Installation & Configuration
============================

Getting Started
---------------

Caravel is currently only tested using Python 2.7.*. Python 3 support is
on the roadmap, Python 2.6 won't be supported.


OS dependencies
---------------

Caravel stores database connection information in its metadata database.
For that purpose, we use the ``cryptography`` Python library to encrypt
connection passwords. Unfortunately this library has OS level dependencies.

You may want to attempt the next step
("Caravel installation and initialization") and come back to this step if
you encounter an error.

Here's how to install them:

For **Debian** and **Ubuntu**, the following command will ensure that
the required dependencies are installed: ::

    sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev python-dev python-pip

For **Fedora** and **RHEL-derivatives**, the following command will ensure
that the required dependencies are installed: ::
    
    sudo yum upgrade python-setuptools
    sudo yum install gcc libffi-devel python-devel python-pip python-wheel openssl-devel

**OSX**, system python is not recommended. brew's python also ships with pip  ::

    brew install pkg-config libffi openssl python
    env LDFLAGS="-L$(brew --prefix openssl)/lib" CFLAGS="-I$(brew --prefix openssl)/include" pip install cryptography

**Windows** isn't officially supported at this point, but if you want to
attempt it, download `get-pip.py <https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py>`_, and run ``python get-pip.py`` which may need admin access. Then run the following: ::

    C:\> \path\to\vcvarsall.bat x86_amd64
    C:\> set LIB=C:\OpenSSL-1.0.1f-64bit\lib;%LIB%
    C:\> set INCLUDE=C:\OpenSSL-1.0.1f-64bit\include;%INCLUDE%
    C:\> pip install cryptography

    # You may also have to create C:\Temp
    C:\> md C:\Temp


Caravel installation and initialization
---------------------------------------
Follow these few simple steps to install Caravel.::

    # Install caravel
    pip install caravel

    # Create an admin user
    fabmanager create-admin --app caravel

    # Initialize the database
    caravel db upgrade

    # Create default roles and permissions
    caravel init

    # Load some data to play with
    caravel load_examples

    # Start the development web server
    caravel runserver -d


After installation, you should be able to point your browser to the right
hostname:port `http://localhost:8088 <http://localhost:8088>`_, login using
the credential you entered while creating the admin account, and navigate to
`Menu -> Admin -> Refresh Metadata`. This action should bring in all of
your datasources for Caravel to be aware of, and they should show up in
`Menu -> Datasources`, from where you can start playing with your data!


Configuration
-------------

To configure your application, you need to create a file (module)
``caravel_config.py`` and make sure it is in your PYTHONPATH. Here are some
of the parameters you can copy / paste in that configuration module: ::

    #---------------------------------------------------------
    # Caravel specifix config
    #---------------------------------------------------------
    ROW_LIMIT = 5000
    WEBSERVER_THREADS = 8

    CARAVEL_WEBSERVER_PORT = 8088
    #---------------------------------------------------------

    #---------------------------------------------------------
    # Flask App Builder configuration
    #---------------------------------------------------------
    # Your App secret key
    SECRET_KEY = '\2\1thisismyscretkey\1\2\e\y\y\h'

    # The SQLAlchemy connection string to your database backend
    # This connection defines the path to the database that stores your
    # caravel metadata (slices, connections, tables, dashboards, ...).
    # Note that the connection information to connect to the datasources
    # you want to explore are managed directly in the web UI
    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite:////tmp/caravel.db'

    # Flask-WTF flag for CSRF
    CSRF_ENABLED = True

This file also allows you to define configuration parameters used by
Flask App Builder, the web framework used by Caravel. Please consult
the `Flask App Builder Documentation
<http://flask-appbuilder.readthedocs.org/en/latest/config.html>`_
for more information on how to configure Caravel.

Database dependencies
---------------------

Caravel does not ship bundled with connectivity to databases, except
for Sqlite, which is part of the Python standard library.
You'll need to install the required packages for the database you
want to use as your metadata database as well as the packages needed to
connect to the databases you want to access through Caravel.

Here's a list of some of the recommended packages.

+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| database      | pypi package                        | SQLAlchemy URI prefix                           |
+===============+=====================================+=================================================+
|  MySQL        | ``pip install mysqlclient``         | ``mysql://``                                    |
+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|  Postgres     | ``pip install psycopg2``            | ``postgresql+psycopg2://``                      |
+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|  Presto       | ``pip install pyhive``              | ``presto://``                                   |
+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|  Oracle       | ``pip install cx_Oracle``           | ``oracle://``                                   |
+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|  sqlite       |                                     | ``sqlite://``                                   |
+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|  Redshift     | ``pip install sqlalchemy-redshift`` | ``redshift+psycopg2://``                        |
+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
|  MSSQL        | ``pip install pymssql``             | ``mssql://``                                    |
+---------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

Note that many other database are supported, the main criteria being the
existence of a functional SqlAlchemy dialect and Python driver. Googling
the keyword ``sqlalchemy`` in addition of a keyword that describes the
database you want to connect to should get you to the right place.


Caching
-------

Caravel uses `Flask-Cache <https://pythonhosted.org/Flask-Cache/>`_ for
caching purpose. Configuring your caching backend is as easy as providing
a ``CACHE_CONFIG``, constant in your ``caravel_config.py`` that
complies with the Flask-Cache specifications.

Flask-Cache supports multiple caching backends (Redis, Memcache,
SimpleCache (in-memory), or the local filesystem).

For setting your timeouts, this is done in the Caravel metadata and goes
up the "timeout searchpath", from your slice configuration, to your
data source's configuration, to your database's and ultimately falls back
into your global default defined in ``CACHE_CONFIG``.


Deeper SQLAlchemy integration
-----------------------------

It is possible to tweak the database connection information using the
parameters exposed by SQLAlchemy. In the ``Database`` edit view, you will
find an ``extra`` field as a ``JSON`` blob.

.. image:: _static/img/tutorial/add_db.png
   :scale: 30 %

This JSON string contains extra configuration elements. The ``engine_params``
object gets unpacked into the
`sqlalchemy.create_engine <http://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/latest/core/engines.html#sqlalchemy.create_engine>`_ call,
while the ``metadata_params`` get unpacked into the
`sqlalchemy.MetaData <http://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/rel_1_0/core/metadata.html#sqlalchemy.schema.MetaData>`_ call. Refer to the SQLAlchemy docs for more information.


Postgres & Redshift
-------------------

Postgres and Redshift use the concept of **schema** as a logical entity
on top of the **database**. For Caravel to connect to a specific schema,
you can either specify it in the ``metadata_params`` key of the ``extra``
JSON blob described above, or you can use a database user name to connect to
the database that matches the schema name you are interested it.


Druid
-----

* From the UI, enter the information about your clusters in the
  ``Admin->Clusters`` menu by hitting the + sign.

* Once the Druid cluster connection information is entered, hit the
  ``Admin->Refresh Metadata`` menu item to populate

* Navigate to your datasources

Note that you can run the ``caravel refresh_druid`` command to refresh the
metadata from your Druid cluster(s)


Upgrading
---------

Upgrading should be as straightforward as running::

    pip install caravel --upgrade
    caravel db upgrade