[role="xpack"]
[[action-types]]
== Connectors

Connectors provide a central place to store connection information for services and integrations with third party systems. Actions are instantiations of a connector that are linked to rules and run as background tasks on the {kib} server when rule conditions are met. {kib} provides the following types of connectors:

[cols="2"]
|===

a| <<email-action-type, Email>>

| Send email from your server.

a| <<resilient-action-type, IBM Resilient>>

| Create an incident in IBM Resilient.

a| <<index-action-type, Index>>

| Index data into Elasticsearch.

a| <<jira-action-type, Jira>>

| Create an incident in Jira.

a| <<teams-action-type, Microsoft Teams>>

| Send a message to a Microsoft Teams channel.

a| <<pagerduty-action-type, PagerDuty>>

| Send an event in PagerDuty.

a| <<server-log-action-type, ServerLog>>

| Add a message to a Kibana log.

a| <<servicenow-action-type, ServiceNow>>

| Create an incident in ServiceNow.

a| <<slack-action-type, Slack>>

| Send a message to a Slack channel or user.

a| <<swimlane-action-type, Swimlane>>

| Create an incident in Swimlane.

a| <<webhook-action-type, Webhook>>

| Send a request to a web service.
|===

[NOTE]
==============================================
Some connector types are paid commercial features, while others are free.
For a comparison of the Elastic subscription levels,
see https://www.elastic.co/subscriptions[the subscription page].
==============================================

[float]
[[connector-management]]
=== Managing Connectors

Rules use *Connectors* to route actions to different destinations like log files, ticketing systems, and messaging tools. While each {kib} app can offer their own types of rules, they typically share connectors. The *Connectors* tab offers a central place to view and manage all the connectors in the current space.

For more information on connectors and the types of actions available see <<action-types>>.

[role="screenshot"]
image::images/connector-listing.png[Example connector listing in the Rules and Connectors UI]

[float]
=== Required permissions

Access to connectors is granted based on your privileges to alerting-enabled features. See <<alerting-security, Alerting Security>> for more information.

[float]
=== Connector networking configuration

Use the <<action-settings, Action configuration settings>> to customize connector networking configurations, such as proxies, certificates, or TLS settings. You can set configurations that apply to all your connectors or use `xpack.actions.customHostSettings` to set per-host configurations.

[float]
[[connectors-list]]
=== Connector list

The *Connectors* tab lists all connectors in the current space. The *search bar* can be used to find specific connectors by name and/or type.

[role="screenshot"]
image::images/connector-filter-by-search.png[Filtering the connector list using the search bar]


The *type* dropdown also lets you filter to a subset of connector types.

[role="screenshot"]
image::images/connector-filter-by-type.png[Filtering the connector list by types of connectors]

You can delete individual connectors using the trash icon. Connectors can also be deleted in bulk by multi-selecting them and clicking the *Delete* button to the left of the search box. 

[role="screenshot"]
image::images/connector-delete.png[Deleting connectors individually or in bulk]

[NOTE]
============================================================================
You can delete a connector even if there are still actions referencing it.
When this happens the action will fail to execute, and appear as errors in the {kib} logs.
============================================================================

[float]
[[creating-new-connector]]
=== Creating a new connector

New connectors can be created by clicking the *Create connector* button, which will guide you to select the type of connector and configure its properties. Refer to <<action-types>> for the types of connectors available and how to configure them. Once you create a connector it will be made available to you anytime you set up an action in the current space.

[role="screenshot"]
image::images/connector-select-type.png[Connector select type]

[float]
[[importing-and-exporting-connectors]]
=== Importing and exporting connectors

To import and export connectors, use the <<managing-saved-objects, Saved Objects Management UI>>.
After a successful import, the proper banner is displayed:
[role="screenshot"]
image::images/coonectors-import-banner.png[Connectors import banner, width=50%]

If a connector is missing user sensitive information because of the import,  a **Fix** button appears in the list view.
[role="screenshot"]
image::images/connectors-with-missing-secrets.png[Connectors with missing secrets]

[float]
[[create-connectors]]
=== Preconfigured connectors

For out-of-the-box and standardized connectors, you can <<preconfigured-connector-example, preconfigure connectors>>
before {kib} starts.


include::connectors/index.asciidoc[]
