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Enterprise Edition

Flagsmith is also provided as an "Enterprise Edition" which has additional features and capabilities over the Open Source product:

  • Role Based Access Controls
  • SAML, OAuth, LDAP, ADFS and Okta authentication, as well as the ability to lock authentication to a single provider
  • Additional database engines: Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL
  • Additional deployment and orchestration options as detailed below

Deployment Options​

We currently support the following infrastructure platforms:

If you require additional deployment options, please contact us.

Orchestration​

We currently have the following orchestration options:

Please contact us for the relevant source code for these projects.

Docker Image Repository​

The Flagsmith API Enterprise Edition is hosted with a private Docker Hub repository. To access the Docker images in this repository you will need to provide a Docker Hub account. Please get in touch if you need access to these repos.

We have 2 different Enterprise Edition Images. You can choose to use either image.

"SaaS" image (flagsmith-private-cloud)​

This image tracks our SaaS build and includes additional packages:

  • SAML
  • Workflows (Change Requests and Flag Scheduling)
  • LDAP

This image also bundles the front end into the python application, meaning you don't need to run a separate front end and back end.

Enterprise Edition image (flagsmith-api-ee)​

This image includes additions from the SaaS image above:

  • Oracle Support
  • MySQL Support
  • Appdynamics Integration

Environment Variables​

Frontend Environment Variables​

VariableExample ValueDescription
API_URLhttp://localhost:8888/api/v1The URL of the API Backend
FLAGSMITH_CLIENT_APIhttp://localhost:8888/api/v1This is where the features for the front end themselves are pulled from. Create a project within your backend and refer to flag names

Env Var: FLAGSMITH Value example: 4vfqhypYjcPoGGu8ByrBaj Description: The environment id for the FLAGSMITH_CLIENT_API project above.

Backend Environment Variables​

Note that some environment variables may be different depending on the image that you are using (flagsmith/flagsmith-api-ee or flagsmith/flagsmith-private-cloud). Please select the correct tab below to ensure you are using the correct environment variables.

VariableExample ValueDescriptionDefault Value
LDAP_AUTH_URLldap://localhost:389The URL of the LDAP serverNone
LDAP_AUTH_USE_TLSFalseSetting this to true will initiate TLS on connectionFalse
LDAP_AUTH_SEARCH_BASEou=people,dc=example,dc=comThe LDAP search base for looking up usersou=people,dc=example,dc=com
LDAP_AUTH_OBJECT_CLASSinetOrgPersonThe LDAP class that represents a userinetOrgPerson
LDAP_AUTH_USER_FIELDSusername=uid,email=emailUser model fields mapped to the LDAP attributes that represent them.username=uid,email=email,first_name=givenName,last_name=sn
LDAP_AUTH_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY_DOMAINDOMAINSets the login domain for Active Directory users.None
LDAP_AUTH_CONNECT_TIMEOUT60Set connection timeouts (in seconds) on the underlying ldap3 library.None
LDAP_AUTH_RECEIVE_TIMEOUT60Set receive timeouts (in seconds) on the underlying ldap3 library.None
LDAP_AUTH_FORMAT_USERNAMEdjango_python3_ldap.
utils.format_username_openldap		Path to a callable used to format the username to bind to the LDAP serverdjango_python3_ldap.utils.format_username_openldap
LDAP_DEFAULT_FLAGSMITH_ORGANISATION_ID1All newly created users will be added to this originisationNone
LDAP_AUTH_SYNC_USER_RELATIONScustom_auth.ldap.sync_user_groupsPath to a callable used to sync user relations. Note: if you are setting this value to custom_auth.ldap.sync_user_groups please make sure LDAP_DEFAULT_FLAGSMITH_ORGANISATION_ID is set.django_python3_ldap.utils.sync_user_relations
LDAP_AUTH_FORMAT_SEARCH_FILTERScustom_auth.ldap.login_group_search_filterPath to a callable used to add search filters to login to restrict login to a certain groupdjango_python3_ldap.utils.format_search_filters
LDAP_SYNCED_GROUPSCN=Readers,CN=Roles,CN=webapp01,
dc=admin,dc=com:CN=Marvel,CN=Roles,
CN=webapp01,dc=admin,dc=com		colon(:) seperated list of DN's of ldap group that will be copied over to flagmsith (lazily, i.e: On user login we will create the group(s) and add the current user to the group(s) if the user is a part of them). Note: please make sure to set LDAP_AUTH_SYNC_USER_RELATIONS to custom_auth.ldap.sync_user_groups in order for this to work.[]
LDAP_LOGIN_GROUPCN=Readers,CN=Roles,CN=webapp01,
dc=admin,dc=com		DN of the user allowed login user group. Note: Please make sure to set LDAP_AUTH_FORMAT_SEARCH_FILTERS to custom_auth.ldap.login_group_search_filter in order for this to work.None
LDAP_SYNC_USER_USERNAMEjohnUsername used by sync_ldap_users_and_groups in order to connect to the server.None
LDAP_SYNC_USER_PASSWORDpasswordPassword used by sync_ldap_users_and_groups in order to connect to the server.None

Version Tags​

The versions of all of our enterprise images track the versions of our Open Source version. You can view these tags here:

https://github.com/Flagsmith/flagsmith/tags

AppDynamics​

The application supports the use of AppDynamics for monitoring purposes. In order to set up AppDynamics for your environment follow the steps below:

note

There is a bug in the AppDynamics wizard that sets the value ssl = (on) which needs to be changed to ssl = on

  1. Set up your application in your AppDynamics dashboard using the "Getting Started Wizard - Python".
  2. In the wizard you will need to select the "uWSGI with Emperor: Module Directive" when choosing a deployment method
  3. On completing the wizard you will be provided with a configuration file like the one seen here in the appdynamics.template.cfg provided, except with your application information. Make a copy of this information and place it in a file.

Running with docker​

When running with traditional Docker you can use the code snippet below to inject the required information for running App Dynamics

docker run -t \{image_name\} -v \{config_file_path\}:/etc/appdynamics.cfg -e APP_DYNAMICS=on

Replacing the values for:

  • {image_name}: the tagged name of the docker image you are using
  • {config_file_path}: the absolute path of the appdynamics.cfg file on your system

Running with docker-compose​

When running with the docker-compose.yml file provided ensure the APP_DYNAMICS environment variable is set to on as seen below:

api:
 build:
 context: .
 dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile
 env:
  APP_DYNAMICS: 'on'
 volumes:
  - \{config_file_path\}:/etc/appdynamics.cfg

Replacing the value for {config_file_path} with the absolute path of the appdynamics.cfg file on your system.

Running the command below will build the docker image with all the AppDynamics config included

docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml build

This image can then be run locally using the docker-compose up command as seen below

docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up

Additional settings​

If you need additional AppDynamics setup options you can find the other environment variables you can set here.

Oracle Database​

Flagsmith is compatible with the Oracle database engine by configuring a few environment variables correctly. Firstly, you'll need to ensure that you have a value for DJANGO_DB_ENGINE set as oracle. Then you can set the remaining database parameters (DJANGO_DB_*) as required.

Local Testing​

The following sections detail how to run the application locally using the OracleDB Docker image. If you're looking to run the application using an instance of OracleDB elsewhere, you just need to setup the environment variables correctly as per the documentation.

note

Prerequisites

You will likely need to install the Oracle client on the machine running the Flagsmith API application. The instructions to do so are here.

To run the application locally using Oracle (via Docker), you need to go through a registration with your docker hub account to get access to the images. Go to https://hub.docker.com/_/oracle-database-enterprise-edition and register. Once you've done that, you can run the Oracle database using docker, and we've created a docker-compose file to simplify this.

docker-compose -f docker-compose.oracle.yml up db

Once you have a database running, you'll need to set up the database and users correctly. This can be done with the following processes.

First, connect to the database itself:

sqlplus /nolog

OR

docker-compose exec db bash -c "source /home/oracle/.bashrc; sqlplus /nolog"

Once connected, you'll need to run the following SQL commands. Note that these commands should be amended if you'd like a different password / user combination.

conn sys as sysdba;
# password is blank when asked
alter session set "_ORACLE_SCRIPT"=true;
create user oracle_user identified by oracle_password;
grant dba to oracle_user;
GRANT EXECUTE ON SYS.DBMS_LOB TO oracle_user;
GRANT EXECUTE ON SYS.DBMS_RANDOM TO oracle_user;

SAML Authentication​

The application can be run using SAML2 as an authentication backend. You should not need any additional configuration on the startup of the application to use SAML2, however, once the application is running, you will need to create the relevant configuration entities for any organisations on your installation that require SAML2 authentication. This can currently only be done via the Django admin console, via the 'Saml Configurations' section on the 'Organisation' page. Further information on how to access the django admin console can be found here.

The SAML configuration requires the following parameters:

Parameter nameDescription
OrganisationThe flagsmith organisation entity to allow SAML login for
Organisation nameA unique string for the organisation. You'll enter this when prompted by the SSO login flow and forms part of your entity ID.
Frontend URLThis is the URL to redirect to on a successful SAML authentication, e.g. app.flagsmith.com.
Idp metadataThis is the metadata from your Identity Provider.
note

When running the application locally, you will also need xmlsec1 installed.

SAML Environment Variables​

VariableExample ValueDescriptionDefault Value
SAML_FORCE_SSLTrueIgnores X-Forwarded-Proto HTTP headers and forces SAML redirects to occur over httpsFalse

LDAP Authentication​

The application can be configured to use an LDAP based authentication backend using environment variables. When enabled, it works by authenticating the user with username and password using the ldap server, fetching the user details from the LDAP server (if the authentication was successful) and creating the user in the Django database.

note

Microsoft Active Directory support​

LDAP is configured by default to support login via OpenLDAP. To connect to a Microsoft Active Directory, you need to modify following environment variables.

For simple usernames (e.g. "username"):

LDAP_AUTH_FORMAT_USERNAME="django_python3_ldap.utils.format_username_active_directory"

For down-level login name formats (e.g. "DOMAIN\username"):

LDAP_AUTH_FORMAT_USERNAME="django_python3_ldap.utils.format_username_active_directory"
LDAP_AUTH_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY_DOMAIN="DOMAIN"

For user-principal-name formats (e.g. "user@domain.com"):

LDAP_AUTH_FORMAT_USERNAME="django_python3_ldap.utils.format_username_active_directory_principal"
LDAP_AUTH_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY_DOMAIN="domain.com"

Depending on how your Active Directory server is configured, the following additional settings may match your server better than the defaults used by django-python3-ldap:

LDAP_AUTH_USER_FIELDS=username=sAMAccountName,email=mail,first_name=givenName,last_name=sn
LDAP_AUTH_OBJECT_CLASS="user"

Sync LDAP Users Groups​

You can synchronise Flagsmith users and groups with your LDAP (Directory) users and groups by running the following command:

python manage.py sync_ldap_users_and_groups

Running this command will:

  • Remove users from Flagsmith if they have been removed from Directory
  • Remove groups from Flagsmith if they have been removed from Directory
  • Remove users from group if they no longer belong to that group in Directory
  • Add users to group if they belong to a new group in Directory
Before running this command please make sure to set the following environment variables:
  • LDAP_SYNC_USER_USERNAME
  • LDAP_SYNC_USER_PASSWORD
  • LDAP_SYNCED_GROUPS
  • LDAP_AUTH_SYNC_USER_RELATIONS
  • LDAP_DEFAULT_FLAGSMITH_ORGANISATION_ID

Load testing​

JMeter​

There are JMeter tests avaiable in our public repo on Github:

https://github.com/Flagsmith/flagsmith/tree/main/api/jmeter-tests

wrk​

We also recommend using wrk for load testing the core SDK endpoints. Some examples of this (make sure you update URL and environment keys!)

#  Get flags endpoint
wrk -t6 -c200 -d20s -H 'X-Environment-Key: iyiS5EDNDxMDuiFpHoiwzG' http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/flags/

# Get flags for an identity
wrk -t6 -c200 -d20s -H 'X-Environment-Key: iyiS5EDNDxMDuiFpHoiwzG' "http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/identities/?identifier=mrflags@flagsmith.com"

Common Installation Issues and Fixes​

Front end build errors with npm ERR! errno 137​

This is an out of memory error. Start the container with more RAM.