The API Connector is used to pull the metadata from the existing swagger and YAML files and helps the users to crawl and catalog the APIs.
Note: To connect to the API Connector, the user needs to place all the required Swagger and YAML (API) files in one folder where all the OvalEdge related configuration files exist.
Technical Specifications
Crawling
The following are the objects and data types supported by the OvalEdge for the API Connector.
|
Objects |
Supported Data Types |
Remarks |
|
Tables |
.json file type and that JSON should be in the swagger format only |
Swagger API Files will be considered as the table names. |
|
Table Columns |
Int, number, string, varchar, array, object |
Columns in the Swagger API files will be considered Columns. |
|
Views |
Not Supported |
|
|
Stored Procedures |
Not Supported |
|
|
Functions |
Not Supported |
|
|
Roles |
Not Supported |
|
|
Users |
Not Supported |
|
|
Permissions |
Not Supported |
|
|
Usage Statistics |
Not Supported |
Additional Information
We are using the OPENAPIV3 parser to parse YAML files
Connection Details
Pre-requisites
The minimum permissions required for OvalEdge to validate the API Database connection is the path that was given in the connection parameters should be a valid path and the user whoever is accessing the files should have access to that particular folder.
- An admin/service account for OvalEdge Data Catalog Operations.
- The minimum privileges required for a user are
|
Data Catalog Operations |
Objects Impacted |
Permissions |
|
Crawling |
Tables and Columns |
The minimum permissions required for users for crawling the data is having the Read Access permission to the path provided while establishing the JSON API Connector |
|
Profiling |
Not Supported |
Not Required |
|
Lineage Building |
Not Supported |
Not Required |
|
Query Execution |
Not Supported |
Not Required |
|
Remote Data Access Management (RDAM) |
Not Supported |
Not Required |
To connect to the API database using the OvalEdge application, complete the following steps.
- Login to the OvalEdge application
- In the left menu, click on the Administration module name, and the sub-modules associated with the Administration are displayed.
- Click on the Crawler sub-module name, and the Crawler Information page is displayed.
- In the Crawler Information page, click on the + icon. The Manage Connection with Search Connector pop-up window is displayed.
- In the Manage Connection pop-up window, select the connection type as API. The Manage Connection with API specific details pop-up window is displayed.
6. The following are the field attributes required for the connection of API.
|
Field Name |
Mandatory/Optional |
Description |
|
Connection Type |
Mandatory |
By default the connection type is displayed as the API, if needed the connection type can be changed by selecting desired connection type from the Connection Type dropdown, and based on the selection of connection type, the fields associated with the selected connection type are displayed. |
|
License Type |
Mandatory |
Select the license type used for the connection, the available option is Standard. |
|
Connection Name |
Mandatory |
Enter the name of the connection, the connection name specified in the Connection Name textbox will be a reference to the JSON API database connection in the OvalEdge application. Example: JSON API Connection1 |
|
Path |
Mandatory |
Enter the NFS (Network File Server) path related to the JSON Swagger Files. Example: E:\OvalEdgeWork\JSONAPIConn |
|
API Type |
Optional |
By default, the Service Type is selected as Swagger. Select the Service Type as “OPENAPIV3” or “Swagger” associated with the respective API. |
|
Default Governance Roles |
Mandatory |
Select the required governance roles for the Steward, Custodian, and Owner |
|
No of Archive Objects |
Mandatory |
This option is used to enable versioning to evaluate metadata changes on the subsequent crawls. By default, the number of archive objects is set in the disable mode. To enable the archive option click on the Archive toggle button and enter the number of objects to be archived. |
7. Once after entering the connection details in the required fields, click on the validate button the entered connection details are validated the Save and Save & Configure buttons are enabled.
8. Click on the save button to establish the connection or the user can also directly click on the save and configure button to establish the connection and configure the connection settings. Here when you click on the Save & Configure button, the Connection Settings pop-up window is displayed. Where you can configure the connection settings for the selected Connector.Note: The Save & Configure button is displayed only for the Connectors for which the settings configuration is required.
Connection Settings
Once establishing the connection successfully the additional configurations for crawling need to be specified. To configure the Crawler settings for the API Connector, select the API Connection Name from the Crawler Information page and click on the 9 dots buttons and select the Settings options. The Connection Settings pop-up window is displayed.
Crawler Settings
|
Property |
Details |
|
Tables, Views & Columns |
By default, it is selected as True |
|
Crawler Rules |
By default include tables regex has regex = (.*), which can crawl all the tables |
Note: As Profiling is not supported for API Connector the Profiler settings are disabled.