7.3.8. Server settings

Server-specific settings are available through the <server> element in the config.xml file.

<server>
  <externalServiceURL>http://server:port/context-path</externalServiceURL>
  <maxParallelRequests>30</maxParallelRequests>
  <waitTimeout>60</waitTimeout>
  <responseCacheTimeout>300</responseCacheTimeout>
  <enableCORS>true</enableCORS>
  <timeZone>Europe/Berlin</timeZone>
  <textureServiceURL>http://server:port/context-path</textureServiceURL>
  <textureCache isEnabled="true">
    <localCachePath>/some/local/path</localCachePath>
  </textureCache>
  <security isEnabled="true">
    <accessControl>
      <scope operation="GetFeature"/>
      <allow ip="192.168.10.0/24 172.16.0.0/16"/>
      <allow token="25f8feac-2b25-4e03-b7fc-7634bc4be863"/>
      <deny ip="::1"/>
    </accessControl>
  </security>
  <tempCache>
    <mode>database</mode>
  </tempCache>
</server>

externalServiceURL

The external service URL of the WFS can be denoted using the <externalServiceURL> element. The URL should include the protocol (typically http or https), the server name and the full context path where the service is available for clients. Also announce the port on which the service listens if it is not equal to the default port associated with the given protocol.

Note

The service URL is not configured through <externalServiceURL>. It rather follows from your servlet container settings and network access settings (e.g., if your servlet container is behind a reverse proxy). The <externalServiceURL> value is only used in the capabilities document and thus announced to a client. Most clients rely on the service URL in the capabilities document and will send requests to this URL. So, make sure that the WFS is available at the <externalServiceURL> provided in the config.xml.

maxParallelRequests

The <maxParallelRequests> value defines how many requests will be handled by the WFS service at the same time (default: 30). If the number of parallel requests exceeds the given limit, then new requests are blocked until active requests have been fully processed and the total number of active requests has fallen below the limit. Note that this parameter mainly affects requests that require a database connection. To disable the request limit, simply set <maxParallelRequests> to 0.

Note

Every WFS can only open a maximum number of physical connections to the database system running the 3D City Database instance. This upper limit is set through the maxActive attribute on the <connection> element (cf. Section 7.3.7). Since every request may use more than one connection, make sure that the number of <maxParallelRequests> is below the maximum number of physical connections.

waitTimeout

In case an incoming request is blocked because the maximum number of parallel requests has been reached, the <waitTimeout> option lets you specify the maximum time in seconds the WFS service waits for a free request slot before sending an error message to the client (default: 60 seconds).

responseCacheTimeout

If result paging is enabled for the 3DCityDB WFS (see Section 7.3.5), the <responseCacheTimeout> parameter can be used to define the length of time (in seconds) that responses shall be cached for the purpose of paging using the next and previous URLs in the response document (default: 300 seconds).

enableCORS

The flag <enableCORS> (default: true) allows for enabling Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS). Usually, the Same-Origin-Policy (SOP) forbids a client to send Cross-Origin requests. If CORS is enabled, the WFS server sends the HTTP header Access-Control-Allow-Origin with the value * in the response.

Note

When enabling CORS support through the WFS service, global settings for the HTTP header Access-Control-Allow-Origin on the level of the servlet container are overridden. If such global CORS settings are configured for your servlet container, it therefore might be better to deactivate the WFS-based CORS support (set <enableCORS> to false).

Please refer to the documentation of your servlet container for information about how to enable CORS support on the level of the servlet container. For instance, check this URL for the Apache Tomcat 9.0 documentation.

timeZone

The optional <timeZone> parameter is used to set the time zone of the WFS service to a specific value. The time zone is relevant, for instance, to process Date and TimeStamp data from the database. The parameter expects an official time zone ID, either an abbreviation such as “PST”, a full name such as “Europe/Berlin”, or a custom ID such as “GMT-08:00”. If no <timeZone> is provided, the time zone of servlet container running the WFS is used as default. In most scenarios, this default setting should be fine.

Note

Note that if a time zone is provided but cannot be set (e.g. due to an invalid or unsupported ID), the start of the WFS service is aborted with an error message. Subsequent requests to the service also result in an error message.

textureServiceURL

In case the WFS has been configured to export appearances of city objects (see Section 7.3.5), the appearance information itself is encoded as CityGML <Appearance> element in a response document to a GetFeature request (or using similar structures in alternative output formats such as CityJSON). Texture images, however, are not delivered by the WFS service itself but through a separate REST interface.

This RESTful texture image service is part of the WFS web application and, thus, is automatically started with the WFS service. Assume that http://[host][:port]/citydb-wfs/ is the context path of your WFS service (see Section 7.2 for more details). Then the URL of the REST service will be http://[host][:port]/citydb-wfs/texture/. This URL is used in the response document to reference texture images in the following way:

http[s]://[host][:port]/citydb-wfs/texture/[bucket]/[filename]

The [bucket] path element is an integer value under control of the REST service and is used to organize the texture images into separate subfolders. The [filename] of the texture image is also managed by the REST service and may differ from the filename stored in the 3DCityDB to ensure unique names. The following CityGML snippet illustrates how texture images are referenced based on this scheme in a WFS response document. A client consuming this document can easily follow the URL to download the texture image.

<bldg:Building gml:id="BLDG_0815">
…
  <app:appearance>
    <app:Appearance>

      <app:surfaceDataMember>
        <app:ParameterizedTexture>
          <app:imageURI>http://some.host.com/citydb-wfs/texture/3/tex_2.jpg</app:imageURI>
          …
          </app:target>
      </app:surfaceDataMember>
    </app:Appearance>
  </app:appearance>
  …
</bldg:Building>

The optional <textureServiceURL> element lets you change the external URL of the REST service that is used in the response document. By default, the URL is composed from the request of the client, and this will already be appropriate in most cases. If an <externalServiceURL> is specified (see above), then this value will be used for creating the URL to the texture image. The <textureServiceURL> element allows you to override the default behavior and to use a dedicated value for the REST service.

textureCache

By default, every time a client requests a texture image through the REST service, the image is queried anew from the 3DCityDB. In order to reduce database traffic, the REST service can use a local texture cache instead. Simply set the isEnabled attribute on the <textureCache> element to true to make use of this feature. You can provide a <localCachePath> pointing to your local file system where the texture cache should be stored. Make sure that this path is both read and write accessible to the WFS service. If you omit the <localCachePath> element, the cache will be created in the WEB-INF/texture_cache folder within your web application.

Note

Texture images can be served faster to the client when using a texture cache. Enabling the texture cache is therefore the recommended setting. Note that depending on the number and size of texture images stored in your 3DCityDB instance, the texture cache might require substantial space on your hard disk.

security

Individual WFS operations can be secured using IP- and token-based access control rules. If an access rule has been defined for an operation, then this operation may only be invoked by clients having explicit access permission. Otherwise, the execution of the operation is denied and a corresponding error message is sent back to the client. The <security> element can therefore be used to control, for example, that only specific clients are allowed to request city objects from the database.

To use access rules, the isEnabled attribute of the <security> element must first be set to true. The rules are then given by one or more <accessControl> child element. Each <accessControl> element can define its scope by enumerating the WFS operations to which it shall be applied. The WFS operations must simply be listed using the operation attribute of the <scope> element. The allowed values are defined as fixed enumeration in the config.xsd schema file. If more than one operation shall be on the list, then a white space must be used as delimiter. If the <scope> is omitted, then the <accessControl> element applies to all WFS operations.

Access to the operations of an <accessControl> element is either granted or restricted through <allow> and <deny> elements. An <accessControl> element may have multiple <allow> and <deny> child elements in an arbitrary order. The ip attribute of both elements is then used to define the IP addresses of the clients that shall be affected by the rule. The value of the ip attribute can be a simple IP address, but notations based on subnet masks and IP ranges are also supported. Moreover, both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses can be used. More than one IP address target can be listed on the ip attribute using a single white space as delimiter.

In addition to IP addresses, one or more access token can be defined for <allow> elements using the token attribute. A token is an arbitrary character string that must be sent by a client on each request in order to get access. Independent of whether the request is sent using HTTP Get or HTTP Post, the token must be provided as separate parameter of the form token=<string>. Tokens can be useful, for example, if requests are forwarded using internal proxy servers.

The following simple scheme is used to decide whether the request of a client will be processed or rejected:

  • If the <security> settings are inactive because isEnabled is set to false, then all requests of all clients will be processed (default behavior).
  • If the WFS operation invoked by the client is not covered by any <accessControl> element, then the request will be processed.
  • If the WFS operation invoked by the client is addressed by one or more <accessControl> elements, then the request will be rejected if the client fulfills one of the <deny> rules. But even if no <deny> rule matches, the request still will only be processed if at least one <allow> rule is applicable.

Note

Note that a client must always sent a token if one or more tokens are defined for the operation. Otherwise, the request will also be rejected immediately.

Caution

Further security mechanisms besides the <security> settings are not offered by the WFS. So, it is your responsibility as service provider to take any reasonable physical, technical and administrative measures to secure the WFS service and the access to the 3DCityDB.

tempCache

When exporting data, the WFS must keep track of various temporary information. For instance, when resolving XLinks, the gml:id values as well as additional information about the related features and geometries must be available. This information is kept in main memory for performance. However, when memory limits are reached, the cache is written to temporary tables in the database.

By default, temporary tables are created in the 3D City Database instance itself. The tables are populated during the export operation and are automatically dropped after the operation has finished. Alternatively, the <tempCache> settings let a user choose to store the temporary information in the local file system instead. For this purpose, the <mode> property has to be switched from its default value database to local. The optional <localPath> parameter can be used to define the location where the temporary information should be stored. Without setting <localPath>, the temporary directory of the web application is used as default location.

Some reasons for using a local, file-based storage are:

  • The 3D City Database instance is kept clean from any additional (temporary) table holding temporary process information. Please choose a fast local storage device with sufficient storage place.
  • If the WFS runs on a different machine than the 3D City Database instance, sending temporary information over the network might be slow. In such cases, using a local storage might help to increase performance.