Tip: INDB with a .INDBC file using a Dynamic Username

[matthewbechard]

Our enterprise uses Hadoop with Kerberos and keytabs. I set up the INDB connection to use a file.  The file is on a UNC path that all the users ansd the Alteryx server have permission to.  I was going to just have a file for each user, and then we could switch the .indbc file connection for the user that was using the file.

I then went down the path of trying to make that dynamic and the solution I came up with was based on some other users suggestions for a dynamic username, based on a windows system variable. NickC suggested this in this article.   I needed to make this work, I tried using this as a workflow constant.  This did not work.  What I ended up doing blew my mind, I had zero hope that it would work, but it did.

I replaced the username with User=GetEnvironmentVariable("USERNAME") and this worked. Alteryx did not read this as a string but as a command and processed the command. 

<InDBConnection>
  <ConnectionType>Impala</ConnectionType>
  <IsNative>True</IsNative>
  <DbToAlteryx>
    <Connection>odbc:Driver={Cloudera ODBC Driver for Impala};Host=host.cloud.com;Port=21051;AuthMech=1;KrbRealm=ABCDEF.CLOUD.COM;KrbFQDN=ABCDEF.CLOUD.COM;KrbServiceName=impala;SSL=0;</Connection>
    <DecryptionAllowed>False</DecryptionAllowed>
    <Passwords />
    <FormatSpecificOptions>
      <ReadUncommitted>False</ReadUncommitted>
      <TableStyle>Quoted</TableStyle>
    </FormatSpecificOptions>
    <Type>ImpalaODBC</Type>
  </DbToAlteryx>
  <AlteryxToDb OutputDriverSelection="Specified">
    <Connection>hdfsa:Hostname=ABCDEF.CLOUD.COM:14000;User=GetEnvironmentVariable("USERNAME");Password=__EncPwd1__;Authenticate=true;KerbType=mit;Tempdir=/user/temp;URL=http://awedva3uthtw01.cloud.tiaa-cref.org:14000/</Connection>
    <DecryptionAllowed>False</DecryptionAllowed>
    <Passwords>mypasswordabcdefg</Passwords>
    <FormatSpecificOptions>
      <EnableCompression>True</EnableCompression>
      <SupportNullValues>True</SupportNullValues>
    </FormatSpecificOptions>
    <Type>HDFS_Avro</Type>
  </AlteryxToDb>
</InDBConnection>