--- name: watsonxdata-conn-presto-thr-cli title: Connecting to Presto server description: Presto CLI provides a terminal-based interactive shell to run queries. last-updated: 2025-12-18 --- > ## Documentation Index > The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonxdata?format=markdown > The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt > Use these files to discover more information as needed. # Connecting to Presto server {: #con-presto-serv} Presto CLI provides a terminal-based interactive shell to run queries. {: shortdesc} In IBM® watsonx.data, you can connect to the Presto server in multiple ways based on the platform and utilities you are using. See the following sections for more details: - [Connecting to Presto engine using Presto CLI (Remote)](#conn-to-prestoeng) - [Connecting to Presto engine using Java/JDBC](#conn-to-prestjava) - [Connecting to Presto engine using Python scripts](#conn-to-prestpython) You must specify the location when you create schema using CLI. For example, `location = s3a:///` {: note} ## Pre-requisites {: #con-presto-prereq} ### Getting the Presto engine hostname and port details {: #get-host-port} 1. Log in to watsonx.data web console. 2. Go to **Infrastructure Manager** and click **List view**. 3. In the **Engines** tab, click the engine name for which you need the hostname and port details. 4. Under the **Host** label, click the **Copy to clipboard** icon to copy the host details. 5. Copy the host details to a notepad. - [Getting the IBM API key or IBM IAM token](#get-api-iam-token) - [Getting IBM API Key](#get-ibmapi-key) - [Getting IBM Access Management (IAM) token](#get-ibmiam-token) ### Getting the IBM API key or IBM IAM token {: #get-api-iam-token} Use either IBM API key or IBM IAM token according to your requirement. It is recommended to use IAM token for stress workload. {: tip} #### Getting IBM API Key {: #get-ibmapi-key} If you enabled `External Identity Interactions Limited` feature, and using API keys to communicate with watsonx.data, you must create the API key from the account where the watsonx.data is provisonined. {: note} 1. Log in to the [IBM Cloud console](http://cloud.ibm.com/). 2. In the navigation bar, click **Manage** and select **Access (IAM)**. 3. Click **API keys** in the left navigation bar. 4. Click **Create +**. 5. In the **Create IBM Cloud API key** window, enter a name for your API key and enter the appropriate description for the key. For example, `ibmlhtoken testing` 6. Click **Create**. A window with message **API key successfully created** displays. 7. Click **Download** to save the API key to your local machine. 8. Open the downloaded file and copy the API key to a notepad file. #### Getting IBM Access Management (IAM) token {: #get-ibmiam-token} 1. Call the REST endpoint in IAM to get the IAM token. 2. Replace `` with your IBM API key. ```bash curl -X POST 'https://iam.cloud.ibm.com/identity/token' -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' -d 'grant_type=urn:ibm:params:oauth:grant-type:apikey&apikey=MY_APIKEY' ``` {: codeblock} ## Connecting to Presto engine through Presto CLI (Remote) {: #conn-to-prestoeng} 1. Download the Presto executable `jar` from [https://prestodb.io/getting-started/](https://prestodb.io/getting-started/) 2. Rename the downloaded file as **presto**. Make it executable with `chmod +x` and run it. 3. To check whether Presto CLI is installed, run `./presto --version`. Presto cli version displays. For example, `Presto CLI 0.281-cfbc6eb` 4. Run the following commands in the system where Presto CLI is installed. You can use one of the following methods to authenticate to Presto: * **Using username and password** : To do that run the following command: - If you are using API key, run the following command: ```bash ./presto --server --catalog iceberg_data --schema default --user ibmlhapikey_ --password ``` {: codeblock} - If you are using IBM IAM token, run the following command: ```bash ./presto --server --catalog iceberg_data --schema default --user ibmlhtoken_ --password ``` {: codeblock} Enter your IBM API key or IBM IAM token at the prompt. * **JWT token** : The JWT method of authentication is available by default from 2.1.2 onwards. Run the following command to connect to presto using JWT token: To use this method of authentication for the previous versions of watsonx.data (prior to 2.1.2 release), contact IBM support and enable the feature. {: note} ```bash ./presto --server --catalog iceberg_data --schema default --access-token ``` {: codeblock} To generate ``, use one of the following methods: * Getting IBM Access Management (IAM) token, see [(IAM) token](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonxdata?topic=watsonxdata-con-presto-serv&format=markdown#get-ibmiam-token). * Get `` by using the following command: ```bash curl --location 'https://us-south.lakehouse.dev.cloud.ibm.com/lakehouse/api/v2/auth/authenticate/' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --data-raw '{ "username": "ibmlhtoken_", "password": "", "instance_id": "", "instance_name": "" }' ``` {: codeblock} `` : Specify the token generated from [(IAM) token](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonxdata?topic=watsonxdata-con-presto-serv&format=markdown#get-ibmiam-token). `` : Specify the email id. `` : Specify the instance CRN. 6. At the Presto prompt, type `show catalogs;`. The catalog list appears. Now you are connected to Presto engine in watsonx.data through Presto CLI. ```bash presto:default> show catalogs; Catalog -------------- iceberg_data jmx system tpcds tpch (5 rows) ``` {: codeblock} ## Connecting to Presto engine using Java/JDBC {: #conn-to-prestjava} 1. Download and install the [latest JDBC drivers](https://prestodb.io/docs/current/clients/java.html) on the client machine. 2. Add the downloaded `jar` file to the class path of your Java application. 3. Get the API key. Use `ibmlhapikey_` as the username and API key as password. For more information, see [Getting IBM API Key](#get-ibmapi-key). 4. Get the hostname and port. For more information, see [Getting the Presto engine hostname and port details](#get-host-port). 5. Create a Java application by using JDBC interface. Following is an example for Java snippet: ```bash import java.sql.Connection; import java.sql.DriverManager; import java.sql.ResultSet; import java.sql.Statement; import java.util.Properties; public class PrestoJdbcSample { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { /* * example of fetching the location and credentials needed to connect, from * environment variables */ String username = System.getenv("ENG_USERNAME"); String password = System.getenv("ENG_PASSWORD"); String hostname = System.getenv("ENG_HOST"); String portnumber = System.getenv("ENG_PORT"); String presto_url = "jdbc:presto://" + hostname + ":" + portnumber; Connection connection = null; Statement statement = null; ResultSet resultSet = null; try { /* load the Presto JDBC Driver class */ String driverClass = "com.facebook.presto.jdbc.PrestoDriver"; Class.forName(driverClass); /* Set the connection properties */ Properties properties = new Properties(); properties.setProperty("user", username); properties.setProperty("password", password); properties.setProperty("SSL", "true"); /* Connect */ connection = DriverManager.getConnection(presto_url, properties); /* Issue a Query */ String query = "SELECT * FROM tpch.tiny.customer LIMIT 10"; statement = connection.createStatement(); resultSet = statement.executeQuery(query); /* iterate through the results */ while (resultSet.next()) { String phone = resultSet.getString("phone"); String name = resultSet.getString("name"); System.out.println("phone = " + phone + ", name = " + name); } } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } finally { /* clean up at the end always **/ if (resultSet != null) { resultSet.close(); } if (statement != null) { statement.close(); } if (connection != null) { connection.close(); } } } } ``` {: codeblock} Replace the parameters in the command with the following: `` Identifies the jdbc URL to the Presto server. `` with your email ID `` with the API key If you are using IBM IAM token, replace `ibmlhapikey_` with `ibmlhtoken_` and pass the token. {: note} 6. Compile and run the command. ## Connecting to Presto engine using Python scripts {: #conn-to-prestpython} 1. Install python 3.x (3.10 or later recommended) and `pip3` on your client workstation. 2. Use the DBAPI interface to query Presto. Following is a sample python script. ```bash import os import prestodb username=os.environ["ENG_USERNAME"] password=os.environ["ENG_PASSWORD"] hostname=os.environ["ENG_HOST"] portnumber=os.environ["ENG_PORT"] with prestodb.dbapi.connect( host=hostname, port=portnumber, user=username, catalog='tpch', schema='tiny', http_scheme='https', auth=prestodb.auth.BasicAuthentication(username,password) ) as conn: cur = conn.cursor() cur.execute('select * from tpch.tiny.customer limit 10') rows = cur.fetchall() print(rows) ``` {: codeblock} The command queries the `system.runtime.nodes` system tables that show the nodes in the Presto cluster. The DBAPI implementation in `prestodb.dbapi` provides methods to retrieve few rows. For example, `Cursorfetchone()` or `Cursor.fetchmany()`. By default `Cursor.fetchmany()` fetches one row. Set `prestodb.dbapi.Cursor.arraysize` accordingly. {: note} 4. Compile and run the command.