Cloudera Docs

Parameters in Versioned Flows

When exporting a versioned flow to a Flow Registry, the name of the Parameter Context is sent for each process group that is stored. The Parameters (names, descriptions, values, whether or not sensitive) are also stored with the flow. However, Sensitive Parameter values are not stored.

When a versioned flow is imported, a Parameter Context will be created for each one that doesn't already exist in the NiFi instance. When importing a versioned flow from Flow Registry, if NiFi has a Parameter Context with the same name, the values are merged, as described in the following example:

A flow has a Parameter Context "PC1" with the following parameters:

The flow is exported and saved to the Flow Registry.

A NiFi instance has a Parameter Context also named "PC1" with the following parameters:

The versioned flow is imported into the NiFi instance. The Parameter Context "PC1" now has the following parameters:

The "Letters" parameter did not exist in the NiFi instance and was added. The "Numbers" parameter existed in both the versioned flow and NiFi instance with identical values, so no changes were made. "Password" is a sensitive Parameter missing from the NiFi instance, so it was added but with no value. "Port" existed in the NiFi instance with a different value than the versioned flow, so its value remained unchanged.

Parameter Contexts are handled similarly when a flow version is changed. Consider the following two examples:

If the versioned flow referenced earlier is changed to another version (Version 2) and Version 2's Parameter Context "PC1" has a "Colors" Parameter, "Colors" will be added to "PC1" in the NiFi instance.

Version 1 of a flow does not have a Parameter Context associated with it. A new version (Version 2) does. When the flow is changed from Version 1 to Version 2, one of the following occurs:

  • A new Parameter Context is created if it does not already exist

  • An existing Parameter Context is assigned (by name) to the Process Group and the values of the Parameter Contexts are merged