RDG—Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway

You can connect to remote on-premise data sources from Oracle Analytics Cloud. This enables you to deploy Oracle Analytics Cloud with large on-premise data sets without migrating the data to the cloud. Users can analyze the data in data visualizations, and in reporting dashboards and analyses.

Oracle Analytics Cloud Data Gateway (which supersedes Remote Data Connector) enables you to query on-premises data sources from Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Note that a new feature named private access channel (PAC) was also introduced for the Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) Gen 2 instances since 5.9.  Here are the high-level descriptions of of it:^[14]

Private Access Channel compliments and provides an alternative to Remote Data Gateway (RDG) for the private data sources it supports. Both PAC and RDG may be used within the same instance of OAC. There may be sources that PAC supports and RDG does not and vice-versa.

Figure 1.  Data Gateway Architecture (Source: [11]) . The callouts are

    1. Oracle Analytics Cloud issues and queues queries using Data Gateway queue.

    2. The agent looks for queries to process via long-polling.

    3. The agent executes the queries.

    4. The agent sends the query results to Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Data Gateway Architecture

Figure 1 shows a high-level diagram of the architecture for Data Gateway. 

Oracle Analytics Cloud communicates through a firewall with an on-premise database using HTTPS, with an agent installed in the on-premise environment that channels database queries between Oracle Analytics Cloud and the on-premise database. 

On-premise Environment

You install Data Gateway in a subnet that gives visibility to both Oracle Analytics Cloud and the target data sources. Your network needs to allow outgoing (egress) traffic from the node where Data Gateway is installed to the public internet on port 443 so that Data Gateway can communicate with Oracle Analytics Cloud. In addition, the network needs to allow outgoing (egress) traffic from the Data Gateway agent to the data source. 

For example, you might test the network by opening a browser on the node where Data Gateway is installed and connect to Oracle Analytics Cloud. You might also test the connection from the same node to the data source using a generic JDBC tool.

Data Gateway regularly communicates with Oracle Analytics Cloud to see whether Oracle Analytics Cloud has queries that need processing, a process known as long-polling. Data Gateway makes a long-running TLS-encrypted HTTP request to Oracle Analytics Cloud and waits until Oracle Analytics Cloud has a query to process. If there're no queries from Oracle Analytics Cloud after two minutes, Data Gateway terminates and re-issues the request in order to avoid the request being identified and terminated as an idle or stale connection by the network.

The HTTPS communication between Data Gateway and Oracle Analytics Cloud leverages the SSL certificate of your Oracle Analytics Cloud service instance. The same certificate is used to encrypt your browser connections to Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Data Gateway vs Remote Data Connector

Data Gateway replaces the Remote Data Connector utility that was used in earlier releases. Although you can still use Remote Data Connector, Oracle recommend that you use Data Gateway. Data Gateway has many advantages over Remote Data Connector:

• You can deploy multiple Data Gateway agents to query the same database. This provides failover and a highly-available architecture.
• In Remote Data Connector, the communication is initiated by Oracle Analytics Cloud. In Data Gateway, the communication is initiated by Data Gateway. As a result:
  • You don't need to install anything in a network demilitarized zone (DMZ).
  • You don't have to open ports for ingress traffic in the on-premises firewall.
  • You don't have to register your Oracle Analytics Cloud as a 'safe' domain.

Note that you cannot use Data Gateway and Remote Data Connector at the same time with your Oracle Analytics Cloud instance.

Server Deployment vs Personal Deployment

Data Gateway supports two kinds of deployment:

• Server Deployment
• You can use Oracle Universal Installer to install on Linux
• You can have multiple Data Gateway agents on each node (physical or virtual)
• You can edit Data Gateway properties in 
• <Installed location>/jetty/obiee_rdc_agent.properties
• Personal Deployment
• You can copy the binary files onto MacOS or Windows
• You can edit Data Gateway properties in 
• <Installed location>\obiee_rdc_agent.properties

High Availability

High Availability is supported for Data Gateway and Oracle recommends at least two Data Gateways per Oracle Analytics Cloud instance.  

How HA is supported?

• On the Oracle Analytics Cloud side, high availability is provided natively.
• On the Data Gateway side, you set up high availability by deploying two Data Gateways for each Oracle Analytics Cloud instance.
• However, all of these agents must be capable of servicing all remote queries (that is, you cannot configure one agent to service queries for one data source only, and another agent to service queries for a different data source).

Troubleshoot Data Gateway

Here's how to troubleshoot common setup issues with Data Gateway.

Issue reported	Do this
All issues	Check that you are on the correct version of Data Gateway that matches your version of Oracle Analytics Cloud. To check the version of the Data Gateway agent, on a server deployment, refer to the version in the file <installdirectory>/inventory/registry.xml.
Agent state change failed with error: Agent name or Oracle Analytics Cloud URL not specified or the Key pair not generated	Click Save, then Enable. If the problem persists, restart the application. If necessary, check your network.
Invalid Oracle Analytics Cloud URL (Data Gateway can't communicate with Oracle Analytics Cloud)	Check that you've enabled and configured Data Gateway in Oracle Analytics Cloud Console. Make sure you can reach the Oracle Analytics Cloud URL from the environment where Data Gateway is running. For example, on Linux you might use a traceroute command, such as sudo traceroute -T -p 443 <Fully qualified domain name of your Oracle Analytics Cloud instance>. Make sure there's nothing else blocking communication through the firewall. If you're using a proxy: Stop the Data Gateway agent. On the machine where you've installed Data Gateway, configure the Data Gateway properties: In a server deployment, edit this file: <Installed location>/jetty/obiee_rdc_agent.properties In a personal deployment, edit this file: <Installed location>\obiee_rdc_agent.properties Update the following properties with the details of your internet proxy host: proxyUserName proxyPassword proxyHost (for example, www-proxy.us.oracle.com) proxyPort (for example, 80) Start the Data Gateway agent.
Test fails in Console page Remote Data Connectivity	If the test fails, this means that the Data Gateway agent can't authenticate. Possible reasons include: The agent key hasn't been copied to the Remote Data Connectivity page in Oracle Analytics Cloud Console. The agent key has been regenerated in the agent, but the new key hasn't been copied to the Remote Data Connectivity page in Oracle Analytics Cloud Console. There's no suitable network route from the agent to Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Frequently Asked Questions about Data Gateway

Please check RDG Documentation on Data Gateway Frequently Asked Questions :

• What operating systems does Data Gateway support?
• What is the Data Gateway Architecture?
• What is the difference between Remote Data Connector and Data Gateway?
• Where do I install Data gateway?
• Can I deploy multiple Data Gateway agents?
• How do I configure High Availability for Data Gateway?
• Why is Data Gateway traffic egress only?
• How does Data Gateway manage SSL certificates?
• How do I size Data Gateway?
• Where is Data Gateway running? Do I install it on a virtual machine (VM)?
• Can I use Data Gateway and Remote Data Connector with my Oracle Analytics Cloud instance at the same time?
• How is Data Gateway network traffic secured?
• Can Data Gateway limit queries that affect performance or security?
• Data Gateway doesn't limit the query row size. The query row size limit is determined by the number of Oracle Compute Units (OCPUs) that your Oracle Analytics Cloud service has.
• What is the timeout setting for Data Gateway?
• Data Gateway uses the same query timeout as Oracle Analytics Cloud. See Limits Querying Data (Data Visualization Projects, Classic Analyses and Dashboards).

Deployment of Remote Data Gateway

Read the below articles for the step-by-step instructions on the installation and deployment of remote data gateway (RDG) for Oracle Analytics Cloud:

Installing Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway
Preparing Linux for Oracle Remote Data Gateway
Deploying Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway in a Private Subnet
Deploying Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway in a Public Subnet
Deploying Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway On Premise
Deploying Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway using Local Peering Gateways

Deploying Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway in a Remote Private Subnet 

Completing the Deployment of Remote Data Gateway for Oracle Analytics Cloud

If you have subscribed to My Oracle Support, you can also check the below articles for more information:

• NOTE:2590606.1 - OAC: How To Increase Logging For Remote Data Gateway Agent in OAC
• NOTE:2574387.1 - Guidance For Using Remote Data Gateway (RDG) on Environments Upgraded From Oracle Analytics Cloud 105.2 and Lower
• NOTE:2631494.1 - OAC: Test From Remote Data Gateway(RDG) Agent Config page fails with "Invalid OAC URL" Error
• NOTES:2653783.1  - OAC RDG 5.5 : RDG Agent Configuration With Proxy Authentication Errors Out While Connecting To OAC
• NOTES:2815638.1 - All Dashboard Reports Using RPD Failed With Error: Invalid Oracle URL specified

References

1. Troubleshooting Data Gateway
2. Installing Oracle Analytics Cloud Remote Data Gateway
3. Completing the Deployment of Remote Data Gateway for Oracle Analytics Cloud
4. OAC: Test From Remote Data Gateway(RDG) Agent Config page fails with "Invalid OAC URL" Error (Doc ID 2631494.1)
5. OAC RDG 5.5 : RDG Agent Configuration With Proxy Authentication Errors Out While Connecting To OAC (Doc ID 2653783.1)
6. Configuring Oracle Analytics Cloud
7. Configure and Register Data Gateway for Data Visualization
8. Give Data Sources Access to Analytics Cloud Instances
9. Cache Management in Oracle Analytics Cloud 5.4 Onwards
10. Best Practices from Oracle Development's A‑Team
11. Connect to On-premise Data Sources
12. Connecting to Private Data Sources using Oracle Analytics Cloud Private Access Channel
• Private Access Channel compliments and provides an alternative to Remote Data Gateway (RDG) for the private data sources it supports. Both PAC and RDG may be used within the same instance of OAC.
13. Preparing Network Gateways for Private Oracle Analytics Cloud Data Sources
14. Connect to Private Data Sources Through a Private Access Channel
15. Oracle Analytics Managing Security for Oracle Analytics Server, 5.9.0 (pdf)
16. Troubleshooting Private Access Channel Connectivity for Oracle Analytics Cloud
17. Oracle Analytics Cloud supported Data Sources
18. Connecting to Oracle Analytics Cloud Private Endpoint with VPN / FastConnect
19. Manage Service Access and Security
20. Prerequisites for a Private Access Channel (PAC)