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Superset (Tier 3 – Orchestration & BI)

Purpose: SQL exploration and dashboarding UI on top of Trino catalogs (Hive, Delta/Lakehouse).

Image

  • Custom image built from docker/superset.Dockerfile, which layers on top of apache/superset:${SUPERSET_VERSION}.
  • Installs psycopg2-binary for the PostgreSQL metadata database.
  • Installs sqlalchemy-trino so Superset can talk to Trino catalogs out of the box.

Configuration

  • Templates:
  • templates/superset/superset.env.tpl → config/superset/superset.env via make config-superset.
  • templates/superset/superset_config.py.tpl → config/superset/superset_config.py.
  • Key environment variables (set in .env):
  • SUPERSET_VERSION – image tag.
  • SUPERSET_PORT – host/UI port (default 8088).
  • SUPERSET_DB_NAME – metadata database (created inside PostgreSQL).
  • SUPERSET_SECRET_KEY – Flask secret key for sessions/CSRF.
  • SUPERSET_ADMIN_* – bootstrap admin user (username, password, email, names).
  • Runtime dependencies:
  • Metadata DB: PostgreSQL (postgresql+psycopg2://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/${SUPERSET_DB_NAME}).
  • Named volume: flumen_superset_home mounted at /app/superset_home (stores uploads, config, and state).

Usage

make build-superset    # Build custom image (auto-run by compose if skipped)
make config-superset   # Render env + config
make superset-db       # Ensure metadata database exists in PostgreSQL
make up-tier3          # Starts Trino + Superset
make health-superset   # HTTP health probe
make logs-superset     # Tail logs
make shell-superset    # Bash shell inside the container

Access the UI at http://localhost:${SUPERSET_PORT} (defaults to http://localhost:8088).

Default Credentials

  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin123

Update these values in .env before running make config-superset to avoid using the defaults.

Connect Superset to Trino

Add a new Database inside Superset:

  1. Go to Settings → Database Connections → + Database.
  2. Choose Other and use the SQLAlchemy URI (the sqlalchemy-trino driver is already installed):
  3. From inside the Docker network: trino://trino@trino:8080/lakehouse
  4. From your host: trino://trino@localhost:8082/lakehouse (or host.docker.internal on macOS/Windows if localhost does not reach the container)
  5. Test the connection and save. The catalog list (hive, delta, lakehouse) becomes available for dataset creation.

Initialization Details

The container command performs:

  1. superset db upgrade – apply migrations.
  2. superset fab create-admin ... – idempotently create the admin user using .env values.
  3. superset init – load default roles and permissions.
  4. Start Gunicorn (gunicorn -w 4 -k gevent ...).

Troubleshooting

  • Login fails immediately: ensure browser cookies are allowed and SUPERSET_SECRET_KEY remains stable between restarts (set it explicitly in .env).
  • Cannot reach Superset: run make health-superset and inspect docker compose -f docker-compose.tier3.yml logs superset.
  • Metadata DB errors: run make superset-db after Tier 0 (PostgreSQL) is healthy so the superset database exists before starting the container.
  • Timeout when querying Trino: confirm Tier 3 services are on the same Docker network (start with make up), and verify the SQLAlchemy URI uses the internal hostname trino.