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Options: Outgoing connections

MongooseIM can be configured to talk to external services like databases or HTTP servers. The interface for outgoing connections management is available via the outgoing_pools config option for the following types of connections:

  • cassandra - pool of connections to Cassandra cluster
  • redis - pool of connections to Redis server
  • http - pool of connections to an HTTP(S) server MongooseIM can talk to, for example HTTP authentication backend or HTTP notifications
  • elastic - pool of connections to ElasticSearch server
  • rdbms - pool of connections to an RDBMS database
  • rabbit - pool of connections to a RabbitMQ server

  • ldap - pool of connections to an LDAP server

  • Syntax: Each pool is specified in a subsection starting with [outgoing_pools.type.tag], where type is one of available connection types and tag is an arbitrary value uniquely identifying the pool within its type. This allows you to create multiple dedicated pools of the same type.

General pool options

outgoing_pools.*.*.scope

  • Syntax: string, one of:"global", "host", "single_host"
  • Default: "global"
  • Example: scope = "host"

outgoing_pools.*.*.host

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: no default; required if "single_host" scope is specified
  • Example: host = "anotherhost.com"

scope can be set to:

  • global - meaning that the pool will be started once no matter how many XMPP hosts are served by MongooseIM
  • host - the pool will be started for each XMPP host or host type served by MongooseIM
  • single_host - the pool will be started for the selected host or host type only (you must provide the name).

Worker pool options

All pools are managed by the inaka/worker_pool library.

Available options are:

outgoing_pools.*.*.strategy

  • Syntax: string, one of:"best_worker", "random_worker", "next_worker", "available_worker", "next_available_worker"
  • Default: "best_worker"
  • Example: strategy = "available_worker"

Defines worker selection strategy. Consult worker_pool documentation for details.

outgoing_pools.*.*.workers

  • Syntax: positive integer
  • Default: 10 (20 for Cassandra pool)
  • Example: workers = 100

Number of workers to be started by the pool.

outgoing_pools.*.*.call_timeout

  • Syntax: positive integer
  • Default: 5000 (60000 for RDBMS pool)
  • Example: call_timeout = 3000

Number of milliseconds after which a call to the pool will time out.

Connection options

Options specific to a pool connection are defined in a subsection starting with [outgoing_pools.*.*.connection]. For example:

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[outgoing_pools.rdbms.default]
  scope = "global"
  workers = 5

  [outgoing_pools.rdbms.default.connection]
  ...

RDBMS options

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.driver

  • Syntax: string, one of "pgsql", "mysql" or "odbc" (a supported driver)
  • Default: none - this option is mandatory
  • Example: driver = "psgql"

Selects the driver for RDBMS connection. The choice of a driver impacts the set of available options.

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.keepalive_interval

  • Syntax: positive integer
  • Default: not set - disabled by default
  • Example: keepalive_interval = 30

When enabled, MongooseIM will send SELECT 1query through every DB connection at given interval to keep them open. This option should be used to ensure that database connections are restarted after they became broken (e.g. due to a database restart or a load balancer dropping connections). Currently, not every network-related error returned from a database driver to a regular query will imply a connection restart.

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.query_timeout

  • Syntax: positive integer, in milliseconds
  • Default: 5000
  • Example: query_timeout = 5000

How long MongooseIM will wait for the database to answer for a query.

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.max_start_interval

  • Syntax: positive integer
  • Default: 30
  • Example: max_start_interval = 30

When MongooseIM fails to connect to the DB, it retries with an exponential backoff. This option limits the backoff time for faster reconnection when the DB becomes reachable again.

Options for pgsql and mysql

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.host

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: no default; required for pgsql and mysql
  • Example: host = "localhost"

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.port

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: 5432 for pgsql; 3306 for mysql
  • Example: port = 5343

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.database

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: no default; required for pgsql and mysql
  • Example: database = "mim-db"

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.username

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: no default; required for pgsql and mysql
  • Example: username = "mim-user"

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.password

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: no default; required for pgsql and mysql
  • Example: password = "mim-password"

To enable TLS, you need to include the TLS section in the connection options. There is one additonal option for PostgreSQL:

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.tls.required

  • Syntax: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Example: tls.required = true

This option can be used to enforce a TLS connection.

ODBC options

outgoing_pools.rdbms.*.connection.settings

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: no default; required if the "odbc" driver is specified
  • Example: settings = "DSN=mydb"

ODBC - specific string defining connection parameters.

ODBC SSL connection setup

If you've configured MongooseIM to use an ODBC driver, then the SSL options, along other connection options, should be present in the ~/.odbc.ini file.

To enable SSL connection the sslmode option needs to be set to verify-full. Additionally, you can provide the path to the CA certificate using the sslrootcert option.

Example ~/.odbc.ini configuration
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[mydb]
Driver      = ...
ServerName  = ...
Port        = ...
...
sslmode     = verify-full
sslrootcert = /path/to/ca/cert

HTTP options

outgoing_pools.http.*.connection.host

  • Syntax: "http[s]://string[:integer]"
  • Default: no default; this option is mandatory
  • Example: host = "https://server.com:879"

outgoing_pools.http.*.connection.path_prefix

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: "/"
  • Example: path_prefix = "/api/auth/"

Initial part of path which will be common to all calls. Prefix will be automatically prepended to path specified by a call to the pool.

outgoing_pools.http.*.connection.request_timeout

  • Syntax: positive integer
  • Default: 2000 (milliseconds)
  • Example: request_timeout = 5000

Number of milliseconds after which http call to the server will time out. It should be lower than call_timeout set at the pool level.

To enable TLS, you need to include the TLS section in the connection options.

Redis-specific options

Redis can be used as a session manager backend. Global distribution (implemented in mod_global_distrib) requires Redis pool.

There are two important limitations:

  • for a session backend, the Tag parameter has to be equal to default
  • redis backend is not compatible with available_worker strategy.

outgoing_pools.redis.*.connection.host

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: "127.0.0.1"
  • Example: host = "redis.local"

outgoing_pools.redis.*.connection.port

  • Syntax: integer, between 0 and 65535, non-inclusive
  • Default: 6379
  • Example: port = 9876

outgoing_pools.redis.*.connection.database

  • Syntax: non-negative integer
  • Default: 0
  • Example: database = 2

Logical database index (zero-based).

outgoing_pools.redis.*.connection.password

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: ""
  • Example: password = "topsecret"

Cassandra options

outgoing_pools.cassandra.*.connection.servers

  • Syntax: a TOML array of tables containing keys "host" and "port"
  • Default: [{host = "localhost", port = 9042}]
  • Example: servers = [{host = "host_one", port = 9042}, {host = "host_two", port = 9042}]

outgoing_pools.cassandra.*.connection.keyspace

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: "mongooseim"
  • Example: keyspace = "big_mongooseim_database"

To use plain text authentication (using cqerl_auth_plain_handler module):

outgoing_pools.cassandra.*.connection.auth.plain.username

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: none, this option is mandatory
  • Example: username = "auser"

outgoing_pools.cassandra.*.connection.auth.plain.password

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: none, this option is mandatory
  • Example: password = "somesecretpassword"

Support for other authentication modules may be added in the future.

To enable TLS, you need to include the TLS section in the connection options.

Elasticsearch options

Currently, only one pool tagged default can be used.

outgoing_pools.elastic.default.connection.host

  • Syntax: non-empty string
  • Default: "localhost"
  • Example: host = "otherhost"

outgoing_pools.elastic.default.connection.port

  • Syntax: positive integer
  • Default: 9200
  • Example: port = 9211

MongooseIM uses inaka/tirerl library to communicate with ElasticSearch. This library uses worker_pool in a bit different way than MongooseIM does, so the following options are not configurable:

  • call_timeout (infinity)
  • worker selection strategy (available_worker or what's set as default_strategy of worker_pool application)

The only pool-related variable you can tweak is thus the number of workers.

Run the following function in the MongooseIM shell to verify that the connection has been established:

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1> mongoose_elasticsearch:health().
{ok,#{<<"active_primary_shards">> => 15,<<"active_shards">> => 15,
       <<"active_shards_percent_as_number">> => 50.0,
       <<"cluster_name">> => <<"docker-cluster">>,
       <<"delayed_unassigned_shards">> => 0,
       <<"initializing_shards">> => 0,
       <<"number_of_data_nodes">> => 1,
       <<"number_of_in_flight_fetch">> => 0,
       <<"number_of_nodes">> => 1,
       <<"number_of_pending_tasks">> => 0,
       <<"relocating_shards">> => 0,
       <<"status">> => <<"yellow">>,
       <<"task_max_waiting_in_queue_millis">> => 0,
       <<"timed_out">> => false,
       <<"unassigned_shards">> => 15}}

Note that the output might differ based on your ElasticSearch cluster configuration.

RabbitMQ options

The Tag parameter must be set to event_pusher in order to be able to use the pool for mod_event_pusher_rabbit. Any other Tag can be used for other purposes.

outgoing_pools.rabbit.*.connection.host

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: "localhost"
  • Example: host = "anotherhost"

outgoing_pools.rabbit.*.connection.port

  • Syntax: integer
  • Default: 5672
  • Example: port = 4561

outgoing_pools.rabbit.*.connection.username

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: "guest"
  • Example: username = "corpop"

outgoing_pools.rabbit.*.connection.password

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: "guest"
  • Example: password = "guest"

outgoing_pools.rabbit.*.connection.confirms_enabled

  • Syntax: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Example: confirms_enabled = false

Enables/disables one-to-one publishers confirms.

outgoing_pools.rabbit.*.connection.max_worker_queue_len

  • Syntax: non-negative integer or "infinity"
  • Default: 1000
  • Example: max_worker_queue_len = "infinity"

Sets a limit of messages in a worker's mailbox above which the worker starts dropping the messages. If a worker message queue length reaches the limit, messages from the head of the queue are dropped until the queue length is again below the limit. Use infinity to disable.

LDAP options

outgoing_pools.ldap.*.connection.servers

  • Syntax: an array of strings
  • Default: ["localhost"]
  • Example: servers = ["ldap_one", "ldap_two"]

outgoing_pools.ldap.*.connection.port

  • Syntax: integer
  • Default: 389 (or 636 if TLS is enabled)
  • Example: port = 800

outgoing_pools.ldap.*.connection.root_dn

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: empty string
  • Example: root_dn = "cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com"

Leaving out this option makes it an anonymous connection, which most likely is what you want.

outgoing_pools.ldap.*.connection.password

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: empty string
  • Example: password = "topsecret"

outgoing_pools.ldap.*.connection.connect_interval

  • Syntax: positive integer
  • Default: 10000
  • Example: connect_interval = 20000

Reconnect interval after a failed connection.

To enable TLS, you need to include the TLS section in the connection options.

TLS options

TLS options for a given pool type/tag pair are defined in a subsection starting with [outgoing_pools.[pool_type].[pool_tag].connection.tls].

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.verify_mode

  • Syntax: string, one of: "peer", "selfsigned_peer", "none"
  • Default: "peer"
  • Example: tls.verify_mode = "none"

Specifies the way server certificate verification works:

  • peer - makes sure the server certificate is valid and signed by a trusted CA. Requires a valid cacertfile.
  • selfsigned_peer - makes sure the server certificate is valid, but allows self-signed certificates. Requires a valid cacertfile.
  • none - server certificate is not checked.

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.certfile

  • Syntax: string, path in the file system
  • Default: not set
  • Example: tls.certfile = "server.pem"

Path to the X509 PEM file with a certificate. If the certificate is signed by an intermediate CA, you should specify here the whole CA chain by concatenating all public keys together.

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.cacertfile

  • Syntax: string, path in the file system
  • Default: not set
  • Example: tls.cacertfile = "ca.pem"

Path to the X509 PEM file with a CA chain that will be used to verify clients. It won't have any effect if verify_mode is set to "none".

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.keyfile

  • Syntax: string, path in the file system
  • Default: not set
  • Example: tls.keyfile = "key.pem"

Path to the X509 PEM file with the private key.

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.password

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: not set
  • Example: tls.password = "secret"

Password to the X509 PEM file with the private key.

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.ciphers

  • Syntax: string with the OpenSSL cipher suite specification
  • Default: not set, all supported cipher suites are accepted
  • Example: tls.ciphers = "ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384"

Cipher suites to use. Please refer to the OpenSSL documentation for the cipher string format. For allowed values, see the Erlang/OTP SSL documentation.

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.versions

  • Syntax: list of strings
  • Default: not set, all supported versions are accepted
  • Example: tls.versions = ["tlsv1.2", "tlsv1.3"]

TLS protocol versions to use. For allowed values, see the Erlang/OTP SSL documentation

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.server_name_indication.enabled

  • Syntax: boolean
  • Default: "true", but effective only if verify_mode is not "none".
  • Example: tls.server_name_indication.enabled = false

Enables SNI extension to TLS protocol. You can set it to false to disable the extension.

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.server_name_indication.host

  • Syntax: string
  • Default: not set
  • Example: tls.server_name_indication.host = "domain.com"

Domain against which the certificates will be checked, using SNI.

outgoing_pools.*.*.connection.tls.server_name_indication.protocol

  • Syntax: string, one of "default" or "https"
  • Default: "default"
  • Example: tls.server_name_indication_protocol = "https"

See the OTP documentation for an explanation. You'd usually want to set it to "https" for reasons described in the security recommendations.