Platform Dev. Guide - Configuration

Like most web applications, the Ed-Fi ODS / API has several configuration settings. Some configuration values, such as database connection strings, must be supplied for every instance. Others are optional, and change the behavior of the system.

This section provides an overview of the primary files that contain configuration settings.

Main Configuration Locations

The EdFi.Ods.WebApi project (found in the Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation\Application\EdFi.Ods.WebApi directory of the ODS / API solution) contains the primary configurations for an instance of the Ed-Fi ODS / API. By customizing the web.config, Global.asax, log4net.xml, App_Start, and _Installers files and folders, you should be able to modify the API to suit your needs. A brief description of the configurations made in each file follows:

• Web.config. Changes here include database connection strings, e-mail credentials and the names of the Castle Windsor installer classes that should be loaded. 
• Global.asax. This class is used to load the other startup and installation classes from the App_Start and _Installers folders. It is also the place where the Castle Windsor IoC container and NHibernate database access are configured. Global.asax also contains core log4net framework values.
• log4net.xml. This is a configuration file for log4net, the logging utility used by the Ed-Fi ODS / API. See the log4net documentation for details regarding logging configuration options.
• App_Start Directory. Individual files in this directory configure the API. If you wish to include additional functions to the API or add filters you will change these files. The WebApiInstaller class, which contains the main Castle Windsor configuration, is also located in this directory.
• _Installers Directory. This directory contains application-specific installers for Castle Windsor. If you have multiple deployment configurations required by your API, follow the pattern of adding deployment-specific installers to this directory.

For more detail on the configuration files and the specific values, see the Configuration Details section of this documentation.

Security Configuration

In addition to the configuration settings above, the Ed-Fi ODS / API allows implementers to configure several aspects of the application security:

• Claim Sets. Changes to claim sets provide fine-grained access control over data accessible by clients. 
• API Profiles. Profiles allow implementers to create data profiles that specify exactly what access is allowed for particular kinds of client systems. For example, student information systems in an enterprise might require broad access to data including students, grades, attendance, discipline incidents, assessment results, and so forth, while a gradebook application might only need access to student and gradebook data.

For more detail on the security aspects of the Ed-Fi ODS / API, see the Security section of this documentation.