Credentials Profiles for Connectors

Sometimes you do not want users to have to sign in manually to a database when they open an analysis with a data connection. In web clients, Automation Services, and Scheduled Updates, you can use a credentials profile to log in automatically.

What is a credentials profile?

A credentials profile is a way of storing credentials for connecting to a database, without storing the credentials in the analysis itself. You store credentials profiles on your Automation Services and/or Web Player services.

Important: Because credentials profiles are stored in a Spotfire web player service, it is not possible to use credentials profiles for authentication in installed clients.

A credentials profile has a name, and it contains a username and a password. In your analysis, you can specify that a data connection should use the credentials from a credentials profile when you open the analysis in a web client.

Creating and adding a credentials profile on a service

You add credentials profiles to your service configurations on the Spotfire Server, or as files on the computer running the service. To learn more, see Credentials profiles for connectors in the Spotfire Server and Environment Administration Guide.

The following instructions take you through how to add a credentials profile to the DataAdapterCredentials setting in the configuration file Spotfire.Dxp.Worker.Host.exe.config.

1. On the computer running Spotfire Server, export the service configuration you want to edit. See the instructions in the topic Manually editing the service configuration files, in your version of the Spotfire Server and Environment Installation and Administration manual.

2. In the file Spotfire.Dxp.Worker.Host.exe.config, locate the setting DataAdapterCredentials. Add a new entry with a credentials profile for your database, on the following format:
     <entry profile="Credentials profile name">
        <username>MyUsername</username>
        <password>MyPassword</password>
        <allowed-usages></allowed-usages>
     </entry>

3. In the template above, enter a name for the profile, and the username and password for the database.

• Optionally, you can specify a list of allowed servers and/or connectors. The allowed-usages element determines conditions for what you can use the credentials profile for. See Spotfire.Dxp.Worker.Host.exe.config file.

4. Save your changes. Then import the service configuration, by following the instructions in Manually editing the service configuration files.

Specifying the credentials profile to use for a connection

When you have created a credentials profile, you can use it for logging in automatically in connections when you open an analysis in a web client.

Prerequisites

To use a credentials profile for authentication in a Spotfire web client or Automation Services, you must set the authentication mode for the connector on the web player service to WebConfig. For more information about authentication modes, see Authentication modes in your version of the Spotfire Server and Environment Installation and Administration manual.

Procedure

1. Open an analysis file with a data connection to a database that you have a credentials profile for.

2. On the menu bar, select Data > Data connection properties.

3. In the Data Connection Properties dialog, click to select your connection, and then click Settings….

4. In the Data Connection Settings dialog, on the Data source tab, click Settings….

5. In the Data Source Settings dialog, on the Credentials tab, select No, but save my credentials profile.

6. In the text field, enter the name of the credentials profile you want to use.

7. To save your changes, click OK to close the dialog boxes.