You have two options for integrating with an application or database that is behind a firewall:
- Whitelist integator.io IP addresses to allow integrator.io to connect to your application or database directly
- Use an on-premise agent to connect to your application or database – without whitelisting
Note: The on-premise agent allows integration with all supported SQL databases, MongoDB, DynamoDB, REST, and HTTP connections.
What is an on-premise agent?
An on-premise agent is a piece of software that runs on your server, typically behind the firewall and within the same network as the systems you want to connect to. It establishes a secure tunnel to connect to integrator.io.
Since the agent makes calls to integrator.io, there is no need to open holes in the firewall by whitelisting IP addresses. The default ports for HTTPS (443) and SSH (22) should be defined on outbound rules in the firewall.
Set up your agent
Step 1: Download and install the agent software
- Navigate to Resources > Agents.
- Click + Create agent.
- Name your agent. You can also add a description.
- Click Save. Your agent now appears in the list.
- From the Install column, click the Download option and choose the operating system (currently, Windows).
- After it has downloaded, install and open the agent software.
Step 2: Enter agent token
Communication between the agent and integrator.io is secured by an access token. To generate this token and provide it to the installed agent:
- In the list of agents, click Show token.
Important: Keep this token secure. Click Actions > 
Generate token to get a new access token and automatically revoke the previous token.
- Click the copy icon (
) next to the unmasked access token to copy it to your clipboard.
- In the agent software, enter the access token. The agent will automatically start communicating with integrator.io.
The agent should now be online, indicated with a green circle in the list. (Refresh the page if the view hasn’t updated.)
Step 3: Set up your connection
- Create a connection in integrator.io, either from the Resources > Connections menu or by adding a new source or destination app in Flow Builder.
- For the Mode setting, choose On-premise (the default is Cloud).
- In the Agent drop-down list, choose your agent from the list.
When creating an integrator.io connection that uses an on-premise agent, your settings will depend on whether the agent is installed on the same server as the application or database.
- Same server – set the Base URI to localhost or 127.0.0.1
- Different servers on the same network – use the hostname or IP address as the Base URI of the system the application or database is running on
Exports and imports that leverage a connection through an on-premise agent do not need any special configuration, since the agent configuration is fully contained within the connection settings. Once the connection is established, you can build flows and integrations as normal.
FAQs
- Is there any native means of running the on-premise agent as a service?
- Is it possible to run multiple agents on the same machine?
- Does the on-premise agent need to be installed on the same machine as the system to be integrated?
- What steps do I need to take when migrating an agent-based flow between sandbox and production environments?
Q1: Is there any native means of running the on-premise agent as a service?
A: An agent can only operate as an executable. We recommended running the agent in the background on a small Windows server within your firewall. The server should be dedicated for the agent, not running other programs, and it should run flawlessly. In fact, at Celigo we set up our agents exactly in this manner for our own business flows.
Q2: Is it possible to run multiple agents on the same machine?
A: No, you can run only one instance of the agent on a machine. However, note that the same agent can be used to allow integrator.io to talk to multiple databases and applications on the same network as the agent.
Q3. Does the on-premise agent need to be installed on the same machine as the system to be integrated?
A: Agents can be installed on any machine within the same network as the server running the system to be integrated.
Q4. What steps do I need to take when migrating an agent-based flow between sandbox and production environments?
A: You can easily migrate flows between environments by cloning flows. When setting up a cloned flow, you will be prompted to supply connection details, either with a new or existing connection. If the sandbox and production systems’ being integrated are on the same network, then the best approach is to use the same on-premise agent for connections to both sandbox and production systems. If you choose to use separate agents for each environment, remember that they must be installed on different machines (see Q1, above).
Comments
4 comments
I am not seeing the "waffle box" menu on my end. When I click integrato.io, it asks me to sign in. Can you please help?
Can you provide instructions on how to install this agent software on linux machine using command line. One of our use cases involves installing on a server with no UI access. Command line is the only option - can you provide any details?
How can you run the agent as a service?
I can answer both Rahul's and Damon's questions, based upon conversations I've had with support as of a couple months ago:
Rahul: Linux support is in Beta, and not currently supported specifically because it is a GUI app, not a command line app. There is no command line support.
Damon: Probably for a similar reason to the above, it's not currently supported to run the agent as a service.
... the agent appears to be intended to support development from your local machine, where you can restart at will, rather than used in production to circumvent firewall restrictions. I have found it to be only semi-reliable. Thankfully, I only need it for development purposes - in roughly 4 months, it's had to be restarted roughly twice.
In any event, to make this work *best* you'll need a windows machine with network access to the resource you're trying to connect to, and you'll need login access to that machine to be able to restart if it goes down.
I know that Celigo is actively working on many areas of their system, this may be one of them, so I suggest opening a new ticket with support or otherwise talking to your rep about what they're working on here if you need a better solution.
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