Option to route Data Connector traffic from Analyst over Spotfire Server to work with secure data stores

Problem

The Data Connector creates a direct connection from the Analyst or the Webplayer node to the data store, in contrast to information links as all is routed over the Spotfire Server.

The Webplayer is in most cases located within an IT domain / tenant so firewalls can be opened for specific Webplayer nodes to access secure data stores (and keep it secure).

The Analyst is installed on computers from users that are in a user-LAN and that would require direct user-LAN connections to a secure data store. This would mean that the firewall for a secure data store would need to be opened to the user-LAN and this enables users to use other tools or scripts to connect to the secure data store. This is not allowed by IT and/or security policies of some companies.

Solution

As the information link (JDBC) traffic is routed over the Spotfire Server it would be a good option to have the capability to route Data Connector (ODBC) traffic from the Analyst over the Spotfire Server. For the Webplayer node this would not be required as it’s already in a secure setup. This could be implemented a setting for each Data Connector Data Source so you have some flexibility or as a general setting for IT admins.