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Graph Configuration

How to configure a Gaffer instance

There are various configuration files for Gaffer, this page gives an overview of the commonly used files and how to tweak them for your project needs.

Here is an example file structure which suites a stand alone deployment using docker:

Example Gaffer project structure

Click the plus symbols for a brief description of each file

├── config
│   ├── gaffer
│       ├── application.properties #(1)!
│       ├── data                   #(2)!
│       │   ├── neo4jExport.csv
│       ├── graph
│       │   └── graphConfig.json #(3)!
│       ├── schema
│       │   ├── elements.json #(4)!
│       │   └── types.json    #(5)!
│       └── store
│           ├── operationsDeclarations.json #(6)!
│           └── store.properties            #(7)!
│   
└── docker-compose.yaml #(8)!
  1. Properties file that generally sets the file locations of other Gaffer configs e.g. schemas (note these are the absolute paths inside the container).
  2. Any data files, e.g. CSV, to be made available to the Gaffer container.
  3. The graph config file to set id, description and other values for the graph.
  4. This file holds the schema outlining the elements in the graph, e.g. the entities and edges.
  5. This file defines the different data types in the graph and how they are serialised to Java classes. An example of the schema files can be found here
  6. Config file for additional Gaffer operations and set the class to handle them on the store.
  7. The General store properties, sets up what store to use and any additional configuration.
  8. This file controls which containers will be started up and the configuration of them to ensure correct ports and files are available.

Configuration Files

application.properties

Within the application.properties file we set the file location properties of where the other config files are. In general it borrows a concept from Spring Boot to allow any properties related to Gaffer.

application.properties
gaffer.schemas=/gaffer/schema
gaffer.storeProperties=/gaffer/store/store.properties
gaffer.graph.config=/gaffer/graph/graphConfig.json

graphConfig.json

Within the graphCongfig.json file you can set multiple properties. Here you define the graphId and description of the graph. You can also define any additonal hooks to run when operations are perfomed, a view you want to be applied when operations are perfomed and any addtional libraries with the library property.

The example below shows how we would configure each of these.

graphConfig.json
{
    "graphId": "ExampleGraph",
    "description": "An example graph",
    "view": {
        "globalElements": [
        {
            "postAggregationFilterFunctions": [
            {
                "predicate": {
                "class": "uk.gov.gchq.koryphe.impl.predicate.IsLessThan",
                "orEqualTo": false,
                "value": "10"
                },
                "selection": ["ExamplePropertyName"]
            }
            ]
        }
        ]
    },
    "hooks": [
        {
            "class": "uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.graph.hook.FunctionAuthoriser"
        }
    ],
    "library": {
      "class": "uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.store.library.FileGraphLibrary"
  }
}

Changing Values

For a standard Gaffer deployment you can easily change the values within your graphConfig.json. The new key value pairs will be updated upon restarting the graph (assuming the file is loaded correctly).

However be aware, if you are using the Accumulo store, updating the graphId is a little more complicated since the graphId corresponds to an Accumulo table. This means that if you change the ID then a new Accumulo table will be used and any existing data would be lost.

store.properties

Within the store.properties file we configure the Gaffer store which is used by the Graph. By default you must provide a store class and a store properties class as seen below. There are several different stores which can be configured and require additional properties which can be found in the Store Guide Section.

Below is an example of a store.properties file for a Graph using an Accumulo store.

store.properties
# Default properties
gaffer.store.class=uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.accumulostore.AccumuloStore
gaffer.store.properties.class=uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.accumulostore.AccumuloProperties

# Accumulo specific config
accumulo.instance=accumulo
accumulo.zookeepers=zookeeper
accumulo.user=root
accumulo.password=secret

operationsDeclarations.json

Within the operationsDeclarations.json you can enable additional operations in Gaffer. By default Gaffer already includes most operations (please refer to the Operations Guide pages), however you may want to enable other operations or even add your own custom ones.

The example below shows how to enable the ImportFromLocalFile operation which already exists in the code base but isn't included by default.

operationsDeclarations.json
{
    "operations": [
        {
            "operation": "uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.operation.impl.export.localfile.ImportFromLocalFile",
            "handler": {
                "class": "uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.store.operation.handler.export.localfile.ImportFromLocalFileHandler"
            }
        }
    ]
}
Last update: November 6, 2023
Created: September 13, 2023