• A connector is an integration between Watson AIOps and a particular data source.
• Connectors are packaged as a container image that runs a gRPC client inside and communicates back to the Watson AIOps main cluster via a gRPC channel.
• The preferred programming model is via Open Liberty. However, any other gRPC-enabled programming model (such as Node.js) can also be used - provided it is a supported runtime.

A Connector is composed of below components

• A connector container

  • Container image that runs a gRPC client, running either in-cluster for local deployment or remotely for micro-edge deployment.

• Processor containers(0..* ) (backend processors running in-cluster)

  • Each connector must have at least one component that interacts with its collected data, which we call a processor. There are many types of processors, depending on their purpose.

• A UI tile (ConnectorSchema YAML)

  • If you are creating a connector for a data source that is not yet supported in Watson AIOps you first need to create a ConnectorSchema.
  • The ConnectorSchema CR servers a few purposes:
    • It provides content for the UI to render the corresponding form in the Data and tool integrations section of the product
    • It validates completed UI forms

• Kafka topics (0..* YAMLs)

An AIOps Bundle Manifest is a Custom Resource (YAML) that can contribute different types of artifacts into Watson AIOps like connectors, processors etc which can grow in future to include other types.

• Create a new connector repo using the example template located here
• Rename the connector name from java-grpc-connector-template to your unique connector name in all the applicable places.
• Connector-sdk grpc-java-sdk is published as maven artifact which can be used by 3rd party connector contributors.
• The example template is implemented using open-liberty/grpc-java-sdk will cover below structured data types.
  • Event: Connector template to push Kafka events to Event Lifecycle
  • Metric: Connector template to push Kafka events to Metrics Manager
  • Topology: Connector template for topology bridge which will push kafka events to ASM
• Update the logic according to connector requirements. For example in the example connect path
• Publish the connector image to a docker registry.
• The example template also includes bundle-manifest artifacts for the connector integration and deployment on cp4waiops cluster. Create the bundleManifest artifacts for the connector using the example artifacts.Reference the published image and tag.