MongoDB OCF Connector: Install and Configure

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Network Connectivity

Open outbound TCP port 27017 to the MongoDB server.

Service Account

For more information about built-in roles and permissions, refer to the official MongoDB documentation about Built-In Roles and Create Users.

Authentication

Basic Authentication

You’ll need the following credentials for basic authentication:

• Username of the service account

• Password of the service account

Kerberos Authentication

Select GSSAPI in the Auth Scheme on the General Settings page to enable this.

You’ll need the following credentials and resources for kerberos authentication:

• Username of the service account

• Password of the service account

• The Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) service

• The Kerberos realm

• The Kerberos service realm

• The service principal name (SPN) for Kerberos Domain Controller

• The Kerberos service KDC

LDAP Authentication

Select PLAIN in the Auth Scheme on the General Settings page to enable this.

You’ll need the following credentials and resources for authentication:

• Username of the service account

• Password of the service account

SSL Authentication

Available from the connector version 23.0.8867 or later.

Select Use SSL in the Auth Scheme on the General Settings page to enable this.

You’ll need the following credentials and resources for authentication:

• The SSL client certificate file

• The SSL client certificate file password

• (Optional) The SSL server certificate file

  Important

  SSL server certificate isn’t supported. If you use server certificate for connection, contact Alation Support.

JDBC URI

Important

We recommend that you provide the values in the corresponding fields on the General Settings page instead of the JDBC URI field in the Datasource Connection section. Leave this field empty if all the connection properties you need are available in the user interface.

Install the Connector

Alation On-Premise

Important

Installation of OCF connectors requires Alation Connector Manager to be installed as a prerequisite.

To install an OCF connector:

1. If this has not been done on your instance, install the Alation Connector Manager: Install Alation Connector Manager.

2. Ensure that the OCF connector Zip file is available on your local machine.

3. Install the connector on the Connectors Dashboard page using the steps in Manage Connectors.

Alation Cloud Service

Note

On Alation Cloud Service instances, Alation Connector Manager is available by default.

Depending on your network configuration, you may need to use Alation Agent to connect to databases.

Connection via Alation Agent

1. Ensure that Alation Agent is enabled on your Alation instance. If necessary, create a Support ticket with Alation for an Alation representative to enable the Alation Agent feature on your instance and to receive the Alation Agent installer.

2. Install the Alation Agent.

3. Install the connector on the Connectors Dashboard page using the steps in Manage Connectors.

Connection Without Agent

To install an OCF connector:

1. Ensure that the OCF connector Zip file is available on your local machine.

2. Install the connector on the Connectors Dashboard page using the steps in Manage Connectors.

Create and Configure a New Data Source

In Alation, add a new data source:

1. Log in to Alation as a Server Admin.

2. Expand the Apps menu on the right of the main toolbar and select Sources.

3. On the Sources page, click +Add on the top right of the page and in the list that opens, click Data Source. This will open the Add a Data Source wizard.

4. On the first screen of the wizard, specify a name for your data source, assign additional Data Source Admins, if necessary, and click the Continue Setup button on the bottom. The Add a Data Source screen will open.

5. On the Add a Data Source screen, the only field you should populate is Database Type. From the Database Type dropdown, select the connector name. After that you will be navigated to the Settings page of your new data source.

   Note

   Agent-based connectors will have the Agent name appended to the connector name.

The name of this connector is Alation OCF Connector for MongoDB.

Configuration

Access

On the Access tab, set the data source visibility using these options:

• Public Data Source—The data source will be visible to all users of the catalog.

• Private Data Source—The data source will be visible to the users allowed access to the data source by Data Source Admins.

You can add new Data Source Admin users in the Data Source Admins section.

General Settings

Note

The automatic lineage is not supported in this release.

Specify Application Settings if applicable. Click Save to save the changes after providing the information.

Parameter	Description
BI Connection Info	This parameter is used to generate lineage between the current data source and another source in the catalog, for example a BI source that retrieves data from the underlying database. The parameter accepts host and port information of the corresponding BI data source connection. Use the following format: host:port You can provide multiple values as a comma-separated list: 10.13.71.216:1541,sever.com:1542 Find more details in BI Connection Info.
Disable Automatic Lineage Generation	Select this checkbox to disable automatic lineage generation from QLI, MDE, and Compose queries. By default, automatic lineage generation is enabled.

Connector Settings

Populate the data source connection information and Save the values.

Data Source Connection

Parameter	Description
JDBC URI	Specify the JDBC URI in the required format.

Important

We recommend that you provide the values in the corresponding fields on the General Settings page instead of the JDBC URI field in the Datasource Connection section. Leave this field empty if all the connection properties you need are available in the user interface.

Authentication

Parameter	Description
Auth Scheme	Specify an authentication scheme that MongoDB uses to authenticate the connection. Available Options: MONGODB-CR: Use this to authenticate in MongoDB 2.x to MongoDB 3.5. X509: Use this for SSL authentication with a x.509 certificate file. SCRAM-SHA-1: Use this to authenticate if new users are created in MongoDB 3.x and MongoDB 4.x and are using the SHA-1 hashing function. SCRAM-SHA-256: Use this to authenticate if new users are created in MongoDB 3.x and MongoDB 4.x and are using the SHA-256 hashing function. GSSAPI: Use this for Kerberos authentication. PLAIN: Use this for LDAP authentication NONE: Default.
Server	Specify the server that hosts the MongoDB database. If you choose to connect using DNS seed lists, use format: <”mongodb+srv://” + the name of the server running the MongoDB instance>.
Port	Specify the MongoDB database port number.
User	Specify the username of the service account.
Password	Specify the password of the service account.
Database	Specify the name of the MongoDB database.
Use SSL	Select this to enable SSL connection. This is used to notify the OCF MongoDB driver to use an SSL handshake to complete the authentication process. By default, MongoDB Compass and MongoDB Atlas instances do not need SSL to be enabled. This is required only when a cluster on MongoDB is using the SSL.
Replica Set	Specify a list of primary servers that the provider queries from in addition to the specified server and port. Use the format: <Server=localhost;Port=27017;ReplicaSet=localhost:27018,localhost:27019;..>
DNS Server	Specify the DNS server for a MongoDB database using a DNS-constructed seed list. For example, specify 8.8.8.8 for Google DNS server.

Kerberos

Parameter	Description
Kerberos KDC	Specify the Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) service name. You can locate it with the domain controller. If unspecified, the KRB5_CONFIG environment variable uses the default MIT location to fetch the KRB5 config file to get the Kerberos properties. For Windows, C:ProgramDataMITKerberos5krb5.ini For Linux, /etc/krb5.conf
Kerberos Realm	Specify the Kerberos realm as defined by the administrator or domain name. If unspecified, the KRB5_CONFIG environment variable uses the default MIT location to fetch the KRB5 config file to get the Kerberos properties. For Windows, C:ProgramDataMITKerberos5krb5.ini For Linux, /etc/krb5.conf
Kerberos SPN	Specify the service principal name (SPN) for the Kerberos Domain Controller. Set this if the URL that you are authenticating to is different.
Kerberos Keytab File	Specify the Keytab file name that contains the pairs of Kerberos principals and encrypted keys.
Kerberos Service Realm	Specify the service that Kerberos realm uses if you’re using cross-realm Kerberos authentication.
Kerberos Service KDC	Specify the service that Kerberos KDC if you’re using cross-realm Kerberos authentication.
Kerberos Ticket Cache	Specify the file path to an MIT Kerberos credential cache file.

SSL

Available from the connector version 23.0.8867 or later.

Parameter	Description
SSL Client Cert	Specify the certificate store for the client certificate and select the appropriate file type from the options under SSL Client Cert Type.
SSL Client Cert Type	Specify the type of key store that contains the SSL client certificate. Available Options: USER: (Default) For Windows, this specifies that the certificate store is a certificate store owned by the current user. Note that this store type is not available in Java. MACHINE: For Windows, this specifies that the certificate store is a machine store. Note that this store type is not available in Java. PFXFILE: The certificate store is the name of a PFX (PKCS12) file containing certificates. PFXBLOB: The certificate store is a string (base64 encoded) representing a certificate store in PFX (PKCS12) format. JKSFILE: The certificate store is the name of a Java key store (JKS) file containing certificates. Note that this store type is only available in Java. JKSBLOB: The certificate store is a string (base64 encoded) representing a certificate store in JKS format. Note that this store type is only available in Java. PEMKEY_FILE: The certificate store is the name of a PEM-encoded file that contains a private key and an optional certificate. PEMKEY_BLOB: The certificate store is a string (base64 encoded) that contains a private key and an optional certificate. PUBLIC_KEY_FILE: The certificate store is the name of a file that contains a PEM- or DER-encoded public key certificate. PUBLIC_KEY_BLOB: The certificate store is a string (base64 encoded) that contains a PEM- or DER-encoded public key certificate. SSHPUBLIC_KEY_FILE: The certificate store is the name of a file that contains an SSH-style public key. SSHPUBLIC_KEY_BLOB: The certificate store is a string (base64 encoded) that contains an SSH-style public key. P7BFILE: The certificate store is the name of a PKCS7 file containing certificates. PPKFILE: The certificate store is the name of a file that contains a PPK (PuTTY Private Key). XMLFILE: The certificate store is the name of a file that contains a certificate in XML format. XMLBLOB: The certificate store is a string that contains a certificate in XML format.
SSL Client Cert Password	Specify the password for the client certificate. If the certificate store is of a type that requires a password, this property is used to specify that password to open the certificate store.
SSL Client Cert Subject	Specify the subject of the client certificate. The subject is a comma separated list of distinguished name fields and values. Consider the following points: If an exact match is not found, the store is searched for subjects containing the value of the property. If a match is still not found, the property is set to an empty string, and no certificate is selected. The special value * picks the first certificate in the certificate store.
SSL Server Cert	Specify the TLS/SSL certificate to be accepted from the server. Accepted Values: A full PEM Certificate A path to a local file containing the certificate The public key The MD5 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) The SHA1 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) If not specified, any certificate trusted by the machine is accepted. Certificates are validated as trusted by the machine based on the system’s trust store. The trust store used is the javax.net.ssl.trustStore value specified for the system. If no value is specified for this property, Java’s default trust store is used (for example, JAVA_HOMElibsecuritycacerts). Use * to signify to accept all certificates. Note that this is not recommended due to security concerns. Important SSL server certificate isn’t supported. If you use server certificate for connection, contact Alation Support.

SSH

Parameter	Description
Use SSH	Select this to enable SSH authentication.
SSH Auth Mode	Specify the authentication method to establish an SSH Tunnel to the service. Available Options: None: Requires no authentication and is used for anonymous logging. Password: Requires password of the current user. Public_Key: Requires the values of the current user and SSH Client Cert for authentication. SSH Client Cert must have a private key.
SSH Client Cert	Specify the client certificate that contains a valid private key. If a public key is unavailable for authentication, it is autogenerated from the private key. The SSH Client Cert Type field specifies the type of the key store specified by SSH Client Cert. If the store is password protected, specify the password in SSH Client Cert Password. Some types of key stores are containers which may include multiple keys. By default the provider will select the first key in the store, but you can specify a specific key using SSH Client Cert Subject.
SSH Client Cert Password	Specify the password of the SSH Client Cert. Required only when authenticating to SFTP servers with SSH Auth Mode set to Public Key and SSH Client Cert set to a private key.
SSH Client Cert Subject	Specify the subject of the SSH client certificate to locate the certificate in the store in comma-separated values. For example, CN=www.server.com, OU=test, C=US, E=support@alation.com. If you specify ‘*’, the first certificate in the certificate store is picked.
SSH Client Cert Type	Specify the type of SSH Client Cert private key. Default: PEMKEY_FILE Available Options: MACHINE/USER: Unsupported and unavailable. JKSFILE/JKSBLOB: A Java keystore file in base64 containing both a certificate and a private key. Only available in Java. PFXFILE/PFXBLOB: A PKCS12-format (.pfx) file base64 containing both a certificate and a private key. PEMKEY_FILE/PEMKEY_BLOB: A PEM-format file either in base64 or plain text containing RSA, DSA, or OPENSSH private key. Optionally, it contains a certificate matching the private key. PPKFILE/PPKBLOB: A PuTTY-format private key in base64 created using the puttygen tool. XMLFILE/XMLBLOB: An XML key either in base64 or plain text generated by the .NET RSA class: RSA.ToXmlString(true).
SSH Server	Specify the SSH Server.
SSH Port	Specify the SSH Port.
SSH User	Specify the SSH username.
SSH Password	Specify the SSH password for the user.
SSH Server Fingerprint	Specify the SSH server fingerprint.

Firewall

Parameter	Description
Firewall Type	Specify the protocol used by the proxy-based firewall for traffic tunneling. Available Options: TUNNEL: Opens a connection to MongoDB and traffic flows back and forth through the proxy. SOCKS4: Sends data through the SOCKSv4 proxy as specified in Firewall Server and Firewall Port. SOCKS5: Sends data through the SOCKSv5 proxy as specified in Firewall Server and Firewall Port.
Firewall Server	Specify the host name, DNS name, or IP address of the proxy-based firewall.
Firewall Port	Specify the TCP port of the proxy-based firewall.
Firewall User	Specify the user name to authenticate with the proxy-based firewall.
Firewall Password	Specify the password to authenticate with the proxy-based firewall.

Logging

Parameter	Description
Verbosity	Specify the verbosity level between 1 to 5 to include details in the log file.
Log Modules	Includes the core modules in the log files. Add module names separated by a semi-colon. By default, all modules are included.
Max Log File Count	Specify the maximum file count for log files. After the limit, the log file is rolled over and time is appended at the end of the file. The oldest log file is deleted. Maximum Value: 2 Default: -1. A negative or zero value indicates unlimited files.

Schema

Parameter	Description
Browsable Tables	Specify the schemas as subset of the available schemas in a comma separated list. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC
Tables	Specify the fully qualified name of the table as a subset of the available tables in a comma separated list. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC Each table must be a valid SQL identifier that might contain special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes, or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.
Views	Specify the fully qualified name of the Views as a subset of the available tables in a comma separated list. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC. Each table must be a valid SQL identifier that might contain special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes, or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Misc

Parameter	Description
Batch Size	Specify the maximum size of each batch operation. Default: 0
Built In Column Mapping	Specify a list of MongoDB built-in column names separated by comma to map them to new names. For example, _index=BuiltInIndex,P_id=Parent_Id
Connection Life Time	Specify the maximum limit for a connection to stay connected in seconds. Default: 0 indicates unlimited lifetime for a connection.
Data Model	Specify the data model to RELATIONAL to discover the metadata for a child table that extends to the root level. Default: DOCUMENT.
Flatten Arrays	Specify an arbitrary number to flatten the elements in a nested array into columns. By default, the nested arrays are returned as JSON strings. Set it to “-1” to flatten all the elements.
Flatten Objects	Select this to flatten the object properties in a nested array into columns. By default, the nested arrays are returned as JSON strings.
Generate Schema Files	Specify the preference when to generate and save the schemas. Available Options: Never: Doesn’t generate a schema file. OnUse: A schema file is generated the first time a table is referenced, provided the schema file for the table does not already exist. In SQL, the schemas are generated as you execute SELECT queries. OnStart: A schema file is generated at connection time for any tables that do not currently have a schema file. OnCreate: A schema file is generated when running a CREATE TABLE SQL query.
Max Rows	Specify the limit for the number of rows returned if no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
No Cursor Timeout	Select this to prevent the timeout for an idle cursor that is inactive for more than 10 minutes.
Other	Specify the caching, integration, or formatting properties in a list format separated by a semicolon. Available Options: Caching Configuration: CachePartial=True: Caches only a subset of columns specified in the query. QueryPassthrough=True: Passes the specified query to the cache database instead of using the SQL parser of the provider. Integration and Formatting: DefaultColumnSize: Sets the default length of string fields when the data source does not provide column length in the metadata. The default value is 2000. ConvertDateTimeToGMT: Converts date-time values to GMT instead of the local time of the machine. RecordToFile=filename: Records the underlying socket data transfer to a specified file.
Pagesize	Specify the maximum number of results to return per page from MongoDB. A higher value results in better performance but uses more memory.
Pool Idle Timeout	Specify the idle time for a connection in a pool. Default: 60 seconds
Pool Max Size	Specify the maximum number for connections in a pool. To disable, set the value to 0 or less. Default: 100
Pool Min Size	Specify the minimum number for connections in a pool. Default: 1
Pool Wait Time	Specify the maximum wait duration for a connection to become available. If a new connection request is in wait for an available connection but exceeds the time, an error is thrown. By default, new connection requests have a forever wait time for an available connection. Default: 60 seconds
Pseudo Columns	Specify the pseudo columns in the comma-separated list to be added as columns to the table. For example, “Table1=Column1, Table1=Column2, Table2=Column3”. Use the ‘*’ character to include all tables and columns in this format: “=”
Query Passthrough	Select this to pass a query to MongoDB without any change.
Readonly	Select this to enforce only SELECT queries to work on MongoDB.
Read Preference	Specify to execute queries to a member in a replica set other than the primary member. Available Options: primary: (Default) Executes all SELECT queries against the primary server. primaryPreferred: Executes SELECT queries against the primary server but uses the secondary server when the primary server is unavailable. secondary: Executes all SELECT queries against the secondary servers. secondaryPreferred: Executes SELECT queries against the secondary server but uses the primary server when the secondary server is unavailable. nearest: Executes SELECT queries to the server with least latency.
Read Preference Tags	Specify this to target a replica set member or members that are associated with tags. Use this when Read Preference is set to a value other than the default value. Available Options: tag1:val1,tag2:val2;: Targets members with both tag values. If not found, targets any eligible member. tag1:val1;tag2:val2;: Targets members with the specified tag1, otherwise targets members with the specified tag2. If not found, targets any eligible member. tag1:val1: Targets members only with the specified tag. “;” (semicolon only): Targets any eligible member. If unspecified, targets any eligible member.
Row Scan Depth	Specify the maximum number of rows to scan for the available columns in a table. Set it to “-1” to scan an arbitrary number of rows.
Slave OK	Select this to read from the secondary (slave) servers in a replica set.
Timeout	Specify the time limit in seconds after which the operation is canceled and an error is thrown. A value of 0 specifies that the operation never times out until completion or failure. Default: 60 seconds
Type Detection Scheme	Specify how to scan data to determine the fields and datatypes in a document collection. Available Options: None: Returns all columns as strings. Rowscan: Scans rows to heuristically determine the data type. Recent: Scans the rows to heuristically determine the data type for the recent documents in a collection.
Update Scheme	Specify how to modify the target document with the original when you use UPDATE query. Available Options: Default: Replaces the original document with the target document. Merge: Merges the original document with the target document.
Use Connection Pooling	Select this to enable connection pooling.
Use Find API	Select this to execute MongoDB queries using db.collection.find().
User Defined Views	Specify the file path pointing to the JSON configuration file that contains custom views.
Write Concern	Specify the level of acknowledgment requests that denote the write operation has propagated to the specified number of MongoDB instances. For more information, see the MongoDB documentation about Write Concern. Default: 0
Write Concern Journaled	Select this to make Write Concern acknowledgement requests mandatory for MongoDB instances written on to the on-disk journal.
Write Concern Timeout	Specify a time limit in milliseconds for Write Concern. Default: 0
Write Scheme	Specify how to determine object type for the inserted or updated objects. Available Options: RawValue: The type of the object in the INSERT query determines the object type for MongoDB. Metadata: Uses value from Type Detection Scheme to determine the object type for MongoDB.

Obfuscate Literals

Obfuscate Literals—Enable this toggle to hide actual values in the query statements that are ingested during query log ingestion or executed in Compose. This toggle is disabled by default.

Test Connection

Under Test Connection, click Test to validate network connectivity.

If the connection test fails, make sure the JDBC URI and service account credentials are correct.

Logging Configuration

Select the logging level for the connector logs and save the values by clicking Save in this section. The available log levels are based on the Log4j framework.

Parameter	Description
Log level	Select the log level to generate logs. The available options are INFO, DEBUG, WARN, TRACE, ERROR, FATAL, ALL.

Metadata Extraction

You can configure metadata extraction (MDE) for an OCF data source on the Metadata Extraction tab of the Settings page. Refer to Configure Metadata Extraction for OCF Data Sources for information about the available configuration options.

This connector supports default query-based MDE. Custom query-based extraction is not supported.

Compose

MongoDB OCF Connector supports the query service to perform the following tasks:

• Create a connection

• Perform SQL queries on the connection

• Execute single and multi line queries

• View error messages

• Download Microsoft Excel live report

Enable Query Service

By default, the Query Service feature is disabled. Enable it by setting the alation.connector.query_service.enabled feature flag.

alation_conf alation.connector.query_service.enabled -s True
alation_action restart_alation

For details about configuring the Compose tab of the Settings page, refer to Configure Compose for OCF Data Sources.

Sampling and Profiling

Sampling and profiling is supported. For details, see Configure Sampling and Profiling for OCF Data Sources.

Troubleshooting

Refer to Troubleshooting for information about logs.