Environment variables#
The VISA platform is highly configurable through an array of environment variables. This section describes all the environment variables for the different applications and offers suggested values.
VISA API Server#
Server#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_SERVER_HOST |
localhost |
The hostname on which the REST API HTTP server is listening on |
VISA_SERVER_PORT |
8080 |
The port on which to run the REST API HTTP server |
VISA_CORS_ORIGIN |
* |
Sets the CORS origin of the HTTP server |
VISA_ROOT_URL |
The root URL of the application, used for user notifications |
Database#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_DATABASE_USERNAME |
The VISA database username |
|
VISA_DATABASE_PASSWORD |
The VISA database password |
|
VISA_DATABASE_URL |
The full URL of the VISA database |
Logging#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_LOGGING_LEVEL |
INFO |
The application logging level |
Email appender#
The email appender is used only for error logs, to allow for quick notification of errors that occur on a production server.
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_APPENDER_HOST |
The host of the SMTP server for logging via email |
|
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_APPENDER_PORT |
25 |
The port of the SMTP server |
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_APPENDER_TLS |
false |
Use of TLS with the SMTP server |
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_APPENDER_START_TLS |
DISABLED |
Use of Start-TLS with the SMTP server |
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_APPENDER_RECIPIENT_ADDRESS |
Address to send log emails to (a developer account for example) |
|
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_APPENDER_FROM_ADDRESS |
Address to use as the sender of the log emails |
|
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_SUBJECT |
Subject (prefix) to use for log emails |
|
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_APPENDER_MOCKED |
false |
Mocks sending emails |
VISA_LOGGING_EMAIL_MAX_ERRORS |
50 |
Maximum number of errors per email |
File appender#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_LOGGING_FILE_ENABLED |
true |
Explicitly enables the logging to file a file |
VISA_LOGGING_FILE_THRESHOLD |
INFO |
The logging level for the file |
VISA_LOGGING_FILE_MAX_FILE_SIZE |
100M |
Maximum log file size |
VISA_LOGGING_FILE_DIRECTORY |
The directory of where the log file is stored |
|
VISA_LOGGING_FILE_FORMAT |
The format of the log messages, eg “%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} %-5p [%-40.40c{3.}] - %s%e%n” |
|
VISA_LOGGING_FILE_ARCHIVED_FILE_COUNT |
1 |
The number of archive files to keep |
Syslog#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_LOGGING_SYSLOG_ENABLED |
true |
Whether Syslog is enabled |
VISA_LOGGING_SYSLOG_TYPE |
rfc3164 |
Syslog protocol (rfc3164 or rfc5425) |
VISA_LOGGING_SYSLOG_ENDPOINT |
The Syslog endpoint (host:port) |
|
VISA_LOGGING_SYSLOG_APP_NAME |
The Syslog app name |
|
VISA_LOGGING_SYSLOG_FACILITY |
local-use-0 |
The Syslog facility |
VISA_LOGGING_SYSLOG_THRESHOLD |
INFO |
The Syslog logging level |
VISA_LOGGING_SYSLOG_FORMAT |
The Syslog log format |
VISA web services#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_SERVICE_CLIENT_URL |
The VISA Accounts authentication URL eg http://accounts:8089/api/authenticate |
|
VISA_SECURITY_GROUP_SERVICE_CLIENT_ENABLED |
false |
Enables the use of the VISA Security Group micro-service. This micro service provides site logic to determine the security groups for an instance. |
VISA_SECURITY_GROUP_SERVICE_CLIENT_URL |
The VISA Security Group Service URL eg http://security-groups:8090/api/securitygroups |
|
VISA_SECURITY_GROUP_SERVICE_CLIENT_AUTH_TOKEN |
The authentication token to send to the Security Group service |
Cloud Provider#
| VISA_CLOUD_SERVER_NAME_PREFIX | | The prefix used for all instances created by VISA | | VISA_DEFAULT_CLOUD_PROVIDER_TYPE | openstack | Specifies the default cloud provider type (openstack or web) | | VISA_DEFAULT_CLOUD_PROVIDER_NAME | Default | Specifies the name of the default cloud provider |
OpenStack#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_CLOUD_IDENTITY_ENDPOINT |
The OpenStack identity endpoint |
|
VISA_CLOUD_COMPUTE_ENDPOINT |
The OpenStack compute endpoint |
|
VISA_CLOUD_IMAGE_ENDPOINT |
The OpenStack image endpoint |
|
VISA_CLOUD_NETWORK_ENDPOINT |
The OpenStack network endpoint |
|
VISA_CLOUD_APPLICATION_ID |
The application ID to authorise VISA API Server to use the OpenStack API |
|
VISA_CLOUD_APPLICATION_SECRET |
The application secret to authorise VISA API Server to use the OpenStack API |
|
VISA_CLOUD_ADDRESS_PROVIDER |
The address provider name for instances in OpenStack |
|
VISA_CLOUD_ADDRESS_PROVIDER_UUID |
The address privider UUID for instances in OpenStack |
Web#
| VISA_CLOUD_WEB_PROVIDER_URL | | The URL to access the Web Cloud Provider | | VISA_CLOUD_WEB_PROVIDER_AUTH_TOKEN | | Authentication token for access to the Web Cloud Provider |
Remote Desktop (virtual desktop infrastructure VDI)#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_VDI_ENABLED |
true |
Enables the remote desktops in VISA |
VISA_VDI_REDIS_ENABLED |
false |
Enables a Redis pub-sub server (this is required for load balancing, to enable messaging between the applications) |
VISA_VDI_REDIS_URL |
The URL of the Redis server (required for load balancing) |
|
VISA_VDI_REDIS_PASSWORD |
The password for the Redis server (required for load balancing) |
|
VISA_VDI_REDIS_DATABASE |
0 |
the database ID of the Redis server (required for load balancing) |
VISA_VDI_OWNER_DISCONNECTION_POLICY |
DISCONNECT_ALL |
Determines the policy of how to handle shared connections when the owner disconnects. Possible values are DISCONNECT_ALL (disconnecting shared connections) and LOCK_ROOM (to keep connections open but disable all interactions) |
VISA_VDI_CLEANUP_SESSIONS_ON_STARTUP |
false |
As an admin option, desktop sessions can be cleaned when starting the server (if any are left open in the database). If load-balancing, only one server should do this. |
VISA_VDI_SIGNATURE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH |
The path to the private key used for the VISA PAM module to encrypt connection details to a remote desktop |
|
VISA_VDI_SIGNATURE_PUBLIC_KEY_PATH |
The path to the public key used by the VISA PAM module |
|
VISA_VDI_GUACD_PARAMETER_PROTOCOL |
rdp |
A guacamole parameter specifying the remote desktop protocol |
VISA_VDI_GUACD_PARAMETER_IGNORE_CERT |
true |
A guacamole parameter to ignore the RDP certificate on the remote server |
VISA_VDI_GUACD_PARAMETER_PORT |
3389 |
The port used for the RDP protocol |
Scheduler#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_SCHEDULER_ENABLED |
true |
The scheduler of VISA is used to update the instance states, run instance commands (start, stop, reboot, etc), perform lifetime management, etc. This option enables the schedule. In a load-balanced enviroment you must ensure that only one server has an active scheduler. |
Instance lifetime management#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_INSTANCE_USER_MAX_LIFETIME_DURATION_HOURS |
336 |
Sets the maximum lifetime, specified in hours, of instances for normal users. |
VISA_INSTANCE_STAFF_MAX_LIFETIME_DURATION_HOURS |
1440 |
Sets the maximum lifetime, specified in hours, of instances for staff users. |
VISA_INSTANCE_USER_MAX_INACTIVITY_DURATION_HOURS |
96 |
Sets the maximum time of inactivity of an instance before it is deleted, specified in hours, for normal users. |
VISA_INSTANCE_STAFF_MAX_INACTIVITY_DURATION_HOURS |
192 |
Sets the maximum time of inactivity of an instance before it is deleted, specified in hours, for staff users. |
User instance quota#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_INSTANCE_USER_DEFAULT_QUOTA |
2 |
Sets the default number of instances a user can create (for users created by VISA independently of ETL processes) |
Instance activity retention period#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_INSTANCE_ACTIVITY_RETENTION_PERIOD_DAYS |
0 |
Specifies how long user instance activity (mouse or keyboard activity) is stored in the database (0 implies forever) |
Instance port check timeout#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_INSTANCE_PORT_CHECK_TIMEOUT_MS |
1000 |
Specifies how long VISA will check the availability of a port on an instance (to determine which services are active) |
User notifications#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_ENABLED |
false |
Users are notified by email when their instance will be deleted (24 hours before) or when then they have been added as a member of someone else’s instance. This environment variable enables this mechanism. |
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_HOST |
Specifies the SMTP host for sending notification emails |
|
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_PORT |
Specified the port of the SMTP server sending notification emails |
|
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_APPENDER_TLS |
false |
Use of TLS with the SMTP server |
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_START_TLS |
DISABLED |
Use of Start-TLS with the SMTP server |
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_FROM_EMAIL_ADDRESS |
The address of the sender of emails to users |
|
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_BCC_EMAIL_ADDRESS |
null |
Optionally allows a BCC of the email to be sent to another address (a development account for example) |
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_ADMIN_EMAIL_ADDRESS |
An admin email address which is used in email templates as a support address for users. |
|
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_DEV_EMAIL_ADDRESS |
An email address of VISA developers can be set to allow for the notification when instances are created. |
|
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_TEMPLATES_DIRECTORY |
emails/templates/ |
To allow for the customisation of emails, the templates provided by VISA can be modified. This environment variable sets the location of the email templates. |
VISA_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL_ADAPTER_MOCKED |
false |
Mocks sending emails |
Client configuration#
The VISA API server has an endpoint that allows a client to obtain configuration values (included VISA version number, IDP settings, analytics, etc).
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_CONTACT_EMAIL |
null |
This sets the VISA contact email that is visible on a number of pages in the frontend |
Login#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_LOGIN_ISSUER |
Specifies the IDP OpenID Connect login URL (eg for Keycloak https://my.keycloak/auth/realms/master) |
|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_LOGIN_CLIENT_ID |
Specifies the client ID for the login process |
|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_LOGIN_SCOPE |
|
The required scope for the authentication (unlikely to be different from the default |
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_LOGIN_SHOW_DEBUG_INFORMATION |
|
Enables debug logging information on the client side (visa-web) |
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_LOGIN_SESSION_CHECKS_ENABLED |
|
Checks the the current OpenID Connect IDP session is still active |
Analytics#
The analytics environment variables are associated to the use of a Matamo analytics server
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_ANALYTICS_ENABLED |
false |
Enables the use of a Matamo analytics server |
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_ANALYTICS_URL |
Specifies the URL of the Matamp analytics server |
|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_ANALYTICS_SITE_ID |
Specified the Site ID for VISA in the analytics server |
Desktop#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_DESKTOP_ALLOWED_CLIPBOARD_URL_HOSTS |
[] |
By specifying the contents of the clipboard of the remote desktop, a remote application can make VISA open a popup in the client browser to request the user to open another URL (for example to open an electronic logbook, data portal, chat window). To ensure that the URL is acceptiblen, VISA is configured with a list of accepted hosts. |
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_DESKTOP_KEYBOARD_LAYOUTS |
[] |
Specifies the list of keyboard layouts that are proposed to a user, eg [{“layout”:”en-gb-qwerty”,”name”:”English (UK) keyboard”,”selected”:true},{“layout”:”fr-fr-azerty”,”name”:”French keyboard (azerty)”,”selected”:false}] |
Experiments#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_CLIENT_CONFIG_INCLUDE_OPEN_DATA |
false |
Enables open data to be included in search results, by comparing the public_at date in the proposals table to the current date |
VISA Accounts#
Server#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_SERVER_PORT |
4000 |
The port on which to run the server |
VISA_ACCOUNTS_SERVER_HOST |
localhost |
The hostname on which the server is listening on |
IDP#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_IDP |
URL to the OpenID discovery endpoint (eg https://my.idp.server/.well-known/openid-configuration) which will then be used to validate a token. This should be matched to the login URL provided above which is used to generate the token. |
|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_CLIENT_ID |
The Client ID as configured by the OpenID provider |
|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_IDP_USERINFO_SIGNED_RESPONSE_ALG |
null |
Allows you to set the encoding algorithm of the UserInfo Response (eg RS256) if enabled in the IDP |
VISA_ACCOUNTS_IDP_TIMEOUT_MS |
2500 |
Sets the HTTP request timeout (in milliseconds) to the IDP |
VISA_ACCOUNTS_IDP_CACHE_EXPIRATION_S |
0 |
Specifies the expiration in seconds of cached IDP responses. This allows you to reduce the number of calls to the IDP and returns the same response for a given token (UserInfo or error). By default the cache is not activated (a cache expiration of > 0s is required to activate the cache). |
Attribute provider#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_ATTRIBUTE_PROVIDER |
The attribute provider is used to provide site-specific details about the user and the account and can be used to send additional information to the instance in OpenStack. You can find here details on how to develop and integrate an attribute provider in VISA. this environment variable sets the absolute or relative path to the attribute provider. |
Logging#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_LOG_LEVEL |
info |
Log level |
VISA_ACCOUNTS_LOG_TIMEZONE |
The timezone for the formatting the time in the application log |
Syslog#
The syslog environment variables are optional: if none are set then log messages are not forwarded to a sys log server. When using the docker container, the TZ environment variable is required too to ensure that the container runs at the same timezone as the host, otherwise the syslog may not have the correct time.
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_LOG_SYSLOG_HOST |
The Syslog host (optional) |
|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_LOG_SYSLOG_PORT |
The Syslog port (optional) |
|
VISA_ACCOUNTS_LOG_SYSLOG_APP_NAME |
Application name used by Syslog (optional) |
VISA Jupyter Proxy#
Server#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_SERVER_PORT |
8088 |
The port on which to run the server |
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_SERVER_HOST |
localhost |
The hostname on which the server is listening on |
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_CACHE_REFRESH_TIME_S |
60 |
Authorisation access and the IP address of instances are cached in the JupyterProxy to reduce the number of calls the to VISA API server. this environment variable sets how long a cached entry lasts for. |
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_STORAGE_DIR |
data |
The local data storage directory (used primarily for maintaining session details if the proxy needs to be restarted). |
Logging#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_LOG_LEVEL |
info |
Log level |
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_LOG_TIMEZONE |
The timezone for the formatting the time in the application log |
Syslog#
The syslog environment variables are optional: if none are set then log messages are not forwarded to a sys log server. When using the docker container, the TZ environment variable is required too to ensure that the container runs at the same timezone as the host, otherwise the syslog may not have the correct time.
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_LOG_SYSLOG_HOST |
The Syslog host (optional) |
|
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_LOG_SYSLOG_PORT |
The Syslog port (optional) |
|
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_LOG_SYSLOG_APP_NAME |
Application name used by Syslog (optional) |
VISA API#
Environment variable |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_API_HOST |
localhost |
Host of the VISA API Server REST API, used to authenticate the request and obtain an IP address from the instance ID |
VISA_JUPYTER_PROXY_API_PORT |
8086 |
Port of the VISA API Server REST API |