A “Data Entity” allows a company to save the connection details to a database in BroadIQ. The BroadIQ applications use this information to connect to a database. Currently, BroadIQ allows four (4) data entity types: MongoDB, MariaDB, MySQL, and Postgres database types.
Below is an easy to follow, non-technical guide that walks you through setting up a “Data Entity” using BroadIQ.
1. Sign up with BroadIQ
If you already have an account with BroadIQ go ahead and skip to the next step.
Otherwise, create an account using the following link (https://www.broadiq.com/account-help/account/createAccount). Once an account is created, an email is sent that requires verification of the account. Verify your account. Now login to BroadIQ using the Sign in button to begin the creation of a “Data Entity”.
2. Create an organization with BroadIQ
To access the BroadIQ marketplace, your user has to be associated with an organization (Org). If you already have an Org in BroadIQ, you can skip this step.
An Org is a way to group people together in BroadIQ. It can be a company, a group of people, it could be your child’s soccer team. By creating an Org, you have access to the BroadIQ marketplace, where applications are purchased to run in the cloud. These applications are only accessible to members of your organization.
In the upper right corner of the page select “Organizations” from the “Services” drop-down menu (see image below).
On the Organizations page, select “Add Org” at the top left of the page and create a new organization. By creating an Org you (Your User) will automatically become the Org administrator. This means that you have complete control over what happens to that Org.
3. Create the Data Entity
Applications that store data in databases generally need to have connection properties configured, so the application can connect to the database and send data to the database. A ”Data Entity” is a way to store database connection properties that are passed to applications being deployed by BroadIQ to the cloud.
After selecting an Org, go to the left side menu and select “Org Settings” > “Data Entities”. This presents a screen that is used to manage database connections (Data Entities). Select the “Add Entity” link at the top of the page.
The new data entity page presents form fields that represent the connection details that are used to communicate with a database.
On this page, database connection information is manually added either from the information provided to you by a database admin or from the connection details you received when you created your new database in BroadIQ. The table below provides more details on the values presented on the page.
Please see the image below for an example of the values that are added to the Data Entity.
Once you update the form with the correct values that allow for a connection to the database, save the Data Entity. The page should change and take you to a listing of available Data Entities with your newly created Data Entity.
The Data Entity can now be used by applications in BroadIQ to connect the applications to a database automatically.
BroadIQ Development Databases
Interested in creating a development MongoDB database in BroadIQ, follow the instructions detailed in the blog “How to deploy MongoDB in the cloud”.
If you are running a database in the cloud that was installed by BroadIQ, you can find the “host” and “port” values for that database using the instructions below.
Navigate to the “Deployed Apps” left side menu in the Org where the database is running. Find the running database in the page listing, hover over the database listing and click the link “manage”.
This selection presents a page that provides information about the running database. Applications are made up of artifacts. The artifacts in an application are the software instances of the application that are running in the cloud.
To find instructions for connecting to the running database, select the “COG” icon located on the right side of the page in the “Application Artifact” section. When you click the cog icon, you’ll be taken to a page showing the details about the application (artifact) that was selected.
The artifact detail page displays information about the running artifact. From this page, you can get the IP address (Host) and port number that provides you access to the database server. This is important when connecting an application to the database. The IP address and port number are shown above in the “Configuration” section next to the “URL” label.
Example:
URL (35.202.33.75:31908)
IP Address — 35.202.33.75 (Host)
Port — 31908
In the example above, the IP Address and Port number are set in the “Host” and “Port” values when creating or updating a “Data Entity”.
Conclusion
You have just created a Data Entity in the cloud using BroadIQ. Now you have a Data Entity added to your BroadIQ Org. This can be used by applications you are trying to run in the cloud or you can use it to create an application that can be attached to this Data Entity.
The BroadIQ application marketplace is constantly adding new applications that can be deployed in the cloud. Connect any application listed in BroadIQ’s marketplace to the Data Entity you just created.
