Getting Started with Admin after a New Installation

This topic gives guidance on where to start if you are an administrator configuring Graph Studio after the initial deployment.

Accessing the Admin Application

To open the Administration application, go to the following URL:

https://hostname:port/sdl/index.html#/admin

Where hostname is the Graph Studio server DNS name or IP address and port is the HTTP/S port for the Administration application. The default HTTPS port is 8946, and HTTP is 8945.

You can change the URL for the Administration application by configuring the Admin Home Page value in server settings. For more information, see Change the Application Home Page URLs.

To access the Administration application from the Graph Studio application, click the administration icon () on the right side of the top menu bar. Clicking the icon opens the Administration menu, and selecting a menu item opens the application.

Getting Started Checklist

This section describes the tasks that are important to consider and complete before users start to access Graph Studio and load data. You can complete these tasks in any order.

Review the Server Settings

It is a good idea to review the Graph Studio server settings to verify that options such as the application ports and access URLs, binary store location, SPARQL endpoint, and versioning environment are configured as desired. See Changing Graph Studio Server Settings for information.

Replace the Self-Signed Certificate

Graph Studio installations include a self-signed certificate. To strengthen the security of the environment, Altair recommends that you replace the default certificate with a trusted one. For instructions, see Replacing the Self-Signed Certificate.

Connect the Platform Components

The other components that were installed in your environment need to be connected to Graph Studio. The list below provides links to the instructions:

  • If a Kubernetes cluster was set up so that Graph Lakehouse, Elasticsearch, and Graph Studio Unstructured applications can be dynamically deployed as needed, create a Cloud Location. See Connecting to a Cloud Location for instructions.
  • If a static Graph Lakehouse cluster was deployed, see Connecting to Graph Lakehouse for instructions on configuring the connection to Graph Studio.
  • If a static Elasticsearch instance was deployed, see Connecting to Elasticsearch for instructions on configuring the connection to Graph Studio and Graph Lakehouse.
  • If a static Distributed Unstructured cluster was deployed, see Connecting to a Distributed Unstructured Cluster for instructions on configuring the connection to Graph Studio.

Upload JDBC Drivers for Custom Database Connections

Graph Studio and Graph Lakehouse include JDBC drivers for connecting to the following databases:

  • Databricks
  • H2
  • IBM DB2
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • MariaDB
  • Oracle
  • PostgreSQL
  • SAP Sybase (jTDS)
  • Snowflake

If your organization plans to onboard data from other databases, the drivers for those sources need to be added to both Graph Studio and Graph Lakehouse. For instructions on adding drivers to Graph Studio, see Uploading a Plugin. For instructions on adding drivers to Graph Lakehouse, see Adding Drivers for Custom Database Sources.

Set the Default File Upload Path

By default, if a user imports a file (such as a CSV, XML, or JSON file) to Graph Studio from their computer, Graph Studio is configured to copy the file to the data directory in the installation path. When the file is in the installation path instead of the shared file store, it is not accessible by the other applications in the platform. In addition, other users cannot onboard that data because they typically do not have access to the files in that location. It is important to configure a new default file upload path so that source files can be shared with other applications and users. For instructions, see Setting the Default File Upload Path.

Add Users and Configure Access Control Policies

Before you get started with adding users to Graph Studio, it may be beneficial to review the User Management and Access Control Concepts topics to learn about how users, groups, and roles are used in Graph Studio and how data access policies are implemented. Once you are familiar with the concepts, you can connect to your organization's directory server, add users and groups to Graph Studio, create and configure roles, and set up single-sign on access if desired. For links to all of the information about user management, see User Management.

As part of user management, it is also important to review the Default Access Policies for your deployment. These are the security policies that are applied by default to the artifacts that are stored in Graph Studio. By default, most access policies give the creator of an artifact "admin" rights to that artifact, meaning the creator can view, modify, and delete that artifact. In addition, the Everyone role (i.e. all authenticated users) is given "view" permissions for the artifacts, meaning all authenticated users can see that an artifact exists but they cannot modify or delete it. For more information, see Managing Default Access Policies.

Configure Logging Options

By default, Graph Studio is configured to log information about core server operations and services to ensure that diagnostics are generated when errors occur. Additional logging can be enabled, however, to provide information for auditing or monitoring purposes. To learn the basics about logging in Graph Studio, it might be helpful to review Logging Concepts and Configuration. Then see Adding the Recommended Log Packages for information about enabling additional logging. Also see Enabling the System Monitor Service for information about monitoring the state of the Java virtual machine and capturing stack and heap dumps for troubleshooting.