SAP CLoud Platform Integration – Automated Notification of Keystore Entries Reaching Expiry

Introduction

CPI Keystore Monitor allows a tenant administrator to manage the tenant keystore and its entries. A keystore contains entries uniquely identified by an alias where each entry has its own lifecycle. Renewal of an entry is important task to be done before expiry, else it will lead to message failure for productive scenarios using specific certificates/key-pairs entries. The tenant administrator can be notified for those entries which are about to expire, so that he can take in-time actions for renewal of the same.

Within keystore monitor, expired keys and certificates are highlighted showing expiration date. In addition, an Integration Flow can be modeled to get notifications via mail for entries reaching their expiry. This document provides steps to model a scenario triggered via scheduler which looks across all entries of the tenant keystore and sends a mail with information about those entries reaching their expiry.

Scenario Description

Cloud Integration provides various REST APIs with technical protocol as Open Data Protocol (OData) with which you can access data. These APIs can be consumed via https:///api/v1 where is the address of the tenant management node. Here we will use API for accessing keystore entries via https:///api/v1/KeystoreEntries .Overall scenario looks as below:

Create an integration flow with Start Timer Event. Using Request-Reply step call OData APIs to fetch details of the tenant keystore entries via OData receiver channel. Fetch Alias Name and ValidNotAfter for entity KeystoreEntries. Below find the configuration of OData Receiver channel:

Make sure the Page Size field value is null since entries in a keystore are not so many in numbers.

The response of the OData call will be a file containing all keystore entries with their Alias & Validity date. Now add a General Splitter step to split using XPath /KeystoreEntries/KeystoreEntry and pass split entries to a Local Integration Process.

In Local Integration Process, define a Content Modifier and store the values of keystore entry Alias and Validity Time in a header.

Additionally, add a message containing Alias & Validity Time information about keystore entry in body of Content Modifier. This message will be send via mail notification. You can choose to customize this information as per your need.

Now add a script to fetch Validity Time from header and compare with current date. Output of script shall be number of days left for Keystore entry to expire. You can find a sample code below:

     def map = message.getHeaders();

     String getCertExpirydate = map.get(“CertExpiryDate”);

     Date CertExpirydate = new SimpleDateFormat(“yyyy-MM-dd“).parse(getCertExpirydate);

     Date dateNow = new Date(System.currentTimeMillis());

     long dateDiff = CertExpirydate.getTime() – dateNow.getTime();

     def daysToExpire = TimeUnit.DAYS.convert(dateDiff, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);

     message.setHeader(“daysToExpire”, daysToExpire);

Add a router step to route those entries whose expiry is in less than defined number of days (e.g. daysToExpire

In House Marketing Getting a Helping Hand

We are living in a very competitive era as most businesses have the option of relying on in-house professionals to get their processes done, or turn to the highly competitive area of outsourcing where you can find a variety of other professionals.

Outsourcing first started in the IT departments, and then branched out to just about every department of a business with one of the most competitive being in marketing. When it comes to marketing we know that this department does a little bit of everything, from building and managing email lists, developing content, cloud development, employing SEO techniques, managing social media presence, promoting, handling placement of new products, and the list goes on.

Today, we will look at how your in-house marketing team can get a boost from outsourced marketing.

Performance Issues

When we look at in-house marketing, we understand that time is a valuable commodity, which every business needs to utilize correctly in order to stay profitable. In-house marketing can be inadequately staffed as multiple jobs to in-house personnel. This can be trying on in-house teams, and you should be asking yourself these questions when it comes to performance.

* Do you have enough staff in-house to handle all your marketing projects?
* Does your in-house team have enough time to research current trends, and interview leaders within the industry?
* Do you have enough time to keep up with every tactical creative detail to keep up with your competitors?

Contracting Outsourcing

In a recent study by the Ascend2 group found that 62% of marketers used outsourcing along with their in-house projects. If you don’t have the time to fill the gaps in your in-house marketing, then it will be in your best interest to find outsourcing for your projects. A few options that you might consider include the following:

* Outsourced internet services – This is where you in sense are going to a company that provides a list of marketing services from SEO, graphics, programming, design, IT services, and content creation to name a few. These types of service companies are highly recommended as they have everything you need in one place at reasonable prices.
* Marketing agency – Within a marketing agency, you have access to a team that might be able to give you fresh ideas when it comes to market research. However, it can take time for an agency to see what your company is looking for, but can help utilize manpower with a team of skilled marketers.

Deciding What’s Right for Your Business

If you are currently having frustrations within your in-house marketing team it might be time to be open to the possibility of outsourcing some of your tasks to skilled outsourced internet services or a marketing agency. You could always start off with small tasks to take off the shoulders of your in-house team in order that they could focus their time on more important tasks to let you stay on top. http://bit.ly/2Dyahvo #SAP #SAPCloud #AI