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Accessing On-prem
On-prem Agent

# Connection Profiles

A single Workato on-prem agent (OPA) can connect to multiple on-prem applications. A connection profile uniquely identifies each application and contains configuration information required to connect.

# Basics

# What's a connection profile?

A connection profile is a file that uniquely identifies and contains information for an on-prem application. Profiles are stored in a configuration file located at <INSTALL_HOME>/conf/config.yml.

A typical config file looks something like this:

database:
  profile1:   # Connection names can't contain 
    ...       # spaces or special characters
  profile2:   # But may contain underscores (_) and hyphens (-)
    ...

files:
  profile3:
    ...
  profile4:
    ...

jms:
  profile5:
    ...

ldap:
  profile6:
    ...

server:
  classpath:
    ...
  staging:
    ...

# What types of systems can I connect to?

A config.yml file can contain profiles for the following system types:

You can also configure proxy servers for OPAs installed on a server with limited internet connectivity.

# How do I apply a new configuration?

By default, your OPA must be restarted whenever a change is made to config.yml. Refer to the Running your on-prem agent guide for more info.

To allow the on-prem agent apply the changes automatically, add the following to the top of your config.yml file to use the autoReload option

config:
  autoReload: true

When enabled, changes made to config.yml will be picked up by autoReload. You won't need to manually restart the OPA.

AUTORELOAD AND SERVER PROFILES

autoReload doesn't apply to changes made to server profiles. To apply these changes, manually start and stop the OPA.

# Database Profiles

Database connection profiles provide the information your OPA uses to connect to a database. Connection profiles are located in the database section of config.yml.

OPA supports connections to multiple databases. Add a section under the database key for each database you want to connect to. For example:

database:
  your-connection-name:         # Specify the connection name, ex: sales-database
    adapter: sqlserver
    host: localhost
    port: 1433
    database: sales
    username: sales_analyst
    password: secretPassword456

In this section, we'll cover:

# Profile Properties

Database connection profiles can contain the following properties:

Name Type Description
adapter optional The type of database the profile is for. For example, if the profile is for a PostgreSQL database, this value would be postgresql.

Must be one of the databases supported by OPA. Refer to the configuration example for more info.
url optional The JDBC connection URL for the database. For example, jdbc:postgresql://sales.database:5432/sales connects to a PostgreSQL database.

Note: A url or host value must be provided to fully configure the connection profile.

Refer to the configuration example for more info.
host optional The host address of the database. For example, localhost.

Note: A url or host value must be provided to fully configure the connection profile.
port optional The port of the database. If using the default port for a database type, this property may be omitted.

For example, PostgreSQL databases use port 5432 by default. If your PostgreSQL uses this port, you don't need to add a port property to the connection profile.

Default ports are listed in the Supported databases section.
database optional The name of the database. For example: sales

Note: This property may be omitted if the url property is provided.
username required The username of a database user that will be used to connect to the database.
password required The password of the database user (username). This value can be a secret from an external secrets manager. Refer to the configuration example for more info.
driverClass required Required only for JDBC connections. The fully-qualified name of the JDBC driver class for the given database. The driver class must be available on the agent's classpath property.
ssl optional Options for configuring SSL connections. SSL is supported for the following databases:
  • MySQL - version 5.7 and higher
  • PostgreSQL - version 11.x and higher
 Contains the following properties:
Name Type Description
cert required The file path to the SSL certificate.
trustAll optional If true, forces the client to trust any certificate chain. Self-signed server certificates are supported. Defaults to false.
verifyHost optional If true, the name stored in the server certificate will be matched against the domain name. Defaults to false.

# Supported Databases

The following table contains information about the databases OPA currently supports, including:

  • Database name: The name of the database
  • Adapter: The adapter value for the database. This value is used to specify the type of database OPA is connecting to.
  • Default port: The default port for the database
  • Notes: Notes about configuring the database
Database name Adapter Default port Notes
Amazon Redshift redshift 5439
JDBC-compatible databases jdbc Requires the following:
  • url and driverClass properties in the connection profile
  • A configured server profile
Refer to the JDBC example for more info.
Microsoft SQL Server sqlserver 1433
MySQL mysql 3306
Oracle oracle 1521 If using Oracle Service, the url property is required.

If using a SID, either the adapter or url properties may be used.

Refer to the Oracle example for more info.
PostgreSQL postgresql 5432

# Example Configurations

Click the blocks to display the example.

Using the adapter property

The following example uses the adapter property to connect to Microsoft SQL Server and Amazon Redshift databases:

database:
  sales:
    adapter: sqlserver
    host: localhost
    port: 1433
    database: sales
    username: sales_analyst
    password: secretPassword123
  operations:
    adapter: redshift
    host: localhost
    port: 5439
    database: customers
    username: cs_analyst
    password: secretPassword789
Using the url property

The following example uses the url property to connect to a PosgreSQL database.

database:
  sales:
    url: jdbc:postgresql://sales.database:5432/sales
    username: sales_analyst
    password: secretPassword123
    ApplicationName: workato
Using a secret for the password property

The following example uses a secret from an external secrets manager to provide the database password. Refer to the Secrets Manager for more info.

database:
  sales_database:
    adapter: sqlserver
    host: localhost
    port: 1433
    database: test
    username: sales_user
    password: { secret: 'sales-db-password-password' }
Connecting to Oracle databases

You can connect to either a SID or Service when connecting to Oracle databases.

If using a SID, you can use either the adapter or url property.

If using a Service, the url property must be provided:

database:
  erp:
    url: jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521/PROD
    username: admin
    password: SecretPassword456
Connecting to JDBC-compatible databases

Connections to JDBC-compatible databases require the following:

database:
  tpc:
    url: jdbc:presto://warehouse.intra:8889/tpch
    driverClass: com.facebook.presto.jdbc.PrestoDriver
    adapter: jdbc
    username: my_user

server:
  classpath: jdbc
Enabling SSL

The following example configures SSL for a PostgreSQL database.

Note: Currently, SSL connections are supported for MySQL (5.7+) and PostgreSQL (11+) databases.

database:
  sales:
    adapter: postgresql
    host: localhost
    port: 5432
    database: sales
    username: sales_analyst
    password: secretPassword123
    ssl:
      cert: /path/client_ca.crt
      trustAll: false
      verifyHost: true

# On-prem Files Profile

Working with on-prem files requires you to define a file system profile in the files section. You need to specify the base folder for file access as it will be used for resolving relative paths. A folder named HR in the C:\Documents\ directory will be configured like this:

files:
  hrfiles:
    base: "C:\\Documents\\HR"

In another example, if you wish to provide access to the employees folder in the Desktop directory, the configuration will have a file path that looks something like this:

files:
  hrfiles:
    base: "/Users/me/Desktop/employees"

# SAP Profile

For a SAP connection profile, you must define the server and sap section together.

In the Server profile, the lib_ext is the directory where you put the SAP JCo connector libraries. If this directory is not already created, create this directory under the root directory of the OPA and put the SAP JCo connector libraries there. The lib_ext folder should contain sap-connector-impl-X.X.jar. Learn more about the Server profile.

There are two connection types that the SAP connector supports - Direct connections or Message Server connections.

SAP default ports

Our SAP connector uses these ports by default:

  • Via SAP Message Server : 36xx (where xx is SAP system number)
  • W/o SAP Message Server, e.g. direct call to SAP : 33xx (with SNC) and 48xx (w/o SNC)

Furthermore for HTTP(s) inbound communication (for example for consuming REST OData services, SOAP WebServices etc. provisioned from SAP) ports are per default 8000 (HTTP) and 44300 (HTTPs). If this ports have been setup on SAP in custom way, port numbers can be figured out in SAP by

  1. Go to the ICM Monitor ( SMICM ) transaction.
  2. Choose Goto Services to display the services configured in ICM and correlated ports.

If these ports differ from our defaults, please contact Workato support.

# SAP - Direct Connection

Below is the example of Direct connection type. Use this connection type if SAP system is directly exposed as an application server.

server:
  classpath:
    - lib_ext

sap:
  # Direct connection to an ABAP application server
  sap_profile_1: # This is on-prem agent connection profile name
    network_connection:
      gateway_host: "xx.xx.xx.xx"
      system_number: "00"
      program_id: "WORKATO"  # Only needed if you are using IDocs. This can be omitted for connections that only use RFCs.
    user_logon:
      client: "800"
      language: "EN"
      user: "USERN"
      password: "PASSW"
Parameter Description Click to expand image
gateway_host Could be either DNS name or IP address. If present, this describes a direct connection to SAP host. Could be in the format xx.xx.xx.xx. This is the IP Address of the SAP application server you are connecting directly. This can be seen on the SAP Logon Pad which is used to login to your on-premise SAP Application server. Host
system_number Two digit SAP system number. It identifies the logical port on which the application server is listening for incoming requests. Commonly found from the TCP Port 33XX where XX is the system_number System number
program_id OPTIONAL. Only needed when IDOCs are used in recipes. This matches the program ID given to the RFC destination linked to Workato in Tcode SM59. This is defaulted to WORKATO if not supplied. Program ID
client The actual client number which is used for connecting to Workato. Use the same one you log into with your SAP Logon Pad. It's always a 3 digit integer. Client
language OPTIONAL. Represents the logon language. If the property is not provided, the user's or system's default language is used. Valid values are two-character ISO language codes or one-character SAP language codes. Language
user SAP user provisioned for Workato. Using background user and disabling dialog properties are recommended. User
password SAP user password. Password

# SAP - Message Server Connection

Below is the example of messageserver connection type. Use this connection type when SAP system is behind message server gateway.

server:
  classpath:
    - lib_ext

sap:
  # Message Server connection to an ABAP application server
  sap_profile_2: # This is on-prem agent connection profile name
    network_connection:
      message_server_host: "10.30.xx.xx"
      logon_group: "PUBLIC"
      system_id: "DEV"
      program_id: "WORKATO" # Only needed if you are using IDocs. This can be omitted for connections that only use RFCs.
    user_logon:
      client: "800"
      language: "EN"
      user: "USERN"
      password: "PASSW"
Parameter Description Click to expand image
message_server_host Message Server host in the format of xx.xx.xx.xx. This is the IP Address of the Message Server you are connecting. Message Server Host
logon_group (Optional) Logical group name of the application servers. Can be found in SAP Tcode SMLG Group
system_id The system ID of the system the message server belongs to. See SAP Note 52959 in case of connection error.
program_id OPTIONAL. Only needed when IDOCs are used in recipes. This matches the program ID given to the RFC destination linked to Workato in Tcode SM59. This is defaulted to WORKATO if not supplied. Program ID
client The actual client number which is used for connecting to Workato. Use the same one you log into with your SAP Logon Pad. It's always a 3 digit integer. Client
language OPTIONAL. Represents the logon language. If the property is not provided, the user's or system's default language is used. Valid values are two-character ISO language codes or one-character SAP language codes. Language
user SAP user provisioned for Workato. Using background user and disabling dialog properties are recommended. User
password SAP user password. Password

# JMS Profile

JMS connection profiles must be defined in the jms section. A JMS provider is specified by provider property of a connection profile. The following JMS providers are supported by the on-prem agent:

Messaging service provider
Amazon Simple Queue Service amazon-sqs or sqs
Apache ActiveMQ activemq
Azure Service Bus custom

# Amazon SQS

You need the following configuration properties when connecting to Amazon SQS:

jms:
  MyAmazonProfile:
    provider: amazon-sqs
    region: <Your Amazon API region, eg 'us-east-2'>
    accessKey: <Your Amazon API access key>
    secretKey: <Your Amazon API secret>

Note that you need to make sure your SQS queue is created before sending messages.

# Apache ActiveMQ

For connecting to a running ActiveMQ broker you only need to specify the broker URL:

jms:
  MyActiveMQProfile:
    provider: activemq
    url: tcp://localhost:61616

ActiveMQ broker cannot be embedded into the agent. Using any vm:// broker connections is not supported.

# Azure Service Bus

Azure Service Bus uses custom JMS provider. You will need the following configuration properties when connecting to Azure Service Bus:

jms:
  azureServiceBus:
    provider: custom
    class: org.apache.qpid.jms.JmsConnectionFactory
    remoteURI: amqps://<host-name>.servicebus.windows.net
    username: <policy-name>
    password: "<primary-key>"

Download jar files from here (opens new window) and extract it inside the lib_ext folder.

Add the classpath inside the config.yml file. Learn more about the classpath property.

server:
 classpath: lib_ext

# Apache Kafka Profile

Kafka connection profiles must be defined in the kafka section. You need the following configuration properties when connecting to Kafka:

kafka:
  MyKafkaProfile:
    ... connection properties ...

You can provide any Kafka producer (opens new window) or consumer (opens new window) configuration properties, for example, bootstrap.servers or batch_size.

However, some properties are overridden by the on-prem agent and cannot be configured. You will get a warning when trying to redefine a protected property. Some examples of these protected properties:

Property name Comment
key.serializer Only StringSerializer is supported by agent
value.serializer Only StringSerializer is supported by agent
key.deserializer Only StringSerializer is supported by agent
value.deserializer Only StringSerializer is supported by agent
auto.offset.reset Defined by recipes
enable.auto.commit Defined internally

Workato Agent also supports the following (non-Kafka) configuration properties:

Property name Description
timeout General operation timeout, milliseconds.
url Comma-separated list of server URLs where protocol is either kafka or kafka+ssl.
ssl.truststore Allows inlining of PEM-encoded truststore for secure connection to Kafka
ssl.keystore.key Allows inlining of private key for secure connection to Kafka
ssl.keystore.cert Allows inlining of client certificate for secure connection to Kafka

ssl.* options above can be used when connecting to Kafka using SSL/TLS and allows you to keep PEM-encoded certificates and private keys inside the config.yml file. Any YAML-compatible multiline syntax could be used, for instance:

kafka:
  MyKafkaProfile:
    ssl.truststore:
    |
      -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
      502mPNNAYkY4a7Zu84DLCXLFurEa4BhLBqLkzC6WdTrBN9z6Rp/svTIl6VgjSTP6
      .....
      -----END CERTIFICATE-----

Note that password-protected private keys cannot be inlined.

# Active Directory Profile

Active Directory connection profiles must be defined in the ldap section. Example profile:

ldap:
  active_directory_main:
    url:
      - ldap://acme1.ldap.com:389
      - ldaps://acme2.ldap.com:636
    username: Administrator
    password: foobar
    base: dc=acme,dc=com
    ssl:
      cert: /path/to/PEM-encoded-certificate-or-trusted-CA
      trustAll: true
Property name Description
url
required		 The URL of the LDAP server to use. The URL should be in the format ldap://myserver.example.com:389.

For SSL access, use the LDAPS protocol. The URL format is in the same format ldaps://myserver.example.com:636.

If fail-over functionality is desired, you can provide more than one URL.
username
required		 The username (principal) to use when authenticating with the LDAP server. This will usually be the distinguished name of an admin user. For example, cn=Administrator or simply Administrator.
password
required		 The password (credentials) to use when authenticating with the LDAP server
base
optional		 The base DN for all requests. When this attribute has been configured, all Distinguished names supplied to and received from LDAP operations will be relative to this LDAP path. This can significantly simplify working against a large LDAP tree.

However there are several occasions when you will need to have access to the base path. For more information on this, please refer to Obtaining a reference to the base LDAP path.
ssl
optional		 cert Path the PEM encoded certificate or a trusted CA.
pem Full content of a PEM encoded certificate.
key Private key for mutual SSL setup. Required if pem is provided.
trustAll Set to true to enable self-signed certificates.

# HTTP Profile

The http configuration section allows configuring agent access to internal HTTPS resources:

http:
  trustAll: true
  verifyHost: true

The agent may be configured to allow accessing internal HTTPS resources which use self-signed certificates. To enable self-signed certificates set trustAll property to true.

Normally a server certificate's Common Name (or Subject Alternate Name) field should match the target hostname. If you want the agent to accept server certificates with non-matching hostname, disable hostname verification by setting verifyHost property to false (defaults to true).

# NTLM Profile

Certain HTTP resources require NTLM authentication. This can be done using a NTLM connection profile. Here are some example NTLM profiles:

ntlm:
  MyNtlmProfile:
    auth: "username:password@domain/workstation"
    base_url: "http://myntlmhost.com"
    cm_default_max_per_route: 15
    cm_max_total: 100
    verifyHost: true
    trustAll: false

  AnotherNtlmProfile:
    auth: "domain/workstation"
    username: "username"
    password: "password"
    base_url: "http://myntlmhost.com"
    cm_default_max_per_route: 15
    cm_max_total: 100
    verifyHost: true
    trustAll: false

The following profile properties are supported:

Property name Description
auth Full NTLM authentication credentials. This can include username, password, domain, and workstation.

For OPA version 2.4.7 or later, username and password can be configured separately if they contain special characters like @ and /.
username Username for NTLM authentication.
Only for OPA version 2.4.7 or later
password Password for NTLM authentication.
Only for OPA version 2.4.7 or later
base_url The base URL for NTLM resources
cm_default_max_per_route Optional. Sets the number of connections per route/host (must be a positive number, default 5)
cm_max_total Optional. Sets the maximum number of connections (must be a positive number, default 10)
http_connect_timeout Optional The timeout in milliseconds used when requesting a connection (must be a positive number, default 10000)
http_connection_request_timeout Optional The timeout in milliseconds until a connection is established (must be a positive number, default 10000)
http_socket_timeout Optional The socket timeout in milliseconds, which is the timeout for waiting for data or, put differently, a maximum period inactivity between two consecutive data packets (must be a positive number, default 10000)
verifyHost Optional. Specifies whether to enable verification of the host name for SSL/TLS connections (default true)
trustAll Optional. Specifies whether trust all certificates for SSL/TLS connections (default false)

HTTP methods supported for NTLM connections are GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE and HEAD.

# Command-line Scripts Profile

This profile allows users to run arbitrary scripts or commands on OPA. The script definition in the config file can have parameters.

When you declare an action, you need to specify the values of the parameters.

An example profile on Unix can look like this:

command_line_scripts:
  workday_reports:
    concurrency_limit: 3
    timeout: 30
    scripts:
     copy_file:
       name: Copy file
       command:
         - /bin/cp
         - '{{source_file}}'
         - '{{target_directory}}'
       parameters:
         - { name: source_file }
         - { name: target_directory }           

     append_file_to_another:
       name: Append file to another
       command:
         - bash
         - -c
         - cat {{source_file}} >> {{target_file}}
       parameters:
         # Parameter quoting
         - { name: source_file, quote: '"' }
         # Advanced parameter quoting
         - { name: target_file, quote: { start: '"', end: '"', quote: '"', escape_char: \ } }

     generate_report:
       name: Generate report
       command:
         - python
         - /home/user/script.py
         - --from
         - '{{from_date}}'
         # Conditional fragment
         - { value: --to, if: to_date }
         # Conditional fragment
         - { value: '{{to_date}}', if: to_date }
       parameters:
         - { name: from_date }
         - { name: to_date, schema: { optional: true, control_type: select, pick_list: [01/01/2018, 02/02/2018] } }

The command-line script profiles are placed in the command_line_scripts section in config.yml. Each profile can contain multiple scripts. The profile configuration properties are as follows:

Property name Description
scripts The scripts hash. The value for each key contains the script profile.
concurrency_limit Optional. Maximum number of concurrently executed scripts. Defaults to 10 when not provided. After reaching the limit, requests are queued.
timeout Optional. Maximum duration(seconds) for each script execution. Defaults to 90 seconds when not provided.

The hash key is used as an unique identifier for a script profile. The script configuration properties are as follows:
Property name Description
name Friendly name for the script that will be displayed in the recipe UI.
command The command invocation array. The value of each item can use Mustache (opens new window) template variables to substitute the parameter values.
parameters Optional. The parameter array (defaults to an empty array).

The command invocation element configuration can be just a string, but also can contain these properties:
Property name Description
value The command invocation element value.
if The parameter name. If parameter value is empty, this command invocation element is not taken into account.

The parameter configuration properties are as follows:
Property name Description
name The parameter name.
quote Optional. The rules of parameter quoting (defaults to no rules).
schema Optional. The parameter schema.

The quote configuration can just be a string or have properties. The properties are as follows:
Property name Description
start The opening quote character.
end The closing quote character.
quote The quote character in the parameter value to be escaped.
escape_char The escape character.

If the quote configuration is a string, its value is considered as the value of the start, end and quote properties, and the escape_char property value is set to '\' on Unix and '""' on Windows.


The parameter schema configuration can have properties as follows:
Property name Description
optional Optional. The optional flag of the parameter (defaults to false).
label Optional. Friendly name for the script, that will be displayed in the recipe UI (defaults to the parameter name).
control_type Optional. Can be 'text' or 'select'. If it's 'select', property 'pick_list' should also be defined. Defaults to 'text'.
pick_list Optional. Values for selecting the parameter value. This property should be defined if property 'control_type' has value 'select'.

# Extensions Profile

Working with Java extensions requires you to define an extensions profile. You need a server section to define where the jar files are located, and an extensions section to create individual profiles for the Java classes. A Java extension will be configured like this.

server:
  classpath: ext

extensions:
  security:
    controllerClass: com.mycompany.onprem.SecurityExtension
    secret: HA63A3043AMMMM

The server parameter configuration property is as follows:

Property name Description
classpath Specifies the location of user-defined class

Each extensions profile configuration properties are as follows:

Property name Description
controllerClass A required field to inform the OPA which Java class to map the extension to.
secret Optional environment property that is used in the Java class. Multiple properties can be added.

Find out how to create a Java extension.

# Server Profile

Server profiles define where OPA assets are located on the on-prem server. Server profiles are located in the server section of config.yml.

server:
  classpath: lib_ext
  staging: staging

In this section, we'll cover:

# Profile Properties

Server profiles can contain the following properties:

Name Type Description
classpath required Defines the directory that contains Java driver or user-defined classes. For example, jar files or driver classes.

Note: This must be a pre-existing subdirectory in the OPA installation folder.
staging required ** Defines a staging folder to temporarily store data during loading to the target system. Note: This must be a pre-existing subdirectory in the OPA installation folder.

If left unspecified, the OPA will manage the staging folder internally.

A file stored in the staging folder is automatically deleted after OPA finishes loading it to the target system.

** Required for OPA versions 2.9.3 and lower. Optional for versions 2.10 and up.

# Example Configurations

Let's look at some example profile configurations using the following directory structure. In this example, the on-prem agent is installed in /opt/workato-agent:

/opt
├── /workato_agent
    ├── /conf
    ├── /bin
    ├── /lib_ext
    ├── /staging

The following example defines a jdbc directory that contains Java driver classes or user-defined classes:

server:
  classpath: lib_ext

Next, we'll demonstrate setting the staging property. This property defines where the OPA temporarily stores files during loading to the target system.

For example, when executing the SQL Server Export query result action, CSV output will be temporary stored in the /staging directory and deleted after the file is loaded:

server:
  classpath: lib_ext
  staging: staging
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