Deploying i2 Analyze with the Information Store and the i2 Connect gateway

This guide walks you through how to deploy i2 Analyze with the Information Store and the i2 Connect gateway, which includes configuring an Information Store schema.

Note: If you want to test or make changes to a schema, deploy i2 Analyze with the i2 Connect gateway only first. When you are happy with the schema, continue with this guide.

Prerequisites

Before you start, ensure that you have:

• installed i2 Analyze,

• installed either PostgreSQL, IBM Db2 or Microsoft SQL Server, and

• defined a schema to model the data.

License acknowledgement

• Open the license_acknowledgement file in your i2 Analyze directory.

• Set the value to ACCEPT. It should now look like this:

  LIC_AGREEMENT = ACCEPT
  

Configuration

Create the configuration directory

1. In your i2 Analyze directory, navigate to toolkit\examples\configurations\information-store-daod-opal.

2. Copy the configuration directory to the toolkit directory. This provides a starting point for a deployment that includes the Information Store and support for the i2 Connect gateway.

Database management

Depending on your chosen database management system, there are additional steps that you must complete:

PostgreSQL

1. Download the latest JDBC driver from jdbc.postgresql.org. The name of the driver file has the form postgresql-x.y.z.jar.

2. Copy the PostgreSQL JDBC driver file that you downloaded into the toolkit\configuration\environment\common\jdbc-drivers directory.

IBM Db2

1. Copy the example topology.xml file for IBM Db2 from toolkit\configuration\examples\topology\db2 to the toolkit\configuration\environment directory. Overwrite the existing topology.xml file in the destination directory.

2. If you are using IBM Db2 11.5.6 Fix Pack 0 or later, you might need to update the port number that is used in the topology.xml file.

   By default, i2 Analyze is deployed to connect to Db2 using port 50000. In version 11.5.6 Fix Pack 0 and later, the default port that Db2 uses is changed to 25000. For more information about the ports that Db2 uses, see Db2 server TCP/IP port numbers.

   1. Using an XML editor, open the toolkit\configuration\environment\topology.xml file.

   2. In the <database> element, set the value of the port-number attribute to 25000.

   3. Save and close the topology.xml file.

SQL Server

1. Download the latest version of the Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server that's compatible with your system from https://learn.microsoft.com/sql/connect/jdbc/download-microsoft-jdbc-driver-for-sql-server.

2. Extract the contents of the download, and locate the file whose name matches the pattern mssql-jdbc-x.y.z.jre11.jar.

3. Copy the SQL Server JDBC driver file that you downloaded into the toolkit\configuration\environment\common\jdbc-drivers directory.

4. Copy the example topology.xml file for SQL Server from the toolkit\configuration\examples\topology\sqlserver to the toolkit\configuration\environment directory. Overwrite the existing topology.xml file in the destination directory.

Specify the credentials for deployment

1. Using a text editor, open the toolkit\configuration\environment\credentials.properties file.

2. Specify a user name and password to use for the database in the db.infostore.user-name and db.infostore.password properties.

3. Specify a user name and password to use for the Solr indexes in the solr.user-name and solr.password properties.

4. Enter the password to encrypt LTPA tokens in the ltpakeys.password property.

5. Save and close the file.

Command access control

To gain access to certain features, including the ability to use Postman to reload the connector when making schema changes, you need to copy and modify some files in the i2 Analyze deployment:

1. Navigate to the toolkit\configuration\examples\security-schema directory and copy the file named example-command-access-control.xml.

2. Navigate to the toolkit\configuration\fragments\opal-services\WEB-INF\classes directory and paste the file from the previous step.

3. Open the DiscoServerSettingsCommon.properties file and add the name of file you just copied to the CommandAccessControlResource field, including the .xml extension.

4. Save and close the properties file.

Configure the schema

The steps below describe the process of configuring your schema as an Information Store schema.

1. Copy your schema and charting schemes to the toolkit\configuration\fragments\common\WEB-INF\classes directory.

2. Update the ApolloServerSettingsMandatory.properties file in the same directory to point to your schema files by setting the following properties:

   SchemaResource=schema-filename.xml
   ChartingSchemesResource=charting-schemes-filename.xml
   

Configure the security schema

All i2 Analyze deployments require a security schema, which defines the level of access users have to the data in the system. You can learn about the i2 Analyze security model in the product documentation but, for the purpose of this guide, follow the steps below to use an example security schema.

1. Copy example-dynamic-security-schema.xml from toolkit\configuration\examples\security-schema to the toolkit\configuration\fragments\common\WEB-INF\classes directory.

2. Update the ApolloServerSettingsMandatory.properties file in the same directory to point to the security schema by setting the following property:

   DynamicSecuritySchemaResource=example-dynamic-security-schema.xml
   

Generate the default configuration

For the purposes of this guide, only a basic configuration is required, so you can use the default.

1. Open the toolkit\scripts directory in a command prompt.

2. To configure the environment with default property values, run:

   setup -t generateDefaults
   

Deployment

1. Open the toolkit\scripts directory in a command prompt.

2. To deploy i2 Analyze with the configuration you have just created, run

   setup -t deploy
   

3. To add an example user whose name and password are both "Jenny", run:

   setup -t ensureExampleUserRegistry
   

4. To start i2 Analyze, run

   setup -t startLiberty
   

You can now connect Analyst's Notebook to i2 Analyze. The output of the start command includes the URL to use for the i2 Analyze server.

In Analyst's Notebook, create items on the chart to visualize the i2 Analyze schema by using the Information Store palette. You should also test the different charting schemes and see what labels appear and how they are formatted.

Note: If you want to modify a deployed Information Store schema, follow the steps outlined in this guide.

You now have a running i2 Analyze deployment. If you are happy with your schema, you can now deploy a connector.