Add Plant Applications Data Source (Classic)

Creates a Plant Applications data source.

Before you begin

Provide a name, product, and description for your data source.

About this task

Plant Applications is a combination of relational database system and REST connections.

Procedure

  1. If you selected Plant Applications as the product, then enter these details for Enable Relational Database Connection.
    Field Name Description
    Database Type Currently, Microsoft SQL Server is the only supported database type.
    Host Enter the IP address or host name of database server. For example: 10.181.213.211 or databaseserver01.
    Note: If using a SQL named instance, enter the host name in the format ServerName\InstanceName. For example: databaseserver01\SQLEXPRESS.
    Port Enter the port number to connect to the SQL Server.
    Note: If using a SQL named instance, enter the exact port of the SQL named instance.
    Database Enter the database name to connect.
    Certificate Required Select the check box if connecting to the data source requires SSL certificates.

    Select Choose Certificate to browse to your system and add certificates.
  2. Enter these details for SQL Authentication Settings.
    Field Name Description
    User Name Enter the user name for the database you want to access.
    Password Enter the password of the user configured in the database.
    Test

    Select to check whether the database connection is established using the server and authentication details.

    A message confirms on a successful connection to the database.

    If test fails, the message provides more details on the failure.
  3. Enter these details for Enable REST Connection.
    Field Name Description
    Base URL Enter the URL of the data source in the following format: https://<host name or IP address of the data source>:<port number>
    REST Authentication Required Select the check box if authentication to a REST API is required. If selected, Operations Hub sends authorization details along with a request while connecting to a data source.
    Auth Type Appears when the REST Authentication Required check box is selected.
    Select one of the following types of authentication:
    • Basic Auth: Sends a verified user name and password along with the request.
    • Bearer Token: Sends an access key along with the request.
    • OAuth: Retrieves an access key to access an API, and then uses the key to authenticate future requests.
    Important: For connecting to a Custom REST data source such as eAndon, select OAuth for authentication.

    Depending on the authentication type you select, a few boxes appear.
    Auth Token Appears when the Bearer Token authentication type is selected.

    Enter the access key required to authenticate the APIs. The access key is included in the request header.
    Auth Grant Type Appears when the OAuth authentication type is selected.
    Select one of the following types of granting the authentication:
    • client_credentials
    • password
    Auth URL Enter the URL for the endpoint of the authentication server. This value is used to exchange the authorization code for an access token.
    Auth Client Id Appears when the OAuth authentication type is selected.

    The client identifier issued to the client during the application registration process.
    Auth Client Secret Appears when the OAuth authentication type is selected.

    The client secret issued to the client during the application registration process.
    Ignore TLS/SSL Select the check box if verifying SSL certification can be ignored. Normally, this check box is cleared when using the data source in a production environment, which implies that SSL certification will be verified while connecting to the data source. If, however, you want to troubleshoot issues with connecting to a data source, you may select this check box to isolate certification issues.
    Certificate Required Select the check box if connecting to the data source requires SSL certificates.

    Select Choose Certificate to browse to your system and add certificates.
    Auth Certificate If you want to provide a certificate for authentication, select Choose Certificate and navigate to the certificate. Alternatively, you can select the Use Datasource Certificate check box if you want to use the same certificate that is used by the data source.
    Note: You can use certificates only in the base-64-encoded format. A DER-encoded certificate is not supported.
    Test Select to test the connection. A message appears, confirming whether token from the OAuth data source is retrieved. The connection is tested using the authentication details of the REST APIs, including the authentication URL; the data source base URL is not used.
    Note: You can create multiple data sources with the same URL. After you restart the services, the Data Distributor service uses the most recently saved System API authentication settings for the URL. Therefore, if the most recently saved credentials do not work, you cannot connect to the data source. To fix this issue, modify the data source to specify working credentials, and then test the data source. We recommend that you do not save the data sources that do not pass the test or data sources with the same URL.
  4. Select Save.

Results