The CData MCP Server for Apache Impala defines each connection to Apache Impala as a named configuration that Claude can use when sending natural language queries.

You create and manage these configurations using the MCP Configuration Tool. The tool automatically handles formatting, storage, and registration with Claude Desktop.

Understanding Connection Configurations

Each connection configuration is stored in a .mcp file. This file includes the details needed to initialize the connector when Claude starts a session.

• On Windows, configuration files are stored in "~/AppData/Roaming/CData/Apache Impala Data Provider/".
• On macOS, configuration files are stored in "~/Library/Application Support/CData/Apache Impala Data Provider/".

The .mcp file is a text file that contains a list of connection properties and a timestamp. For example:

#Tue May 20 15:48:40 EDT 2025
AuthScheme=Basic
User=myUser
Password=myPassword
Security Token=myToken

The configuration tool handles these settings automatically. Each saved configuration enables Claude to launch a dedicated MCP Server instance with the correct connector and options. Manual file editing is not required.

Connecting to Apache Impala

In order to connect to Apache Impala, set the following:

• Server: The name or network address of the SQL Server instance.
• Port: The port for the connection to the Impala Server instance.
• ProtocolVersion: The Thrift protocol version to use when connecting to the Impala server.
• Database (optional): A default database to use when one is not supplied in the SQL query. This enables using table names without having to specify database.tablename in the query.
• Pagesize (optional): The number of results to pull per page from Apache Impala when selecting data.
• QueryPassthrough (optional): Indicates if the query should be passed to Impala as-is.
• UseSSL (optional): Set this to enable TLS/SSL.

  When QueryPassthrough is set to false (default), the CData ADO.NET Provider for Apache Impala will attempt to modify the query to conform to Impala required format.

Authenticating to Apache Impala

There are several ways to authenticate to Apache Impala including:

• NoSasl
• LDAP
• Kerberos

NoSasl

When using NoSasl, no authentication is performed. It is used when you are connecting to a server from a trusted location such as a test machine on your local network. By default, NoSasl is as the default AuthScheme, so no additional connection properties need to be set.

LDAP

To authenticate with LDAP, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to LDAP.
• User: Set this to user to login as.
• Password: Set this to the password of the user.

To authenticate, set User, Password, and AuthScheme. If the LDAP server enables the Unauthenticated Authentication Mechanism of Simple Bind, the Password is optional instead of required.

Kerberos

Set the AuthScheme property to Kerberos. Please see Using Kerberos for details about how to authenticate with Kerberos.