Get Started with Composer v5

Composer makes visual analytics easy. Even fun. For anybody. For everybody. But if you're starting with a bootstrap script, a cover letter, and a license and are not sure how to get started, start here.

Several actions must be performed by different people to get Composer functioning in your organization. The following steps show the order in which actions should be performed. In addition, read Composer Personas for a descriptions of the different job skills that contribute to the successful implementation and use of Composer.

Some of the setup work described below requires use of the Composer API. API documentation is provided with your Composer installation at this link: https://<composer-URL>/composer/swagger-ui.html.

  1. Verify you have a server available that meets the sizing requirements of Composer. See Sizing Guidelines and System Requirements and Installation Prerequisites.

  2. Install the software using the supplied bootstrap script. See Installation Steps. Optionally, install the product and its metadata store manually (see Installing Composer Manually).

  3. Optionally, configure Composer servers in a high availability (HA) environment or behind a load balancer. See Configure a Composer High Availability Environment and Configuring the Composer Server Behind a Load Balancer.

  4. License the product. See Requesting a New License Key.

  1. Integrate with your security software (LDAP, SAML, OAuth, Kerberos, or X 509). See Supported Authentication Tools.

  2. Set up Composer accounts, user definitions, and groups, with appropriate privileges. See Authorize Composer Access.

  3. Define custom attributes, as needed, for each user. Custom attributes provide a way for administrators to create variables in user definitions. These variables can be interpolated in other fields elsewhere in the product. See Specifying Custom User Attributes.

  1. Log in as a supervisor and set up the Composer connectors needed to support the data stores your organization uses and that you will want to use for Composer data source configurations. See Managing Connectors and Connector Servers.

  2. Log in as an administrator and define the connection strings necessary for the Composer connectors to access your data stores. See Managing Data Store Connections.

  1. Activate logging. (regular -- Fluentd optional) See Activity Logging, Managing Activity Logs, and Setting Up Fluentd Unified Logging.

  2. Optionally, create custom charts needed by your organization. Manage Custom Charts.

  3. Optionally, create admin-defined functions needed for your environment. Admin-Defined Functions.

  4. Optionally, configure a different theme for the Composer UI. See Manage UI Themes.

  5. Optionally, customize the Composer UI for your organization. See Customizing the Composer User Interface.

  1. Identify the data you need to use from your data stores to perform the data analytics you want.

  2. Define data source configurations that collect the data you need. Data source configurations use the data store connections previously defined. See Data Source Configurations.

  3. Optionally, configure row and column security for your data sources. See Restricting Group Access to Data Using Row Security and Restricting Group Access to Fields Using Column Security.

  1. Configure the dashboards and visuals needed to analyze your data. See Manage Dashboards and Manage Visuals

  2. Optionally, configure permissions for each dashboard. See About Dashboard Authorization.

  3. Optionally, specify how each visual can be interacted with when embedded. See Controlling How Users Interact With a Visual.

  4. Optionally, share dashboards with other Composer users in your account. See Share a Dashboard with Users Inside Your Account.

  5. Optionally, export a dashboard. See Exporting a Dashboard.

  6. Optionally, schedule a dashboard report. See About Scheduled Dashboard Reports.

  1. Enable and register OAuth and request an OAuth access token. See Enabling OAuth 2.0, Registering an OAuth Client, and Requesting an Access Token.

  2. Embed Composer dashboards in your applications. See Embed Dashboards.

  3. Optionally, enable embedded dashboard access from other sites using cross-origin sharing (CORS). See Enabling Embedded Dashboard Access From Other Sites Using Cross-Origin Sharing (CORS).

The following additional topics may also be helpful.