Pentaho Reporting is a suite (collection of tools) for creating relational and analytical reporting. Using Pentaho, we can transform complex data into meaningful reports and draw information out of them. Pentaho supports creating reports in various formats such as HTML, Excel, PDF, Text, CSV, and xml.
Pentaho can accept data from different data sources including SQL databases, OLAP data sources, and even the Pentaho Data Integration ETL tool.

Features of Pentaho

Pentaho Reporting primarily includes a Reporting Engine, a Report Designer, a Business Intelligence (BI) Server. It comes loaded with the following features −
• Report Designer − Used for creating pixel perfect report.
• Metadata Editor − Allows to add user-friendly metadata domain to a data source.
• Report Designer and Design Studio − Used for fine-tuning of reports and ad-hoc reporting.
• Pentaho user console web interface − Used for easily managing reports and analyzing views.
• Ad-Hoc reporting interface − Offers a step-by-step wizard for designing simple reports. Output formats include PDF, RTF, HTML, and XLS.
• A complex scheduling sub-system − Allows users to execute reports at given intervals.
• Mailing − Users can email a published report to other users.
• Connectivity − Connectivity between the reporting tools and the BI server, which allows to publish the content directly to the BI server.

Pentaho – Installation

Let us now learn how to install and configure Pentaho Reporting Designer.

Prerequisites

The Pentaho Reporting engine requires Java environment. Therefore, before installing Pentaho Reporting, make sure you have Java on your system. Based on the platform you are working on, use a command from the following table to verify your Java installation.

OS	Command	Output
Windows	Open command prompt: \>java -version	java version “1.7.0_60” Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_60b19) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.60-b09, mixed mode)
Linux	Open terminal: $ java –version	java version “1.7.0_60” OpenJDK Runtime Environment (rhel-2.3.10.4.el6_4x86_64) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 60.7-b01, mixed mode)
Mac OS	Open terminal: $ java –version	java version “1.7.0_60” Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_60b19) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.60-b09, mixed mode)

If you do not have Java installed on your system, then download and install the same using the following link Download and Install Java.

Download Pentaho Reporting

Download the latest versions of Pentaho Reporting Designer using the following links. For this tutorial, we are using version 3.7.0.

OS	URL link for download Pentaho Report Designer
Windows	Pentaho Report Designer 3.7 for Windows
Linux	Pentaho Report Designer 3.7 for Linux
Mac OS	Pentaho Report Designer 3.7 for Mac OS

Install Pentaho Reporting

After downloading the files, you will find an archive file of Pentaho Reporting Designer named prd-ce-3.7.0-stable. That archive should be extracted as explained in the following table.

OS	Installation Instructions
Windows	Extract the downloaded file prd-ce-3.7.0-stable.zip using an Unzip tool. Copy the extracted folder (prd-ce-3.7.0-stable) into c:\ directory. Open c:\prd-ce-3.7.0-stable\report-designer directory. Start Pentaho Reporting Designer by double-clicking on the reportdesigner.bat file.
Linux	Extract the downloaded file prd-ce-3.7.0-stable.tar.gz using the following command. $ tar –zxvf prd-ce-3.7.0-stable.tar.gz Copy the extracted folder (prd-ce-3.7.0-stable) into “/usr/local/” directory using the following command. # mv prd-ce-3.7.0-stable /usr/local/ Open “/usr/local/prd-ce-3.7.0-stable/report-designer” directory and start Pentaho Reporting Designer using the following commands. $ cd /usr/local/prd-ce-3.7.0-stable/report-designer $ report-designer.sh
Mac	Extract the downloaded file prd-ce-370-stable.tar.gz. You will find that folder in the Finder. Copy and Paste Pentaho Report Designer from Finer into /Application folder. Start Pentaho Report Designer using the following command. $ report-designer.sh

Install Database Driver

Pentaho Reporting Designer requires a database connection to generate relational reports, therefore you need to have a JDBC driver to communicate with the database. By default, Pentaho provides some JDBC drivers of different vendors to support different databases such as MySQL, H2, Hypersonic SQL, Hive, etc.
All the default database drivers are available in the /lib/ directory of the Pentaho Reporting Designer. If you want to use any other database, then download the respective JDBC driver and copy it into the /lib/ directory of Pentaho Reporting Designer. Otherwise, you can use ODBC driver via JDBC-ODBC bridge driver that comes with the JDK and this bridge driver (JDBC-ODBC) is suitable for all database servers.
For this tutorial, we are using MySQL database server and its respective drivers are already downloaded with the Pentaho lib (/lib/ directory of the Pentaho Reporting Designer) files.

Install Additional Fonts

Pentaho Reporting uses different fonts to display text inside reports. When generating PDF files, the Pentaho Reporting Engine needs access to the physical font files. The reporting engine searches system dependent font paths to locate all usable fonts. In addition to these fonts, your Java Runtime Environment may offer additional fonts, depending on your Java and Operating system version.
If you plan to create PDF documents with embedded fonts, please ensure that you only use fonts that are physically accessible for the reporting engine.
Regardless of your operating system, all font files located in JRE/lib/fonts/ are always usable for all exports.
So, this brings us to the end of blog. This Tecklearn ‘Overview of Pentaho and How to install Pentaho on your system’ blog helps you with commonly asked questions if you are looking out for a job in Pentaho BI. If you wish to learn Pentaho BI and build a career in Business Intelligence domain, then check out our interactive, Pentaho BI Training, that comes with 24*7 support to guide you throughout your learning period. Please find the link for course details:

Pentaho BI Certification Training

Pentaho BI Training

About the Course

Pentaho BI Training from Tecklearn teaches you how to develop Business Intelligence (BI) dashboard using Pentaho BI tool from scratch. Pentaho is an open-source comprehensive BI suite and provides integration with Hadoop distribution for handling large dataset and doing reporting on top of it. This course explores the fundamentals of Pentaho Data integration, creating an OLAP Cube, integrating Pentaho BI suite with Hadoop, and much more through the best practices. Our Online Pentaho Training Course also provides real-time projects to enhance your skills and successfully clear the Pentaho Business Analytics Certification exam.

Why Should you take Pentaho BI Training?

• The average annual pay for a Pentaho Developer is $124828 a year. -ZipRecuiter.com.
• Around 2500 websites globally are using Pentaho BI and it has a market share of around 3% globally.
• Pentaho is a suite of Business Intelligence products, which provide data integration, OLAP services, reporting, dashboarding, data mining and ETL capabilities. Pentaho is a one stop solution for all business analytics needs.

What you will Learn in this Course?

Data Modelling
• Why need Data Modelling
• Data Modelling Scope and Benefits
• Data Model Analogy
• Case Study
Introduction to Pentaho BI Suite
• Overview of Pentaho Business Intelligence and Analytics tools
• Pentaho Data Integration (PDI)
• Pentaho Report Designer (PRD)
• Pentaho Metadata Editor (PME)
• Pentaho Schema Workbench (PSW)
• Dashboard Capabilities
Installation
• Installation of Java
• Installation steps for Pentaho ETL Tool
• Spoon Installation
• Spoon Overview
• Connection to Database
Retrieving Data from Flat or Raw Files using Pentaho
• Working with Flat Files or Delimited Files
• Different Use Cases
• Read Data from different Delimited Files using Pentaho
Clustering in Pentaho
• Basics of clustering in Pentaho Data Integration
• Creating a database connection
• Working with CSV Files
Pentaho Report Designer
• Designing Basic Report containing Graphical Chart
• Conditional Formatting and Studying the PRPT File Format
• Building a Basic Report in PDF Report
• Data Source Connection and Query Designer
• Working with Group (Group Header, Group Footer)
• API Based Reporting
Pentaho Data Integration – Transformation
• What is Data Transformation
• Step, Hop, Variable
• Various Input and Output Steps
• Transformation Steps, Big Data Steps and Scripting
Different Types of Transformation
• Transformation Steps in Detail
• Add sequence and use calculator
• Generating Output
• Data Validation
Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD)
• Slowly Changing Dimensions,
• SCD Type I
• SCD Type II
• Deploying SCD
Pentaho Dashboard
• Pentaho Dashboard
• Passing parameters in Report and Dashboard
• Drill-down of Report
• Deploying Cubes for report creation
• Working with Excel sheets
• Pentaho Data integration for report creation
Understanding Cube
• What is a Cube
• Report and Dashboard creation with Cube
• Creation and benefits of Cube
Pentaho Analyzer
• Pentaho analytics for discovering
• Blending various data types and sizes
• Advanced analytics for visualizing data across multiple dimensions
Pentaho Data Integration (PDI) Development
• PDI steps used to create an ETL job
• PDI / Kettle steps to create an ETL transformation
Pentaho Administration
• Creating and Managing Users and Roles
• Security
• Performance Tuning
• Dashboard Creation with Advance Features

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