Trino

Trino is an open-source distributed SQL query engine designed to query large data sets distributed over one or more heterogeneous data sources.

Getting started

Hightouch lets you pull data stored in TrinoDB (previously PrestoSQL) and push it to downstream destinations. Most of the setup occurs in the Hightouch UI, but you need access to your Trino instance for information like your host, port, database name, and credentials.

Connection configuration

To get started, go to the Sources overview page and click the Add source button. Select Trino and follow the steps below.

Choose connection type

Hightouch can connect directly to Trino over the public internet or via an SSH tunnel. Since data is encrypted in transit via TLS, a direct connection is suitable for most use cases. You may need to set up a tunnel if your Trino instance is on a private network or virtual private cloud (VPC).

Hightouch supports both standard and reverse SSH tunnels. To learn more about SSH tunneling, refer to Hightouch's tunneling documentation.

Configure your source

Enter the following fields into Hightouch:

• Host: The hostname or IP address of your Trino coordinator server.
• Port: The port number of your Trino coordinator server.
• (Optional) Default catalog: This specifies the catalog that will be used when Hightouch executes queries in Trino.
• Engine: Select whether to use the Trino or Presto engine to execute queries.
• Connector: Select the connector that will be used to access the data source used by the sync engine. We support the following connectors:
  • Hive
  • Iceberg
  • PostgreSQL
• (Optional) Disable encryption: Encryption is enabled by default. Check this option if your Trino instance doesn't support encrypted connections.

Choose your sync engine

For optimal performance, Hightouch tracks incremental changes in your data model—such as added, changed, or removed rows—and only syncs those records. You can choose between two different sync engines for this work.

The Basic engine requires read-only access to Trino. Hightouch executes a query in your database, reads all query results, and then determines incremental changes using Hightouch's infrastructure. This engine is easier to set up since it requires read—not write—access to Trino.

The Lightning engine requires read and write access to Trino. The engine stores previously synced data in a separate schema in Trino managed by Hightouch. In other words, the engine uses Trino to track incremental changes to your data rather than performing these calculations in Hightouch. Therefore, these computations are completed more quickly.

Hightouch recommends using the Lightning sync engine when syncing more than 100 thousand rows of data.

If you select the Basic engine, you can switch to the Lightning engine later. Once you've configured the Lightning engine, you can't move back to the Basic engine without recreating Trino as a source.

To learn more, including migration steps and tips, check out the Lightning sync engine docs.

Basic versus Lightning engine comparison

Lightning engine setup

To set up the Lightning engine, you need to grant Hightouch write access to your Trino connector. The steps to do so depend on the connector. These snippets serve as a reference and should be run on your Trino server.

Hive & Iceberg

CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS <catalog>.hightouch_audit;
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS <catalog>.hightouch_planner;

PostgreSQL

CREATE USER hightouch_user WITH PASSWORD '********';
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS <catalog>.hightouch_audit;
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS <catalog>.hightouch_planner;
GRANT CREATE, USAGE ON SCHEMA <catalog>.hightouch_audit TO hightouch_user;
GRANT CREATE, USAGE ON SCHEMA <catalog>.hightouch_planner TO hightouch_user;

The snippet provisions two schemas (hightouch_planner and hightouch_audit) for storing logs of previously synced data and, in some cases, creates a dedicated SQL user. Hightouch must be able to read and write to these schemas, but the specific username and schema names might vary.

Provide credentials

Enter the following fields into Hightouch:

• User: This can be your personal Trino login or a dedicated user for Hightouch. At minimum, this user must have read access to the data you wish to sync. If using the Lightning sync engine, you must also grant this user additional permissions as described above.
• Password: The password for the user specified above.

Test your connection

Next steps

Once your source configuration has passed the necessary validation, your source setup is complete. Next, you can set up models to define which data you want to pull from Trino.

The Trino source supports these modeling methods:

• writing a query in the SQL editor
• using the visual table selector
• leveraging existing dbt models

Data types

Hightouch supports all built-in Trino data types. Custom data types provided by plugins are represented as strings.

Tips and troubleshooting

To date, our customers haven't experienced any errors while using this source. If you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to help.