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Version: 3.2

2.4 Intake Agents

An Intake Agent is a standalone service that connects an external system to DCH and delivers its data for import. Intake Agents are the recommended way to bring data into DCH and the successor to Connectors: each agent knows how to talk to one kind of source, such as a SQL database, a file store, or a web service, and DCH ships agents for common systems.

You register an Intake Agent by pointing DCH at its URL. From then on it appears as a data source in the Model, where you create Target Entities from the data it exposes and process them into the knowledge graph with the Build operation.

Manage agents from the Intake Agents section in the sidebar. The list shows each agent's title, description, URL, and when it was last modified.

The Intake Agents list, showing each agent's title, URL and when it was last modified

How an Intake Agent works​

An Intake Agent runs as its own service, separate from DCH, so it can reach systems DCH cannot and can automate and repeat its retrieval. DCH and the agent work together:

  • DCH calls the agent at its URL to read the source configurations, entities and columns it offers, and to preview its data.
  • When you run a Build, DCH triggers an import job on the agent. The agent retrieves the data from the source and delivers it to DCH, which imports it into the staging layer.

Because the agent handles retrieval, supporting a new kind of source is a matter of running the right agent and registering its URL, rather than configuring a connection inside DCH.

Register an Intake Agent​

Choose Add New and fill in:

  • Title: a name for the agent.
  • Description (optional): a short description.
  • URL: the agent's address.

Choose Save.

caution

The agent must be running and reachable when you register it. DCH performs a handshake with it, and if the handshake fails the agent is not created. Each agent's URL must also be unique.

Work with an Intake Agent​

Open an agent from the list to reach its Actions:

  • Preview Data: preview the data the agent exposes, before importing any of it.
  • Open Agent: open the agent's own interface in a new browser tab.
  • Delete Agent: remove the agent. You are asked to confirm first.

An Intake Agent's detail panel, showing its actions and its URL

In the Model, an Intake Agent behaves like any other Data Source: open it to Preview Data or to Create new entities, which builds Target Entities from the agent's source structure.

note

An Intake Agent uses DCH's single sign-on, so it shares the same login and authorization as the rest of DCH, and it must be covered by a valid license.