Managing external integrations

1. General description

Management of external integrations plays a critical role in ensuring information exchange between different systems and data sources.

REST (Representational State Transfer) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) are two main protocols used for interaction with other registries and systems to transmit data.

REST, based on the HTTP protocol, allows interaction with other registries on the Platform and external systems by sending requests and receiving responses in JSON format.
SOAP, on the other hand, uses an XML schema to interact with other systems, enabling the invocation of methods and passing parameters using a specific set of rules.

Key principles of integration with other registries and systems:

  1. The registry regulations do not contain environment-specific settings to ensure consistency of settings across all instances.

  2. The registry regulations do not contain any confidential data in any form to prevent unauthorized use.

  3. Configuration settings for external integrations are not duplicated and are centrally used to ensure consistency.

  4. Adding external systems for integration with the registry does not require manual configuration of network policies to facilitate fast and secure integration.

  5. Secrets with access parameters to external systems are stored in a secure vault service called HashiCorp Vault to prevent unauthorized access to this data.

  6. The registry administrator configures integrations with other systems at the registry instance level in the Control Plane administrative panel, including integration protocol, address, authentication protocol, secrets, etc.

  7. The registry administrator is responsible for secret rotation and access parameter management for external systems.

  8. The administrator provides minimal pre-configuration at the registry regulation level for the use of external integrations in business processes.

  9. Integration with third-party systems requires additional configuration at the registry regulation level, including defining a list of operations and their types used by the registry through the standard integration connector extension Connect to external system (REST connector).

    For Platform versions 1.9.3 and above, major configurations are performed at the registry instance level in the Control Plane console.

    For versions 1.9.2 and below, all configurations are performed at the registry regulations level.

Interaction settings with external systems are only possible during registry editing.

2. Integration interaction types

The platform allows for flexible integration with other registries and systems and supports the following interaction:
SOAP API

Interaction through the API using SOAP integration connectors. This is the primary type of integration interaction. An instance of the API is installed at the Platform level. Each external system of this kind must have an instance of the API installed on its side and be a registered participant in the unified secure space, where SOAP is the main protocol of integration interaction.

REST API

Interaction with other registries on the Platform and external systems beyond its boundaries through REST interfaces. This is an additional type of connection that extends the capabilities of integration interaction.

2.1. Data exchange with other systems using REST

The integration REST interaction of registries with other registries on the Platform and external systems allows the transfer of data from one registry to another or between external systems using REST requests.

REST (Representational State Transfer) is a software architecture style for creating web services. In the REST architecture, there are a set of constraints that ensure the interaction between the client and the server. REST utilizes the HTTP protocol for data transmission.

Such interaction utilizes the REST API and HTTP requests to obtain information. The interface can provide access to the registry’s functionality and allow reading and modifying data. Data is transmitted in the JSON format. Data can be transferred in both directions - from the external system to the registry or from the registry to the external system.

To set up the interaction with other systems using REST, you need to:

  1. Configure the interaction with registries in the Control Plane administrative panel.

    For more information, see Configuring integrations with external systems in Control Plane.

  2. Perform minimal configuration at the regulations level.

    For more information, see REST-конектор: налаштування регламенту.

  3. Model data exchange with other systems in business processes using the Connect to external system REST integration connector.

    For more information, see REST-конектор: моделювання у бізнес-процесі.
For a detailed information on REST integration, see Interacting via REST between Platform registries and with external systems.

3. Additional video materials