Configuration

Skytable can be configured to run per your needs. You can use either of command-line arguments, environment variables or a configuration file. We don't have any specific recommendation for a mode of configuration but we generally consider using a configuration file to be the best practice since it is something that won't get lost (which in other cases can get lost due to lost shell history and such).

Configuration file

The configuration file is a simple YAML file. Use this as your configuration file template:

system:
  mode: prod
  rs_window: 300

auth:
  plugin: pwd
  # replace with your root password of choice
  root_pass: password

endpoints:
  secure:
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 2004
    # replace `cert` with the path to your self-signed certificate
    cert: cert.pem
    # replace `private_key` with the path to your private key
    private_key: private.key
    # replace `passphrase.txt` with the path to your private key passphrase
    pkey_passphrase: passphrase.txt
  insecure:
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 2003

Starting the server with a configuration file

To start the server with a configuration file, simply run skyd --config <path to config>.yaml

Here's an explanation of all the keys:

• system:
  • mode: set to either dev / prod mode. prod mode will generally make some things stricters (such as background services)
  • rs_window: This is a very important setting! It is set to 300 by default and is called the "reliability service window" which ensures that if any changes are observed in 300 (or whatever value you set) seconds, then they reach the disk as soon as that time elapses. For example, in the default configuration the system checks for changes every 5 minutes and if there are any dataset changes, they are immediately synced. Read more here
• auth:
  • plugin: this is the authentication plugin. we currently only have pwd that is a simple password based authentication system where the password is stored as an rcrypt hash on disk. More plugin options are set to be implemented for more advanced authentication, especially in enterprise settings
  • root_pass: this is the root account password. It must have atleast 16 characters
• endpoints:
  • secure:
    • host: the host for your secure (TLS) endpoint
    • port: the port for your secure (TLS) endpoint
    • cert: path to the PEM certificate to use for TLS
    • private_key: path to the PEM private key to use for TLS
    • pkey_passphrase: all private keys must be secured with a passphrase; this key should be set to the path of a plaintext file containing your passphrase and not the passphrase itself
  • insecure:
    • host: the host for your TCP endpoint
    • port: the port for your TCP endpoint

Command-line arguments

You can use the following command line arguments:

Category	Argument	Example	Meaning
	--config	--config=config.yaml	Path to the configuration file.
System
	--service-window	--service-window=300	Set the reliability service window (see above)
	--mode	--mode=prod	Set dev or prod mode
Auth
	--auth-plugin	--auth-plugin=pwd	Sets the authentication plugin (see above)
	--auth-root-password	--auth-root-password=mypass	Sets the root account password (see above)
Endpoints
	--endpoint	--endpoint=tcp@localhost:2003	Repeat this for all your endpoints such as tls@host:port and tcp@host:port
	--tlscert	--tlscert=cert.pem	Path to TLS cert
	--tlskey	--tlskey=private.key	Path to TLS private key
	--tls-passphrase	--tls-passphrase=pass.txt	Path to plaintext file containing TLS private key password

Environment variables

You can use the following environment variables:

Category	Variable	Example	Meaning
System
	SKYDB_SERVICE_WINDOW	SKYDB_SERVICE_WINDOW=300	Sets the reliability service window (see above)
Auth
	SKYDB_AUTH_PLUGIN	SKYDB_AUTH_PLUGIN=pwd	Sets the authentication plugin
	SKYDB_AUTH_ROOT_PASSWORD	SKYDB_AUTH_ROOT_PASSWORD=mypass	Sets the root account password
Endpoints
	SKYDB_ENDPOINTS	SKYDB_ENDPOINTS=tcp@myhost:2003,tls@myhost:2004	Sets the endpoints to use
	SKYDB_TLS_CERT	SKYDB_TLS_CERT=cert.pem	Sets the path to the TLS cert
	SKYDB_TLS_KEY	SKYDB_TLS_KEY=private.key	Sets the path to the TLS private key
	SKYDB_TLS_KEY_PASS	SKYDB_TLS_KEY_PASS=pass.txt	Sets the path to the plaintext file containing the TLS private key password