Hi Russ, In NiFi 1.2.0, there are 3 Reporting Tasks (SiteToSiteBulletionReportingTask, SiteToSiteProvenanceReportingTask, and SiteToSiteStatusReportingTask) that have the capability of using a Controller Service (StandardSSLContextService). So yes, the Global -> Controller Settings has a limited set of use cases, but they are very important. This becomes even more true considering the extensibility of NiFi components. Who can predict what new reporting tasks might be created to meet end user's needs, and what controller services those tasks might need?
This is definitely high on the list of things that catch NiFi users off guard, as they transition from the 0.x versions into the 1.x versions. I can say that once I got used to using the Operate Palette (especially for defining controller services!) then it didn't seem as bad. I'll see what I can add to the 0.x to 1.0.0 Migration Guide [1] to call this out specifically. -- Mike [1] - https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/NIFI/Migration+Guidance On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 3:53 PM, Russell Bateman <r...@windofkeltia.com> wrote: > Thanks, Andrew! > > (From [1]:) "This means that the service will be available to all Processors > and Controller Services defined in that Process Group and below." > > In my experience, this isn't true. If I create a controller via the General > menu in the very root of my NiFi canvas, configure its name in Settings, > calling it Jack, then I create a new process group, then configure a new > processor in that group, when I try to configure to use the controller, Jack > is not among the options. > > In order for the statement above to be true, I have to create it via the > gear icon in the Operate menu/palette. > > Is this not what you see? > > So, beginning sometime in 1.x, the Controller Settings option in the General > menu became useless, even at the top level except for "all ReportingTasks > and services defined in the Controller Settings." But, when would any > reporting task or other service defined be able to benefit? Never if I'm any > judge. > > I think this is much more than a mere documentation issue. I wonder if > removing the Controller Services... option from the General menu would not > be the most important thing to do (even before documenting the gear icon in > the Operate menu). > > Russ > > > On 05/16/2017 10:05 AM, Andrew Lim wrote: > > Hi Russell, > > Thanks for your question. > > Yes, working with Controller Services has definitely changed in 1.x compared > to 0.x NiFi. Matt Gilman wrote a nice article about how Controller Service > scoping was updated in 1.x with the introduction of Multi-Tenant > Authorization and also discusses the recent improvements made in NiFi 1.2 to > alleviate some of the user confusion around scoping [1]. If you would like > to see further details, the parent Jira for the improvements can be found > here [2]. > > I think there is opportunity to improve the Apache documentation we have > around this functionality, so I just filed a new Jira [3]. > > Let us know if you have any more questions. > > Thanks, > > Drew > > [1] > https://community.hortonworks.com/articles/90259/understanding-controller-service-availability-in-a.html > [2] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NIFI-3128 > [3] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NIFI-3911 > > > > On May 16, 2017, at 11:28 AM, Russell Bateman <r...@windofkeltia.com> wrote: > > It appears to me that that, unlike what happened in NiFi 0.x, in 1.x when I > look at controller services via the General menu -> Controller Services, > what I see is totally different from what I see when I configure controller > services for a processor. > > If I use the General menu to set up my controller services, I do not see nor > am I given the option of using them in particular for processors I'm > configuring. Instead, I appear to get a "Process Group Configuration and a > list of controller services which are not the ones I'm looking for (because > when I set them up, I gave them "special" names or renamed names I could > recognize apart from any other use). > > Note: I'm more of a processor and controller service author than an > experienced user of NiFi, so I may just be hopelessly confused. > > My question is what's the point of being able to configure controller > services "globally" or "generally" if you can't reach them when you need > them? > > Please confirm that I'm not just smoking funny weed and that this is > different, in fact, from how it worked in 0.7.1. > > Thanks. > >
