4.1 Connect Properties and License Key

The first step in configuring a new Connect cluster is to edit the install.properties and database.properties files. These files configure the location of the Connect install directory and contact information for the Connect database.

Note: Do not edit these files on Windows and then try to use them on UNIX, and vice versa. The differences in text files between the different operating environments can cause errors.

Configuring install.properties

Open the install.properties file using a text editor, and modify the following:
  • KCHOME: Specify the KCHOME directory using forward slashes in the pathname. For example, /opt/connect/kc
Then save the install.properties file.
Note: The KCHOME definition is consumed by Java code and shell scripts and therefore requires forward slashes. The KCHOME.DOS definition is only consumed by Windows batch scripts and is unused on UNIX.

Configuring database.properties for Oracle

In this subsection, we configure the database.properties file to use the Oracle JDBC driver in preparation for installing or upgrading the database. Connect uses the thin version of the Oracle JDBC driver throughout the system.

To configure database.properties, execute the following steps:

  1. Open the database.properties file using a text editor. Find the section of the file that looks like the following:
    ####################################################
    #
    # ORACLE PROPERTIES -- uncomment these for ORACLE
    #
    ####################################################
    
    # Vendor type
    #database.type=oracle
    #database.driver=oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver
    
    # Base path to database (we will add "@db" to this)
    #database.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:
    #database.connect=user/pass@server:1521:db                                                
    
  2. Uncomment the lines for:
    • database.type=oracle
    • database.driver=oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver
    • database.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:
    • database.connect=user/pass@server:1521:db
  3. Edit database.connect: Specify the database username, password, server, port and database name.
    • Enter the details in the format username/password@server:port:dbname (e.g. scott/tiger@myserver:1521:ORCL).
  4. Important: Ensure that no other lines are uncommented that would conflict with these property definitions.
  5. Save the file.

Configuring database.properties for SQL Server

In this subsection, we configure the database.properties file to use the Microsoft SQL Server JDBC driver in preparation for installing or upgrading the database. Connect uses the thin version of the JDBC driver throughout the system and does not require a SQL Server client install.

To configure database.properties, execute the following steps.

  1. Open the database.properties file using a text editor. Find the section of the file that looks like the following:
    ####################################################
    #
    # MSSQL PROPERTIES -- uncomment these for SQL Server
    #
    ####################################################
    
    # Vendor type
    #database.type=sql
    #database.driver=com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
    
    # Base path to database (we will add "@db" to this)
    #database.url=jdbc:sqlserver:
    #database.connect=user/pass@instance;DatabaseName=db
    
  2. Uncomment the lines for:
    • database.type=sql
    • database.driver=com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
    • database.url=jdbc:sqlserver:
    • database.connect=user/pass@instance;DatabaseName=db
  3. Edit database.connect: Specify the database username, password, server, and database name.
    • Enter the details in the format username/password@server;DatabaseName=dnname (e.g. scott/tiger@myserver;DatabaseName=CONNECT10).
  4. Important: Ensure that no other lines are uncommented that would conflict with these property definitions.
  5. Save the file.

Configuring database.properties for MySQL

In this subsection, we configure the database.properties file to use the MySQL JDBC driver in preparation for installing or upgrading the database.

To configure database.properties, execute the following steps.

  1. Open the database.properties file using a text editor. Find the section of the file that looks like the following:
    ####################################################
    #
    # MYSQL PROPERTIES -- uncomment these for MYSQL
    #
    ####################################################
    
    # Vendor type
    #database.type=mysql
    #database.driver=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
    #database.url=jdbc:mysql:
    #database.connect=connusr/connpwd@localhost:3306/connect?useUnicode=yes&characterEncoding=UTF-8
    
  2. Uncomment the lines for:
    • database.type=mysql
    • database.driver=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
    • database.url=jdbc:mysql:
    • database.connect=connusr/connpwd@localhost:3306/connect?useUnicode=yes&characterEncoding=UTF-8
  3. Edit database.connect: Specify the database username, password, server, and database name.
    • Enter the details in the format username/password@server:3306/dbname (e.g. scott/tiger@myserver:3306/CONNECT10).
    • Keep the query string arguments after the '?' character.
  4. Important: Ensure that no other lines are uncommented that would conflict with these property definitions.
  5. Save the file.

Software License Key

Connect requires a software license key. The license key is stored in the brickstlicense.jar file in the import directory. The Connect software distribution comes with a trial license key. You should replace this with a license key supplied by Brick Street Software.

The seeddb program copies the license key from the brickstlicense.jar file into the Connect database. At runtime, the Connect software checks the license key by fetching it from the database.

To update the license key, follow these steps:
  • Copy the new brickstlicense.jar license key file to the import subdirectory of the Connect install directory.
  • Run seeddb --updateLicense to copy the license key file to the database.
  • Restart the inside nodes of each deployment to force a new license key checl.