Miscellaneous

.. index:: switch_logical_condition

1. The `switch_logical_condition` field

The switch_logical_condition is a plugin configuration field of the config.ini file in the rrot directory of the plugin.

The switch_logical_condition represents the condition that must be respected so the switch ** plugin directs the data to the plugin**.

When you create a plugin through the bootstrap_plugin create command, the default value is set to False (that means no file will be processed by the plugin).

switch_logical_condition = False means the switch plugin doesn't redirect any file to the plugin.

switch_logical_condition = True means the switch plugin redirects all files to the plugin.

switch_logical_condition = {condition} means the switch plugin redirects the file to the plugin if the {condition} is True.

In most cases, the {condition} is based on tags attributes set by the switch plugin.

The main useful tags are: first.core.original_basename (the base name of the processed file), latest.switch.main.system_magic latest.switch.main.{plugin name}_magic (the 'magic' file. See :doc:./mfdata_and_magic).

.. index:: tag attributes

2. The `switch` plugin tags attributes

The switch plugin sets some tags attributes.

Attributes are stored inside an class:XattrFile <xattrfile.XattrFile> object.

These tags trace the flows processed by the different plugins and gives information about processed files.

If you need to set your own tags, refer to meth:write_tags_in_a_file <xattrfile.XattrFile.write_tags_in_a_file>, meth:print_tags <xattrfile.print_tags>, meth:set_tag <xattrfile.set_tag>, meth:get_tag <xattrfile.get_tag>

You may also check the :ref:mfdata_additional_tutorials:Fill in the plugin section of :doc:./mfdata_additional_tutorials.

.. index:: layerapi2, layerapi2_dependencies, .layerapi2_dependencies, dependencies

3. The `.layerapi2_dependencies` file

When you create a plugin with the :ref:bootstap_plugin <mfdata_create_plugins:Create and customize the plugin> command, a .layerapi2_dependencies file is created in the plugin root directory. This file contains the module/package dependencies you need for the plugin.

By default, the .layerapi2_dependencies file contains only minimal dependencies, e.g.:

python3@mfext

means the plugin will use Python3 from the python3 package supplied in MFEXT.

For more details on layerapi2, check :doc:MFEXT layerapi2 <mfext:layerapi2> and :ref:MFEXT layerapi2 syntax <mfext:layerapi2_syntax> documentation.

Let's assume you need a module or package which is available in the MFEXT 'scientific' package, you have to add this dependencies to the .layerapi2_dependencies file:

python3@mfext
python3_scientific@mfext

.. index:: layerapi2, layerapi2_extra_env, .layerapi2_extra_env

4. The `.layerapi2_extra_env` file

The .layerapi2_extra_env file allows you to defined environment variable only in the plugin context. Check layerapi2 MFEXT documentation.

By default, this .layerapi2_extra_env doesn't exist. If you need to add extra environment variables, create this file in the plugin root directory.

.. seealso:: :ref:MFEXT layerapi2 syntax <mfext:layerapi2_syntax> documentation.

.. index:: http, curl

5. Inject data files in HTTP

MFDATA allows to inject files through HTTP protocol.

By default a Nginx HTTP server is listening on port 9091.

The HTTP url to post your files is http://{your_mfdata_host_name}:9091/incoming/ (http://{your_mfdata_host_name}:9091/ works too).

Only HTTP PUT and POST methods are allowed.

Here is a example to inject data with curl curl:

curl -v -X POST -d @{your file path} http://localhost:9091/incoming/

You may change some configuration fields of the nginx server (including the port) in the [nginx] section of the /home/mfdata/config/config.ini file.

For a more detailed description of nginx configuration, check the /home/mfdata/config/config.ini file.

.. index:: MQTT, Mosquitto MQTT broker, mqtt_listener plugin

6. Trigger MFDATA plugins with MQTT messages

You can now trigger your MFDATA plugins with MQTT messages.

In order to use MQTT protocol with MFDATA, you have to install the Metwork mqtt_listener plugin by setting install_mqtt_listener=1 in the [internal_plugins] section of the MFDATA configuration file (/home/mfdata/config/config.ini). Then, restart MFDATA service by entering service metwork restart mfdata command (as root user).

Check the mqtt_listener plugin is installed, by entering the plugins.list command.

When this plugin is installed, it connects to a configured MQTT broker, listens for a configured topic (can be a wildcard) and write a file in a configured directory (“incoming” directory by default) for each message received.

Check (and configure) the MQTT configuration (mqtt_* arguments) in the MQTT part in the [internal_plugins] section of the MFDATA configuration file (/home/mfdata/config/config.ini), e.g.:

####################
#####   MQTT   #####
####################
# the hostname or IP address of the remote broker
mqtt_listener_broker_hostname=localhost

# the network port of the server host to connect to. Defaults to 1883.
mqtt_listener_broker_port=1883

# a string specifying the subscription topic to subscribe to.Default to # (all)
mqtt_listener_subscription_topic=#

Logs are recorded in the extra_daemon_mqtt_listener_plugin_mqtt_listener.log file of the MFDATA log directory.

.. seealso:: | Eclipse Mosquitto MQTT broker <https://mosquitto.org>_ | mqtt_listener plugin configuration file in the ./var/plugins/mqtt_listener MFDATA home directory. | extra_daemon_mqtt_listener.py (mqtt_listener plugin source code) in the ./var/plugins/mqtt_listener/bin MFDATA home directory.

You can do a simple test by sending a MQTT message with mosquitto_pub (you need to install Mosquitto MQTT Broker, e.g. yum install mosquitto as root user).

For this test, set minimal_level=DEBUG in the [log] section and switch_no_match_policy=keep in [internal_plugins] section of the MFDATA configuration file (/home/mfdata/config/config.ini) and restart MFDATA.

Check the extra_daemon_mqtt_listener_plugin_mqtt_listener.log file:

2019-08-20T09:21:32.312765Z     [INFO] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) Start daemon extra_daemon_mqtt_listener
2019-08-20T09:21:32.314009Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) broker_hostname: localhost
2019-08-20T09:21:32.314094Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) broker_port: 1883
2019-08-20T09:21:32.314140Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) keep_alive: 60
2019-08-20T09:21:32.314182Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) dest_dir: /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming
2019-08-20T09:21:32.314222Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) subscription-topic: #
2019-08-20T09:21:32.314261Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) user_data: None
2019-08-20T09:21:32.318131Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) Waiting for connection ...
2019-08-20T09:21:32.322292Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#71834) the client is connecting to the broker.

Now, publish a message, by entering the command:

 mosquitto_pub -m "message from mosquitto_pub client" -t "test" -d

Client mosqpub|77111-AND-MF-ME sending CONNECT
Client mosqpub|77111-AND-MF-ME received CONNACK (0)
Client mosqpub|77111-AND-MF-ME sending PUBLISH (d0, q0, r0, m1, 'test', ... (33 bytes))
Client mosqpub|77111-AND-MF-ME sending DISCONNECT

Check in the extra_daemon_mqtt_listener_plugin_mqtt_listener.log file, the message has been received:

...
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859351Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) message received: message from mosquitto_pub client
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859456Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) message topic: test
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859510Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) message qos: 0
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859559Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) message retain flag: 0
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859604Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) message info: (0, 0)
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859667Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) userdata: None
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859784Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) basename: 539841478e8544d28886decc6f7bec15
2019-08-20T14:10:04.859851Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) Created tmp file name : /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/539841478e8544d28886decc6f7bec15.t
2019-08-20T14:10:04.861961Z    [DEBUG] (xattrfile#92651) /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/539841478e8544d28886decc6f7bec15.t moved to /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/539841478e8544d28886decc6f7bec15
2019-08-20T14:10:04.862073Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.mqtt_listener.extra_daemon_mqtt_listener#92651) Created file name : /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/539841478e8544d28886decc6f7bec15
...

Check also the step_switch_main.stdout log file:

...
2019-08-20T14:10:04.878991Z     [INFO] (mfdata.switch.main#92752) /home/mfdata/var/in/tmp/switch.main/e1af594f4d1a4811a52289622b2a1db8 moved into /home/mfdata/var/in/trash/switch.nomatch/e1af594f4d1a4811a52289622b2a1db8
2019-08-20T14:10:04.879643Z     [INFO] (mfdata.switch.main#92752) End of the /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/539841478e8544d28886decc6f7bec15 processing after 9 ms
...

May be the content of the message doesn't suite any of your MFDATA plugins (if you have some installed), so and because we set switch_no_match_policy=keep,
the file containing your message and created by MFDATA has been kept in the /home/mfdata/var/in/trash/switch.nomatch directory. In this case, you will find the following files (according to the example above): - e1af594f4d1a4811a52289622b2a1db8 (it contains your message) - e1af594f4d1a4811a52289622b2a1db8.tags (it contains the tags attributes set by the switch plugin)

.. index:: AMQP, RabbitMQ, amqp_listener plugin

7. AMQP incoming messages support

MFDATA has AMQP (0.9.1) incoming messages support.

In order to use AMQP with MFDATA, you have to install the Metwork amqp_listener plugin by setting set install_amqp_listener=1 in the [internal_plugins] section of the MFDATA configuration file (/home/mfdata/config/config.ini). Then, restart MFDATA service by entering service metwork restart mfdata command (as root user).

Check the amqp_listener plugin is installed, by entering the plugins.list command.

Check (and configure) the AMQP configuration (amqp* arguments) in the AMQP part in the [internal_plugins] section of the MFDATA configuration file (/home/mfdata/config/config.ini), e.g.:

####################
#####   AMQP   #####
####################
# the hostname or IP address of the remote broker
amqp_consumer_broker_hostname=localhost

# the network port of the server host to connect to
amqp_consumer_broker_port=5672

# The username to use to connect to the broker
amqp_consumer_credential_user=guest

# The password to use to connect to the broker (use \ to escape special chars)
amqp_consumer_credential_password=\$guest

# The subscription exchange name
amqp_consumer_subscription_exchange=test

# The subscription exchange type (fanout or topic)
amqp_consumer_subscription_exchange_type=fanout

# The subscription queue (for "fanout" mode)
amqp_consumer_subscription_queue=my_queue

# The subscription routing key (wildcards allowed) (for "topic" mode)
amqp_consumer_subscription_routing_topic_keys = "*"

Logs are recorded in the extra_daemon_amqp_consumer_plugin_amqp_listener.log file of the MFDATA log directory.

.. seealso:: | RabbitMQ Tutorials <https://www.rabbitmq.com/getstarted.html> | Python implementation of the AMQP 0-9-1 with Pika <https://github.com/pika/pika> | AMQP 1.0 support for RabbitMQ <https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-amqp1.0/blob/v3.7.x/README.md> | Qpid Proton - AMQP messaging toolkit <https://github.com/apache/qpid-proton> | amqp_listener plugin configuration file in the ./var/plugins/amqp_listener MFDATA home directory. | extra_daemon_amqp_consumer.py (amqp_listener plugin source code) in the ./var/plugins/amqp_listener/bin MFDATA home directory.

Let's now create a simple test with RabbitMQ.

You have to install RabbitMQ.

Then enable rabbitmq_management by entering the following command as root user:

rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management

Once RabbitMQ is installed, create an admin account with administrator permissions by entering the following commands:

rabbitmqctl add_user admin admin
rabbitmqctl set_user_tags admin administrator
rabbitmqctl set_permissions admin ".*" ".*" ".*"

From your browser, you are now able to log in with the admin account to the RabbitMQ Management UI Access, e.g. http://{hostname}:15672/.

Then, check and change the MFDATA AMQP configuration (/home/mfdata/config/config.ini) to set the correct account:

# The username to use to connect to the broker
amqp_consumer_credential_user=admin

# The password to use to connect to the broker (use \ to escape special chars)
amqp_consumer_credential_password=admin

Check also the hostname or IP address of the remote broker (RabbitMQ):

amqp_consumer_broker_hostname=localhost

For this test, set minimal_level=DEBUG in the [log] section and switch_no_match_policy=keep in [internal_plugins] section of the MFDATA configuration file (/home/mfdata/config/config.ini).

Once the MFDATA configuration is changed, don't forget to restart MFDATA service by entering service metwork restart mfdata command (as root user).

Then, write :download:a simple Python code  in order to publish an AMQP message with AMQP Pika Python library:

import pika

# Set credentials
credentials = pika.PlainCredentials('admin', 'admin')
# connection = pika.BlockingConnection(pika.ConnectionParameters(host=self.host_serv, credentials=credentials))

connection = None

try:
    # Connect to RabbitMQ broker
    connection = pika.BlockingConnection(
        pika.ConnectionParameters(host="and-mf-metgate-ci.akka.eu", port=5672, credentials=credentials))

    channel = connection.channel()

    # Create the queue declared in the amqp_consumer_subscription_queue MFDATA configuration, e.g. 'my_queue'
    channel.queue_declare(queue='my_queue', exclusive=False)

    # Enabled delivery confirmations
    # - see https://pika.readthedocs.io/en/stable/examples/blocking_publish_mandatory.html
    # - see https://pika.readthedocs.io/en/stable/examples/blocking_delivery_confirmations.html
    channel.confirm_delivery()

    # Set the exchange name declare in the amqp_consumer_subscription_exchange MFDATA configuration, e.g. 'test'
    exchange = "test"
    # Set the content of the message, in this example, we want to send an xml content
    message = "<notification>message from AMQP 0.9.1 client</notification>"
    # Publish th message 
    # (see https://pika.readthedocs.io/en/stable/modules/channel.html?highlight=basic_publish#pika.channel.Channel.basic_publish)
    return_code = channel.basic_publish(exchange=exchange,
                                        routing_key='my_queue',
                                        body=message,
                                        properties=pika.BasicProperties(content_type='application/xml',
                                                                        delivery_mode=1),
                                        mandatory=True)
    if return_code:
        print('Message was published (ACK)')
    else:
        print('Message was returned (NACK)')

except Exception as e:
    print(e)
finally:
    if connection is not None:
        connection.close()

Check in the extra_daemon_amqp_consumer_plugin_amqp_listener.log file, the message has been received:

...
2019-08-20T14:14:52.856793Z    [DEBUG] (pika.adapters.utils.io_services_utils#97504) Recv would block on <socket.socket fd=7, family=AddressFamily.AF_INET, type=SocketKind.SOCK_STREAM, proto=6, laddr=('172.25.254.137', 54876), raddr=('172.25.254.138', 5672)>
2019-08-20T14:14:52.857675Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.amqp_listener.extra_daemon_amqp_consumer#97504) basename: 3b4539b7f78745768e5e38ddd5356d2e
2019-08-20T14:14:52.858120Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.amqp_listener.extra_daemon_amqp_consumer#97504) Created tmp file name : /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/3b4539b7f78745768e5e38ddd5356d2e.t
2019-08-20T14:14:52.862111Z    [DEBUG] (xattrfile#97504) /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/3b4539b7f78745768e5e38ddd5356d2e.t moved to /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/3b4539b7f78745768e5e38ddd5356d2e
2019-08-20T14:14:52.862464Z    [DEBUG] (mfdata.amqp_listener.extra_daemon_amqp_consumer#97504) Created file name : /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/3b4539b7f78745768e5e38ddd5356d2e
2019-08-20T14:14:52.862788Z     [INFO] (mfdata.amqp_listener.extra_daemon_amqp_consumer#97504) Received message 1 from None : b'<notification>   <product_id>product167</product_id>   <instance_id>product167_201810220600000</instance_id>   <ref_date>2018-12-14T06:00:00</ref_date>   <node_id>national_node_107</node_id>   <service>WFS</service>   <operation>C</operation> </notification>'
...

Check also the step_switch_main.stdout log file:

...
2019-08-20T14:14:52.882382Z     [INFO] (mfdata.switch.main#97601) /home/mfdata/var/in/tmp/switch.main/5fec2670f30f45d98bd094d72030669d moved into /home/mfdata/var/in/trash/switch.nomatch/5fec2670f30f45d98bd094d72030669d
2019-08-20T14:14:52.883024Z     [INFO] (mfdata.switch.main#97601) End of the /home/mfdata/var/in/incoming/3b4539b7f78745768e5e38ddd5356d2e processing after 10 ms
...

May be the content of the message doesn't suite any of your MFDATA plugins (if you have some installed), so and because we set switch_no_match_policy=keep,
the file containing your message and created by MFDATA has been kept in the /home/mfdata/var/in/trash/switch.nomatch directory. In this case, you will find the following files (according to the example above): - 5fec2670f30f45d98bd094d72030669d (it contains your message) - 5fec2670f30f45d98bd094d72030669d.tags (it contains the tags attributes set by the switch plugin)

.. index:: multiple steps

8. Plugins with more than one step

A plugin may one or more step.

In most cases, when you create a plugin with bootstrap_plugin.py, only one step called main is created with the corresponding Python script (i.e. main.py).

However, you may create a plugin with more than one step.

For instance, the archive_image plugin introduced in the :ref:mfdata_quick_start:Use of the ungzip plugin tutorial and the convert_png plugin introduced in the :ref:mfdata_additional_tutorials:A PNG to JPEG conversion plugin tutorial could be merged into one plugin with 2 steps:

one step to archive all images files, we will call it archive_image
one step to convert PNG image to JPEG image, we will call it convert_png

Let's create this '2 steps' plugin.

Create an a new plugin convert_png_archive from the archive template:

bootstrap_plugin.py create --template=archive convert_png_archive

Rename the main.py to archive_image.py.

Change the archive_image.py to get something like this:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

from acquisition import AcquisitionArchiveStep


class Convert_png_archiveArchiveStep(AcquisitionArchiveStep):
    plugin_name = "convert_png_archive"
    step_name = "archive_image"


if __name__ == "__main__":
    x = Convert_png_archiveArchiveStep()
    x.run()

Edit the config.ini plugin configuration file and rename [step_main] section to [step_archive_image]. Change also the cmd parameters to call the archive_image.py. The [step_archive_image] should look like this:

[step_archive_image]
# Command (without args) which implements the step daemon
cmd = {{MFDATA_CURRENT_PLUGIN_DIR}}/archive_image.py
# Arguments for the cmd
args = --config-file={{MFDATA_CURRENT_CONFIG_INI_PATH}} {{MFDATA_CURRENT_STEP_QUEUE}}
arg_redis-unix-socket-path = {{MFMODULE_RUNTIME_HOME}}/var/redis.socket
arg_dest-dir = {{MFMODULE_RUNTIME_HOME}}/var/archive
# Arguments above this line should not be modified
# Arguments below are asked for value when running
#   bootstrap_plugin2.py create --template archive [--make [--install] [--delete] ] name
# strftime-template : template inside above archive directory (strftime
#    placeholders are allowed, / are allowed to define subdirectories,
#    {ORIGINAL_BASENAME}, {ORIGINAL_DIRNAME}, {RANDOM_ID} and {STEP_COUNTER}
#    are also available
#    Default is : "%Y%m%d/{RANDOM_ID}"
arg_strftime-template = %Y%m%d/{RANDOM_ID}

# Keep tags/attributes in an additional file
arg_keep_tags = 1

# If keep_tags=1, the suffix to add to the filename to store tags
arg_keep_tags_suffix = .tags

# Step extra configuration
# For data supply with switch plugin : True, False or logical expression
# on file tags
# Example : (x['first.core.original_dirname'] == b'transmet_fac')
switch_logical_condition = ( b'image' in x['latest.switch.main.system_magic'] )

switch_use_hardlink = False

Then, copy the main.py from the convert_png plugin to convert_png.py in the convert_png_archive plugin directory.

Change the convert_png.py to get something like this:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import subprocess
import os

from acquisition import AcquisitionForkStep


class Convert_pngConvertStep(AcquisitionForkStep):
    plugin_name = "convert_png_archive"
    step_name = "convert_png"

    def process(self, xaf):
        cmd = self.get_command(xaf.filepath)
        self.info("Calling %s ...", cmd)
        return_code = subprocess.call(cmd, shell=True)
        if return_code != 0:
            self.warning("%s returned a bad return code: %i",
                         cmd, return_code)
        return return_code == 0


if __name__ == "__main__":
    x = Convert_pngConvertStep()
    x.run()

Edit the config.ini plugin configuration file and copy the [step_main] section from the convert_png plugin [step_convert_png]. Change also the cmd parameters to call the convert_png.py. The [step_convert_png] should look like this:

[step_convert_png]
# Command (without args) which implements the step daemon
cmd = {{MFDATA_CURRENT_PLUGIN_DIR}}/convert_png.py

# Arguments for the cmd
args = --config-file={{MFDATA_CURRENT_CONFIG_INI_PATH}} {{MFDATA_CURRENT_STEP_QUEUE}}
arg_redis-unix-socket-path = {{MFMODULE_RUNTIME_HOME}}/var/redis.socket
# Arguments above this line should not be modified
# Arguments below are asked for value when running
# command-template : command template to execute on each file
#    {PATH} string will be replaced by the file fullpath ({PATH} must be
#       present in command-template
#    {PLUGIN_DIR} string will be replaced by the full plugin directory
#    Example : ffmpeg -i {PATH} -acodec libmp3lame {PATH}.mp3
#arg_command-template = "{PLUGIN_DIR}/convert.sh {PATH}"
arg_command-template = {PLUGIN_DIR}/convert.sh {PATH}
##### Step extra configuration #####
# For data supply with switch plugin : True, False or logical expression
# on file tags
# Example : (x['first.core.original_dirname'] == b'transmet_fac')
switch_logical_condition = ( x['latest.switch.main.system_magic'].startswith(b'PNG image') )

Copy the convert.sh from the convert_png plugin to the convert_png_archive plugin directory.

Build the plugin (make develop) and run it by injecting PNG or JPEG files:

JPEG files are archived
PNG files are converted to JPEG files and then archived

The behaviour of this '2 steps' convert_png_archive plugin is similar to the archive_image + convert_png plugins.

.. tip:: The benefit of designing a plugin with multiple steps is that each step can share resources, functions, classes,... while plugins can't

.. tip:: When you create a plugin from the ftpsend template, the plugin contains 2 step : the send one, and the reinject one. Check the :ref:mfdata_additional_tutorials:Sending a file by FTP tutorial.

.. index:: outside command .. _outside_metwork_command:

9. The `outside` Metwork command

The outside is a command utility that allow you execute commands outside the Metwork environment.

For instance, let's assume the Python version of Metwork is 3.5.6 and the Python version installed on your system is Python 2.7.5.

For instance:

Entering the command from the Metwork environment:

python --version

Python 3.5.6

Entering the command from the Metwork environment:

outside python --version

Python 2.7.5

.. index:: crontab support

10. The `crontab` support

Each plugin has a crontab support to schedule the execution of programs.

In order to enable your plugin crontab, just create a crontab file in the root directory of the plugin and set the tasks you want to schedule. For further details about crontab, check the Linux documentation (man crontab command or http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/crontab.5.html)

An example of crontab file can be check by creating a plugin from an archive template (:ref:mfdata_quick_start:Use of the ungzip plugin tutorial). After creating the plugin, edit and check the crontab file in the root directory of the plugin.

In order to (re)load the contab file: - If the crontab file does not exist and you create it, you have to restart MFDATA by entering mfdata.stop then mfdata.start commands (or reinstall the plugin) - If the crontab file exists and you just change its content, you have just to wait a few seconds for the changes to be automatically taken into account.

.. tip:: - you may use environment variable in your command surrounded with {{ }} . Environment variables are substituted when cron is installed - you may use the wrapper cronwrap.sh in order to execute the command in the Metwork context.

.. warning:: - Never use crontab -e to edit the crontab file inline. - Never override the crontab file by entering the command crontab [your_crontab_file]

If you need to execute your cron command in the Metwork context, you should use the cron wrapper script ${MFDATA_HOME}/bin/cronwrap.sh, e.g. :

{{MFDATA_HOME}}/bin/cronwrap.sh --lock --low "find {{MFMODULE_RUNTIME_HOME}}/var/archive/ -type f -mtime +5 -exec rm -f {} \;" >/dev/null 2>&1

{{MFDATA_HOME}}/bin/cronwrap.sh --log-capture-to [your_log_filename] -- plugin_wrapper [your_plugin_name]  [your_sh_command]

Enter cronwrap.sh --help for more details.

.. index:: Extra daemon, daemon

11. Extra daemon

You can add extra daemons which will be launched within your plugin. In order to do this, edit the config.ini plugin configuration file and add an [extra_daemon_xxx] section. You have to provide a command to daemonize (the command must run in foreground and not daemonize by itself):

[extra_daemon_foo]
cmd_and_args = /your/foreground/command command_arg1 command_arg2
# numprocesses=1

The numprocesses argument is the the number of processes allocated to you daemon command. The default value is 1.

Of course, you can define as many daemon as you want by adding [extra_daemon_*] section:

[extra_daemon_xxx]
cmd_and_args = /your/foreground/command1 command_arg1 command_arg2

[extra_daemon_yyy]
cmd_and_args = /your/foreground/command2 command_arg1

[extra_daemon_zzz]
cmd_and_args = /your/foreground/command3

...

12. Access a database

A plugin can access a database through Python ORMs, like SQLAlchemy, Records, Django ORM, peewee, and so on.

Metwork supplies :index:PostgreSQL/:index:PostGIS database through the MFBASE storage module. If you want to easily and quickly install a Postgres database, check the :doc:MFBASE documentation <mfbase:index>.

.. tip:: | If your plugin needs to access PostgreSQL database, you may have to install the corresponding Python library (e.g. psycopg2) and to load the layer (scientific_core@mfext) containing the postgreSQL binaries. | Don't forget to add : | - the Python library in the :ref:requirements-to-freeze.txt file <plugins_guide:Python virtualenv> file | - the scientific_core@mfext layer in the .layerapi2_dependencies file of your plugin

Miscellaneous

1. The switch_logical_condition field

2. The switch plugin tags attributes

3. The .layerapi2_dependencies file

4. The .layerapi2_extra_env file