IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.
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Elastic Box connector reference

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Elastic Box connector reference

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Th Box connector is written in Python using the Elastic connector framework.

View the source code for this connector (branch 8.15, compatible with Elastic 8.15).

Native connector reference (managed service)

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View reference for the native connector reference (managed service).

Availability and prerequisites

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This connector is available as a native connector as of Elastic version 8.14.0.

To use this connector natively in Elastic Cloud, satisfy all native connector requirements.

This connector is in technical preview and is subject to change. The design and code is less mature than official GA features and is being provided as-is with no warranties. Technical preview features are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.

Create a Box connector

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Use the UI
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To create a new Box connector:

  1. Navigate to the Search → Connectors page in the Kibana UI.
  2. Follow the instructions to create a new native Box connector.

For additional operations, see Using connectors.

Use the API
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You can use the Elasticsearch Create connector API to create a new native Box connector.

For example:

PUT _connector/<my-box-connector>
{
  "index_name": "<my-elasticsearch-index>",
  "name": "Content synced from Box",
  "service_type": "box",
  "is_native": "true"
}
You’ll also need to create an API key for the connector to use.

The user needs the cluster privileges manage_api_key, manage_connector and write_connector_secrets to generate API keys programmatically.

To create an API key for the connector:

  1. Run the following command, replacing values where indicated. Note the id and encoded return values from the response:

    POST /_security/api_key
{
  "name": "<connector_name>-connector-api-key",
  "role_descriptors": {
    "<connector_name>-connector-role": {
      "cluster": [
        "monitor",
        "manage_connector"
      ],
      "indices": [
        {
          "names": [
            "<index_name>",
            ".search-acl-filter-<index_name>",
            ".elastic-connectors*"
          ],
          "privileges": [
            "all"
          ],
          "allow_restricted_indices": false
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

  2. Use the encoded value to store a connector secret, and note the id return value from this response:

    POST _connector/_secret
{
  "value": <encoded_api_key>
}

  3. Use the API key id and the connector secret id to update the connector:

    PUT /_connector/<connector_id>/_api_key_id
{
  "api_key_id": "<API key id>",
  "api_key_secret_id": "<secret id>"
}

Refer to the Elasticsearch API documentation for details of all available Connector APIs.

Usage

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To use this connector as a connector client, use the Box tile from the connectors list OR Customized connector workflow.

For additional operations, see Using connectors.

Box API Authorization

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Box Free Account
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Create Box User Authentication (OAuth 2.0) Custom App
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You’ll need to create an OAuth app in the Box developer console by following these steps:

  1. Register a new app in the Box dev console with custom App and select User authentication (OAuth 2.0).
  2. Add the URL of the web page in Redirect URIs, which is accessible by you.
  3. Check "Write all files and folders stored in Box" in Application Scopes.
  4. Once the app is created, Client ID and Client secret values are available in the configuration tab. Keep these handy.
Generate a refresh Token
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To generate a refresh token, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the following URL, replacing <CLIENT_ID> with the Client ID value saved earlier. For example:

    https://account.box.com/api/oauth2/authorize?response_type=code&client_id=<CLIENT_ID>
  2. Grant access to your application.
  3. You will now be redirected to the web page that you configured in Redirect URIs, and the HTTP response should contain an authorization code that you’ll use to generate a refresh token. Note: Authorization codes to generate refresh tokens can only be used once and are only valid for 30 seconds.

  4. In your terminal, run the following curl command, replacing <AUTHORIZATION_CODE>, <CLIENT_ID> and <CLIENT_SECRET> with the values you saved earlier:

    curl -i -X POST "https://api.box.com/oauth2/token" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
     -d "client_id=<CLIENT_ID>" \
     -d "client_secret=<CLIENT_SECRET>" \
     -d "code=<AUTHORIZATION_CODE>" \
     -d "grant_type=authorization_code"

    Save the refresh token from the response. You’ll need this for the connector configuration.

Box Enterprise Account
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Create Box Server Authentication (Client Credentials Grant) Custom App
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  1. Register a new app in the Box dev console with custom App and select Server Authentication (Client Credentials Grant).

  2. Check following permissions:

    • "Write all files and folders stored in Box" in Application Scopes
    • "Make API calls using the as-user header" in Advanced Features
  3. Select App + Enterprise Access in App Access Level.
  4. Authorize your application from the admin console. Save the Client Credentials and Enterprise ID. You’ll need these to configure the connector.

Configuration

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Box Account (required)
Dropdown to determine Box Account type: Box Free Account or Box Enterprise Account. Default value is Box Free Account.
Client ID (required)
The Client ID to authenticate with Box instance.
Client Secret (required)
The Client Secret to authenticate with Box instance.
Refresh Token (required if Box Account is Box Free)
The Refresh Token to generate Access Token. NOTE: If the process terminates, you’ll need to generate a new refresh token.
Enterprise ID (required if Box Account is Box Enterprise)
The Enterprise ID to authenticate with Box instance.

Content Extraction

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Refer to Content extraction.

Documents and syncs

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The connector syncs the following objects and entities:

  • Files
  • Folders
  • Files bigger than 10 MB won’t be extracted.
  • Permissions are not synced. All documents indexed to an Elastic deployment will be visible to all users with access to that Elastic Deployment.
Sync types
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Full syncs are supported by default for all connectors.

This connector also supports incremental syncs.

Sync rules

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Basic sync rules are identical for all connectors and are available by default.

Advanced Sync Rules

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Advanced sync rules are not available for this connector in the present version.

Known issues

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There are no known issues for this connector. Refer to Known issues for a list of known issues for all connectors.

Troubleshooting

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See Troubleshooting.

Security

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See Security.

Connector client reference (self-managed)

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View reference for the connector client reference (self-managed).

Availability and prerequisites

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This connector is available as a self-managed connector client. To use this connector, satisfy all connector client prerequisites.

This connector is in technical preview and is subject to change. The design and code is less mature than official GA features and is being provided as-is with no warranties. Technical preview features are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.

Create a Box connector

edit
Use the UI
edit

To create a new Box connector:

  1. Navigate to the Search → Connectors page in the Kibana UI.
  2. Follow the instructions to create a new Box connector client.

For additional operations, see Using connectors.

Use the API
edit

You can use the Elasticsearch Create connector API to create a new self-managed Box connector client.

For example:

PUT _connector/my-box-connector
{
  "index_name": "my-elasticsearch-index",
  "name": "Content synced from Box",
  "service_type": "box"
}
You’ll also need to create an API key for the connector to use.

The user needs the cluster privileges manage_api_key, manage_connector and write_connector_secrets to generate API keys programmatically.

To create an API key for the connector:

  1. Run the following command, replacing values where indicated. Note the encoded return values from the response:

    POST /_security/api_key
{
  "name": "<connector_name>-connector-api-key",
  "role_descriptors": {
    "<connector_name>-connector-role": {
      "cluster": [
        "monitor",
        "manage_connector"
      ],
      "indices": [
        {
          "names": [
            "<index_name>",
            ".search-acl-filter-<index_name>",
            ".elastic-connectors*"
          ],
          "privileges": [
            "all"
          ],
          "allow_restricted_indices": false
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
  2. Update your config.yml file with the API key encoded value.

Refer to the Elasticsearch API documentation for details of all available Connector APIs.

Usage

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To use this connector as a connector client, use the Box tile from the connectors list OR Customized connector workflow.

For additional operations, see Using connectors.

Box API Authorization

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Box Free Account
edit
Create Box User Authentication (OAuth 2.0) Custom App
edit

You’ll need to create an OAuth app in the Box developer console by following these steps:

  1. Register a new app in the Box dev console with custom App and select User authentication (OAuth 2.0).
  2. Add the URL of the web page in Redirect URIs, which is accessible by you.
  3. Check "Write all files and folders stored in Box" in Application Scopes.
  4. Once the app is created, Client ID and Client secret values are available in the configuration tab. Keep these handy.
Generate a refresh Token
edit

To generate a refresh token, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the following URL, replacing <CLIENT_ID> with the Client ID value saved earlier. For example:

    https://account.box.com/api/oauth2/authorize?response_type=code&client_id=<CLIENT_ID>
  2. Grant access to your application.
  3. You will now be redirected to the web page that you configured in Redirect URIs, and the HTTP response should contain an authorization code that you’ll use to generate a refresh token. Note: Authorization codes to generate refresh tokens can only be used once and are only valid for 30 seconds.

  4. In your terminal, run the following curl command, replacing <AUTHORIZATION_CODE>, <CLIENT_ID> and <CLIENT_SECRET> with the values you saved earlier:

    curl -i -X POST "https://api.box.com/oauth2/token" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
     -d "client_id=<CLIENT_ID>" \
     -d "client_secret=<CLIENT_SECRET>" \
     -d "code=<AUTHORIZATION_CODE>" \
     -d "grant_type=authorization_code"

    Save the refresh token from the response. You’ll need this for the connector configuration.

Box Enterprise Account
edit
Create Box Server Authentication (Client Credentials Grant) Custom App
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  1. Register a new app in the Box dev console with custom App and select Server Authentication (Client Credentials Grant).

  2. Check following permissions:

    • "Write all files and folders stored in Box" in Application Scopes
    • "Make API calls using the as-user header" in Advanced Features
  3. Select App + Enterprise Access in App Access Level.
  4. Authorize your application from the admin console. Save the Client Credentials and Enterprise ID. You’ll need these to configure the connector.

Configuration

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Box Account (required)
Dropdown to determine Box Account type: Box Free Account or Box Enterprise Account. Default value is Box Free Account.
Client ID (required)
The Client ID to authenticate with Box instance.
Client Secret (required)
The Client Secret to authenticate with Box instance.
Refresh Token (required if Box Account is Box Free)
The Refresh Token to generate Access Token. NOTE: If the process terminates, you’ll need to generate a new refresh token.
Enterprise ID (required if Box Account is Box Enterprise)
The Enterprise ID to authenticate with Box instance.
Deployment using Docker
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You can deploy the Box connector as a self-managed connector client using Docker. Follow these instructions.

Step 1: Download sample configuration file

Download the sample configuration file. You can either download it manually or run the following command:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/connectors/main/config.yml.example --output ~/connectors-config/config.yml

Remember to update the --output argument value if your directory name is different, or you want to use a different config file name.

Step 2: Update the configuration file for your self-managed connector

Update the configuration file with the following settings to match your environment:

  • elasticsearch.host
  • elasticsearch.api_key
  • connectors

If you’re running the connector service against a Dockerized version of Elasticsearch and Kibana, your config file will look like this:

# When connecting to your cloud deployment you should edit the host value
elasticsearch.host: http://host.docker.internal:9200
elasticsearch.api_key: <ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY>

connectors:
  -
    connector_id: <CONNECTOR_ID_FROM_KIBANA>
    service_type: box
    api_key: <CONNECTOR_API_KEY_FROM_KIBANA> # Optional. If not provided, the connector will use the elasticsearch.api_key instead

Using the elasticsearch.api_key is the recommended authentication method. However, you can also use elasticsearch.username and elasticsearch.password to authenticate with your Elasticsearch instance.

Note: You can change other default configurations by simply uncommenting specific settings in the configuration file and modifying their values.

Step 3: Run the Docker image

Run the Docker image with the Connector Service using the following command:

docker run \
-v ~/connectors-config:/config \
--network "elastic" \
--tty \
--rm \
docker.elastic.co/enterprise-search/elastic-connectors:8.15.4.0 \
/app/bin/elastic-ingest \
-c /config/config.yml

Refer to DOCKER.md in the elastic/connectors repo for more details.

Find all available Docker images in the official registry.

We also have a quickstart self-managed option using Docker Compose, so you can spin up all required services at once: Elasticsearch, Kibana, and the connectors service. Refer to this README in the elastic/connectors repo for more information.

Content Extraction

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Refer to Content extraction.

Documents and syncs

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The connector syncs the following objects and entities:

  • Files
  • Folders
  • Files bigger than 10 MB won’t be extracted.
  • Permissions are not synced. All documents indexed to an Elastic deployment will be visible to all users with access to that Elastic Deployment.
Sync types
edit

Full syncs are supported by default for all connectors.

This connector also supports incremental syncs.

Sync rules

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Basic sync rules are identical for all connectors and are available by default.

Advanced Sync Rules

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Advanced sync rules are not available for this connector in the present version.

End-to-end Testing

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The connector framework enables operators to run functional tests against a real data source. Refer to Connector testing for more details.

To perform E2E testing for the Box connector, run the following command:

$ make ftest NAME=box

For faster tests, add the DATA_SIZE=small flag:

make ftest NAME=box DATA_SIZE=small

Known issues

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There are no known issues for this connector. Refer to Known issues for a list of known issues for all connectors.

Troubleshooting

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See Troubleshooting.

Security

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See Security.

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