Links

Overview

Links represent the relationship between adapter entities and locker entities and are gatekeepers to the synchronization process. How a link is configured determines when entities are synchronized, how adapter entities and locker entities are joined and what entity data can be synchronized and in what direction. Links control when and how new entities are provisioned and deprovisioned in the target entity space and can also perform custom tasks before or after the provisioning occurs.

Configuration

Links require the following basic configuration:

NameDescription
NameThe display name of the link. Should be descriptive of its function.
AdapterThe adapter that should be associated with this link.
LockerThe locker that should be associated with this link.
Join Strategy
Choose the join strategy for this link. The recommended choice is Connection-aware Join Resolution. See below for more information on the join strategies.
Incoming ProvisionIf the link should provision (create) locker entities when new adapter entities are detected during an incoming synchronization.
Incoming DeprovisionIf the link should deprovision (delete) locker entities when the removal of existing adapter entities are detected during incoming synchronization.
Outgoing ProvisionIf the link should provision (create) adapter entities when new locker entities are detected during an outgoing synchronization.
Outgoing DeprovisionIf the link should deprovision (delete) adapter entities when the removal of existing locker entities are detected during outgoing synchronization.

Join Strategies

Connection-aware Join Resolution

The recommended join strategy for all links. This join strategy takes into account connections between locker and adapter entities created by joins made in previous synchronizations. It will correctly handle situations where the values of join fields change; favouring updates to already connected entities over provisioning new entities.

This strategy is also more strict than the Simple join strategy, preventing joins from completing when the result is ambiguous or incorrect, such as when attempting to join an entity to another when either are already joined to a third entity. This join strategy will automatically correct issues such as these where possible, and fail the synchronization where it cannot. This may seem like a negative, however this is required to protect the data integrity of the locker or adapter being synchronized to. If these kind of synchronization failures occur regularly, it may be a sign of issues with either the way UNIFYBroker has been configured, or with the entity data being processed.

Simple Join Resolution

The original, default join strategy in UNIFYBroker Plus v5.3.0 and older. This strategy uses only basic value-matching for determining joins, so can lead to issues or undesirable behaviour in situations when the values of join fields change. This join strategy is available for legacy support only; it is not recommended for use going forward.

Additional Configuration

Other configuration for links can be found on specific pages, listed below.

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