External System Communication introduction
An external system is a non-grid application that needs to be accessed from a grid application. In most cases, such systems need credentials information from the current grid user. The External Systems Management UI allows configuration of such credentials to be managed for grid users.
Note: The configuration of external systems that is described in this section only applies to the configuration of external credentials and the mapping of requests from grid applications to this credentials information. Grid applications that need access to an external system must have their own configuration for the actual connection to the external system, such as host and port details. They must also register a request name for the external system, so that external credentials can be mapped to the correct connection. Configuring an external system as described in this section will not in itself allow integration with that system.
In this section, the following concepts will be discussed:
| Word/concept | Definition |
|---|---|
| External System | Some grid applications need access to on-premise applications which are not running in a grid. Such external systems can be defined and mapped to grid applications in the External Systems Management UI. |
| External Systems Management UI | The management UI within the Grid Configuration Manager, where external systems and external credentials can be configured and mapped to grid applications. |
| External Systems Security Manager (ESSM) | The External Systems Security Manager is a grid internal component. It assigns roles and credentials to defined external systems. It is also responsible for the session transfer mechanism between relay grids. See Grid Relay User Configuration. |
| External System Configuration | An external system configuration contains the credentials information needed to connect to an external system. |
| External Credentials | Each user may have one set of credentials for each configured external system. These credentials are kept encrypted by the grid. Only the approved applications may get the decrypted credentials from the External Systems Security Manager. |
| Request Mapping | Only approved grid applications may access users’ credentials for a given external system. The request mapping describes which applications are permitted to receive which credentials, and is configured in the External Systems Management UI. |
| External Credentials Consumer | The grid applications that must be able to request credentials for an external system are external credentials consumers. |