2. Relays

Relays provide secure communication between a customer's on-premise data endpoints to Synatic without opening firewall ports.

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Written by Praise Magidi
Updated over a week ago

Relays provide secure communication between on-premise data endpoints within a customer’s environment to Synatic and cloud-based services without opening firewall ports. Relays are seamless from a configuration perspective.

Relays use a double-encrypted message broker. Each Relay is keyed with a private/public keypair linked to that specific Relay and Organization. All messages between the Relay and Synatic are encrypted by this Key Pair as well as transported over SSL offering a double layer of protection. All messages are permanently deleted once processed or after an hour to ensure that no customer data is stored, even though it is encrypted.

Creating a Relay

Relays are created by logging into a Synatic Organization.

To create a Relay, follow these steps:

1. Create a new Relay in your solution by clicking the three menu dots (⋮) adjacent to the new solution name (1).

2. From, there click the Create button > adjacent to your new solution (2) in the sidebar to expand it.

3. Select Relay from the options provided to create a new Relay (3).

When creating a Relay, the New Relay popup will appear, as shown in the image below.

Relay Name Enter an identifying and meaningful name for the Relay and a full description.

Select a Mode At this stage, only the Asynchronous mode is available. This implies that when the Relay operation is triggered, the resultant data is held in a memory cache. You would then process the data in a Synatic flow by either saving it somewhere or importing it into another resource.

Cache Definition (in minutes) Set the Cache Definition to a period in minutes. This cache holds the Relay settings in memory, set in minutes, while the Relay is running.

Adding an Endpoint Each Relay requires that you identify and define the location of the source legacy data and capture it into an endpoint.

Save When you are done configuring the Endpoint, click Save to confirm the configuration. The Info Tab opens with further options to configure and test the Relay.

4. Provide a Relay Name as highlighted in the image below.

5. Click the Add Endpoint button as highlighted in the image below.

6. Click on the icon in the Select Connection Type field as shown in the image below to select your on-premise system.

7. Search or select a connection type by clicking the connector icon. In this example, the My SQL Server connection type is selected.

8. Provide an Endpoint Name. This is required for the Relay. To identify the Endpoint, a meaningful name and description can be provided as illustrated in the page below.

Delete an Endpoint Delete the Endpoint currently being used by clicking the Delete Endpoint text button.

Add Endpoint Connect to additional Endpoints by clicking the Add Endpoint button.

9. Click the Save button.

10. Copy the generated Relay Key and keep it somewhere safe. It will be needed later on during the configuration.

Info Tab

Once the Relay is created, the next step is to download the Relay's relevant certificate, configuration file, and the Relay Manager.

Downloads – The following downloads are available for the Relay that has been created:

  • Download Relay Certificate


    This option downloads the file RelayCertificate_<ACCOUNT>_<ENDPOINT>.src which contains the certificate.

  • Download Example Config File


    This option downloads the file <ACCOUNT>_<ENDPOINT>_config_example.json which contains the Relay configuration settings to load into the Relay manager.

  • Download Relay Installer


    This option downloads the file SynaticRelayManagerSetup.msi which is the installer file for the Relay Manager.

Last Heartbeat Relays send a Heartbeat every 5 minutes to signal they are still active. This option shows when the last heartbeat was sent.

Refresh Heartbeat – Manually refresh the Relay heartbeat.

Test Relay This option executes a test on the Relay to ensure that all connections and endpoint functions are correct.

Restart Relay – This option executes a restart of the Relay service, which can be installed and started in the Relay Manager.

Re-Key Relay – This option regenerates the license key of the Relay you created. Restart the service after this process is complete.

Relay Stats –This option shows all the Relay stats.


Relay System Requirements

System Requirements

  • Processor: Dual Core processor

  • Memory: at least 4 GB of RAM

  • Disk: 200mb disk space

Operating system

Network

  • The machine the Relay is installed on requires access to the internal services it needs to connect to as well as HTTPS access to *.synatic.com.

  • Network connectivity to endpoints defined in the configuration.

  • Internet speed will dictate processing throughput.

User Access

The Relay runs as a Windows Service under the Local System account. Another system can be created to run the service under if required.

Administered access is required to install the service.

Oracle

The Relay supports Oracle versions greater than 9.2. The relevant Oracle Clients libraries need to be installed on the machine and configured in the PATH variable.

ODBC

The Relay supports both 32 and 64 Bit ODBC connections. The ODBC connections need to be set up as a System DSN.

SQL Server

If a connection to SQL Server is required, the SQL Server needs to allow RCP/IP connections from the machine the Relay is installed on.


Useful Tutorials

Revisit the Getting Started page for a refresher.

Read the Relays overview.

Read more about Relays.

Learn more in the Relays Tutorial video.

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