# Connecting to the UDW

Amazon's Redshift is the technology underlying the Unizin Data Warehouse (UDW). For the most up to date information and details on connecting to the UDW, please see Amazon's documentation on [connecting to a cluster](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/mgmt/connecting-to-cluster.html).

Below are key concepts required to gets started with the UDW.

## Redshift Drivers <a href="#connectingtotheudw-redshiftdrivers" id="connectingtotheudw-redshiftdrivers"></a>

Amazon's Redshift is based on PostgreSQL and many client tools that natively support direct connections to PostgreSQL will also connect to Redshift. This may not provide an optimal experience and Unizin recommends using Redshift drivers from Amazon when possible. Universal [JDBC](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/mgmt/configure-jdbc-connection.html#download-jdbc-driver) drivers and platform-specific [ODBC](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/mgmt/configure-odbc-connection.html) drivers are available.

## SSL <a href="#connectingtotheudw-ssl" id="connectingtotheudw-ssl"></a>

All connections to the UDW must be performed over Secure Socket Layer (SSL). It is recommended that the Redshift public certificates are utilized when connected to the IDWUDW Please read [this article](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/mgmt/connecting-ssl-support.html) for additional details.

## Connection Strings <a href="#connectingtotheudw-connectionstrings" id="connectingtotheudw-connectionstrings"></a>

### JDBC <a href="#connectingtotheudw-jdbc" id="connectingtotheudw-jdbc"></a>

A JDBC 4.1 connection string for Redshift should follow this format:

```
jdbc:redshift:/<endpoint>:5439/<db-name>?ssl=true
```

* `<endpoint>` - The public URL of the Redshift cluster. Will typically be a friendly name such as "redshift.unizin.org". This will be provided during UDW implementation.
* `<db-name>` - The random-generated string name of your Redshift database. This will be provided during UDW implementation.

Your username and password will be specified outside of the connection string.

Additionally, you may append the following to the connection string if the Redshift SSL certificate is not installed, although this is not recommended.

```
&sslfactory=com.amazon.redshift.ssl.NonValidatingFactory
```

### ODBC <a href="#connectingtotheudw-odbc" id="connectingtotheudw-odbc"></a>

An ODBC connection string for Redshift should follow this format:

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```
Driver={Amazon Redshift (x64)}; Server=<endpoint>; Database=<db-name>; UID=<username>; PWD=<password>; Port=5439; SSLMode=verify-ca
```

{% endcode %}

* `<endpoint>` - The public URL of the Redshift cluster. Will typically be a friendly name such as "`redshift.unizin.org`". This will be provided during UDW implementation.
* `<db-name>` - The random-generated string name of your Redshift database. This will be provided during UDW implementation.
* `<username>` - A random-generated string username. A username and password will be provided via the [Access Provisioning Process](/products/data-and-analytics/unizin-data-warehouse/access-provisioning.md).
* `<password>` - A random-generated string password.
* `SSLMode` - If the Redshift SSL certificate is not installed, the SSLMode must be "require" instead of "verify-ca"


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