Migrating from schema fragments

Before the introduction of connector and gateway schemas in i2 Analyze 4.3.3, schema fragments were supported on deployments with only the i2 Connect gateway. Schema fragments are a mechanism used to extend an i2 Analyze schema to incorporate new types from external data sources. They are combined with the deployed schema on server start-up.

Similarly to the way connector schemas are retrieved now, schema fragments are provided via endpoints defined in the connector configuration so that they are made available to the server.

Updating the schema fragments

Schema fragments have a slightly different syntax to that of full schemas. Because of that, you will first need to create a new schema using the same entity and link types from your schema fragment. The easiest way to do this would be through the use of the i2 Analyze Schema Designer.

Migrating to a connector schema

Configuring a connector schema is very similar to configuring schema fragments. Supplying the schemaUrl (and, optionally, the chartingSchemesUrl) endpoints in the connector configuration works in the same fashion.

Just like with schema fragments, it is easiest, but not mandatory, to implement these endpoints on the server which hosts the connector that uses them. As such, the URLs can be either absolute or relative to the connector's base URL.

Using short names

An important distinction to note is the presence of schema short names, names which are displayed to analysts when viewing entity and link types so that they can identify which schema an item type belongs to. If you do not want the schema short name to default to the ID of the connector, it is necessary to explicitly specify the short name in either the connector configuration or the i2 Analyze topology.

Migrating to a gateway schema

Migrating from using schema fragments to using a gateway schema requires more changes. Carry out the following instructions:

  1. Remove schema fragment configuration

    First, remove the schemaUrl (and chartingSchemesUrl if it exists) definitions from the connector configuration. Leaving these properties in will have the connector believe that the specified endpoints are for retrieving a connector schema.

  2. Configure the gateway schema

    Follow the steps to configure a gateway schema. Unlike short names for connector schemas, all gateway schemas must have a short name specified.

  3. Assign a connector to a gateway schema

    Follow the steps to assign a gateway schema to a connector. This will enable your connector to accept seeds and return item types defined in the gateway schema.

    Using the same schema short name you specified for the gateway, it is necessary to specify the same in the connector's configuration or the i2 Analyze topology.