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MongoDB Backend

This document describes the boomerang-express storage backend for mongodb, how to configure it and how it works.

What is it?

The mongodb backend filters and stores incoming beacons in a mongodb database. This database may then be queried for the beacon data and evaluated in the context you require it in.

How it Works

Once boomerang-express has filtered through the requested data and formed a filtered version of what has been sent to the beacon-server, the backend takes over and uses the data to check against the database to see if the beacon data is allowed to be saved in mongodb. For this two(2) collections have to be added to the mongodb database:

  • users: a collection to hold the usernames and where they came from
  • collections: a collection describing the sites and their allowed beacon data to be stored in the database

db.users collection

A document in the users collection may look like this:

{
  "_id" : "54579344c",
  "name" : "amarschke",
  "via" : "ldapauth"
}

where the keys and values are to be understood as so:

  • _id: The mongodb unique _id of the document. The string representation of this field will be the later link between the collections and the user
  • name: The username that was used to login at an eventual frontend
  • via: authentication source the user came from. This is interesting to youf you want to use multiple autentication sources to your frontend to exist.

db.webcollections collection

Here a document may look like this:

{
  "_id" : ObjectId("545b56eb09094bbcaba8ad4f"),
  "types" : [
    "beacon"
  ],
  "name" : "demo-webpage",
  "owner" : "54579344cbf7586a01f06d37",
  "locations" : [
    {
      "url" : "http://localhost:4000",
      "shared" : false
    }
  ]
}

This collection and existance of documents in that collection are mandatory for a working system.

Here the configuration works like this:

  • _id: The mongodb unique _id of the document
  • types: Array of Strings that describe the allowed types of metrics to store in the database
  • name: The name of the collection i.e. Site this set of metrics will be referenced by.
  • owner: As mentioned above the string representation of the id of the user this collection is owned by
  • locations: An Array of Objects containing the keys:
    • url: The URL Referrer from which the beacon was issued from
    • shared: boolean determinig if the urlvalue should be taken literally and matched from its host against the incoming beacon or if the URL points to a shared hosted solution where your site may only be a small part of the overall sites. If it is true boomerang-express expects the url to contain an asterisk(*) at which deviations may occur and the rest of the URL (Host and Path and Paramters if applicable) are matched against a the incoming beacon.

Configuration

The mongodb backend is configured using the config/master.json configuration-file. All configuration for this backend resides underneath the top "datastore" object.

A valid configuration may look like this:

"datastore" : {
  "active" : "mongodb",
  "mongodb" : {
    "db" : "boomerang",
	"options" : {
  	  "poolSize": 5,
	  "buffer": -1
	},
	"server" : {
	  "host" : "mongodb.example.org",
	  "port" : 27017,
	  "secure": false
	}
  }
}

datastore.active

String representation of the currently active datastore backend

If none is given boomerang-express will shut down and end the process.

datastore.mongodb.db

String name of the database on your mongodb instance that will hold your data.

Default: "test"

datastore.mongodb.options.poolSize

Number of pooled connections to your mongodb you wish to keep open at all times to send data to your server to.

Default: 5

datastore.mongodb.options.buffer

Number of buffered operations (reads,writes) to your mongodb instance before failing because no working connection has been established. If you work on a less reliable operation basis or connections to your mongodb may break during operation (ie. boomerang-express-server and datastore are on different-sites connected through the internet with a vpn/mpls) you may use this to still get your beacon data to the mongodb store at a "later" point.

Default: 100

datastore.mongodb.server.host

String hostname to which to connect as the mongodb host.

Default: localhost

datastore.mongodb.server.port

Port Number on which the mongodb instance listens to.

Default: 27017

datastore.mongodb.server.secure

Object containing secure configuration for your mongodb instance.

If you do not use a secure connection to your mongodb instance you may set "secure" to false.

An example configuration for a secure connection may look like this:

"secure": {
  "ca": "/path/to/cert.ca",
  "key": "/path/to/cert.key",
  "pass": "password"
}

The meaning of these configuration options are:

secure.ca

String of an absolute path to the *.pem file certificate of the Certificate Authority

Default: null

secure.key

String of an absolute path to the *.pem file containing the SSL certificate and key for the connection.

Default: null

secure.pass

String password in cleartext for the certificate key