Configure JanusGraph with Astra DB as storage backend

Use DataStax Astra DB as the storage backend for JanusGraph server.

JanusGraph uses the Java driver to connect to Apache Cassandra®. The Java driver supports the use of the secure connect bundle to connect to Astra DB, but JanusGraph does not provide this functionality. Thus it’s necessary to unpack the secure connect bundle and use its contents to configure JanusGraph.

Prerequisites

This article assumes you have a running installation of JanusGraph server. These steps were written and tested on JanusGraph v0.6.0.

You will also need to:

Generate an application token for your Astra DB.
Download the secure connect bundle for your Astra DB.

Prepare your secure bundle

On the JanusGraph server, unpack your secure bundle.

Example commands
Example file listing

$ cd /path/to/scb
$ unzip secure-connect-graphdb.zip

/
  path/
    to/
      scb/
        ca.crt
        cert
        cert.pfx
        config.json
        cqlshrc
        identity.jks
        key
        trustStore.jks

Extract your database metadata from the config.json file.

Example config.json

{
  "host": "70bf8560-105f-11ec-a3ea-0800200c9a66-us-west1.db.astra.datastax.com",
  "port": 98765,
  "cql_port": 34567,
  "keyspace": "graphks",
  "localDC": "us-west1",
  "caCertLocation": "./ca.crt",
  "keyLocation": "./key",
  "certLocation": "./cert",
  "keyStoreLocation": "./identity.jks",
  "keyStorePassword": "Kga1OJ83EF2oBQYR5",
  "trustStoreLocation": "./trustStore.jks",
  "trustStorePassword": "n8F9ptJO3H7YRxTW1",
  "csvLocation": "./data",
  "pfxCertPassword": "9b3HgFChtY60m4nfJ"
}

Configure JanusGraph

On the JanusGraph server, modify the CQL storage configuration file janusgraph-cql.properties. Make the necessary changes using the example template below.

Example commands
Example template

$ cd /path/to/installation/janusgraph-0.6.0
$ vi conf/janusgraph-cql.properties

# basic CQL settings
gremlin.graph=org.janusgraph.core.JanusGraphFactory
storage.backend=cql
storage.hostname=CONFIG-JSON-HOST
storage.port=CONFIG-JSON-CQL-PORT
storage.username=token               <----- literally the string "token"
storage.password=ASTRA_APP_TOKEN
storage.cql.keyspace=GRAPH_KEYSPACE
storage.cql.local-datacenter=CONFIG-JSON-LOCALDC

# SSL related settings
storage.cql.ssl.enabled=true
storage.cql.ssl.truststore.location=/path/to/scb/trustStore.jks
storage.cql.ssl.truststore.password=CONFIG-JSON-TRUSTSTOREPASSWORD
storage.cql.ssl.keystore.location=/path/to/scb/identity.jks
storage.cql.ssl.keystore.keypassword=CONFIG-JSON-KEYSTOREPASSWORD
storage.cql.ssl.keystore.storepassword=CONFIG-JSON-KEYSTOREPASSWORD
storage.cql.ssl.client-authentication-enabled=true

# consistency settings
storage.cql.read-consistency-level=LOCAL_QUORUM
storage.cql.write-consistency-level=LOCAL_QUORUM

The username to connect to Astra is literally the word "token". Do not set this value to your DB’s client ID.

The ASTRA_APP_TOKEN is from the token you generated in the Prerequisites section above.

Using the example values in the config.json above, the conf/janusgraph-cql.properties would contain:

Example config.json

# basic CQL settings
gremlin.graph=org.janusgraph.core.JanusGraphFactory
storage.backend=cql
storage.hostname=70bf8560-105f-11ec-a3ea-0800200c9a66-us-west1.db.astra.datastax.com
storage.port=34567
storage.username=token
storage.password=AstraCS:AbCwZYOKqvXHZWRvpbvHqXYz:47820923e5be3b7b9e689bc18614c631d5fdd8b435e68613433651fd20fexyz0
storage.cql.keyspace=graphks
storage.cql.local-datacenter=us-west1

# SSL related settings
storage.cql.ssl.enabled=true
storage.cql.ssl.truststore.location=/path/to/scb/trustStore.jks
storage.cql.ssl.truststore.password=n8F9ptJO3H7YRxTW1
storage.cql.ssl.keystore.location=/path/to/scb/identity.jks
storage.cql.ssl.keystore.keypassword=Kga1OJ83EF2oBQYR5
storage.cql.ssl.keystore.storepassword=Kga1OJ83EF2oBQYR5
storage.cql.ssl.client-authentication-enabled=true

# consistency settings
storage.cql.read-consistency-level=LOCAL_QUORUM
storage.cql.write-consistency-level=LOCAL_QUORUM

Final test

Start a Gremlin console.

Command

$ bin/gremlin.sh
 
         \,,,/
         (o o)
-----oOOo-(3)-oOOo-----
gremlin>

Load a graph using Astra as the storage backend with:
- Command
gremlin> graph = JanusGraphFactory.open('conf/janusgraph-cql.properties') ==>standardjanusgraph[cql:[70bf8560-105f-11ec-a3ea-0800200c9a66-us-west1.db.astra.datastax.com]]
Note that it is normal to see some warnings on the Gremlin console. See this file with a sample output for comparison of what to expect.

In the Astra DB CQL Console, check that the JanusGraph tables were successfully created:

Example

token@cqlsh> USE graphks;
token@cqlsh:graphks> DESCRIBE TABLES;

edgestore_lock_  graphindex_lock_         janusgraph_ids
txlog            systemlog                graphindex
edgestore        system_properties_lock_  system_properties