---
title: "Select PDC and test connection | Grafana Labs"
description: "Learn how to select a private data source connect agent"
---

# Select PDC and test connection

The private data source connect (PDC) feature allows you to establish a secure connection between Grafana Cloud and your JSON endpoint. Watch video ->

If you don’t use PDC, your queries and data are transmitted over the public internet, exposing them to potential security risks.

> Did you know?
> 
> If you are working with a public dataset such as ThingSpeak, you don’t need authentication and can skip the PDC milestone. However, we recommend that you create a private connection whenever you connect Grafana Cloud to an internal, private data source.

In this milestone, you select an active PDC agent and test the connection to Grafana Cloud.

To select a PDC agent and test the connection, complete the following steps:

1. In the **Private data source connect** field, select the name of a PDC agent.

> Did you know?
> 
> For the test connection to be successful, you must select a PDC agent that’s running.

1. Click **Save & Test**.
   
   When successful, you’ll see a `Success` message.

You can now build a dashboard that visualizes the JSON data.