aka Setting up DBeaver for use with Redshift.

Step by step 

Setting up DBeaver for use with Redshift is not the most intuitive thing you’ll ever do. A common misconception is that since Redshift is (sorta) built on Postgres, then a Postgres driver is the correct choice. Alas, nope.

Here is a quick how-to for setting up DBeaver correctly as possible for Redshift.

Here’s the standard DBeaver opening screen

Right-click on your Redshift connection and choose “Edit Connection (F4)”

That will present you with the Connection Settings dialog:

Where it says “Driver name” it’s gotta be AWS / Redshift. If it doesn’t, then click the “Edit Driver Settings” button. You’ll get this:

Choose the AWS category and the ID as shown–if you do not have the driver installed, or if you do, but want to upgrade it, click the website link and DBeaver will get the most recent stable version for your OS and install it. Then you can continue with setting the host, port, database, user, etc. in the previous screen.

And as Steve used to say, “oh, and one more thing.”

Back on the first Edit Connection screen, there’s a menu choice called “Initialization.” Go back after your driver is configured and click THAT.

SET. THAT. KEEP ALIVE.

I’d recommend something relatively LOW, say, 55 secs. Try that for a while and if it helps, gradually increase the value until it’s around 5-10 minutes; enough to keep your connection alive, but not so low as to be annoying.