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Superset Application Guide

Apache Superset is a modern data exploration and visualization platform that enables users to explore and visualize their data from simple charts to highly detailed dashboards.

Status: Available (Not Yet Tested)


Quick Reference

PropertyValue
Application IDsuperset
CategoryAnalytics
Default Imageapache/superset:latest
Application Port8088
Default CPU1024 (Fargate)
Default Memory2048 MB (Fargate)
Default Instancet3.small (EC2)
Health Check Path/
Health Check Grace300 seconds
Supports FargateYes
Supports EC2Yes
OIDC SupportNo (requires custom config)
Database RequiredYes (PostgreSQL)

Capabilities

  • SQL-based data exploration
  • Rich visualizations (40+ chart types)
  • Dashboard creation
  • SQL Lab for ad-hoc queries
  • Role-based access control
  • Database connectivity (30+ databases)
  • Caching with Redis
  • Alerting and reports
  • No-code chart builder
  • Semantic layer

Database Requirements

Superset requires a PostgreSQL (or MySQL) database for metadata storage.

PropertyValue
EnginePostgreSQL 13+
Instance Classdb.t3.small (default)
Storage20 GB (default)
Database Namesuperset
Backup Retention14 days

Authentication

ModeStatusDescription
alb-oidcAvailableALB-level authentication
noneAvailableLocal accounts only

Note: Native OIDC requires custom superset_config.py configuration.


Environment Variables

VariableDescription
SUPERSET_SECRET_KEYSession encryption key (required)
ENABLE_PROXY_FIXEnable ALB proxy support
DATABASE_DIALECTpostgresql
DATABASE_HOSTRDS endpoint
SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URIFull connection string

Storage Configuration

Container (Fargate)

PropertyValue
Data Path/app/superset_home
EFS Path/superset
Volume NamesupersetData
Container User0:0 (root)
EFS Permissions755

Deployment Context Examples

Development

{
"stackName": "Superset-Dev",
"applicationId": "superset",
"applicationName": "Superset Dev",
"description": "Superset development environment",
"environment": "development",

"runtime": "fargate",
"securityProfile": "dev",
"topology": "application-service",

"networkMode": "private-with-nat",
"region": "us-east-1",

"authMode": "none",

"cpu": 1024,
"memory": 2048,

"provisionDatabase": true,
"databaseEngine": "postgres",
"databaseVersion": "15",
"databaseInstanceClass": "db.t3.micro",
"databaseAllocatedStorageGB": 20,
"databaseName": "superset",

"enableMonitoring": true,
"logRetentionDays": "7"
}

Cost estimate: ~$70/month

Production

{
"stackName": "Superset-Production",
"applicationId": "superset",
"applicationName": "Superset Analytics",
"description": "Production data exploration platform",
"environment": "production",

"runtime": "ec2",
"securityProfile": "production",
"topology": "application-service",

"domain": "example.com",
"subdomain": "data",
"enableSsl": true,

"networkMode": "private-with-nat",
"region": "us-east-1",

"authMode": "alb-oidc",
"cognitoAutoProvision": true,
"cognitoDomainPrefix": "superset-prod-yourcompany",
"cognitoMfaEnabled": true,

"instanceType": "t3.medium",
"minInstanceCapacity": 2,
"maxInstanceCapacity": 4,
"enableAutoScaling": true,

"provisionDatabase": true,
"databaseEngine": "postgres",
"databaseVersion": "15",
"databaseInstanceClass": "db.t3.medium",
"databaseAllocatedStorageGB": 50,
"databaseMultiAz": true,
"databaseName": "superset",
"databaseBackupRetentionDays": 30,

"complianceFrameworks": "SOC2",
"awsConfigEnabled": true,
"guardDutyEnabled": true,
"wafEnabled": true,

"enableMonitoring": true,
"enableEncryption": true,
"logRetentionDays": "730",
"retainStorage": true
}

Cost estimate: ~$350/month


Post-Deployment Tasks

  1. Initialize Database:
    superset db upgrade
  2. Create Admin User:
    superset fab create-admin
  3. Load Examples (optional):
    superset load_examples
  4. Initialize Superset:
    superset init
  5. Connect Data Sources in the UI

Compliance Use Cases

  • SOC2: Security event analytics and metrics
  • GDPR: Data subject rights request tracking
  • PCI-DSS: Transaction monitoring dashboards
  • Fintech: Real-time payment dashboards, fraud detection