Configurations reference

This tutorial describes Flexmonster Data Server configuration. To install the Data Server, refer to Installing Flexmonster Data Server as a Windows/Unix service.

Available configurations

Flexmonster Data Server can be configured in the flexmonster-config.json file. It contains the following properties:

{
  DataSources: DataSourceConfigObject[],
  Security: SecurityConfigObject,
  DataStorageOptions: DataStorageOptionsObject,
  Port: string,
  LoggerMinLevel: string,
  HTTPS: HTTPSConfigObject,
  ReportSharingOptions: ReportSharingOptionsObject
}

DataSourceConfigObject

This object allows configuring a data source. It contains the following properties:

{
  Type: string,
  DatabaseType: string,
  ConnectionString: string,
  Indexes: object
}

IndexObject

This object describes a dataset. It contains the following properties:

{
  Path: string,
  Query: string,
  Mapping: ServerSideMappingObject,
  Delimiter: string,
  DecimalSeparator: string,
  ThousandsSeparator: string,
  Status: string,
  RefreshSchedule: string,
  RefreshTime: number
}

ServerSideMappingObject

This object defines how the Data Server should process fields from the dataset. It has the following properties:

Mapping: {
  <uniqueName>: {
    Type: string
  }
}

SecurityConfigObject

This object allows managing the data access security. It contains the following properties:

Security: {
  Authorization: {
    Enabled: boolean
  },
  CORS: {
    AllowOrigin: string
  },
  HSTS: {
    MaxAge: number,
    IncludeSubDomains: boolean,
    Preload: boolean
  },
  Headers: object
}

"AllowOrigin": "http://localhost,https://example.com"

"Headers": {
  "Content-Security-Policy": "default-src 'self'",
  "X-Content-Type-Options": "nosniff",
  "X-Frame-Options": "SAMEORIGIN",
  "X-XSS-Protection": "1; mode=block" 
}

DataStorageOptionsObject

This object allows configuring options for data storage. It contains the following properties:

DataStorageOptions: {
  DataRefreshSchedule: string,
  DataRefreshTime: number,
  CacheSizeLimit: number,
  KeepDataOnRefresh: boolean,
  RetryAttempts: number,
  CommandTimeout: number
}

HTTPSConfigObject

This object allows configuring the HTTPS protocol. It contains the following properties:

HTTPS: {
  Enabled: boolean,
  Certificate: PFXCertObject | PEMCertObject | SubjectStoreObject,
  Protocols: string
}

PFXCertObject

This object allows adding a .pfx certificate. It contains the following properties:

Certificate: {
  Path: string,
  Password: string
}

PEMCertObject

This object allows adding a .pem certificate. It contains the following properties:

Certificate: {
  Path: string,
  KeyPath: string
}

SubjectStoreObject

This object allows adding a certificate by specifying its subject name and store. It contains the following properties:

Certificate: {
  Subject: string,
  Store: string,
  Location: string,
  AllowInvalid: boolean
}

ReportSharingOptionsObject

This object allows configuring the report-sharing functionality. It contains the following properties:

ReportSharingOptions: {
  EndpointEnabled: boolean,
  PathToFolder: string,
  ReportExpirationTime: number,
  MaxSizeOfFolder: number,
  AutoDeletingEnabled: boolean
}

Setting configurations dynamically

To store the connection strings and other configurations more securely, you can set them dynamically as command-line arguments or environment variables.

Follow a short guide to set dynamic configurations:

Step 1. Assign the parameter to the needed configuration as follows:

"DataSources": [{ 
    "Type": "database",
    "DatabaseType": "postgresql",
    "ConnectionString": "${param}",
    "Indexes": {
        "index_database": {
            "Query": "SELECT * FROM ${param2}"
        }
    }
}],

param and param2 are the names of your parameters.

Step 2. Using the parameter's name (e.g., param), pass your value to the Data Server:

flexmonster-data-server.exe param=connectionString param2=tableName

./flexmonster-data-server param=connectionString param2=tableName

Setting the port number from the command line

To define a port for the Data Server from the command line, use the -p parameter:

flexmonster-data-server.exe -p 7777

./flexmonster-data-server -p 7777

Note that if the Port property is specified in flexmonster-config.json, the port set from the console will not be applied.

Specifying a path to the configuration file

If flexmonster-config.json and the Data Server are located in different folders, you can specify the path to flexmonster-config.json when running the Data Server. It can be done using the -s parameter:

flexmonster-data-server.exe -s <path_to_config>\flexmonster-config.json

./flexmonster-data-server -s <path_to_config>/flexmonster-config.json 

Examples

Here is an example of configured flexmonster-config.json:

{
   "DataSources": [
     {
       "Type": "json",
       "Indexes": {
         "index_json": {
           "Path": "./data/data.json"
         }
       }
     },
     {
       "Type": "database",
       "DatabaseType": "mysql",
       "ConnectionString":
 "Server=localhost;Port=3333;Uid=root;Pwd=pwd;Database=TestDB",
       "Indexes": {
         "index_database": {
           "Query": "SELECT * FROM TestTable;"
         }
       }
     }
   ],
   "Security": {
     "Authorization": {
       "Enabled": false
     },
     "CORS": {
       "AllowOrigin": "*"
     }, 
     "HSTS": {
       "MaxAge": 31536000,
       "IncludeSubDomains": true
     },
     "Headers": {
       "Content-Security-Policy": "default-src 'self'",
       "X-Content-Type-Options": "nosniff",
       "X-Frame-Options": "SAMEORIGIN",
       "X-XSS-Protection": "1; mode=block"
     } 
   },
   "DataStorageOptions": {
     "DataRefreshTime": 60,
     "CacheSizeLimit": 150,
     "KeepDataOnRefresh": true
   },
   "Port": "9500",
   "HTTPS": {
     "Enabled": true,
     "Certificate": {
       "Subject": "localhost",
       "Store": "My"
     },
     "Protocols": "Http2"
   },
   "ReportSharingOptions": {
     "EndpointEnabled": true,
     "PathToFolder": "C:/Reports",
     "ReportExpirationTime": 120,
     "MaxSizeOfFolder": 100,
     "AutoDeletingEnabled": true
   }
}

What's next?

You may be interested in the following articles:

• Data sources guide
• Security and authorization guide