Service Registry Initialization

Upon startup and configuration permitting, the registry is able to auto initialize itself from default JSON service definitions available to CAS. Populating the registry with a set of default services serves as a starting point and an example at that where one is able to immediately start integrating applications. For production purposes, it is recommended that you pick a more relevant option for storage and disable this behavior.

The default service definitions that are used by the initializer component ship with CAS by default and are put on the classpath. The initializer is able to detect all service definitions files found on the classpath (i.e. src/main/resources/services) and import them into the real service registry used while also taking into account all active Spring application profiles. For example, if the current Spring application profiles are dev and qa, then the following locations will be evaluated by CAS to locate service definitions:

classpath*:/services/dev/*.json
classpath*:/services/qa/*.json
classpath*:/services/*.json

This means that if this behavior is enabled and additional files are found on the classpath at the relevant paths, CAS will take the default services as well as any and all other services found in order to import them into the service registry used. Note that the location of the JSON files while typically set to the classpath may be controlled via CAS properties; the same setting property that controls the location of the JSON service files for the JSON service registry is used by the initialization logic to locate service files.

Again, this behavior is only useful as a starting point, an example and for small and specialized deployments. It is recommended that you take explicit control over the registry and register services and applications which you have fully authorized.

The following settings and properties are available from the CAS configuration catalog:

cas.service-registry.core.index-servicesWhen set to true, CAS creates in-memory indexes for specific pre-chosen fields of the registered services, allowing it to find a service definition by its friendly name, client id, etc.

true

When set to true, CAS creates in-memory indexes for specific pre-chosen fields of the registered services, allowing it to find a service definition by its friendly name, client id, etc. This is particularly useful for querying operations in OAuth or OpenID Connect, as there would be no need to loop through all service definitions looking for a matching client id. The indexes allow CAS to execute a direct query on loaded service objects to find the relevant definition.

Type: Boolean
Default: true
Defined by: ServiceRegistryCoreProperties

cas.service-registry.core.init-default-servicesFlag that indicates whether service definitions that ship with CAS by default should be included in the initialization process and imported into CAS service registry.

true

Flag that indicates whether service definitions that ship with CAS by default should be included in the initialization process and imported into CAS service registry. Default service files that ship with CAS are found on the classpath inside the JsonServiceRegistryProperties#DEFAULT_LOCATION_DIRECTORY directory.

Type: Boolean
Default: true
Defined by: ServiceRegistryCoreProperties

cas.service-registry.core.init-from-jsonFlag that indicates whether to initialise active service registry implementation with a set of service definitions included with CAS by default in JSON format.

false

Flag that indicates whether to initialise active service registry implementation with a set of service definitions included with CAS by default in JSON format. The initialization generally tends to find JSON service definitions from JsonServiceRegistryProperties#getLocation().

In cases where the location points to an embedded directory or resource inside a JAR/ZIP file, such as those that might have been packaged with the CAS application as part of the build and assembly process, embedded services are first exported out into a temporary directory and then read as file-system resources. In such scenarios, you may want to turn off the watcher via JsonServiceRegistryProperties#isWatcherEnabled().

If the default location offered by CAS, JsonServiceRegistryProperties#DEFAULT_LOCATION_DIRECTORY, is used, CAS would attempt to locate JSON service files by forming the following pattern for each active spring application profile:

classpath*:/JsonServiceRegistryProperties#DEFAULT_LOCATION_DIRECTORY/profile-id/*.json

You may also control whether default services should be included and initialized via #isInitDefaultServices().

Type: Boolean
Default: false
Defined by: ServiceRegistryCoreProperties

Required settings may be needed to activate or affect the feature; review them even when they have a default. Optional settings only need to be set to change a default or to turn on the behavior they control. Third party settings belong to libraries such as Spring Boot that CAS builds on; their own documentation may have more detail.

Notes on configuration

Configuration Metadata

The collection of configuration properties listed in this section are automatically generated from the CAS source and components that contain the actual field definitions, types, descriptions, modules, etc. This metadata may not always be 100% accurate, or could be lacking details and sufficient explanations.

Be Selective

This section is meant as a guide only. Do NOT copy/paste the entire collection of settings into your CAS configuration; rather pick only the properties that you need. Do NOT enable settings unless you are certain of their purpose and do NOT copy settings into your configuration only to keep them as reference. All these ideas lead to upgrade headaches, maintenance nightmares and premature aging.

YAGNI

Note that for nearly ALL use cases, declaring and configuring properties listed here is sufficient. You should NOT have to explicitly massage a CAS XML/Java/etc configuration file to design an authentication handler, create attribute release policies, etc. CAS at runtime will auto-configure all required changes for you. If you are unsure about the meaning of a given CAS setting, do NOT turn it on without hesitation. Review the codebase or better yet, ask questions to clarify the intended behavior.

Naming Convention

Property names can be specified in very relaxed terms. For instance cas.someProperty, cas.some-property, cas.some_property are all valid names. While all forms are accepted by CAS, there are certain components (in CAS and other frameworks used) whose activation at runtime is conditional on a property value, where this property is required to have been specified in CAS configuration using kebab case. This is both true for properties that are owned by CAS as well as those that might be presented to the system via an external library or framework such as Spring Boot, etc.

Note

When possible, properties should be stored in lower-case kebab format, such as cas.property-name=value. The only possible exception to this rule is when naming actuator endpoints; The name of the actuator endpoints (i.e. ssoSessions) MUST remain in camelCase mode.

Settings and properties that are controlled by the CAS platform directly always begin with the prefix cas. All other settings are controlled and provided to CAS via other underlying frameworks and may have their own schemas and syntax. BE CAREFUL with the distinction. Unrecognized properties are rejected by CAS and/or frameworks upon which CAS depends. This means if you somehow misspell a property definition or fail to adhere to the dot-notation syntax and such, your setting is entirely refused by CAS and likely the feature it controls will never be activated in the way you intend.

Validation

Configuration properties are automatically validated on CAS startup to report issues with configuration binding, especially if defined CAS settings cannot be recognized or validated by the configuration schema. Additional validation processes are also handled via Configuration Metadata and property migrations applied automatically on startup by Spring Boot and family.

Indexed Settings

CAS settings able to accept multiple values are typically documented with an index, such as cas.some.setting[0]=value. The index [0] is meant to be incremented by the adopter to allow for distinct multiple configuration blocks.