StarRocks

StarRocks is an open-source, high-performance analytical database designed for real-time, multi-dimensional analytics on large-scale data. It supports both primary key and aggregate data models, making it suitable for a variety of analytical workloads including real-time dashboards, ad-hoc queries, and complex analytical tasks.

Rill supports connecting to an existing StarRocks cluster via a "live connector" and using it as an OLAP engine built against external tables to power Rill dashboards.

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Connect to StarRocks

When using StarRocks for local development, you can connect via connection parameters or by using the DSN.

After selecting "Add Data", select StarRocks and fill in your connection parameters. This will automatically create the starrocks.yaml file in your connectors directory and populate the .env file with connector.starrocks.password.

Connection Parameters

type: connector
driver: starrocks

host: <HOSTNAME>
port: 9030
username: <USERNAME>
password: "{{ .env.connector.starrocks.password }}"
catalog: default_catalog
database: <DATABASE>
ssl: false

Connection String (DSN)

Rill can also connect to StarRocks using a DSN connection string. StarRocks uses MySQL protocol, so the connection string follows the MySQL DSN format:

type: connector
driver: starrocks

dsn: "{{ .env.connector.starrocks.dsn }}"

The DSN format is:

starrocks://user:password@host:port/database

Or using MySQL-style format:

user:password@tcp(host:port)/database?parseTime=true

Configuration Properties

Property	Description	Default
host	StarRocks FE (Frontend) server hostname	Required
port	MySQL protocol port of StarRocks FE	9030
username	Username for authentication	Required
password	Password for authentication	-
catalog	StarRocks catalog name (for external catalogs like Iceberg, Hive)	default_catalog
database	StarRocks database name	-
ssl	Enable SSL/TLS encryption	false
dsn	Full connection string (alternative to individual parameters)	-

External Catalogs

StarRocks supports external catalogs for querying data in Hive, Iceberg, Delta Lake, and other external data sources. To use an external catalog:

1. Set the catalog property to your external catalog name (e.g., iceberg_catalog)
2. Set the database property to the database within that catalog

type: connector
driver: starrocks

host: starrocks-fe.example.com
port: 9030
username: analyst
password: "{{ .env.connector.starrocks.password }}"
catalog: iceberg_catalog
database: my_database

Naming Mapping

StarRocks uses a three-level hierarchy: Catalog > Database > Table. In Rill's API:

Rill Parameter	StarRocks Concept	Example
database	Catalog	default_catalog, iceberg_catalog
databaseSchema	Database	my_database
table	Table	my_table

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

If you encounter connection issues:

1. Verify the FE node hostname and port (default: 9030)
2. Check that your user has appropriate permissions
3. Ensure network connectivity to the StarRocks FE node
4. For SSL connections, verify SSL is enabled on the StarRocks server

Known Limitations

• Model execution: Model creation and execution is not yet supported. This feature is under development.

Need help connecting to StarRocks?

If you would like to connect Rill to an existing StarRocks instance, please don't hesitate to contact us. We'd love to help!