Installation

This section describes how to install XLTable, configure system access and connect analytical databases.

XLTable can be deployed on Linux or Windows servers and supports integration with Active Directory and multiple databases.

Linux

XLTable can be installed on modern Linux distributions. Ubuntu 22.04+ is recommended for production environments.

Prerequisites

  • Ubuntu 22.04+ server with sudo access

  • Network access to analytical databases

  • Open ports 80 or 443 for Excel clients

  • XLTable distribution zip placed in /usr/olap/ (e.g. xltable-1.0.0-ubuntu.zip)

Prepare system

Create working directory:

sudo mkdir /usr/olap
sudo chmod a+rwx /usr/olap

Install XLTable

Copy the XLTable distribution zip and the installer to the server:

scp xltable-*-ubuntu.zip install_ubuntu.zip user@server:/usr/olap/

Unpack the installer scripts and run the install script:

cd /usr/olap
unzip -o install_ubuntu.zip
bash install_xltable.sh

The script will:

  • Install supervisor, nginx, unzip

  • Extract xltable to /usr/olap/xltable/

  • Create /usr/olap/xltable/setting/settings.json from the example (if missing)

  • Configure supervisor to autostart several xltable worker processes (one per CPU core, up to 4 by default)

  • Configure nginx on port 80 as a load balancer across the worker processes (ports 5000, 5001, …)

Note

Several worker processes are what lets heavy reports from many concurrent users be built in parallel: Python limits one process to one CPU core for result building, so the instance count is effectively the number of large reports the server can render at the same time. All instances share the same cache and settings.json. To change the count, re-run the installer with the desired number — the existing configuration and settings are kept:

XLTABLE_INSTANCES=6 bash install_xltable.sh

Set up connections with database (configuration examples in the folder /usr/olap/xltable/setting):

nano /usr/olap/xltable/setting/settings.json

Example of a minimal settings.json:

{
  "SERVER_DB": "ClickHouse",
  "CREDENTIAL_DB": {
      "user": "..",
      "password": "..",
      "host": "..",
      "port": "8443",
      "secure": true,
      "verify": true,
      "query_timeout": 300
  },
  "WRITE_LOG": false,
  "DUMP_XMLA": false,
  "LOG_RETENTION_DAYS": 14,
  "MAX_CELLS": 1000000,
  "OVERLOAD_GUARD": {
      "MAX_MEMORY_PERCENT": 90,
      "MAX_CPU_PERCENT": 95,
      "MIN_FREE_DISK_MB": 512
  },
  "CONVERT_FIELDS_TO_STRING": true,
  "USERS": {"user1": "pass1", "user2": "pass2"},
  "USER_GROUPS": {"user1": ["olap_users", "olap_admins"], "user2": ["olap_users"]},
  "ADMIN_GROUPS": ["olap_admins"],
  "CREDENTIAL_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY": {
      "server_address": "..",
      "domain": "..",
      "domain_full": "..",
      "username": "..",
      "password": "..",
      "access_groups": ["..", ".."]
  },
  "LDAP_CACHE_TIMEOUT": 300
}

Note

Changes to settings.json are picked up automatically within a few seconds of saving — no service restart is required (see settings.json schema).

Upgrading version

Copy the new distribution zip to the server (remove or replace any previous zip first):

scp xltable-*-ubuntu.zip user@server:/usr/olap/

Run the update script:

cd /usr/olap
bash update_xltable.sh

The script will:

  • Verify the zip integrity

  • Back up settings.json and the .lic license file to /usr/olap/backup_<timestamp>/

  • Stop the service and replace the xltable installation

  • Restore the backed-up config and license files

  • Set file ownership to the service user from the supervisor config

  • Restart the service and show its status

The backup folder is kept after the update — remove it once you have confirmed the new version works.

Service Management

Action

Command

Start

sudo supervisorctl start 'olap:*'

Stop

sudo supervisorctl stop 'olap:*'

Restart

sudo supervisorctl restart 'olap:*'

Status

sudo supervisorctl status 'olap:*'

Logs

sudo tail -f /var/log/supervisor/olap*.log

olap:* addresses every worker process of the service; it also works on installations that still run the old single-process configuration.

Windows

XLTable can be installed on Windows Server 2019+.

Prerequisites

IIS Roles and Features (Server Manager → Add Roles and Features):

  • Role: Web Server (IIS)

  • Under Web Server → Application Development: enable CGI (also enables FastCGI)

  • Under Web Server → Security: enable Windows Authentication and Basic Authentication

  • Network access to analytical databases

  • Open ports 80 or 443 for Excel clients

Installation

1. Install Python 3.12.6

Download and install Python 3.12.6 for Windows (64-bit). During installation, check “Add Python to PATH”.

2. Create the application folder

mkdir C:\olap

3. Extract the distribution archive

Copy the distribution archive into C:\olap, then extract it:

cd C:\olap
tar -xf xltable-<version>-windows_server.zip

The application folder will be at C:\olap\xltable\.

4. Create a virtual environment

cd C:\olap\xltable
python -m venv .venv

5. Install dependencies

C:\olap\xltable\.venv\Scripts\pip install -r requirements.txt

6. Configure settings

Edit the configuration file C:\olap\xltable\setting\settings.json and fill in all required fields (database connections, license path, etc.).

7. Configure IIS with web.config

Use the file C:\olap\xltable\web.config. It configures FastCGI to run the application via the virtual environment Python interpreter.

Authentication is set to Windows Authentication and Basic Authentication (anonymous access disabled).

8. Register the FastCGI application in IIS

Open IIS Manager → server node → FastCGI Settings → Add Application:

  • Full Path: C:\olap\xltable\.venv\Scripts\python.exe

  • Arguments: C:\olap\xltable\.venv\Lib\site-packages\wfastcgi.py

9. Point the IIS site to the application

In IIS Manager → Sites, select Default Web Site (or create a dedicated site):

  • Basic Settings → Physical Path: C:\olap\xltable

  • Authentication: disable Anonymous Authentication, enable Windows Authentication and Basic Authentication (matches the web.config from step 7)

  • Restart the site

10. Verify

Open the admin panel in a browser at http://localhost/admin.

In Excel, connect to the server at http://<server-name>/.

Update

  1. Stop the IIS application pool (IIS Manager → Application Pools → Stop)

  2. Back up settings.json and the license file .lic

  3. Extract the new distribution archive into C:\olap\xltable\, overwriting existing files

  4. Restore the backed-up settings.json and .lic

  5. Update dependencies (skip if requirements.txt did not change):

    C:\olap\xltable\.venv\Scripts\pip install -r C:\olap\xltable\requirements.txt

  6. Start the application pool

Authentication

XLTable supports two authorization modes: local authentication defined in settings.json and integration with Active Directory(LDAP).

Local authorization

At the basic level, authorization is configured directly in the settings.json file.

Administrators can define:

  • Users and passwords

  • User groups

  • Mapping of users to groups

This mode is suitable for: - test environments - small installations - isolated deployments without domain infrastructure

Example structure:

"USERS": {"user1": "pass1", "user2": "pass2"},
"USER_GROUPS": {"user1": ["olap_users", "olap_admins"], "user2": ["olap_users"]},
"ADMIN_GROUPS": ["olap_admins"],

Active Directory integration

XLTable supports authentication and authorization using Microsoft Active Directory.

Active Directory integration allows you to: - Authenticate users automatically - Map AD users and groups to XLTable roles - Centralize access management

To enable Active Directory authentication, configure the corresponding section in the settings.json file.

This section defines connection parameters to the domain controller, account for looking up user information, group mapping rules and other LDAP parameters.

Example structure:

"CREDENTIAL_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY": {
    "server_address": "dc.company.org",
    "domain": "company",
    "domain_full": "company.org",
    "username": "service_olap",
    "password": "...",
    "access_groups": ["olap_users_all", "olap_users_sales", "olap_users_accounting"]
}

Admin panel

XLTable includes a built-in admin panel for monitoring and managing the server.

URL

The admin panel is available at:

http://<server>/admin

Access is granted to users who belong to a group listed in ADMIN_GROUPS.

Configure admin access

Add the ADMIN_GROUPS section to settings.json:

"ADMIN_GROUPS": ["olap_admins"]

To access the admin panel, log in as a user whose group is listed in ADMIN_GROUPS. For local users, the group is assigned via USER_GROUPS; for AD users — via Active Directory group membership.

Features

The admin panel provides:

  • Service status — confirms the server is running, shows the active database backend and the settings file in use with the time it was last loaded (settings.json is re-read automatically when it changes, see settings.json schema).

  • Documentation — direct link to the XLTable documentation.

  • Cache overview — a per-user table showing active sessions, the number of cached entries and the time of the last activity, with a Sign out button that drops the sessions of a single user without affecting the others.

  • Clear Metadata Cache — removes cached cube definitions, schema lists and query results while keeping users signed in. Use it after editing a cube so the new definition is picked up immediately (it is also picked up automatically within METADATA_CACHE_TTL, see settings.json schema).

  • Clear All Cache — removes all cached session data. Users will need to re-authenticate after the cache is cleared.

Database connections

XLTable connects directly to analytical databases and executes SQL queries on their side. All database connections are defined centrally in the settings.json file and reused across OLAP cubes.

Currently supported connection types:

  • ClickHouse (starting from version 22.5)

  • BigQuery

  • Snowflake

  • Trino

  • StarRocks

  • Databricks

  • Greenplum

  • DuckDB

For each database type, the corresponding configuration section must be defined in settings.json.

Note

To connect to the database, a single service account with read-only access is sufficient. XLTable uses this account for all queries; no write permissions are required.

ClickHouse

Example structure for ClickHouse connection:

"SERVER_DB": "ClickHouse",
 "CREDENTIAL_DB": {
     "user": "...",
     "password": "...",
     "host": "...",
     "port": "8443",
     "secure": true,
     "verify": true,
     "query_timeout": 300
 },

BigQuery

Example structure for BigQuery connection with path to service account key file:

"SERVER_DB": "BigQuery",
"CREDENTIAL_DB": {
    "key_path": "..."
},

Snowflake

Example structure for Snowflake connection:

"SERVER_DB": "Snowflake",
"CREDENTIAL_DB": {
     "user": "...",
     "password": "...",
     "account": "...",
     "warehouse": "...",
     "schema": "..."
},

Trino

Example structure for Trino connection:

"SERVER_DB": "Trino",
"CREDENTIAL_DB": {
    "host": "...",
    "port": 8443,
    "user": "...",
    "password": "...",
    "catalog": "...",
    "http_scheme": "https",
    "verify": false
},

StarRocks

Example structure for StarRocks connection:

"SERVER_DB": "StarRocks",
"CREDENTIAL_DB": {
    "host": "...",
    "port": 9030,
    "user": "...",
    "password": "...",
    "ssl_ca": "...",
    "ssl_disabled": false
},

Databricks

Example structure for Databricks connection:

"SERVER_DB": "Databricks",
"CREDENTIAL_DB": {
    "server_hostname": "adb-xxxxxxxxxxxx.azuredatabricks.net",
    "http_path": "/sql/1.0/warehouses/xxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "access_token": "dapi...",
    "catalog": "..."
},

server_hostname and http_path can be found in the Databricks workspace under SQL Warehouses → Connection details. access_token is a personal access token generated in User Settings → Developer → Access tokens. catalog is optional; if omitted, hive_metastore is used.

Greenplum

Example structure for Greenplum connection:

"SERVER_DB": "Greenplum",
"CREDENTIAL_DB": {
    "host": "...",
    "port": 6432,
    "sslmode": "require",
    "dbname": "...",
    "user": "...",
    "password": "...",
    "target_session_attrs": "read-write"
},

DuckDB

DuckDB is an embedded database: no server is needed, the whole database is a single file readable by the XLTable service account.

"SERVER_DB": "DuckDB",
"CREDENTIAL_DB": {
    "database": "/usr/olap/xltable/data/analytics.duckdb",
    "read_only": true
},

database is the path to the .duckdb file (use an absolute path). read_only is optional and defaults to true; keep it enabled so that several XLTable worker processes can open the same file simultaneously. A ready-to-run sample database script is described in DuckDB Sample Data.