Terminology in CEM

Learn the terminologies used in Cloudera Edge Management (CEM).

Agent

Apache MiNiFi Java or C++ agent. MiNiFi implements the core features of Apache NiFi, focusing on data collection and processing the data at the edge.

Agent Manifest Resolution Strategy

The logic used by the EFM server to assign an Agent Manifest to an Agent Class for the purpose of controlling which components are available in the Flow Designer for that Agent Class.

Bucket

A container in NiFi Registry that stores and organizes flows.

C2 Protocol

The MiNiFi C2 (Command and Control) protocol is an open standard defined as part of the Apache NiFi project and licensed using the Apache Software License version 2 (ALv2). It provides the ability for MiNiFi agents to communicate status to a central server and for that server to control many agents using encoded operations.

In CEM, the Edge Flow Manager acts as a C2 Server for MiNiFi agents, which is achieved using its implementation of the open C2 Protocol standard.

Agent Class

An agent class allows you to configure and monitor a group of MiNiFi agents.

Connection

You create an automated dataflow by dragging components from the CEM Components toolbar to the canvas and then connect the components together by using connections. Each connection consists of one or more relationships. For each connection that is drawn, you can determine which relationships should be used for the connection. This allows data to be routed in different ways based on its processing outcome.

Content Repository

Content repository is a repository where the actual content bytes of a given flowfile live.

Dataflow

Dataflow is an automated and managed flow of information between systems.

Edge

Edge is the device that you want to manage, control, and monitor through CEM. To do so, you install the MiNiFi agent at the edge device to collect data and then pushes intelligence back to the same edge device.

Flowfile Repository

Flowfile repository is a repository where CEM keeps track of the state of what it knows about a given flowfile that is presently active in the flow.

Heartbeat

MiNiFi agents communicate their health and status to EFM through heartneats. By default, agents heartbeat every second, but this interval can be configured on each agent to an interval appropriate for each use case. The agent heartbeat includes device information, agent status, and metrics for the currently running dataflow. The EFM server tracks agents through their heartbeats, and can respond to heartbeats with operations, such as dataflow configuration updates.

Optionally, agent health tracking can be enabled through a maximum heartbeat interval in the efm.properties file. If this interval threshold is exceeded without recieving a heartbeat from an agent, the agent will be flagged as offline/missing and an alert will be shown in the EFM web UI.

Provenance Repository

Provenance repository is a repository where data from all provenance events is stored.