Set Up a Remote Sandbox

This guide explains how to configure and use the Grand Central sandbox environment for live cluster development and testing.

For local development setup, see Set up a local environment.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following requirements are met:

Onboarding Complete

You have completed the onboarding process

VPN Connected

Your Backbase VPN connection is active

Repository Access

Access to a connector repository in the Grand Central organization

Cluster Permissions

Verified permissions to access the target cluster

Required Tools

Install supported versions of the following tools:

Tool	Description	Installation Link
Azure CLI	Command-line tool for Azure	Install Azure CLI
kubectl	Kubernetes command-line tool	Install kubectl
kamel CLI	Camel K command-line tool	Install kamel

Contact your Professional Services team for details on supported versions.

Set Up and Configure Your Sandbox

Step 1: Authenticate with Azure

Connect to your cluster by authenticating with Azure:

az login

Follow the prompts to complete the authentication process.

Step 2: Configure Cluster Proxy

Update kubeconfig with the proxy URL provided by the Grand Central team:

# Replace with your actual proxy URL
export HTTPS_PROXY=<proxy-url>

Step 3: Create Development Namespace

Create a dedicated namespace for your development work:

# Create namespace
kubectl create namespace dev-<your-username>

# Set as default namespace
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=dev-<your-username>

Using a personal namespace prevents conflicts with other developers and keeps your work isolated.

Step 4: Clone Connector Repository

Clone the connector repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/baas-devops-<INSTALLATION>/<CONNECTOR_REPO_NAME>.git
cd <CONNECTOR_REPO_NAME>

Step 5: Build the Project

Ensure all dependencies are configured by building the project:

mvn clean install

Step 6: Configure Cluster Settings (Optional)

Configure cluster settings by updating the pom.xml file with desired Camel traits.

Add Traits to pom.xml

Include traits from the properties section of the BOM:

<properties>
    <!-- Kamel plugin parameters -->
    <kamel.trait.camel.runtime-version>3.2.3</kamel.trait.camel.runtime-version>
    <kamel.trait.auto>false</kamel.trait.auto>
    
    <!-- Container traits -->
    <kamel.trait.container.enabled>true</kamel.trait.container.enabled>
    <kamel.trait.container.request-cpu>250m</kamel.trait.container.request-cpu>
    <kamel.trait.container.request-memory>256Mi</kamel.trait.container.request-memory>
    <kamel.trait.container.limit-cpu>500m</kamel.trait.container.limit-cpu>
    <kamel.trait.container.limit-memory>512Mi</kamel.trait.container.limit-memory>
    
    <!-- Health traits -->
    <kamel.trait.health.enabled>true</kamel.trait.health.enabled>
    <kamel.trait.health.liveness-probe-enabled>true</kamel.trait.health.liveness-probe-enabled>
    <kamel.trait.health.liveness-scheme>HTTP</kamel.trait.health.liveness-scheme>
    <kamel.trait.health.liveness-initial-delay>35</kamel.trait.health.liveness-initial-delay>
    <kamel.trait.health.liveness-timeout>10</kamel.trait.health.liveness-timeout>
    <kamel.trait.health.liveness-period>15</kamel.trait.health.liveness-period>
    <kamel.trait.health.liveness-success-threshold>1</kamel.trait.health.liveness-success-threshold>
    <kamel.trait.health.liveness-failure-threshold>3</kamel.trait.health.liveness-failure-threshold>
    
    <!-- Readiness probe -->
    <kamel.trait.health.readiness-probe-enabled>true</kamel.trait.health.readiness-probe-enabled>
    <kamel.trait.health.readiness-scheme>HTTP</kamel.trait.health.readiness-scheme>
    <kamel.trait.health.readiness-initial-delay>0</kamel.trait.health.readiness-initial-delay>
    <kamel.trait.health.readiness-timeout>10</kamel.trait.health.readiness-timeout>
    <kamel.trait.health.readiness-period>15</kamel.trait.health.readiness-period>
    <kamel.trait.health.readiness-success-threshold>1</kamel.trait.health.readiness-success-threshold>
    <kamel.trait.health.readiness-failure-threshold>3</kamel.trait.health.readiness-failure-threshold>
    
    <!-- Knative service traits -->
    <kamel.trait.knative-service.enabled>true</kamel.trait.knative-service.enabled>
    <kamel.trait.knative-service.autoscaling-class>kpa.autoscaling.knative.dev</kamel.trait.knative-service.autoscaling-class>
    <kamel.trait.knative-service.autoscaling-metric>rps</kamel.trait.knative-service.autoscaling-metric>
    <kamel.trait.knative-service.autoscaling-target>100</kamel.trait.knative-service.autoscaling-target>
    <kamel.trait.knative-service.min-scale>1</kamel.trait.knative-service.min-scale>
    <kamel.trait.knative-service.max-scale>20</kamel.trait.knative-service.max-scale>
    
    <!-- Prometheus traits -->
    <kamel.trait.prometheus.enabled>true</kamel.trait.prometheus.enabled>
    <kamel.trait.prometheus.pod-monitor>true</kamel.trait.prometheus.pod-monitor>
    <kamel.trait.prometheus.pod-monitor-labels>release=kube-prometheus-stack</kamel.trait.prometheus.pod-monitor-labels>
</properties>

Enable Traits in Plugin Configuration

If you haven’t introduced traits before, enable them in the plugin configuration:

<plugin>
    <groupId>com.backbase.gc</groupId>
    <artifactId>kamel-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
        <traits>
            <telemetry.auto>true</telemetry.auto>
        </traits>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Step 7: Run in Sandbox Development Mode

Run the project in sandbox development mode using the Grand Central Maven Plugin:

mvn kamel:dev

This command:

Builds your connector
Deploys it to the remote cluster
Streams logs to your terminal
Watches for code changes and redeploys automatically

Verify Your Setup

Check Pod Status

Verify that your pods are running:

kubectl get pods

Expected output:

NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
generic-api-connector-xxxx-xxxxx        1/1     Running   0          2m

Get Service URL

Retrieve the service URL for your integration deployment:

kubectl get ksvc

Example output:

NAME                    URL                                                           READY
generic-api-connector   https://generic-api-connector-dev-username.runtime.gcservices.io   True

Test the Connector

Send a test request to your deployed connector:

curl --location 'https://generic-api-connector-<NAMESPACE>.<RUNTIME>.<INSTALLATION>.gcservices.io/version'

Replace <NAMESPACE>, <RUNTIME>, and <INSTALLATION> with your actual values from the service URL.

Working with the Sandbox

View Logs

Stream logs from your connector:

kubectl logs -f deployment/generic-api-connector

Access Connector Metrics

View connector metrics:

kubectl port-forward svc/generic-api-connector 8080:80
curl http://localhost:8080/q/metrics

Debug Connector

To debug your connector in the sandbox:

Enable debug port in your traits configuration
Port-forward the debug port:

kubectl port-forward pod/<pod-name> 5005:5005

Attach your IDE debugger to localhost:5005

Scale Your Connector

Manually scale your connector:

kubectl scale deployment generic-api-connector --replicas=3

Common Operations

Update Connector Code

When using mvn kamel:dev, changes are automatically detected and redeployed. For manual updates:

mvn clean package
mvn kamel:run

View All Resources

List all resources in your namespace:

kubectl get all

Delete Connector

Remove your connector from the cluster:

kubectl delete integration generic-api-connector

Check Resource Usage

Monitor resource consumption:

kubectl top pods
kubectl top nodes

Troubleshooting

Authentication fails

Ensure VPN is connected
Re-run az login
Verify cluster permissions with your admin

Pod not starting

Check pod logs: kubectl logs <pod-name>
Describe pod: kubectl describe pod <pod-name>
Verify resource limits in traits configuration

Cannot access service URL

Verify service is ready: kubectl get ksvc
Check ingress configuration
Ensure VPN is active for internal URLs

mvn kamel:dev fails

Verify kubectl context is correct
Check Maven plugin version
Ensure namespace exists and is accessible

Best Practices

Namespace Isolation

Always use personal namespaces to avoid conflicts

Resource Limits

Set appropriate CPU and memory limits

Clean Up

Delete unused resources to free cluster capacity

Monitor Logs

Regularly check logs for errors and warnings

Next Steps

Once your sandbox is set up successfully:

Build and run locally for faster development
Configure your connector with custom settings
Test and validate your connector thoroughly
Deploy to higher environments following your organization’s promotion process

Overview

Architecture & Technology

Core Capabilities

Security & Reliability

Development Cycle

Platform Administration

Reference

​Set Up a Remote Sandbox

​Prerequisites

Onboarding Complete

VPN Connected

Repository Access

Cluster Permissions

​Required Tools

​Set Up and Configure Your Sandbox

​Step 1: Authenticate with Azure

​Step 2: Configure Cluster Proxy

​Step 3: Create Development Namespace

​Step 4: Clone Connector Repository

​Step 5: Build the Project

​Step 6: Configure Cluster Settings (Optional)

​Add Traits to pom.xml

​Enable Traits in Plugin Configuration

​Step 7: Run in Sandbox Development Mode

​Verify Your Setup

​Check Pod Status

​Get Service URL

​Test the Connector

​Working with the Sandbox

​View Logs

​Access Connector Metrics

​Debug Connector

​Scale Your Connector

​Common Operations

​Troubleshooting

​Best Practices

Namespace Isolation

Resource Limits

Clean Up

Monitor Logs

​Next Steps

​Related Resources

Set Up a Remote Sandbox

Prerequisites

Required Tools

Set Up and Configure Your Sandbox

Step 1: Authenticate with Azure

Step 2: Configure Cluster Proxy

Step 3: Create Development Namespace

Step 4: Clone Connector Repository

Step 5: Build the Project

Step 6: Configure Cluster Settings (Optional)

Add Traits to pom.xml

Enable Traits in Plugin Configuration

Step 7: Run in Sandbox Development Mode

Verify Your Setup

Check Pod Status

Get Service URL

Test the Connector

Working with the Sandbox

View Logs

Access Connector Metrics

Debug Connector

Scale Your Connector

Common Operations

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

Next Steps

Related Resources