Cloudera Docs

Inbound connections

An Inbound Connection Endpoint allows you to stream data from an external source application to a flow deployment.

An Inbound Connection Endpoint provides a stable hostname that can be used to send data to a Cloudera DataFlow flow deployment located in the same environment. You can create an Inbound Connection Endpoint during flow deployment, provided that the flow definition supports creating such endpoints.

An endpoint has the following attributes:

  • The environment in which it exists

  • A stable hostname

  • An SSLContextService configured that can work with the TLS context auto created during flow deployment that corresponds to the Inbound Connection Endpoint hostname

  • A server certificate that corresponds to the hostname, signed by a public root CA

  • A single Intermediate CA (issued by the Environment CA) for signing client certificates for this endpoint, with the public certificate part available to download for client truststores

Endpoints exist within the environment where they were created. They cannot be moved between environments. If the environment is deleted, the endpoint gets deleted as well, and cannot be reused.

One endpoint can be assigned to one flow deployment at a time. To reassign an existing inbound connection endpoint, you need to first terminate the flow deployment to which it is currently assigned, then assign the existing endpoint to a new flow deployment in the NiFi configuration step during flow deployment.

Workflow

Setting up an Inbound Connection Endpoint is a complex task, affecting how you develop a flow definition in NiFi and how you deploy it in Cloudera DataFlow. Once your flow has been deployed, you need to configure your client, be it directly an external application or through an external load balancer, to communicate with the Inbound Connection Endpoint of your flow deployment.