SystemLink Enterprise Network Interactions

Learn about the networked components and encrypted protocols SystemLink Enterprise uses.



Table 21. Networked Components and Encrypted Protocols of SystemLink Enterprise
Component or Protocol Description
SystemLink Enterprise Kubernetes Cluster
The SystemLink Enterprise Kubernetes Cluster in the Linux Kubernetes cluster hosts the pods that make up the following components.
  • SystemLink web services
  • SystemLink web applications
  • Salt master

For more information on cluster requirements, refer to Related information.
SystemLink Web Application

The SystemLink Web Application is the online utility that users can access to interact with SystemLink.
Targets

Targets are the systems that SystemLink manages the software and configuration. These systems can have Windows and Linux Real-Time operating systems.

Targets communicate with SystemLink over HTTPS and the SaltStack TCP protocol. Regardless of protocol, test systems initiate all communication to the server. For information on adding a target to your SystemLink server, refer to Setting Up a SystemLink Client.

SystemLink communicates tags, files, assets, and test results over HTTPS. Salt jobs and pillars communicate over the AES encrypted Salt TCP transport. Salt jobs are used for installing software and for changing target configuration from SystemLink server. Salt pillars are used to transfer credentials and certificates. Salt manages the SystemLink server certificates. Target nodes do not require administrators to manage these certificates. For an overview of the Salt TCP Transport, refer to the SaltStack documentation.

When SystemLink approves a target, the target becomes a managed node. SystemLink also securely transfers the configuration, certificates, and credentials necessary for authentication with the role-based SystemLink Server access control system. SystemLink Client APIs include an auto configuration VI that automatically consumes these credentials. You do not have to include secrets, such as credentials, in your test application code.
MongoDB

MongoDB is a document database. SystemLink uses the MongoDB wire protocol to communicate with the MongoDB instance. MongoDB supports TLS connections. For more information, refer to the MongoDB TLS documentation.
File Storage

File Storage refers to the Amazon S3 or Azure Blob storage system that the SystemLink File Ingestion Service uses.
Identity Provider

The Identity Provider is the service SystemLink uses to authenticate users and log users into the SystemLink web application. SystemLink Enterprise supports only OpenID Connect identity providers. For more information on how to connect your provider to SystemLink, refer to Configuring OpenID Connect Client Access.
PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a relational database management system. SystemLink uses PostgreSQL for data storage.
Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch is a search engine. SystemLink uses Elasticsearch to improve search capabilities.