If you use LUSID's Insights service, you may have noticed jobs run by a system user you don't recognise. This is the Bootstrapper process, an internal LUSID mechanism that keeps every domain correctly configured for the licences it holds. You don't need to do anything to trigger it or maintain it, but understanding what it is and why it appears in your logs can save you time if you ever spot it while reviewing activity.
What the Bootstrapper process does
The Bootstrapper process is a mandatory, internal LUSID process that runs in every domain. It checks that the configuration required for your domain's licensed features is present, and creates or updates that configuration where needed.
The process runs as a special system user with permission to apply configuration in protected scopes, including the system and default scopes, as well as other relevant configuration scopes. You have no ability to influence or disable this process, and it's designed to not impact your day-to-day use of LUSID.
How it works
Each domain runs the Bootstrapper process on a daily schedule. The time of day is fixed for a given domain but was chosen at random when it was set up, so schedules vary between domains. The process also runs automatically whenever the licences assigned to your domain change.
When it runs, the Bootstrapper process evaluates the licences assigned to your domain and works out which calls it needs to make to LUSID's service APIs to keep your configuration in line with those licences. Depending on the service involved, this happens in one of two ways:
The Bootstrapper's API calls include the specific details of what needs to be created.
The Bootstrapper process simply instructs a service to configure itself for the relevant set of licensed features, and the service handles the detail internally.
Either way, the result is the same: the resources you need to benefit from your licensed features are put in place automatically.
You can see all of the calls the Bootstrapper process makes to service APIs in the Insights service, since every interaction is logged there. Not every effect of the process is visible in Insights, however — some configuration changes happen without a corresponding visible entry, by design.
What it changes
What the Bootstrapper process configures depends entirely on which licences are assigned to your domain, so the specific changes vary from domain to domain. In every case, though, it's limited to setting up system-level configuration. It doesn't change your data outside of the scopes reserved for system-defined configuration, and it never overwrites a setting you've already changed yourself. If you've updated a default value, that update stands — the Bootstrapper process won't revert it.
Examples of what the Bootstrapper process might set up include:
Initialising the resources needed for a new data feed integration
Creating system-wide configuration items that you can subsequently change to adjust how a feature behaves
Creating system-supported access policies
Any change that's visible to you, whether it comes through the Bootstrapper process or another route, will be announced in FINBOURNE's product release notes and announcements. If you notice a change or feature you weren't expecting, contact Support.
Note: When copying configuration between environments, only copy the values of system configuration items, not the entries themselves.