Collaborative Editing Server Setup

Enable collaboration step by step

1. Decide on where to host the server and determine URL for the endpoint
2. Generate a collaboration server token in the admin page of Graphity in Confluence
3. Deploy and run the collaboration server with the generated token on the endpoint URL:
   • If you use Confluence for DataCenter or Server and you don't need a secure endpoint, follow the Setup without SSL
   • If you need a secure endpoint, follow the Setup with SSL. For Cloud, a secure endpoint is mandatory.
4. Enable the feature in the admin page of Graphity
5. Enter the endpoint URL to the running collaboration server
6. Press 'Apply' to save the settings
7. Page is reloaded and checks server reachability. If all is set up correctly, the indicator turns green.

Now the feature is enabled in Graphity. If multiple users edit the same diagram macro, collaboration starts automatically and is synchronized via the collaboration server.

Setup with SSL

If you need to provide a secure endpoint, you have these basic options:

1. Terminate the SSL connection at an existing reverse proxy that communicates with the collaboration server unencrypted on the same machine or a secure network.
2. Use our Docker compose stack which includes an SSL terminating proxy or create your own docker stack.
3. Terminate the SSL connection directly at the collaboration server.

You can also combine these options if the proxy and the collaboration server need to communicate over an insecure network.

Option 1: Integration with an existing reverse proxy solution

In this setup, the Graphity client connects directly to a HTTPS port on the reverse proxy, which then communicates with the collaboration server:

In this setup, Graphity might be configured like this:

First, set up the collaboration server without encryption, as described here: Setup without SSL

Then, configure the reverse proxy to forward requests to the collaboration server:

Sample setup for Apache 2.4:

You will need to enable the following Apache modules (if they are not already enabled):

• mod_proxy
• mod_proxy_http
• proxy_wstunnel
• mod_rewrite

In your virtual host definition, you need these directives:

ProxyRequests Off ProxyPreserveHost On

ProxyPass "/graphity/rtc" "http://127.0.0.1:9093/graphity/rtc"

<Location /graphity/rtc>
  Require all granted
  RewriteEngine on
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:UPGRADE} ^WebSocket$ [NC]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:CONNECTION} Upgrade$ [NC]
  RewriteRule .* ws://127.0.0.1:9093%{REQUEST_URI} [P]
</Location>

Sample setup for NGINX:

location /graphity/rtc {
  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
  proxy_pass http://localhost:9093//graphity/rtc;
  proxy_http_version 1.1;
  proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
  proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";
}

Option 2: Use our Docker compose stack

Clone our git repository:

git clone https://github.com/yWorks/graphity-collaboration-server

Make necessary adjustments to docker-compose.yml. At the very least, you need to provide the correct server token and the hostname where the clients can reach the collaboration server.

Place the certificates in proxy/volumes/certs. They should be named <myserver>.crt for the certificate and <myserver>.key for the private key.

Start the stack:

docker-compose up

Option 3: Terminate the SSL connection at the collaboration server

In this setup, the Graphity client connects directly to a HTTPS port on the collaboration server:

In this setup, Graphity might be configured like this:

First, you need to create a Java keystore containing the certificates. Please refer to the Java keytool documentation.

Run the collaboration server with SSL enabled:

java -jar graphity-collaboration-server-1.0.0.jar -t <TOKEN> -keystoreLocation myserver.keystore -keystorePassword changeit -s

(See all command line options here)

Finalize the setup in Graphity