Data Sources

Purpose

The Data Sources page in the Admin Console lets you integrate Appian with external databases using a JDBC connection by adding, updating, and removing named connection configurations called data sources. These data sources are available for designers to use in their applications through data stores and the Query Database smart service.

Access

To access the Data Sources page, go to the Admin Console. Then, in the left navigation menu, under Integration, click Data Sources.

Settings

A data source consists of the following fields:

• Name: The name of the data source that will appear in the Appian design interfaces, such as the data store designer. It is recommended that this name begins with "jdbc/". If you are using multiple environments, a data source with the same name must be created in each environment.
• Type: The type of database you wish to connect to.
  • Note: If you are using Amazon Aurora, select the type of database that best matches your Aurora version. For example, if you are using Aurora PostgreSQL, simply choose PostgreSQL. However, if you are using Aurora MySQL, then you should select the specific option for Aurora MySQL. The non-Aurora MySQL data source option is not advised as it utilizes a different JDBC driver than AWS recommends.
• Username: The username for connecting to the data source
• Password: The password for connecting to the data source. The password will be stored in an encrypted format, not in plain text.
• Connection String: The URL for the data source. Should include the hostname, port, and database name of the data source, but the exact syntax will vary by database type. If you do not know the URL for the data source, consult your database administrator. Please refer to Configuring Relational Databases page for special considerations for individual databases while configuring them for use with Appian.

You cannot create a data source with the same name as the Appian data source. For self-managed customers, this name is specified in the webapp.dataSources.primary.name field in the Appian CR configuration file.

See also: Business Data Sources

Enabling one-way SSL/TLS connections

You can use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) in Appian to encrypt a connection to a supported database. SSL/TLS connections provide an additional layer of security by encrypting data transferred between Appian and your database instance or cluster.

In one-way SSL, only Appian validates the server certificate to ensure that it receives data from the intended database server.

To enable one-way SSL/TLS connections to an Appian-supported database:

1. Enable SSL/TLS on your database server.
2. Ensure that a valid SSL certificate has been uploaded to the Trusted Server Certificates in the Admin Console, especially if you are using a self-signed or private certificate authority (CA) signed SSL certificate on your database server.

3. Add SSL connection properties to your database connection URL.

   The following list example connection URLs for each supported database:

   • MariaDB:
     jdbc:mariadb://yourserver.example.com:3306/your_db_name?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true&useSSL=true&sslMode=VERIFY_IDENTITY
   • MySQL:
     jdbc:mysql://yourserver.example.com:3306/your_db_name?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true&useSSL=true&sslMode=VERIFY_IDENTITY
   • Oracle:
     jdbc:oracle:thin:@(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcps)(HOST=yourserver.example.com)(PORT=2484))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=YOUR_DB_NAME)))
   • SQL Server:
     jdbc:sqlserver://yourserver.example.com:1433;databaseName=your_db_name;encrypt=true;sslProtocol=TLS;trustServerCertificate=false
   • PostgreSQL:
     jdbc:postgresql://yourserver.example.com:5432/your_db_name?escapeSyntaxCallMode=callIfNoReturn&ssl=true&sslmode=verify-full

Feedback