Infrastructure prerequisites

The CMS service requires the following components to be set up before it can be started:

  • Docker engine - version 17.06 or higher
  • MongoDB - version 4.4 or higher for storing taxonomies and contents
  • Redis - version 6.0 or higher
  • Kafka - version 2.8 or higher
  • Elastisearch - version 7.11.0 or higher

The service comes with most of the needed configuration properties filled in, but there are a few that need to be set up using some custom environment variables.

Dependencies

Configuration

Configure the default application name to be used when retrieving content:

application:
    defaultApplication: ${DEFAULT_APPLICATION:flowx}

If this configuration is not provided, the default value will be set to flowx.

Configuring authorization & access roles

To connect to the identity management platform, the following variables need to be set:

  • SECURITY_OAUTH2_BASE_SERVER_URL - the base URL for the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Server, which is responsible for authentication and authorization for clients and users, it is used to authorize clients, as well as to issue and validate access tokens
  • SECURITY_OAUTH2_CLIENT_CLIENT_ID - a unique identifier for a client application that is registered with the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Server, this is used to authenticate the client application when it attempts to access resources on behalf of a user
  • SECURITY_OAUTH2_CLIENT_CLIENT_SECRET - secret key that is used to authenticate requests made by an authorization client
  • SECURITY_OAUTH2_REALM - security configuration env var in the Spring Security OAuth2 framework, it is used to specify the realm name used when authenticating with OAuth2 provider

To configure user roles and access rights tailored to your specific use case in FlowX Designer, please refer to the following section:

FlowX CMS access rights

Configuring MongoDB

The MongoDB database is used for storing taxonomies and contents in the CMS service. Configure MongoDB with the following environment variables:

  • SPRING_DATA_MONGODB_URI - URI for connecting to the CMS MongoDB instance
    • Format: mongodb://${DB_USERNAME}:${DB_PASSWORD}@<host1>,<host2>,<arbiter-host>:<port>/<database>?retryWrites=false
  • DB_USERNAME : cms-core
  • MONGOCK_TRANSACTIONENABLED - Enables or disables transactions in MongoDB for compatibility with the Mongock library
    • Default Value: false (Set it to false to support successful migrations)
    • Note: Set to false due to known issues with transactions in MongoDB version 5.

Configuring MongoDB (runtime database - additional data)

The CMS service also requires connection to a Runtime MongoDB instance for managing additional data related to runtime operations. Use the following environment variables for configuration:

  • SPRING_DATA_MONGODB_RUNTIME_ENABLED - Enables Runtime MongoDB usage
    • Default Value: true
  • RUNTIME_DB_USERNAME: app-runtime
  • SPRING_DATA_MONGODB_RUNTIME_URI - URI for connecting to the Runtime MongoDB instance (app-runtime)
    • Format: mongodb://${DB_USERNAME}:${DB_PASSWORD}@<host1>,<host2>,<arbiter-host>:<port>/<database>?retryWrites=false
  • SPRING_DATA_MONGODB_STORAGE - Specifies the storage type used for the Runtime MongoDB instance (Azure environments only)
    • Possible Values: mongodb, cosmosdb
    • Default Value: mongodb

Configuring Redis

The service can use the Redis component already deployed for the engine.

The following values should be set with the corresponding Redis-related values:

  • SPRING_REDIS_HOST - environment variable used to configure the hostname or IP address of a Redis server when using Spring Data Redis
  • SPRING_REDIS_PASSWORD - environment variable is used to store the password used to authenticate with a Redis server, it is used to secure access to the Redis server and should be kept confidential
  • REDIS_TTL - environment variable is used to specify the maximum time-to-live (TTL) for a key in Redis, it is used to set a limit on how long a key can exist before it is automatically expired (Redis will delete the key after the specified TTL has expired)

All the data produced by the service will be stored in Redis under a specific key. The name of the key can be configured using the environment variable:

Configuring Kafka

To configure the Kafka server, you need to set the following environment variables:

  • SPRING_KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS - address of the Kafka server, it should be in the format “host:port”
  • SPRING_KAFKA_CONSUMER_GROUP_ID - a group of consumers
  • KAFKA_CONSUMER_THREADS - the number of Kafka consumer threads
  • KAFKA_AUTH_EXCEPTION_RETRY_INTERVAL - the interval between retries after AuthorizationException is thrown by KafkaConsumer
  • KAFKA_TOPIC_AUDIT_OUT - the topic key for receiving audit logs

Request content

Environment VariableDefault FLOWX.AI value (Customizable)
KAFKA_TOPIC_REQUEST_CONTENT_INai.flowx.dev.plugin.cms.trigger.retrieve.content.v1
KAFKA_TOPIC_REQUEST_CONTENT_OUTai.flowx.dev.engine.receive.plugin.cms.retrieve.content.results.v1
  • KAFKA_TOPIC_REQUEST_CONTENT_IN: This variable defines the topic used by the CMS to listen for incoming content retrieval requests.
  • KAFKA_TOPIC_REQUEST_CONTENT_OUT: This variable defines the topic where the CMS sends the results of content retrieval requests back to the FlowX Engine.

Each action available in the service corresponds to a Kafka event. A separate Kafka topic must be configured for each use case.

It is important to note that all the actions that start with a configured pattern will be consumed by the engine.

Configuring logging

To control the log levels, the following environment variables can be set:

  • LOGGING_LEVEL_ROOT - the log level for the root spring boot microservice logs
  • LOGGING_LEVEL_APP - the log level for app-level logs
  • LOGGING_LEVEL_MONGO_DRIVER - the log level for mongo driver

Configuring file storage

  • APPLICATION_FILE_STORAGE_S3_SERVER_URL - environment variable used to store the URL of the S3 server that is used to store files for the application.
  • APPLICATION_FILE_STORAGE_S3_BUCKET_NAME - environment variable used to store the name of the S3 bucket that is used to store files for the application
  • APPLICATION_FILE_STORAGE_S3_ROOT_DIRECTORY - environment variable used to store the root directory within the S3 bucket where the files for the application are stored
  • APPLICATION_FILE_STORAGE_S3_CREATE_BUCKET - environment variable used to indicate whether the S3 bucket should be created if it does not already exist, it can be set to true or false
  • APPLICATION_FILE_STORAGE_S3_PUBLIC_URL - the public URL of the S3 solution, it specifies the URL that can be used to access the files stored

Configuring the maximum file size for uploads

To set the maximum file size for uploads through the CMS service (e.g., the Media Library), you can adjust the following environment variables:

  • SPRING_SERVLET_MULTIPART_MAX_FILE_SIZE: ${MULTIPART_MAX_FILE_SIZE:50MB}: Defines the maximum file size allowed for uploads. Default is 50 MB.
  • SPRING_SERVLET_MULTIPART_MAX_REQUEST_SIZE: ${MULTIPART_MAX_REQUEST_SIZE:50MB}: Defines the maximum request size allowed for uploads. Default is 50 MB.

Please note that raising the file size to a high limit may increase vulnerability to potential attacks. Consider carefully before making this change.

Configuring application management

The FlowX helm chart provides a management service with the necessary parameters to integrate with the Prometheus operator. However, this integration is disabled by default.

Prometheus metrics export configuration

Old configuration from < v4.1 releases (will be deprecated in v4.5):

  • MANAGEMENT_METRICS_EXPORT_PROMETHEUS_ENABLED: Enables or disables Prometheus metrics export.

New configuration, starting from v4.1 release, available below. Note that this setup is backwards compatible, it does not affect the configuration from v3.4.x. The configuration files will still work until v4.5 release.

To configure Prometheus metrics export for the FlowX.AI Engine, the following environment variable is required:

Environment VariableDescriptionDefault ValuePossible Values
MANAGEMENT_PROMETHEUS_METRICS_EXPORT_ENABLEDEnables or disables Prometheus metrics export.falsetrue, false