Configure a custom connector

Custom connectors require various configurations to function correctly within a Kubernetes environment. These configurations define how the connector interacts with external services, manages security-sensitive data, and optimizes runtime behavior.

Key configuration areas

Secrets management

Securely store sensitive data using SOPS encryption

Connector properties

Define external service details and feature toggles

Traits

Control deployment-specific parameters

Resources

Specify transformation files and custom logic

Prerequisites

Before configuring a custom connector, ensure you have:

Built a connector successfully
Access to the gc-devhub-{installation}-applications-live repository. For more information about repository names, see GitHub organization and repository structure.
A managed namespace to deploy the connector into. For what a managed namespace includes and how to request one, see Deployment namespace.
Understanding of your target deployment environment

Set the deployment namespace

Deploy custom connectors into a DevHub namespace. Use devhub-grandcentral by default, or a dedicated devh-gc-<domain> namespace when you have requested one. Don’t deploy a custom connector into the grandcentral namespace. For the conventions and how to request a namespace, see Deployment namespace. Set the namespace in the spec.destination.namespace field of the ArgoCD Application that deploys the connector, in the gc-devhub-{installation}-applications-live repository. The following example uses a dedicated namespace:

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: gc-my-domain
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: devhub-grandcentral
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: devh-gc-my-domain
  syncPolicy:
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=false
  # Other Application fields are omitted.

The sync fails if that namespace doesn’t exist yet. Namespace creation isn’t self-service.

Request the namespace before you add the Application. For the request steps, see Deployment namespace.

Secrets management with SOPS

To securely store sensitive data in Kubernetes secrets, use SOPS for encryption. ArgoCD automatically applies encrypted secrets placed in the secrets folder as part of the secrets-app app.

Managing secrets

Follow the guide in your installation for the specific runtime at:

https://github.com/bb-ecos-{installation}/gc-devhub-{installation}-applications-live/blob/main/runtimes/{runtime}/secrets/README.md

Configure a secret in the connector by adding the secret name in values.yaml:

connector:
  existingSecretName: servicebus-credentials

Connector properties

Define connector configuration values in the Helm values.yaml file in the gc-devhub-{installation}-applications-live repository.

Example properties configuration

connector:
  existingSecretName: uat-secret
  properties:
    connector.baseUrl: https://base-url/
    connector.id: vendor-specific-id
    connector.security-token-type: Oauth2
    enableValidation: false
    isEncryptionRequired: false

Common properties

Property	Description	Example
`connector.baseUrl`	Base URL for external service	`https://api.example.com`
`connector.id`	Vendor-specific identifier	`vendor-123`
`connector.security-token-type`	Authentication type	`Oauth2`, `Bearer`
`enableValidation`	Enable request validation	`true`, `false`
`isEncryptionRequired`	Require encryption	`true`, `false`

Traits configuration

Traits control deployment-specific parameters such as auto-scaling, logging, health monitoring, and telemetry.

Supported traits

Banking OS supports the following Camel traits:

affinity - Pod scheduling preferences
container - Container resource limits
health - Health check configuration
knativeservice - Knative-specific settings
logging - Logging configuration
prometheus - Metrics collection
telemetry - Distributed tracing

Example traits configuration

connector:
  traits:
    knativeservice:
      minScale: 1
      enabled: true
    logging:
      color: false
      enabled: true
      level: INFO
    addons:
      telemetry:
        auto: true
        enabled: true
    health:
      enabled: true
      livenessProbeEnabled: true
      livenessInitialDelay: 30
      livenessTimeout: 30
      livenessPeriod: 5
      livenessSuccessThreshold: 1
      livenessFailureThreshold: 3
      readinessProbeEnabled: true
      readinessInitialDelay: 5
      readinessTimeout: 30
      readinessPeriod: 5
      readinessSuccessThreshold: 1
      readinessFailureThreshold: 3
      startupProbeEnabled: false
      startupInitialDelay: 5
      startupTimeout: 30
      startupPeriod: 5
      startupSuccessThreshold: 1
      startupFailureThreshold: 3
    prometheus:
      enabled: false

Health check configuration

Configure health, liveness, and readiness probes:

Liveness Probe: Detects if the connector is alive
Readiness Probe: Determines if the connector can accept traffic
Startup Probe: Checks if the app has started successfully

Resource configurations

Specify additional resources such as transformation files, validation rules, and custom processing logic.

Supported transformation libraries

Banking OS supports the following transformation libraries for processing request and response payloads:

Jolt - JSON-to-JSON transformation
XSLT - XML transformation

JOLT transformation example

Map a user’s first and last name into a single fullName field:

{
  "operation": "shift",
  "spec": {
    "user": {
      "firstName": "fullName.first",
      "lastName": "fullName.last"
    }
  }
}

XSLT transformation example

Convert an XML <user> element into a <customer> element:

<xsl:transform version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
    <xsl:template match="/user">
        <customer>
            <name>
                <xsl:value-of select="firstName"/> <xsl:value-of select="lastName"/>
            </name>
        </customer>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:transform>

Configuration best practices

Security

Always use SOPS for sensitive data
Never commit secrets to version control
Rotate credentials regularly

Resource management

Set appropriate resource limits
Configure auto-scaling based on load
Monitor resource utilization

Health checks

Enable all probe types
Set realistic timeout values
Test probe configurations thoroughly

Logging

Use appropriate log levels
Enable structured logging
Configure log retention policies

Next steps

Once you have completed your connectors configuration, you are ready to:

Test and validate your connector
Deploy the connector to your environment
Verify logs to ensure it’s running correctly

Pro-code connectors

Connector Studio

Sync Hub

Key configuration areas

Secrets management

Connector properties

Traits

Resources

Prerequisites

Set the deployment namespace

Secrets management with SOPS

Managing secrets

Connector properties

Example properties configuration

Common properties

Traits configuration

Supported traits

Example traits configuration

Health check configuration

Resource configurations

Supported transformation libraries

JOLT transformation example

XSLT transformation example

Configuration best practices

Next steps

​Key configuration areas

Secrets management

Connector properties

Traits

Resources

​Prerequisites

​Set the deployment namespace

​Secrets management with SOPS

​Managing secrets

​Connector properties

​Example properties configuration

​Common properties

​Traits configuration

​Supported traits

​Example traits configuration

​Health check configuration

​Resource configurations

​Supported transformation libraries

​JOLT transformation example

​XSLT transformation example

​Configuration best practices

​Next steps

​Related resources

Key configuration areas

Prerequisites

Set the deployment namespace

Secrets management with SOPS

Managing secrets

Connector properties

Example properties configuration

Common properties

Traits configuration

Supported traits

Example traits configuration

Health check configuration

Resource configurations

Supported transformation libraries

JOLT transformation example

XSLT transformation example

Configuration best practices

Next steps

Related resources