Key Property Stores

Contents

Overview
KPS Data Sources
Adding a KPS Collection
Editing a KPS Collection
Adding a KPS Table
Defining the KPS Table Structure
Further Information

Overview

A Key Property Store (KPS) is an external data store of API Gateway policy properties, which is typically read frequently, and seldom written to. Using a KPS enables metadata-driven policies, whereby policy configuration is stored in an external data store, and looked up dynamically when policies are executed. You can specify policy configuration settings in Policy Studio using selectors, which are evaluated and expanded dynamically at runtime.

Every KPS consists of a table of data. For example, the following example shows a simple KPS table structure:

Column Type Description
email String User email address. This is the primary key used to identify a row in the table.
password String User password. This confidential data is encrypted.
firstName String User first name.
lastName String User surname.
age Integer User age.


The following example shows some simple table data that follows this structure:

email password firstName lastName age
jdoe@acme.com ***** John Doe 21
jbloggs@acme.com ***** Joe Bloggs 42
jdupont@acme.com ***** Jean Dupont 33


Every KPS table is assigned alias in Policy Studio so that it can be referred to from a policy. For example, an alias used to identify the example table could be customers. In this example, the email column is the primary key for the table. You can use this primary key to look up and uniquely identify a row using a selector expression. For example, the following selector expression evaluates to John: 

${kps.customers["jdoe@acme.com"].firstName}

The following selector expression evaluates to 42: 

${kps.customers["jbloggs@acme.com"].age}

For more details on selectors, see Selecting Configuration Values at Runtime.

KPS Data Sources

A KPS provides a consistent interface to object data in different data sources. The API Gateway provides support for the following KPS data sources:

  • Embedded Apache Cassandra database (default)—used across an API Gateway group to provide high availability in a production environment

  • JSON file system—for development use with a single API Gateway instance only

  • Relational Database—enables you to use your existing database (for example, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, MySQL, JPA, or database schema)

The relational database support includes the generic Java Persistence API (JPA) for serializing Java objects to a database, and an existing or custom database schema for writing beans that map keyed property attributes to the schema.

[Note] Note

File-based KPS stores are cached on startup. Database-based KPS stores are read each time.

You can configure a KPS using Policy Studio (for example, you can specify KPS collections, tables, and aliases). For web-based user interfaces, JavaScript-based KPS browser widgets are also available. You can use the KPS Service Provider Interface (SPI) to add custom stores. KPS functionality is exposed using a Java API and a REST API.

Adding a KPS Collection

A KPS collection is a group of KPS tables. To add a KPS collection, perform the following steps:

  1. In the main Policy Studio tree, right-click Key Property Stores, and select Add KPS Collection.

  2. Complete the following fields in the Add KPS Collection dialog:

    • Name:

      Enter the KPS name (for example, Customer).

    • Alias prefix:

      Enter an alias used to identify your KPS (for example, customer).

    • Description:

      Enter a text description of your KPS.

    • Default data source:

      Select one of the following from the list:

      • Embedded (Cassandra)

      • File

      • SQL Database

      Defaults to Embedded (Cassandra).

The newly created KPS collection is displayed on the screen on the right.

Editing a KPS Collection

To edit a KPS collection, perform the following steps:

  1. In the main Policy Studio tree, select the KPS collection that you wish to edit under Key Property Stores.

  2. You can edit values for the KPS collection on the Properties tab (for example, Name, Alias prefix, or Default data source).

  3. You can add or edit values for the KPS collection data sources on the Data Sources tab.

  4. Click OK.

Adding a File Data Store

To add a file-based data store to a selected KPS collection, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Data Sources tab, select Add -> Add File at the bottom right of the screen.

  2. Complete the following fields in the Add File Data Source dialog:

    • Name:

      Enter the KPS name (for example, Customer File Data Source).

    • Description:

      Enter a text description of your file data source.

    • Directory Path:

      Enter the full directory path to the file (for example, c:\kps\customer.json).

  3. Click OK.

[Note] Note

A file-based data store is for development use with a single API Gateway instance only, and should not be used in a production environment.

Adding a Database Data Store

To add an SQL database data store to a selected KPS collection, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Data Sources tab, select Add -> Add Database at the bottom right of the screen.

  2. Complete the following fields in the Add File Data Source dialog:

    • Name:

      Enter the KPS name (for example, Customer DB Data Source).

    • Description:

      Enter a text description of your SQL database data source.

    • Database Connection:

      Click the button on the right, select a database connection in the dialog (for example, Default Database Connection), and click OK. You can add more database connections to the list by right-clicking the Database Connections node, and selecting Add DB Connection.

  3. Click OK.

When finished editing the KPS collection, click the Save button in the top right corner of the screen.

Further Information

For more detailed information on using a KPS, please contact the Oracle Support Team with your queries.

Adding a KPS Table

To add a KPS table to a KPS collection, perform the following steps:

  1. In the main Policy Studio tree, right-click a KPS collection (for example Customer), and select Add Table.

  2. Complete the following fields in the Add KPS Table dialog:

    • Name:

      Enter the KPS name (for example, Customer KPS).

    • Description:

      Enter a text description of your KPS.

    • Aliases:

      Click Add, and enter an alias used to identify your KPS (for example, customer). Click OK. Every KPS must have at least one alias.

  3. Click OK.

The newly created KPS table is displayed on the screen on the right.

Defining the KPS Table Structure

To define the KPS table structure, perform the following steps:

  1. In the main Policy Studio tree, select a KPS table (for example Customer), and click the Structure tab in the screen on the right.

  2. Click Add and complete the following fields in the Add Property dialog:

    • Name:

      Enter the name of the table column (for example, email).

    • Type:

      Select the data type from the list (for example, java.lang.String).

    • Key:

      For java.util.Map types, select the key type from the list (for example, java.lang.Integer).

    • Value:

      For java.util.Map and java.util.Map types, select the value type from the list (for example, java.lang.Boolean).

  3. Click OK. The newly created KPS table structure is displayed on the screen on the right.

  4. Select the Primary Key setting for email to make this field the primary key for the table.

  5. Select the Encrypted setting for password to encrypt this field in the KPS data source.

[Important] Important

Encrypted fields are always read and written in the clear. For security, use HTTPS when accessing a KPS over its REST API.

Further Information

For more detailed information on Key Property Stores and on Apache Cassandra configuration, see the Key Property Store User Guide available from Axway Support.

Prev  Up  Next
  Home