G2Engine Configuration and the Senzing API

Overview

The Senzing engine requires basic configuration to start up. This configuration is supplied to the engine init functions as a JSON string. Using a JSON string allows for immutable images and the configuration data to be stored in flexible ways, for example, using Docker images and environment variables

If you are already familiar with working with Senzing and have used a project as outlined in the quickstart guide you will be aware of the G2Module.ini file used by the Python tools, such as G2Loader. The G2Module.ini file is utilized to aid getting started quickly without needing to immediately understand this configuration. The supplied Senzing Python tools look for this file and convert the entries to a JSON string passed to the init functions. 

When constructing your own applications utilizing the Senzing APIs, use familiar or standard procedures for storing and retrieving configuration data.

Only the most common configuration options are described herein. When working with support, we may ask you to set additional parameters for diagnostics.

Configuration Parameters

Section: PIPELINE

This is the generic section for configuration data.

SUPPORTPATH

Points to the data directory that contains supporting files used by the Senzing engine. If you are utilizing a Senzing project this points to <project_path>/data. This directory contains many .ibm files and a libpostal directory, these help drive the Senzing name and address processing.

CONFIGPATH

Points to user modifiable files such as cfgVariant.json, defaultGNRCP.config, and customOn.txt. When using a Senzing project these files are located in <project_path>/etc.

The Senzing API package installs templates into /opt/senzing/g2/resources/templates/. These can be copied and renamed for your own use. Renaming and removing the .template extension from the filenames to be leveraged in a running installation.

RESOURCEPATH

Points to the resource directory containing config, schema, and templates that are used when creating a repository or upgrading a configuration. When using a Senzing project these files are located in <project_path>/resources.

The Senzing API package installs these files into /opt/senzing/g2/resources/.

LICENSEFILE

Points to a license file received from Senzing, typically named g2.lic. Without a license file, Senzing operates in an evaluation mode with a built-in license.

LICENSESTRINGBASE64

The license file can also be provided by setting this with the base64 of the contents of the g2.lic.  When you received a license you should have also received a file that contains the base64 representation.  The containerized examples of Senzing nearly exclusively use this method to provide the license.

 

Section: SQL

This section contains the parameters related to the Senzing repository.

CONNECTION

Provides the connection URL to the Senzing repository. You can find details on this parameter on each of the database setup articles:

• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• IBM DB2

Example G2Module.ini for G2Loader.py

[PIPELINE]
 SUPPORTPATH=/home/user/myproject/data
 CONFIGPATH=/home/user/myproject/etc
 RESOURCEPATH=/home/user/myproject/resources
 LICENSEFILE=/home/user/myproject/g2.lic

[SQL]
 CONNECTION=sqlite3://na:na@/home/user/myproject/var/sqlite/G2C.db

 

JSON format for containerized SENZING_ENGINE_CONFIGURATION_JSON environment variable or init API call

{
 "PIPELINE" : {
 "CONFIGPATH" : "/home/user/myproject/etc",
 "RESOURCEPATH" : "/home/user/myproject/resources",
 "SUPPORTPATH" : "/home/user/myproject/data",
 "LICENSEFILE" : "/home/user/myproject/g2.lic"
 },
 "SQL" : { "CONNECTION" : "sqlite3://na:na@/home/user/myproject/var/sqlite/G2C.db" }
}