Adding connectors to your development environment

To add a connector to your deployment of i2 Analyze, you must develop an i2 Connect connector. For more information about developing connectors, see i2 Connect gateway connector development.

Ensure that the DEPLOYMENT_PATTERN variable in the <config_name>/utils/variables.conf file is set to a pattern that includes the i2 Connect gateway.
For example:

DEPLOYMENT_PATTERN="i2c_istore"

Process overview:

Create a custom connector image
Update the configuration to reference connectors
Build connector images and redeploy

Creating a connector image

Create a connector image from one of the image templates. You can deploy connectors using the following templates:

Spring Boot for Java based connectors.
- For information about developing connectors in Java, see analyze-connect.
i2 Connect server for Node v18 based connectors developed using the i2 Connect server SDK.
- For information about developing connectors using the SDK, see analyze-connect-node-sdk.
NodeJS for Node v18 based connectors.
User managed for connectors that are not managed by the config development environment. The connectors are managed manually outside of the environment.

The connector should be secured and run on port 3443. For more information about securing your system, see Securing i2 Analyze.

Spring Boot based connector image

Copy the /templates/springboot-connector-image directory (including the sub-directories) to the /connector-images directory.
Rename the springboot-connector-image folder to a custom connector name. The name of the directory is used to determine which connectors to deploy. Do not use spaces or special characters in the name.
The directory structure is:
```
- connector-images
    - <connector_name>
        - target
        - connector-definition.json
        - connector-version.json
        - ...
```
Copy your connector code into the target directory of the connector directory. For example, copy your .jar file into the <connector_name>/target directory.

Next, configure your connector.

i2 Connect server based connector image

Copy the /templates/i2connect-server-connector-image directory (including the sub-directories) to the /connector-images directory.
Rename the i2connect-server-connector-image folder to a custom connector name. The name of the directory is used to determine which connectors to deploy. Do not use spaces or special characters in the name.
The directory structure is:
```
- connector-images
    - <connector_name>
        - app
        - connector-definition.json
        - connector-version.json
        - ...
```
Copy the i2 Connect server connector distributable ( the .tar.gz or .tgz file) into the connector directory.

Next, configure your connector.

NodeJS based connector image

Copy the /templates/node-connector-image directory (including the sub-directories) to the /connector-images directory.
Rename the node-connector-image folder to a custom connector name. The name of the directory is used to determine which connectors to deploy. Do not use spaces or special characters in the name.
The directory structure is:
```
- connector-images
    - <connector_name>
        - app
        - connector-definition.json
        - connector-version.json
        - ...
```
Copy your connector code into the app directory of the connector directory. For example, copy the files into the <connector_name>/app directory. By default, the image will start node with the file app.js.

Next, configure your connector.

User managed connector

Copy the /templates/user-managed-connector directory to the /connector-images directory.
Rename the user-managed-connector folder to a custom connector name. The name of the directory is used to determine which connectors to deploy. Do not use spaces or special characters in the name.
The directory structure is:
```
- connector-images
    - <connector_name>
        - connector-definition.json
```
Next, configure your connector.

Configuring a connector

Populate the values in the <connector_name>/connector-definition.json file with information about your connector.

Key	Description
`id`	An identifier that is unique for all connectors that will be deployed.
`name`	A name for the connector that is displayed to users in the client.
`configurationPath`	The full path to the configuration endpoint of the connector. By default, it is `config`.
`gatewaySchema`	The short name of an optional gateway schema. When no gateway schema is used, do not provide a value. Add the referenced schema and charting scheme to the `gateway-schemas` directory.
`type`	For i2 Connect server connectors, set to `i2connect-server`. For any other connectors, the `type` key is not required.
`userManaged`	Set to `true` for connectors that are managed outside of the environment. For any other connectors, the `userManaged` key is not required.
`baseUrl`	Used only for connectors with `userManaged` set to `true`. The `baseUrl` value is the URL address of the connector. For any other connectors, the `baseUrl` key is not required.
`sendSensitiveHeaders`	This setting effectively disables connectors that employ user-specific configuration.

For example:

{
    "id": "connector1",
    "name": "Connector 1",
    "description": "First connector",
    "configurationPath": "/config",
    "gatewaySchema": "template",
    "sendSensitiveHeaders": "false",
    "type": "i2connect-server"
}

{
    "id": "connector2",
    "name": "Connector 2",
    "description": "Second connector",
    "configurationPath": "/config",
    "gatewaySchema": "template",
    "sendSensitiveHeaders": "false",
    "userManaged": true,
    "baseUrl": "https://example-connector:3443" 
}

Note:

If your user managed connector is hosted in a Docker container on a different network to your config development environment, connect the Liberty container to the same network as your user managed connector container. For example, run docker network connect <connector-network-name> liberty1.<config-name>.
If your connector is running on your host machine, use the host.docker.internal as the host in the baseUrl value. E.g. "http://host.docker.internal:3000"

Provide the version of the connector in the <connector_name>/connector-version.json file. For user managed connectors, this file is not required. The version value specifies the version of the connector.

For example:
```
{
    "version": "0.0.1",
    "tag": "0-0-1"
}
```

For more information about configuring connectors, see Managing connectors.

Adding connectors to a config

In the configuration you want to deploy your connector with, update the configs/<config_name>/configuration/connector-references.json file and add the directory name for your connector in the connectors array.
For example, to add the connector in /connector-images/example-connector the connector-references.json file contains the following connectors array:
```
{
    "connectors": [
        {
            "name": "example-connector"
        }
    ],
...
}
```

Defining a gateway schema (Optional)

You can develop the gateway schema and associated charting schemes by following the instructions in Developing schemas in your configuration development environment. After you develop the schemes, complete the following steps to deploy them with your configuration:

Copy the schema and charting scheme files to the /gateway-schemas directory.
To define the short name of the gateway schema, the prefix of the file name is used. The convention is defined as: <short>-<name>-schema.xml and <short>-<name>-schema-charting-scheme.xml.
For example, files with the names law-enforcement-schema.xml and law-enforcement-charting-schemes.xml have the short name law-enforcement.
Add the short name of your schema to the configs/<config_name>/configuration/connector-references.json file in the gatewaySchemas array.
For example, to add a gateway schema with the short name law-enforcement, the file contains the following gatewaySchemas array:
```
{
    ...
    ],
    "gatewaySchemas": [
        {
            "shortName": "law-enforcement"
        }
    ]
}
```
Note: If you are not using any gateway schemas, do not remove the gatewaySchemas key from the file.
Set the short name of your schema in the <connector_name>/connector-definition.json as the value for the gatewaySchema key of the connector that will use the gateway schema.

Building the connector images and redeploying

Run the deploy command with your config name, to generate the secrets for your connectors, build the connector images, and deploy your environment.
```
deploy -c <config_name>
```

After you add connectors to your environment, you can configure the rest of the configuration.