Post-Installation Checklist

You've installed DeltaFi. Now what? This guide walks through the essential configuration steps to get your system production-ready.

Pre-UI Setup (TUI)

Before accessing the web UI, configure these TUI settings.

Set the Admin Password

deltafi set-admin-password

This sets the password for the admin user. You'll need this to log into the UI.

Configure Your Domain

By default, DeltaFi uses local.deltafi.org. For production deployments, update your domain in site/values.yaml:

ingress:
  domain: deltafi.example.com

Then apply the changes:

deltafi up

SSL Certificates (Production)

For HTTPS access, configure TLS in site/values.yaml:

ingress:
  domain: deltafi.example.com
  tls:
    enabled: true
    secrets:
      default: ssl-secret  #Default setting

Create the Kubernetes secret with your certificates:

deltafi ssl load -c your-cert.crt \
        -k your-key.key --secret-name ssl-secret

deltafi ssl ca-chain load -c your-ca-chain.crt

See Authentication for details on client certificate setup.

Verify the Installation

Access the UI

Navigate to your configured domain (default: http://local.deltafi.org) and log in with the admin credentials.

Add and Configure Users

By default, in basic mode the only initial user is Admin.

If your system is going to use basic additional users should be created with roles (and permissions) correlating to their responsibilities.

If your system is going to use cert authentication additional users will need to be created. You cannot access the system with the Admin user and password in cert mode.

See Authentication for details on adding users certificate setup.

Configure Ingres NPEs

Regardless of if your system is configured with basic or cert it is best practice to configure an NPE Ingress user for your data provider (if using Rest-Data-Sources)

This should be configured the same as a user (see above) but given the role Ingress Only. This will allow the NPE permission to post to data sources, and to the annotation and survey APIs

Authentication Mode

DeltaFi supports three authentication modes:

Mode	Use Case
basic	Username/password (default)
cert	Client certificate authentication
disabled	Development only - no authentication

Configure in site/values.yaml:

deltafi:
  auth:
    mode: basic  # or cert, disabled

Run the Smoke Test

DeltaFi ships with a built-in smoke test flow. This is the quickest way to verify your installation works end-to-end:

deltafi integration-test run --like "smoke"

Or manually ingest a test file:

echo "test data" > /tmp/test.txt
deltafi ingress -d smoke /tmp/test.txt --watch

If successful, you'll see the DeltaFile progress through ingress → transform → egress.

Install Plugins

Check what plugins are installed:

deltafi plugin list

A fresh installation includes only the core plugin. Install the plugins your use case requires:

# Example: Install the XML plugin
deltafi plugin install docker.io/deltafi/deltafi-xml:2.39.0

# List available actions from a plugin
deltafi plugin describe deltafi-xml

Common Mistake

Forgetting to install plugins before trying to configure flows that depend on them. If your flows show as "invalid", check that all required plugins are installed.

Start Your Flows

Flows are stopped by default when plugins are installed. You must explicitly start them.

List All Flows

deltafi data-source list
deltafi transform list
deltafi data-sink list

Or view the flow graph:

deltafi graph --all

Start Flows

# Start a specific data source
deltafi data-source start my-data-source

# Start a transform
deltafi transform start my-transform

# Start a data sink
deltafi data-sink start my-data-sink

You can also start/stop flows from the UI under Configuration → DataSources, Configuration → Transforms, & Configuration → DataSinks.

Configure Plugin Variables

Many plugins expose variables that customize behavior. View and set them:

# List all plugin variables
deltafi variables list

# Set a variable
deltafi variables set <plugin> <variable> <value>

You can also configure in the UI under System → Plugin Variables.

Configure System Properties

System properties control DeltaFi's runtime behavior. View them with:

deltafi properties view

Or in the UI under System → System Properties.

Data Retention (Critical)

These settings control how long data lives in your system:

Property	Default	Description
ageOffDays	13	Maximum days before DeltaFiles are deleted
diskSpacePercentThreshold	80%	Delete content when storage disk usage exceeds this
metadataDiskSpacePercentThreshold	40%	Delete metadata when database disk exceeds this
deleteFrequency	PT5M	How often delete policies run

TIP

Set ageOffDays appropriately for your retention requirements. The default of 13 days may be too short for compliance requirements or too long for high-volume systems.

Performance Tuning

Property	Default	Description	Sizing Guidance
coreServiceThreads	16	Threads for core processing	Match to available CPU cores
coreInternalQueueSize	64	Internal event queue depth	Increase for bursty workloads
inMemoryQueueSize	5000	Actions queued in memory before overflow to disk	Higher = more memory, lower latency
cacheSyncDuration	PT30S	How often to sync DeltaFiles to database	Lower = more durability, higher DB load

Sizing inMemoryQueueSize:

• Each queued action consumes memory
• When exceeded, actions overflow to PostgreSQL (cold queue)
• Cold queue is slower but unlimited
• Start with default (5000), increase if you see cold queue growth

# Check cold queue status
deltafi status

Ingress Controls

Property	Default	Description
ingressEnabled	true	Global ingress on/off
ingressDiskSpaceRequirementInMb	1000	Auto-disable ingress below this free space

TIP

If free disk space in the storage volume is less than ingressDiskSpaceRequirementsInMb all ingress will be halted. Ensure your data provider can handle the potential for backpressure and ensure that your configuration is sufficient to allow any inFlight processing to complete

Action Timeout

Property	Default	Description
requeueDuration	PT5M	Time before requeuing a stuck action
actionExecutionTimeout	disabled	Kill action pod if exceeded (must be > 30s)
actionExecutionWarning	disabled	Log warning if action exceeds this duration

For long-running actions (large file processing), increase requeueDuration.

Set Up Delete Policies

Beyond global age-off, you can create targeted delete policies.

View Existing Policies

In the UI: System → Delete Policies

Common Delete Policies

Timed Delete Policy: Delete DeltaFiles older than N days

• Can target specific flows
• Can delete only content (keep metadata) or both

TIP

Create a disk space policy Properties → diskSpacePercentThreshold as a safety net even if you have timed policies. It prevents disk-full emergencies.

Configure Auto-Resume (Optional)

Auto-resume policies automatically retry errored DeltaFiles matching certain criteria. See Auto Resume for details.

# View auto-resume policies
deltafi resume-policy list

Final Verification

System Health Check

deltafi status

All services should show healthy. Watch for:

• ❌ Services not running
• ⚠️ Cold queue growth (indicates processing backlog)
• ⚠️ Disk space warnings

End-to-End Test

1. Ensure your data source flow is RUNNING
2. Ingest a test file:

   deltafi ingress -d <your-data-source> <test-file> --watch

3. Verify it completes successfully through all flows
4. Check the UI for the DeltaFile details

Dashboard

For ongoing monitoring:

deltafi dashboard

Quick Reference

# Status and health
deltafi status
deltafi dashboard

# Flows
deltafi data-source list
deltafi data-source start <name>
deltafi graph --all

# Plugins
deltafi plugin list
deltafi plugin install <image>

# System properties
deltafi properties view
deltafi properties set <name> <value>

# Testing
deltafi integration-test run --like "smoke"
deltafi ingress -d <data-source> <file> --watch

Next Steps

• Monitoring & Metrics - Set up Grafana dashboards
• Error Handling - Handle errors and retries
• Flows Reference - Deep dive into flow configuration