Settings File Location

On startup, the Aspire application will automatically attempt to load the settings from the following locations:

• The file whose name is given in the ASPIRE_SETTINGS_PROPERTY ("com.searchtechnologies.aspire.settings"). This can be set supplying the parameter -Dcom.searchtechnologies.aspire.settings=filename on the JVM command line.
• The /config/settings.hostname.xml under the Aspire Home directory, set via the ASPIRE_HOME_PROPERTY ("com.searchtechnologies.aspire.home"). This can be set supplying the parameter -Dcom.searchtechnologies.aspire.home=directory on the JVM command line.
• The /config/settings.xml under the Aspire Home directory.

the configured provider. Aspire by default uses Elasticsearch as a provider, and the settings are expected to be in the aspire-settings index.

The settings file can be uploaded by using the aspire.bat/aspire.sh file with the command "-upload_settings <absolute_settings_path>"  or "-us<absolute_settings_path>" or in the case of using containers, these will be uploaded automatically on the startup. 

Structure of settings.json

The settings.json file contains sections for automatically starting system configuration files, setting Aspire system properties, and setting

Structure of settings.xml

The settings.xml file contains sections for automatically starting system configuration files, setting Aspire system properties, and setting Apache Felix system properties. The overall structure is as follows:

<settings>{
  <!-- Specify system properties which are available to all Aspire system configuration files -->
  <properties>
    <property name="solrServer">http://localhost:8080</property>
    <property name="autoStart">false</property>"settings": {
    "authentication": {
      "tokenExpiration": "30m",
      "refreshExpiration": "1h",
      "type": "Ldap",
    .
    ."ldap": {
    .
  </properties>
 <!--Entitlements -->
 <entitlementsServer online="true">https://entitlements.searchtechnologies.com</entitlementsServer>

  <!-- Specify properties for the OSGI Configuration Administration server. These are specific"server": "ldap://oldap:389",
        "authentication": "simple",
       properties required by individual components within Apache Felix. Many of these properties"bindDN": "cn=admin,dc=accenture,dc=com",
        "searchBase": "dc=accenture,dc=com",
       may be better configured in the "felix.properties" file -->
  <configAdmin>
"userDNQuery": "(uid={user})",
        <properties pid="org.apache.felix.webconsole.internal.servlet.OsgiManager">
"groupsHoldMembers": "true",
        <property name="username">admin</property>
"memberAttr": "uniqueMember",
        <property name="password">admin1</property>"connectTimeout": "3000",
      <property  name="manager.root">/osgi</property>roles": [
    </properties>
   </configAdmin>

   {
  <!-- Specify applications to automatically install on startup, and provide the system
"dn": "cn=administrators,ou=Groups,dc=accenture,dc=com",
        configuration file for each one -->
  <autoStart>
  <!-- Workflow manager is required for 2.0 UI -->
   <application config="com.searchtechnologies.aspire:app-workflow-manager" id="1">
"group": "true",
            "roles": [
              "ADMINISTRATOR"
      <properties>
      ]
 <property name="templateFile">${appbundle.home}/data/templates.xml</property>
       <property name="libraryPath">${aspire.config.dir}/workflow-libraries</property>},
       <property name="planFile"/>
  {
     <property name="disableInternalTemplates">false</property>
       <property name="allowCustomRule">true</property>
  dn": "cn=operators,ou=Groups,dc=accenture,dc=com",
            <property name="debug">false</property>"group": "true",
     </properties>
   </application>
  </autoStart>


  <!-- Repositories specify where components can be found or downloaded -->
  <repositories>
"roles": [
             <repository type="distributionOPERATOR">
       <directory>bundles/aspire</directory>
     </repository>]

     <repository type="maven">
    }
  <defaultVersion>4.0</defaultVersion>
      <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>]
      <remoteRepositories>}
    },
    "configAdmin": <remoteRepository>{
          <id>stPublic</id>"properties": {
          <url>https://repository.searchtechnologies.com/artifactory/public/</url>"@pid": "org.apache.felix.webconsole.internal.servlet.OsgiManager",
          <user>YOUR-REGISTERED-USERNAME</user>"property": [
          <password>YOUR-REGISTERED-PASSWORD</password>
{
         </remoteRepository>
   "@name": "username",
   </remoteRepositories>
    </repository>

  </repositories>
 <configAdministration>
   <zookeeper libraryFolder="config/workflow-libraries" root="/aspire">"$": "admin"
     <clientPort>1112</clientPort>
     <dataDir>config</dataDir>},
     <maxConnections>60</maxConnections>
     <tickTime>2000</tickTime>{
   </zookeeper>
 </configAdministration>
 <authentication>
         <type>none</type> 
 </authentication>
 <ldapConfig>
"@name": "password",
       <config>
     <server>ldap://localhost:389</server>"$": "admin"
     <authentication>simple</authentication>
     <searchBase>dc=localhost, dc=com</searchBase>
},
          <group>OU=Users,OU=Group</group>{
   </config>
 </ldapConfig>
 
</settings>

Auto Start Section

The <autoStart> section will automatically load applications when Aspire is initialized. It contains a simple list of application files to load, for example:

  <autoStart>
    <application config="config/application-common.xml"/>"@name": "manager.root",
    <application config="config/application-arc.xml"/>        "$": "/osgi"
    <application config="config/application-companydb.xml"/>      }
    <application config="config/application-rss-feeds.xml"/>
    ]
     <application config="config/application-single-pages.xml"/>
 }
    },
 <application config="com.searchtechnologies.appbundles:cs-rdbms-connector:1   "repositories": {
      "defaultVersion": "5.0-SNAPSHOT">,
      <properties>
  "allowAutoUpdate": "true",
      "repository": [
       <property name="rdbmsHasDefaults">false</property>
 {
          <property name="debug">true</property>"@type": "distribution",
      </properties>
    </application>"directory": "bundles/aspire"
    <!-- Workflow manager  is},
 required for 4.0 UI -->
   {
  <application config="com.searchtechnologies.aspire:app-workflow-manager" id="1">
       <properties>"@type": "maven",
         <property name="templateFileremoteRepositories">${appbundle.home}/data/templates.xml</property>
: {
           <property name="libraryPathremoteRepository">${aspire.config.dir}/workflow-libraries</property>
: {
            <property  name="planFile"/>
"id": "stPublic",
           <property name="disableInternalTemplates">false</property>
   "url": "https://repository.sca.accenture.com/artifactory/st-snapshot/"
          <property name="allowCustomRule">true</property>  }
         <property name="debug">false</property> }
       </properties> }
      </application>]
    </autoStart>

Applications are loaded in the order specified. However, since Aspire has component-dependency checking built-in, the order of load is usually not that important.

Both Application XML Files and App Bundles

The <application> tag can launch an application either from an application XML file or an App Bundle.

• For application XML files: The @config attribute should hold the file name of the Application XML file to load.

• For App Bundles: The @config attribute should hold the Maven coordinates of the App Bundle to start.

Rename Auto-Started Applications

In general, the name of the application will be taken as the "default name" as specified at the top of the application.xml file. See Configuration File Basics for more information.

However, you can specify other names for the configuration file using the @name attribute, as shown below:

   <application name="RDBConnector2" config="com.searchtechnologies.appbundles:cs-rdbms-connector:2.0>
     <properties>
       <property name="rdbmsHasDefaults">false</property>},
    "encryptionProvider": {
      "implementation": "com.accenture.aspire:aspire-encryption-provider",
      "jarName": "aspire-encryption-provider-5.0-SNAPSHOT.jar",
      "jarPath": "/bundles/aspire/",
      "className": "com.accenture.aspire.encryption.providers.AspireEncryptionProvider"
    },
    "properties": {
      "property": [
       <property name="debug">true</property> {
     </properties>
   </application>

This lets you install the same App Bundle multiple times, but with different top-level names.

Application Properties

Finally, as shown above, applications can have a nested <properties> tag which holds properties that are defined just for that application. These properties can then be used with the ${propName} substitution pattern within the application.xml file.

Repositories Section

The <repositories> tag identifies where to find component code to load into Aspire. There are two types of repositories: Distribution and Maven.

Distribution Repository

The Distribution Repository will load the component Jar files in a directory within your Aspire distribution, typically the "bundles/aspire" directory.

It is configured as follows:

 <repository type="distribution">
    <directory>bundles/aspire</directory>
 </repository>

The <directory> tag identifies the directory where the bundles can be located.

On startup, Aspire will scan through the entire directory looking for bundles to load. If at any time you add new bundles (or update bundles) in this directory, then click on "Check for Updates" on the Aspire application home page. This will cause Aspire to re-scan the directory so that the new files are available.

Maven Repository

The Maven Repository loads the component Jar files directly from Maven. The Maven Repository allows Aspire to share the same Jars as Eclipse and the Maven command-line program. Therefore, any newly 'install'ed or 'deploy'ed Jar file artifacts will be automatically available to Aspire.

It is configured as follows:

   <repository type="maven">
     <localRepository>~search/.m2/repository</localRepository>
     <defaultVersion>4.0</defaultVersion>
     <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
     <offline>false</offline>
     <remoteRepositories>
       <remoteRepository>  "@name": "sampleProperty1",
          "$": "http://localhost:8983"
        },
        {
          "@name": "sampleProperty2",
          "$": "false"
        },
        {
          "@name": "sampleProperty3",
          "$": "data/crawler"
        },
        {
          "@name": "sampleProperty4",
          "$": "data"
        }
      ]
    },
    "nodesProperties": {
      "worker": {
         <id>stPublic</id>"maxMemQueueSize": "1000",
         <url>https://repository.searchtechnologies.com/artifactory/public/</url>"queueSizeThreshold": "0.75",
         <user>YOUR-REGISTERED-USERNAME</user>"cleanUpWaitTime": "300000",
         <password>YOUR-REGISTERED-PASSWORD</password>
"cleanUpThreshold": "3600000",
         </remoteRepository>"maxEnqueueRetries": "5",
     </remoteRepositories>
   </repository>

The Maven Repository uses the standard APIs for accessing artifacts from Maven repositories (the same as used by the Maven program itself). It will download artifacts as necessary from any of the the remote repositories specified and store them in the local repository. It will then load the bundle Jar files directly from the local repository into Aspire.

The following options are available for the maven repository:

Use Specific Versions of Bundle

If required, you can force the Maven repository to give you a specific version of a bundle if you don't specify it in the factoryName in application.xml files or in the config attribute in the autoStart section of the settings file.

Normally in Aspire, if references to Maven artifacts to not give the version, then the defaultVersion (see above) is used. However, you may add a bundleVersions section to the settings file to give more precise control over the versions of bundles loaded. The parameters are shown below:

Example:

The following snippet will load all requested bundles at version 1.0, except the three specified, which will be loaded at the requested version

  <repository type="maven">
   <defaultVersion>1.0</defaultVersion>
   <bundleVersions>
     <bundle artifactId="aspire-tools" version="1.1"/>
     <bundle groupId="com.myCustomer" artifactId="myCustomerArtifact" version="0.1-SNAPSHOT"/>
     <bundle groupId="com.searchtechnologies" artifactId="aspire-business-rules" version="2.0"/>
   </bundleVersions>
   <remoteRepository>
     <id>stPublic</id>
     <url>https://repository.searchtechnologies.com/artifactory/public/</url>
     <user>YOUR-REGISTERED-USERNAME</user>
     <password>YOUR-REGISTERED-PASSWORD</password>
   </remoteRepository>
 <repository>

Proxy Settings

You can configure Maven remote repositories to use a HTTP proxy for outgoing communications. This is useful when your Aspire server has restricted access to the Internet, and you want to be able to fetch bundles as normal from the configured repository. To do this add a <proxy> section to your remote repository and set the following properties:

Example:

     <remoteRepository>   "debug": "false",
        "appCleanUpWaitTime": "60000",
        "appCleanUpThreshold": "3600000",
        "tags": "",
        "entryProcessorBaseSleep": "200",
        "entryProcessorMaxSleep": "10000",
        "entryProcessorMaxIterations": "5",
        "entryProcessorMultiplier": "2",
        "batchLoaderBaseSleep": "200",
        "batchLoaderMaxSleep": "10000",
        "batchLoaderMaxIterations": "5",
        "batchLoaderMultiplier": "2",
        "connectionTimeout": "60000",
        "socketTimeout": "60000",
        "maxRetries": "3",
        "proxyHost": "",
        "proxyPort": "0",
        "proxyUser": "",
        "proxyPassword": "",
        "pingFrequency": "15000",
        "nodeFailureTimeout": "30000"
      },
      "manager": {
        "scanBatchCreatorBaseSleep": "200",
        "scanBatchCreatorMaxSleep": "10000",
        "scanBatchCreatorMaxIterations": "10",
        "scanBatchCreatorMultiplier": "2",
        "processBatchCreatorBaseSleep": "200",
        "processBatchCreatorMaxSleep": "10000",
        "processBatchCreatorMaxIterations": "10",
        "processBatchCreatorMultiplier": "2",
          <id>stPublic</id>"crawlProgressManagerBaseSleep": "500",
          <url>{{RepositoryUrl}}</url>"schedulerBaseSleep": "10000",
          <user>YOUR-REGISTERED-USERNAME</user>"maxBatches": "1000",
          <password>YOUR-REGISTERED-PASSWORD</password>"maxBatchItems": "100",
          <proxy>"connectionTimeout": "60000",
        "socketTimeout": "60000",
     <host>127.0.0.1</host>
   "maxRetries": "3",
          <port>8888</port>"proxyHost": "",
        "proxyPort": "0",
        <user>PROXY-USER</user> "proxyUser": "",
        "proxyPassword": "",
         <password>PROXY-PASSWORD</password>"pingFrequency": "15000",
        "nodeFailureTimeout":  </proxy>
"30000",
        </remoteRepository>

Default

If no <repositories> tag is specified, a single "distribution" repository with "bundles/aspire" as the directory will be automatically specified.

Properties are specified as name/value pairs. For example:

   <properties>
"tags": "",
       <property name="solrServerworkerRoundRobin">http://localhost:8080</property>
: "false",
       <property name="autoStart">false</property>
 "workerRoundRobinTimeout": "600000"
     <property name="crawlDataBase">data/crawler</property> }
    <property name="ccdBase">data</property>
  </properties>

Once specified in the settings.xml file, these properties become available for use in Application XML files. Careful use of such properties will make your system configuration files portable to multiple Aspire installations without modification.

You can use these properties from the UI when configuring content sources, services and workflow applications:

Image Removed

For example, you might use "http://localhost:8080" as your SOLR server on your personal laptop, but then use "http://customer.searchtechnologies.com:8983" for the production site. Using a property will allow the exact same system configuration file to be tested on one machine and then installed on another machine without modification.

Properties & Environment Variables in Application XML Files

Properties declared in the settings.xml file can be used in application XML files with the ${propertyName} syntax. As an example:

<component name="feed2Solr" subType="default" factoryName="aspire-post-xml">
  <postXsl>config/aspire2solr.xsl</solrXsl>
  <postUrl>${solrServer}/solr/update</postUrl>
</component>

In the above example, the "solrServer" property was defined in the settings.xml file and then referenced with ${solrServer} in the application XML file.

This property value substitution occurs automatically on the component configurations by the Component Manager. It does not require any further intervention or programming on the part of any individual component.

The ${XXX} syntax can also be used for substitution of environment variables and Java system properties (i.e., those defined on the command line with -Dxxx=yyy). Substitution prefers properties defined in the settings.xml file. If the property is not found in the settings.xml file, the system properties are checked and if still not found, the system environment is checked. Also, in these versions, properties may be defined from other properties:

<property name="baseDir">/home/user/aspire</property>
<property name="configDir">${baseDir}/cfg</property> 

Note: Property references for properties that are not in the settings.xml file will be left as-is. This allows for other configurations that use the same syntax (specifically, the Groovy Scripting component) to continue to operate properly.

XML Property Expansion

You can also use properties to add entire XML structures to a component configuration. To achieve this, define a property containing XML in a <![CDATA[..]]> section. Then, when expanding this property, you prefix the property name with xml: and the contents of the property will be interpreted as XML and added to the structure.

For example:

<settings>
  <properties>
    <property name="expanders"><![CDATA[<expanders><expander>${prop1}</expander><expander>two</expander></expanders>]]></property>
    <property name="prop1">Lincoln</property>
    <property name="testProp">testVal</property>
    <property name="testDoc"><![CDATA[<doc><title/></doc>]]></property>
    <property name="testDoc1"><![CDATA[<doc1><title1/></doc1>]]></property>
  </properties>
</settings>

and

 <config>
  ${xml:expanders}
  XXX
  ${xml:testDoc}
  <expanders2>${xml:expanders}</expanders2>
  <expanders_text>${expanders}</expanders_text>
  <test>${testProp}</test>
  ${xml:testDoc1}
  YYY
</config>

expands to

 <config>XXX<expanders2>
    <expanders>
      <expander>Lincoln</expander>
      <expander>two</expander>
    </expanders>
  </expanders2>
  <expanders_text><expanders><expander>Lincoln</expander><expander>two</expander></expanders></expanders_text>
  <test>testVal</test>YYY<expanders>
    <expander>Lincoln</expander>
    <expander>two</expander>
  </expanders>
  <doc>
    <title/>
  </doc>
  <doc1>
    <title1/>
  </doc1>
</config>

Property Escaping (for Groovy Scripts)

If you need to insert a property into a Groovy script, assigning it to a String that contains the \ character (such as ${aspire.home} would), will cause Groovy to raise an error as it sees invalid escaped characters. To avoid this, you can prefix the property name with escape: and any \ characters in the contents of the property will be replaced with \\.

For example:

<settings>
 <properties>
   <property name="file">c:\top-directory\directory\file.html</property>
 </properties>
</settings>

and

<config>
 <file>${file}</file>
 <escapefile>${escape:file}</escapefile>
 <fileattr attr="${file}">somevalue</fileattr>
 <escapefileattr escapeattr="${escape:file}">somevalue</escapefileattr>
 <cdata>
   <![CDATA[
      def a = "${file}";
   ]]>
 </cdata>
 <escapecdata>
   <![CDATA[
      def a = "${escape:file}";
   ]]>
 </escapecdata>
</config>

expands to

<config>
 <file>c:\top-directory\directory\file.html</file>
 <escapefile>c:\\top-directory\\directory\\file.html</escapefile>
 <fileattr attr="c:\top-directory\directory\file.html">somevalue</fileattr>
 <escapefileattr escapeattr="c:\\top-directory\\directory\\file.html">somevalue</escapefileattr>
 <cdata>
   <![CDATA[
     def a = "c:\top-directory\directory\file.html";                <<<< THIS LINE WOULD ERROR IN A GROOVY SCRIPT
   ]]>
 </cdata>
 <escapecdata>
   <![CDATA[
     def a = "c:\\top-directory\\directory\\file.html";
   ]]>
 </escapecdata>
</config>

Properties for Applications

You can specify properties that apply to a specific application (rather than the properties above which apply to all components).

<autoStart>
  <application config="config/system.xml">
    <properties>
      <property name="debug">true</property>
      <property name="managerExternalRDB">false</property>
      <property name="managerRDB">CSRDB</property>
    </properties>
  </application>
  <application config="com.searchtechnologies.appbundles:cs-manager:4.0">
    <properties>
      <property name="debug">true</property>
      <property name="managerExternalRDB">false</property>
      <property name="managerRDB">CSRDB</property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCUrl"></property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCDriverJar"></property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCUser"></property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCPassword"></property>
    </properties>
  </application>
</autoStart>

These properties are passed to all components (and only those components) that exist "under" the component manager. If the same property names are used both at the global level and the component manager level, the component manager definition will be used for components "under" that manager, whilst the global value would be used for other components.

Apache Felix Configuration

Some Apache Felix configuration parameters can also be placed in the settings.xml file, as follows:

<configAdmin>
   <properties pid="org.apache.felix.webconsole.internal.servlet.OsgiManager">
     <property name="username">admin</property>
     <property name="password">admin1</property>
     <property name="manager.root">/osgi</property>
   </properties>
</configAdmin>

Although, before using this approach, check to see if these parameters can be stored in the Apache Felix system properties file (called "felix.properties" for most Aspire installations). That may be the better location for these properties.

Inside <configAdmin>, each <property> tag contains a "pid" attribute which is the "persistent ID" of the configuration element. The nested properties are the OSGi Configuration properties

See the following for more information about OSGi and Apache Felix configuration properties:

• Apache Felix Framework Usage
• OSGi specifications download page - Go here and download the "Compendium Specification" to get more details on the OSGi configuration server and how it's used.
• Apache Felix Web Console Properties
• Apache Felix HTTP Service Properties

},
    "autoStart": {
      "application": [
        {
          "@config": "com.accenture.aspire:app-cf-bootloader"
        },
        {
          "@enable": false,
          "@config": "com.accenture.aspire:app-admin-ui"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Auto Start Section

The "autoStart" section will automatically load applications when Aspire is initialized. It contains a simple list of application files to load, for example:

"autoStart": {
  "application": [
    {
      "@config": "com.accenture.aspire:app-cf-bootloader"
    },
    {
      "@enable": false,
      "@config": "com.accenture.aspire:app-admin-ui"
    }
  ]
}

Applications are loaded in the order specified. However, since Aspire has component-dependency checking built-in, the order of load is usually not that important.

Both Application XML/JSON Files and App Bundles

Each application can be launched either from an application XML file or an App Bundle.

• For application XML files: The @config attribute should hold the file name of the Application XML/JSON file to load.

• For App Bundles: The @config attribute should hold the Maven coordinates of the App Bundle to start.

Rename Auto-Started Applications

In general, the name of the application will be taken as the “default name” as specified at the top of the application.xml file. 

However, you can specify other names for the configuration file using the @name attribute, as shown below:

{
  "@name": "RDBConnector2",
  "@config": "com.searchtechnologies.appbundles:cs-rdbms-connector:2.0",
  "properties": {
    "property": [
      {
        "@name": "rdbmsHasDefaults",
        "$": "false"
      },
      {
        "@name": "debug",
        "$": "true"
      }
    ]
  }
}

This lets you install the same App Bundle multiple times, but with different top-level names.

Application Properties

Finally, as shown above, applications can have a nested “properties” section which holds properties that are defined just for that application. These properties can then be used with the ${propName} substitution pattern within the application.xml file.

Repositories Section

The “repositories” identifies where to find component code to load into Aspire. 

"repositories": {
  "defaultVersion": "5.0",
  "allowAutoUpdate": "true",
  "maxVersion": "5.0.2",
  "repository": [
    {
      "@type": "distribution",
      "directory": "bundles/aspire"
    },
 	{
      "@type": "S3distribution",
      "bucketName":"s3-repo",
      "directory": "bundles/",
   	  "regionName":"us-east-1",
      "accessKey":"optional",
      "secretKey":"optional"
    },
    {
      "@type": "maven",
      "offline": "false",
      "localRepository": "~search/.m2/repository",
      "remoteRepositories": {
        "remoteRepository": {
          "id": "stPublic",
          "url": "https://repository.sca.accenture.com/artifactory/st-snapshot/"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

The following options are available for the repositories section:

There are three types of repositories that can be configured in the “repository” section:

Distribution Repository

The Distribution Repository will load the component Jar files in a directory within your Aspire distribution, typically the "bundles/aspire" directory.

It is configured as follows:

{
  "@type": "distribution",
  "directory": "bundles/aspire"
}

On startup, Aspire will scan through the entire directory looking for bundles to load. If at any time you add new bundles (or update bundles) in this directory, then click on "Check for Updates" on the Aspire application home page. This will cause Aspire to re-scan the directory so that the new files are available. The “directory” tag identifies the directory where the bundles can be located.

S3 Distribution Repository

The S3 bucket Distribution Repository will load the component Jar files to your Aspire distribution, typically from S3 "bundles/" directory. S3 directory must end with "/".

It is configured as follows:

{
  "@type": "S3distribution",   
  "bucketName":"s3-repo",
  "directory": "bundles/",
  "regionName":"us-east-1",
  "accessKey":"optional",
  "secretKey":"optional"
 }

Upon startup, Aspire will scan the entire S3 directory, similarly to the Distribution repository, to look for bundles to load. If you add new bundles (or update existing ones) to this directory at any time, then click on "Check for Updates" on the Aspire application home page. This action will prompt Aspire to rescan the directory, making the new files available. The "directory" tag specifies the location where the bundles can be found.

Maven Repository

The Maven Repository loads the component Jar files directly from Maven. The Maven Repository allows Aspire to share the same Jars as Eclipse and the Maven command-line program. Therefore, any newly 'install'ed or 'deploy'ed Jar file artifacts will be automatically available to Aspire.

It is configured as follows:

{
  "@type": "maven",
  "offline": "false",
  "localRepository": "~search/.m2/repository",
  "remoteRepositories": {
    "remoteRepository": {
      "id": "stPublic",
      "url": "https://repository.sca.accenture.com/artifactory/st-snapshot/"
    }
  }
}

The following options are available for the maven repository:

Use Specific Versions of Bundle

If required, you can force the Maven repository to give you a specific version of a bundle. This is if you don't specify it in the factoryName in application.xml files or in the config attribute in the autoStart section of the settings file. In the settings.json file, the bundleVersions section must be created within the Repositories section.

Normally in Aspire, if references to Maven artifacts do not give the version, then the defaultVersion (see above) is used. However, you may add a bundleVersions section to the settings file to give more precise control over the versions of bundles loaded. The parameters are shown below:

Example:

The following snippet will load all requested bundles at version 5.0, except the three specified, which will be loaded at the requested version

"repositories": {
    "defaultVersion" : "5.2.2",
    "allowAutoUpdate" : "false",
    "bundleVersions": {
        "bundle": [
            {
                "@artifactId": "aspire-tools",
                "@groupId": "com.accenture.aspire",
                "@version": "5.0.0.2-SNAPSHOT"
            },
            {
                "@artifactId": "aspire-dbserver-source",
                "@groupId": "com.accenture.aspire",
                "@version": "5.0.0.1-SNAPSHOT"
            },
            {
                "@artifactId": "aspire-adobe-experience-source",
                "@groupId": "com.accenture.aspire",
                "@version": "5.0.0.1-SNAPSHOT"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Proxy Settings

You can configure Maven remote repositories to use an HTTP proxy for outgoing communications. This is useful when your Aspire server has restricted access to the Internet, and you want to be able to fetch bundles as normal from the configured repository. To do this, add a <proxy> section to your remote repository and set the following properties:

Example:

"remoteRepository": {
  "id": "stPublic",
  "url": "https://repository.sca.accenture.com/artifactory/st-snapshot/",
  "proxy": {
    "host": "127.0.0.1",
    "port": 8888,
    "user": "PROXY-USER",
    "password": "PROXY-PASSWORD"
  }
}

Properties

Anchor
properties properties

Properties are specified as name/value pairs. For example:

"properties": {
  "property": [
    {
      "@name": "sampleProperty1",
      "$": "http://localhost:8983"
    },
    {
      "@name": "sampleProperty2",
      "$": "false"
    },
    {
      "@name": "sampleProperty3",
      "$": "data/crawler"
    },
    {
      "@name": "sampleProperty4",
      "$": "data"
    }
  ]
}

Once specified in the settings.xml file, these properties become available for use in Application XML files. Careful use of such properties will make your system configuration files portable to multiple Aspire installations without modification.

You can use these properties from the UI when configuring content sources, services, and workflow applications.

For example, you might use "http://localhost:8080" as your SOLR server on your personal laptop, but then use "http://customer.searchtechnologies.com:8983" for the production site. Using a property allows the same system configuration file to be tested on one machine and then installed on another machine without modification.

Properties & Environment Variables in Application XML Files

Properties declared in the settings.xml file can be used in application XML files with the ${propertyName} syntax. As an example:

<component name="feed2Solr" subType="default" factoryName="aspire-post-xml">
  <postXsl>config/aspire2solr.xsl</solrXsl>
  <postUrl>${solrServer}/solr/update</postUrl>
</component>

In the above example, the "solrServer" property was defined in the settings.xml file and then referenced with ${solrServer} in the application XML file.

This property value substitution occurs automatically on the component configurations by the Component Manager. It does not require any further intervention or programming for any individual component.

The ${XXX} syntax can also be used for substitution of environment variables and Java system properties (i.e., those defined on the command line with -Dxxx=yyy). Substitution prefers properties defined in the settings.json file. If the property is not found in the settings.json file, the system properties are checked and if still not found, the system environment is checked. Furthermore, in these versions, properties may be defined from other properties:

"properties": {
  "property": [
    {
      "@name": "baseDir",
      "$": "/home/user/aspire"
    },
    {
      "@name": "configDir",
      "$": "${baseDir}/cfg"
    }
  ]
}

Note: Property references for properties that are not in the settings.xml file will be left as-is. This allows for other configurations that use the same syntax (specifically, the Groovy Scripting component) to continue to operate properly.

Property Escaping (for Groovy Scripts)

If you need to insert a property into a Groovy script, assigning it to a string that contains the \ character (such as ${aspire.home} would), will cause Groovy to raise an error as it sees invalid escaped characters. To avoid this, you can prefix the property name with escape: and any \ characters in the contents of the property will be replaced with \\.

For example:

"properties": {
  "property": [
    {
      "@name": "file",
      "$": "c:\top-directory\directory\file.html"
    }
  ]
}

and

<config>
 <file>${file}</file>
 <escapefile>${escape:file}</escapefile>
 <fileattr attr="${file}">somevalue</fileattr>
 <escapefileattr escapeattr="${escape:file}">somevalue</escapefileattr>
</config>

expands to

<config>
 <file>c:\top-directory\directory\file.html</file>
 <escapefile>c:\\top-directory\\directory\\file.html</escapefile>
 <fileattr attr="c:\top-directory\directory\file.html">somevalue</fileattr>
 <escapefileattr escapeattr="c:\\top-directory\\directory\\file.html">somevalue</escapefileattr>
</config>

Properties for Applications

You can specify properties that apply to a specific application (rather than the properties above, which apply to all components).

<autoStart>
  <application config="config/system.xml">
    <properties>
      <property name="debug">true</property>
      <property name="managerExternalRDB">false</property>
      <property name="managerRDB">CSRDB</property>
    </properties>
  </application>
  <application config="com.searchtechnologies.appbundles:cs-manager:4.0">
    <properties>
      <property name="debug">true</property>
      <property name="managerExternalRDB">false</property>
      <property name="managerRDB">CSRDB</property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCUrl"></property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCDriverJar"></property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCUser"></property>
      <property name="managerExternalJDBCPassword"></property>
    </properties>
  </application>
</autoStart>

These properties are passed to all components (and only those components) that exist “under” the component manager. If the same property names are used at both the global level and the component manager level, the component manager definition will be used for components “under” that manager, whilst the global value would be used for other components.

Apache Felix Configuration

Some Apache Felix configuration parameters can also be placed in the settings.xml file, as follows:

"configAdmin": {
  "properties": {
    "@pid": "org.apache.felix.webconsole.internal.servlet.OsgiManager",
    "property": [
      {
        "@name": "username",
        "$": "admin"
      },
      {
        "@name": "password",
        "$": "admin"
      },
      {
        "@name": "manager.root",
        "$": "/osgi"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Although, before using this approach, check to see if these parameters can be stored in the Apache Felix system properties file (called "felix.properties" for most Aspire installations). That may be the better location for these properties.

Inside <configAdmin>, each <property> tag contains a "pid" attribute, which is the “persistent ID” of the configuration element. The nested properties are the OSGi Configuration properties.

See the following for more information about OSGi and Apache Felix configuration properties:

• Apache Felix Framework Usage
• OSGi specifications download page - Go here and download the “Compendium Specification” to get more details on the OSGi configuration server and how it's used.
• Apache Felix Web Console Properties
• Apache Felix HTTP Service Properties

Security Configuration

This is the configuration to use the Login page. 

"authentication": {
  "tokenExpiration": "30m",
  "refreshExpiration": "1h",
  "validateRemoteHost" : "true",
  "type": "Ldap",
  "ldap": {
    "server": "ldap://oldap:389",
    "authentication": "simple",
    "bindDN": "cn=admin,dc=accenture,dc=com",
    "bindDNPassword": "password",
    "searchBase": "dc=accenture,dc=com",
    "userDNQuery": "(uid={user})",
    "groupsHoldMembers": "true",
    "memberAttr": "uniqueMember",
    "connectTimeout": "3000",
    "readTimeout": "5000",
    "roles": [
      {
        "dn": "cn=administrators,ou=Groups,dc=accenture,dc=com",
        "group": "true",
        "roles": [
          "ADMINISTRATOR"
        ]
      },
      {
        "dn": "cn=operators,ou=Groups,dc=accenture,dc=com",
        "group": "true",
        "roles": [
          "OPERATOR"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
} 

Aspire uses a token-based security to access the Rest API. These are the general configuration options.

LDAP Configuration

LDAP is configured as defined below.

"type": "Ldap",
"ldap": {
  "server": "ldap://oldap:389",
  "authentication": "simple",
  "bindDN": "cn=admin,dc=accenture,dc=com",
  "bindDNPassword": "password",
  "searchBase": "dc=accenture,dc=com",
  "userDNQuery": "(uid={user})",
  "groupsHoldMembers": "true",
  "memberAttr": "uniqueMember",
  "connectTimeout": "3000",
  "readTimeout": "5000",
  "roles": [
    {
      "dn": "cn=administrators,ou=Groups,dc=accenture,dc=com",
      "group": "true",
      "roles": [
        "ADMINISTRATOR"
      ]
    },
    {
      "dn": "cn=operators,ou=Groups,dc=accenture,dc=com",
      "group": "true",
      "roles": [
        "OPERATOR"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

These are the configuration properties for the LDAP authentication:

OIDC Configuration (SSO)

OIDC (SSO) is configured as bellow

"type": "OIDC",
"tokenExpiration": "150000",
"clientId": "7a908761-123f-65g7c3fca7b3",
"discoveryURI": "https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant}/v2.0/.well-known/openid-configuration",
"logoutURI": "https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/v2.0/logout",
"rolesClaim": "roles",
"scope": "openid email profile",
"userNameClaim": "name",
"roleMapping": [
  {
    "original": "Administrator",
    "role": "ADMINISTRATOR"
  },
  {
    "original": "Operator",
    "role": "OPERATOR"
  }
]

These are configuration properties for the OIDC authentication:

Simple (username & password)

Simple authentication with a given username and password via environmental variables can be configured with the following configuration:

"type": "simple"

The username can be provided with the environmental variable called: ASPIRE_USER

The password must be provided with the environmental variable called: ASPIRE_PASSWORD

Encryption provider

Aspire encryption tasks are managed with a plug-able provider. Clients can now have their own encryption methods, if they wish to do so, by providing an implementation and configuring the settings file accordingly.

Default Encryption Provider

A default encryption provider is configured with the Aspire installation. Additional configuration is only required if a different provider is to be used.

  "encryptionProvider": {
      "implementation": "com.accenture.aspire:aspire-encryption-provider",
      "masterKeyFilePath": "config/encryptionKey"
    }

The default povider uses AES-256 with a key of 32bytes for encryption. Theses are the properties used to configure the default encryption provider.

AWS KMS Encryption Provider

If the AMS KMS Encryption Provider should be used, change the settings file to:

  "encryptionProvider": {
      "implementation": "com.accenture.aspire:aspire-aws-kms-encryption-provider",
      "roleARN": "arn:aws:iam:[account_id]:role/[role_id]",
      "keyARN" : "arn:aws:kms:[region]:key/[key_id]",
      "region" : "us-east-1",
      "accessKey" : "[ACCESS_KEY]",
      "secretKey" : "[SECRET_KEY]"
    }

The AWS KMS Encryption Provider uses KMS to hold the encryption keys and to encrypt/decrypt secrets. More information at AWS KMS Encryption.

Nodes Properties

The nodes properties are the configuration parameter to use for the worker and manager nodes.

    "nodesProperties": {
        "worker": {
          "maxMemQueueSize": "1000",
          "queueSizeThreshold": "0.75",
          "cleanUpWaitTime": "300000",
          "cleanUpThreshold": "3600000",
          "maxEnqueueRetries": "5",
          "debug": "false",
          "appCleanUpWaitTime": "60000",
          "appCleanUpThreshold": "3600000",
          "tags" : "",
          "entryProcessorBaseSleep" : "200",
          "entryProcessorMaxSleep" : "10000",
          "entryProcessorMaxIterations" : "5",
          "entryProcessorMultiplier" : "2",
          "batchLoaderBaseSleep" : "200",
          "batchLoaderMaxSleep" : "10000",
          "batchLoaderMaxIterations" : "5",
          "batchLoaderMultiplier" : "2",
          "connectionTimeout" : "60000",
          "socketTimeout" : "60000",
          "maxRetries" : "3",
          "proxyHost" : "",
          "proxyPort" : "0",
          "proxyUser" : "",
          "proxyPassword" : "",
          "pingFrequency" : "15000",
          "nodeFailureTimeout" : "30000"
        },
        "manager": {
          "scanBatchCreatorBaseSleep" : "200",
          "scanBatchCreatorMaxSleep" : "10000",
          "scanBatchCreatorMaxIterations" : "10",
          "scanBatchCreatorMultiplier" : "2",
          "processBatchCreatorBaseSleep" : "200",
          "processBatchCreatorMaxSleep" : "10000",
          "processBatchCreatorMaxIterations" : "10",
          "processBatchCreatorMultiplier" : "2",
          "crawlProgressManagerBaseSleep" : "500",
          "schedulerBaseSleep" : "10000",
          "maxBatches" : "1000",
          "maxBatchItems" : "100",
          "connectionTimeout" : "60000",
          "socketTimeout" : "60000",
          "maxRetries" : "3",
          "proxyHost" : "",
          "proxyPort" : "0",
          "proxyUser" : "",
          "proxyPassword" : "",
          "pingFrequency" : "15000",
          "nodeFailureTimeout" : "30000",
          "tags": "",
          "workerRoundRobin": "false",
          "workerRoundRobinTimeout": "600000"
        }
    }

Worker properties

These properties will be used by all worker nodes in the cluster. 

Manager properties

These properties will be used by all manager nodes in the cluster. 

Specifying properties for a specific node

Is possible to configure some or all properties of a specific Aspire worker or manager node with specific values the following way

        "worker": {
          "maxMemQueueSize": "1000",
          "queueSizeThreshold": "0.75",
          "cleanUpWaitTime": "300000",
          "cleanUpThreshold": "3600000",
          "maxEnqueueRetries": "5",
          "node_hostname": {
            "cleanUpWaitTime": "150000",
            "cleanUpThreshold": "1800000"
          }
        },
        "manager": {
          "maxBatches" : "1000",
          "maxBatchItems" : "100",
          "node_hostname": {
            "maxBatches": "2000",
            "maxBatchItems": "150"
          }
        }

This way, the specified node will use the specific values over the general ones.

Security Configuration

This is the configuration to use the Login page. The type options are (ConfigFile or Ldap). For more details see Security Page.

Options for authentication are 'None' (default), 'ConfigFile', 'Ldap'

<authentication>
   <type>none</type> 
</authentication>

LDAP authentication options are 'none', 'simple'(default), 'DIGEST-MD5'. If none was selected, anonymous access will be attempted

 <ldapConfig>
   <config>
     <server>ldap://localhost:389</server>
     <authentication>simple</authentication>
     <searchBase>dc=localhost, dc=com</searchBase>
     <group>OU=Users,OU=Group</group>
   </config>
 </ldapConfig>

Entitlements

This is the server site where entitlements will be located. This is used to populate the config/entitlements.xml file used to fill the Home Page connector list and the Workflow section publisher and application lists.

  <entitlementsServer online="true">https://entitlements.searchtechnologies.com</entitlementsServer>

The online attribute can be set to false if you have no internet access from the Aspire Server. In this case if you want to populate the connector list of the Home Page, and the publishers and applications list of the Workflow Section you will have to edit the entitlements.xml file (also in the config directory) by yourself. You can generate the file contents for your user by visiting Entitlements and following the instructions.