Configuring connections to iHub using volumeProfile.xml

To include a Visualization Platform installation in an iHub cluster, register the Visualization Platform as a service provider. However, you can also configure the Visualization Platform to access any specific iHub instance and volume by configuring a connection in the volume profile. Because the volume profile conceals the iHub and volume values from the users of Visualization Platform, the system administrator can change the location of these resources without affecting the URLs accessed by the users. To access iHub resources using a volume profile, add a __vp=ProfileName parameter to the URL.

Customize volume profiles by creating or modifying entries in the following file:

<context root>\WEB-INF\volumeProfile.xml

For example, the following is a volume profile definition for the server1 server:

<ProfileName>server1</ProfileName>

<RepositoryType>enterprise</RepositoryType>

<ServerUrl>http://server1:8000</ServerUrl>

<Volume>volume1</Volume>

</Profile>

</VolumeProfiles>

<ProfileName> is the name of this profile.

<RepositoryType> has one of two values, either enterprise or workgroup.

<ServerUrl> contains the iHub URL, for example, http://server1:8000. If RepositoryType is workgroup, ServerUrl is ignored.

<volume> is the volume name. If RepositoryType is workgroup, volume is ignored.

<Default> is optional. Valid values are true and false. A value of true sets this profile as the default volume profile, and the server and volume in this profile is used if no volume profile is provided in the URL. Visualization Platform handles only the first profile with default set to true as the default profile.

<DashboardTemplatePath> is optional. This repository path is the location of the dashboard file that loads when a user creates a new dashboards.

To make a new profile available to Visualization Platform, add a new <Profile> element to the list in <VolumeProfiles> in volumeProfile.xml. Then, restart Visualization Platform. For example, the following profile accesses the volume2 volume on the server2 server:

<Default>false</Default>

<ProfileName>server2</ProfileName>

<RepositoryType>enterprise</RepositoryType>

<ServerUrl>http://server2:8000</ServerUrl>

<Volume>volume2</Volume>

</Profile>

Using a volume profile defined in volumeProfile.xml

Visualization Platform connects to the server and volume defined by the default volume profile entry when the URL does not include the __vp parameter or the volume parameter. For example, to connect to the default volume and server, use the following URL:

http://infoconsole:8900/iportal/getfolderitems.do?userid=userName&password=validPassword

Visualization Platform connects to the server and volume defined by a volume profile when the URL contains a __vp parameter with a valid profile name and the URL does not have a volume parameter. For example, to connect to volume2 on server2 defined by the volume profile example above, use the following URL:

http://infoconsole:8900/iportal/getfolderitems.do?userid=userName&password=validPassword&__vp=server2

Overriding the volume specified in a volume profile

Visualization Platform supports using a volume profile to access a volume even if the volume is not specified in a volume profile definition. To override the volume specified by a volume profile, add the volume parameter to the URL. A URL with a valid __vp parameter and volume parameter connects to the server in the volume profile, but the volume assigned to the volume parameter. For example, to connect to volume3 on server2 explicitly, use the following URL:

http://infoconsole:8900/iportal/getfolderitems.do?userid=userName&password=validPassword&__vp=server2&volume=volume3

If the URL contains a volume parameter but not a __vp parameter, Visualization Platform connects to the server in the default volume profile and the volume assigned to the volume parameter. For example, to connect to volume3 on the default server, use the following URL:

http://infoconsole:8900/getfolderitems.do?userid=userName&password=validPassword&volume=volume3

Understanding temporary volume profiles

If a request URL contains serverurl, repositorytype, or volume parameters not defined in volumeProfile.xml, Visualization Platform generates a temporary profile name for this set of volume properties. A temporary name is not persistent and is lost every time the application restarts. If the request URL does not contain serverurl, volume, and repositorytype parameters, Visualization Platform uses the default profile for the request URL. If there is no default profile defined, Visualization Platform generates a temporary server profile having a random name and uses SERVER_DEFAULT, DEFAULT_VOLUME, and REPOSITORY_TYPE defined in WEB-INF/web.xml as the default values for serverurl, volume, and repositorytype.