery (GRAPHQL) API, your key must have access to Administrative (REST) API as well. |
STRING | https://cloud.getdbt.com/ | Mandatory | |
Key | Each dbt Cloud user with a Developer license is issued an API token. This token can be used to execute queries against the dbt Cloud API on the user's behalf. User API tokens inherit the permissions of the user that they were created for. You may find your User API token in the Profile page under the API Access label. |
PASSWORD | Mandatory | ||
Account | The dbt account name. | REPOSITORY_MODEL | Mandatory | ||
Environment | The dbt environment name. | REPOSITORY_MODEL | Mandatory | ||
Project | The dbt project name or regex pattern. If 'DBT.*' is specified, the import bridge will filter the list of projects to import or browse, as a result you will get 'DBT Snowflake Project', 'DBT Google BigQuery Project', and so forth. Below is the appropriate syntax of patterns: 'DBT.*' result will return all projects that start with 'DBT'; '.*DBT' result will return all projects that end with 'DBT'; '.*DBT.*' result will return all projects that contain 'DBT' in the name; 'DBT.*Snowflake.*' result will return all projects that start with 'DBT' and have 'Snowflake' in the name. Syntax of 'Project' parameters: DBT Snowflake Project DOM.*;.*Analysis.* DBT Snowflake Project;DOM.*;.*Analysis.*. |
REPOSITORY_SUBSET | |||
Miscellaneous | INTRODUCTION Specify miscellaneous options starting with a dash and optionally followed by parameters, e.g. -connection.cast MyDatabase1="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER" Some options can be used multiple times if applicable, e.g. -connection.rename NewConnection1=OldConnection1 -connection.rename NewConnection2=OldConnection2; As the list of options can become a long string, it is possible to load it from a file which must be located in ${MODEL_BRIDGE_HOME}\data\MIMB\parameters and have the extension .txt. In such case, all options must be defined within that file as the only value of this parameter, e.g. ETL/Miscellaneous.txt JAVA ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS -java.memory <Java Memory's maximum size> (previously -m) 1G by default on 64bits JRE or as set in conf/conf.properties, e.g. -java.memory 8G -java.memory 8000M -java.parameters <Java Runtime Environment command line options> (previously -j) This option must be the last one in the Miscellaneous parameter as all the text after -java.parameters is passed "as is" to the JRE, e.g. -java.parameters -Dname=value -Xms1G The following option must be set when a proxy is used to access internet (this is critical to access https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and exceptionally a few other tool sites) in order to download the necessary third-party software libraries. Note: The majority of proxies are concerned with encrypting (HTTPS) the outside (of the company) traffic and trust the inside traffic that can access proxy over HTTP. In this case, an HTTPS request reaches the proxy over HTTP where the proxy HTTPS-encrypts it. -java.parameters -java.parameters -Dhttp.proxyHost=127.0.0.1 -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dhttp.proxyUser=user -Dhttp.proxyPassword=pass MODEL IMPORT OPTIONS -model.name <model name> Override the model name, e.g. -model.name "My Model Name" -prescript <script name> This option allows running a script before the bridge execution. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -prescript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -postscript <script name> This option allows running a script after successful execution of the bridge. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -postscript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -cache.clear Clears the cache before the import, and therefore will run a full import without incremental harvesting. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is not used (incremental harvesting), then a new version will not be created. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is set (full source import instead of incremental), then a new version will be created. -backup <directory> This option allows to save the bridge input metadata for further troubleshooting. The provided <directory> must be empty. The primary use of this option is for data store import bridges, in particular JDBC based database import bridges. Note that this option is not operational on some bridges including: - File based import bridges (as such input files can be used instead) - DI/BI repository import bridges (as the tool's repository native backup can be used instead) - Some API based import bridges (e.g. COM based) for technical reasons. DATA CONNECTION OPTIONS Data Connections are produced by the import bridges typically from ETL/DI and BI tools to refer to the source and target data stores they use. These data connections are then used by metadata management tools to connect them (metadata stitching) to their actual data stores (e.g. databases, file system, etc.) in order to produce the full end to end data flow lineage and impact analysis. The name of each data connection is unique by import model. The data connection names used within DI/BI design tools are used when possible, otherwise connection names are generated to be short but meaningful such as the database / schema name, the file system path, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The following option allows to manipulate connections. These options replaces the legacy options -c, -cd, and -cs. -connection.cast ConnectionName=ConnectionType Casts a generic database connection (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) to a precise database type (e.g. ORACLE) for SQL Parsing, e.g. -connection.cast "My Database"="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER". The list of supported data store connection types includes: ACCESS APACHE CASSANDRA DB2/UDB DENODO GOOGLE BIGQUERY HIVE MYSQL NETEZZA ORACLE POSTGRESQL PRESTO REDSHIFT SALESFORCE SAP HANA SNOWFLAKE MICROSOFT SQL AZURE MICROSOFT SQL SERVER SYBASE SQL SERVER SYBASE AS ENTERPRISE TERADATA VECTORWISE HP VERTICA -connection.rename OldConnection=NewConnection Renames an existing connection to a new name, e.g. -connection.rename OldConnectionName=NewConnectionName Multiple existing database connections can be renamed and merged into one new database connection, e.g. -connection.rename MySchema1=MyDatabase -connection.rename MySchema2=MyDatabase -connection.split oldConnection.Schema1=newConnection Splits a database connection into one or multiple database connections. A single database connection can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase All database connections can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split * A database connection can be explicitly split creating a new database connection by appending a schema name to a database, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase.schema1=MySchema1 -connection.map SourcePath=DestinationPath Maps a source path to destination path. This is useful for file system connections when different paths points to the same object (directory or file). On Hadoop, a process can write into a CSV file specified with the HDFS full path, but another process reads from a Hive table implemented (external) by the same file specified using a relative path with default file name and extension, e.g. -connection.map /user1/folder=hdfs://host:8020/users/user1/folder/file.csv On Linux, a given directory (or file) like /data can be referred to by multiple symbolic links like /users/john and /users/paul, e.g. -connection.map /data=/users/John -connection.map /data=/users/paul On Windows, a given directory like C:\data can be referred to by multiple network drives like M: and N:, e.g. -connection.map C:\data=M:\ -connection.map C:\data=N:\ -connection.casesensitive ConnectionName Overrides the default case insensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g. -connection.casesensitive "My Database" -connection.level AggregationLevel Specifies the aggregation level for the external connections, e.g.-connection.level catalog The list of the supported values: server catalog schema (default) OTHER BRIDGE OPTIONS -import.multithreading NumberThreads Number of worker threads to process metadata asynchronously. - Leave the parameter blank to set NumberThreads to the number of available CPU cores. - Specify a numeric value greater or equal to 1 to provide the actual number of threads. If the value specified is invalid, a warning will be issued and 1 will be used instead. If you experience out of memory conditions when processing metadata asynchronously, experiment with smaller numbers. If your machine has a lot of available memory (e.g. 10 GB or more), you can try larger numbers when processing many models at once. Note that setting the number too high can actually decrease the performance due to resource contention. -model.test.skip Skips processing Test models Your project may contain test(s) for models, if your project contains job(s) it will include a 'dbt test' command, job models will be created in the manifest: https://docs.getdbt.com/reference/node-selection/test-selection-examples If the parameter is entered, the test models will not be processed. Note: The test models will be processed by default. -model.analysis.skip Skips processing Analysis models Your project may contain an analysis models: https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/build/analyses#overview If the parameter is entered, the analysis models will not be processed. Note: The analysis models will be processed by default. -import.discovery.api Specify the URL with the following format 'https://{YOUR_ACCESS_URL}'. The import bridge will convert the URL specified to 'https://metadata.{YOUR_ACCESS_URL}/graphql' automatically. However, if specified URL is in the format 'https://metadata.{YOUR_ACCESS_URL}/graphql', the URL will not be converted. E.g. https://metaintegration.cloud.getdbt.com will be converted to https://metadata.metaintegration.cloud.getdbt.com/graphql |
STRING |
Bridge Mapping
Mapping information is not available