Getting Started with Metabase in less than 30min (for early-stage Growth teams)

Introduction

As discussed in a previous post, in the world growth, having easy and rapid access to data is a game-changer for Growth teams. However, many Growth teams, whether early-stage or more mature, often struggle to secure the necessary engineering and data support. The lack of engineering support can be attributed to limited resources, as data engineering is often shared with other teams, and a lack of understanding from the Growth team itself.

While Growth teams should not aim to replace engineering teams, understanding the data landscape can significantly enhance their ability to explore innovative ideas and accelerate their progress. In this blog post, we'll focus on an essential aspect of the data stack: data visualization and dashboards.

Here is a quick guide to get you started in less than 30min

Prerequisites:

You don't need any specific technical knowledge to follow this guide. Even if you're not familiar with terms like Docker, SSH, or other technical concepts, don't worry – this guide is designed for those with basic copy-and-paste skills.

Step 1: Hosting

The first step is to host Metabase in the cloud. In this guide, we'll cover setting up Metabase on Linode, but the same principles apply to other cloud solutions like Google Cloud Platform or Amazon AWS.

1.1. Create a Linode Account

• Head to Linode.com and create an account. As a bonus, you can use my referral link to receive $100 of free credit.
• After creating your account, navigate to "Linodes" and click "Create Linode."

1.2. Configure Your Linode

• Choose the following options:
  • Images: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
  • Region: Select the region closest to your location
  • Plan: Start with the most affordable plan; you can upgrade CPU and memory later if needed.
  • Root Password: Choose a strong password (you'll need it later)
• Scroll down and click "Create Linode."
• After a few seconds, your Linode will be up and running.

Step 2: Prepare your Linode

If you're using macOS, open the terminal by pressing Command+Space bar and searching for "Terminal." For Windows users, download and open Putty.

2.1. SSH Access

• From your Linode dashboard, copy the SSH Access command and execute it in your terminal or Putty by pasting and hitting Enter.
• If you're using Windows and Putty, enter the IP address from Linode in the "Host name (IP address)" section and click "Open." Use "root" as the login and provide the root password you created during Linode setup.
• You should now see something like "root@localhost:~#," which indicates you are successfully logged into your Linode.

2.2. Create a New User

• For security reasons, let's create a user with limited privileges. Enter the following command and press Enter:

adduser metabase

• You can leave most of the user information blank, except for the password; use a different password from the one you set for the root account.
• Next, add the new user to the "sudo" group by entering the following command and pressing Enter:

usermod -aG sudo metabase

Then, log out of the root account by typing "exit."

2.3. Log in as Metabase User

• To continue, return to Terminal or Putty:
  • For Terminal, use the command: "ssh metabase@<ip address>" (replace "root" with "metabase").
  • For Putty, use "metabase" as the login.

Step 3: Install Docker

Docker is a powerful tool for creating and managing applications. Follow these steps to install Docker:

3.1. Copy and paste the following commands into your terminal:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo
"deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu
"$(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME")" stable" |
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update

3.2. After finishing, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

3.3. Add the Metabase user to the Docker group with the command:

sudo usermod -aG docker metabase

3.4. Exit and log back in as the "metabase" user:

exit

Step 4: Install Metabase

Now, let's install Metabase using Docker. Execute the following command and wait for a few seconds:

docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name metabase metabase/metabase

To verify that the installation was successful, type:

docker ps

You should see information about your running Metabase container.

Step 5: Launch Metabase

Now it's time to open Metabase and initialize it. Open your favorite web browser and enter your Linode's IP address followed by ":3000."

For example, "http://<ip address>:3000." Initialization may take a few minutes, but you'll eventually reach the Metabase setup page, which looks like this:

Congratulations!

You've successfully installed Metabase. Follow the on-screen instructions to connect your first database if you have access to one. If not, you can skip this step and explore a sample database. In a future post, we'll cover how to connect a database like BigQuery.

With this guide, you can quickly set up Metabase for your Growth team, enhancing your data visualization capabilities and accelerating your decision-making process. Happy data exploring!