PoolParty Configuration Properties

20/10/2025

This guide summarizes all configuration properties for your PoolParty instance, including settings for security, connection details, and external service integrations.

PoolParty uses a unified mechanism to load and apply configuration values consistently across all layers of the application—from early Tomcat startup to Spring-managed components. This ensures predictable behavior regardless of where the setting is consumed.

The configuration system resolves properties by checking a standard set of locations. The first source found (highest precedence) overrides any values found in subsequent sources. PoolParty resolves properties according to the following precedence:

Java System Properties: Passed directly to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Useful for dynamic or one-off changes.
Example: -Dpoolparty.some.setting=value
Environment Variables: Useful for containerized deployments (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes). The last section on this page explains the rules for setting PoolParty properties as environment variables.
Example: POOLPARTY_BASE_URI=https://new.server.com
The poolparty.properties file: The traditional location for custom PoolParty settings. The default location of the poolparty.properties file is specified in poolparty.configRoot. Its default is ${poolparty.home}/config.
Static defaults: Default values provided in static property files packaged on the classpath:
- application.properties: Contains internal metadata (e.g., version, build timestamp).
- poolparty-default.properties: Contains various default values for standard properties.

Note

If PoolParty was deployed using Helm Charts then properties can be configured in the Configurations section in the values.yaml file.

The settings you define here are used to display date and time in lists and tables throughout the interface. All other instances of date and date-time formats in PoolParty are by default formatted and stored according to the UTC standard.

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`date.format.pattern`	Format in which dates are displayed.	`dd.MM.yyyy`	Optional
`datetime.format.pattern`	Format in which date & time is displayed.	`dd.MM.yyyy - HH:mm`	Optional

Property	Description	Mandatory or Optional?
`encryption.password`	Encryption password for encrypted passwords stored in the system repository.	Mandatory
`encryption.salt`	Encryption salt.	Mandatory
`encryption.keyStrength`	Encryption key strength.	Mandatory

Property	Description	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.graphdb.url`	The URL of the GraphDB instance or a comma-delimited list of GraphDB cluster nodes.	Mandatory
`poolparty.graphdb.username`	Basic authentication username.	Optional
`poolparty.graphdb.password`	Basic authentication password.	Optional
`poolparty.graphdb.authorizationHeader`	Authorization header (alternative to basic authentication).	Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.keycloak.authUrl`	The Keycloak auth URL.		Mandatory
`poolparty.keycloak.admin.realm`	Realm for the admin client.	`master`	Optional
`poolparty.keycloak.admin.clientId`	Client ID for the admin client.		Mandatory
`poolparty.keycloak.admin.username`	Username for the admin client.		Optional (alternative to `clientSecret`)
`poolparty.keycloak.admin.password`	Password for the admin client.		Optional (alternative to `clientSecret`)
`poolparty.keycloak.admin.clientSecret`	Client secret for the admin client (alternative to username/password).		Optional (Alternative to username/password)
`poolparty.keycloak.login.realm`	Realm for the login client.	`poolparty`	Optional
`poolparty.keycloak.login.clientId`	Client ID for the login client.		Mandatory
`poolparty.keycloak.login.clientSecret`	Client secret for the login client.		Mandatory
`poolparty.keycloak.login.principalAttribute`	Field that contains the principal (username).	`preferred_username`	Optional
`poolparty.keycloak.login.enableBasicAuth`	Boolean value determining whether to enable basic authentication for login.	`true`	Optional

Property	Description	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.index.type`	The type of index (currently only Elasticsearch is supported).	Mandatory
`poolparty.index.url`	URL of the index server.	Mandatory
`poolparty.index.username`	Username to access the index.	Optional
`poolparty.index.password`	Password to access the index.	Optional
`poolparty.index.ssl.keystorePath`	Path to keystore file (for SSL connections).	Optional
`poolparty.index.ssl.keystorePassword`	Password for the keystore file (for SSL connections).	Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.server.address`	Address to bind to (binds to all network interfaces if set to `*`).	`*`	Optional
`poolparty.server.port`	Port to listen to.	`8081`	Optional
`poolparty.server.baseUrl`	Defines the external (public) base URL that other services or clients should use when connecting to the PoolParty server.	`http://{poolparty.server.address}:{poolparty.server.port}` (i.e. a combination of the values of the other two properties)	Optional

For more information, refer to CORS Configuration for PoolParty.

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.cors.allowedOrigins`	A comma-separated list of allowed CORS origins (may NOT contain `*`). Use `poolparty.cors.allowedOriginPatterns` for wildcards.		Optional
`poolparty.cors.allowedOriginPatterns`	A comma-separated list of allowed CORS origin patterns (may contain `*`).		Optional
`poolparty.cors.allowedMethods`	A comma-separated list of allowed CORS methods.	`GET, POST, PUT, OPTIONS, PATCH, DELETE`	Optional
`poolparty.cors.allowedHeaders`	A comma-separated list of allowed CORS headers.	`*` (all headers)	Optional
`poolparty.cors.exposedHeaders`	A comma-separated list of exposed CORS headers.		Optional
`poolparty.cors.allowCredentials`	Sets whether user credentials are supported with CORS.	`true`	Optional
`poolparty.cors.maxAge`	Sets how long, in seconds, the response from a pre-flight request can be cached by clients.	`86400`	Optional

Property	Description	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.spark.address`	Set to enable external Spark or modify local Spark settings.	Optional
`poolparty.spark.executor.memory`	Set the Spark memory to use per executor process (e.g., `512m`, `2g`). Do not set higher than what your external Spark Cluster can provide.	Optional
`poolparty.spark.executor.cores`	Set the external Spark driver core usage. Do not set higher than what your external Spark Cluster can provide.	Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.spark.authenticate`	Whether Spark authenticates its internal connections.	`false`	Optional
`poolparty.spark.authenticate.secret`	The secret key used for authentication.		Optional
`poolparty.spark.authenticate.secret.driver.file`	Overrides the location the Spark driver reads to load the secret. Requires `poolparty.spark.authenticate.secret.executor.file` to also be specified.		Optional
`poolparty.spark.authenticate.secret.executor.file`	Overrides the location the Spark executors read to load the secret. Requires `poolparty.spark.authenticate.secret.driver.file` to also be specified.		Optional
`poolparty.spark.network.crypto.enabled`	Enable AES-based RPC encryption.	`false`	Optional
`poolparty.spark.network.crypto.cipher`	Cipher mode to use for AES-based RPC encryption.		Optional
`poolparty.spark.network.crypto.authEngineVersion`	Version of AES-based RPC encryption to use (1 or 2).		Optional
`poolparty.spark.io.encryption.enabled`	Enable local disk I/O encryption. Strongly recommended that RPC encryption be enabled when using this feature.	`false`	Optional
`poolparty.spark.io.encryption.keySizeBits`	IO encryption key size in bits (128, 192, or 256).		Optional
`poolparty.spark.io.encryption.keygen.algorithm`	The algorithm to use when generating the IO encryption key.		Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.enabled`	Enables RPC SSL.	`false`	Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.protocol`	Sets the SSL protocol.	`TLSv1.3`	Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.keyPassword`	The password to the private key in the key store.		Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.keyStore`	Path to the key store file (absolute or relative).		Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.keyStorePassword`	Password to the key store.		Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.trustStore`	Path to the trust store file (absolute or relative).		Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.trustStorePassword`	Password for the trust store.		Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.trustStoreReloadingEnabled`	Whether the trust store should be reloaded periodically.	`false`	Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.trustStoreReloadIntervalMs`	The interval at which the trust store should be reloaded, in milliseconds.	`60000`	Optional
`poolparty.spark.ssl.rpc.enabledAlgorithms`	A comma-separated list of ciphers supported by the JVM. If not set, the JRE's default cipher suite will be used.		Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`poolparty.configRoot`	The location of the `poolparty.properties` file.	`${poolparty.home}/config`	Optional
`poolparty.home`	The PoolParty home directory. Defaults to the distribution directory. Used to derive defaults for other directories.	Distribution directory	Optional
`poolparty.data`	The PoolParty data directory.	`$poolparty.home/data`	Optional
`poolparty.logs`	The PoolParty logs directory.	`$poolparty.home/logs`	Optional
`poolparty.apps`	A comma-separated list of applications to start. Available applications are thesaurus (includes LDF), graphsearch, and extractor.	`thesaurus, graphsearch, extractor` (all applications)	Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`ppt.url`	PoolParty URL Relevant Setting for the Linked Data Frontend and the Suggest API Method	`{poolparty.server.baseUrl}/Poolparty`	Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`lod.cache.endpoint`	LOD cache used for all Linked Data functionalities in PoolParty.	`http://lod.semantic-web.at/sparql`	Optional

Property	Description	Default	Mandatory or Optional?
`url.base.scheme`	Base URL for custom schemes.	`{poolparty.server.baseUrl}`	Optional
`url.base.vocabulary`	Base URL for thesauri.	`{poolparty.server.baseUrl}`	Optional
`url.base.user`	Base URL for users.	`{poolparty.server.baseUrl}/User`	Optional
`url.base.context`	Base URL for graph namespaces.	`{poolparty.server.baseUrl}`	Optional

The following parameters can be optionally set in the poolparty.properties file:

poolparty.session.timeout
This parameter allows you to change the default timeout of a PoolParty session. (Default: 30min)
ld.frontend.http.https.conversion
This parameter allows you to enable or disable the enhanced LD frontend HTTP/HTTPS resource resolving. (Default: true)
ldf.timeout.connect.msec
Sets the connection timeout for generic HTTP requests to resolve labels in PoolParty's Linked Data Frontend in milliseconds. The default connection timeout is 2000 ms.PoolParty's Linked Data Frontend
ldf.timeout.request.msec
Sets the request timeout for generic HTTP requests to resolve labels in PoolParty's Linked Data Frontend in milliseconds. The default request timeout is 20000 ms.PoolParty's Linked Data Frontend
poolparty.analytics.enabled
If set to true, PoolParty may send anonymous data about the features used. The data sent complies with the privacy policy specified in your contract. This helps us improve our product. By default, the analytics is disabled on all on-premise installations.
poolparty.analytics.siteid
ID of the site to where PoolParty uploads the analytics data. Will be provided by your Customer Success representative. Only relevant if poolparty.analytics.enabled is set to true.

From PoolParty 2022 Release 1 the following parameters are no longer used:

feed.url
Legacy parameter that defines the URL of a custom RSS feed to be used in PoolParty.
feed.entries
Legacy parameter that defines the number of RSS feed entries to be displayed.
feed.timeout
Legacy parameter that defines the timeout of feed fetch requests in ms.

From PoolParty 2025 Release 2 (9.6.1) the following optional parameters have been removed from the poolparty.properties file:

ppgs.max.title.length
The maximum number of characters in the title parameter in Web Service Method: Create Indexed Document and Web Service Method: Update or Create an Indexed Document. Default value was 1,250 characters.
ppgs.max.text.length
The maximum number of characters in the text parameter in Web Service Method: Create Indexed Document and Web Service Method: Update or Create an Indexed Document. The default character limit was 12,048 characters.

The configuration system supports the following property types:

Prefixed properties, such as poolparty.base.uri
Non-prefixed properties, such as some.custom.setting

Important

To avoid ambiguity and ensure safe resolution, non-prefixed properties must follow a special convention when provided via environment variables.

When specifying environment variables, non-prefixed properties must be treated as if prefixed with _POOLPARTY.. This ensures that names like some.setting do not clash with unrelated environment variables. For example:

Property Name	Expected Environment Variable
`poolparty.base.uri`	`POOLPARTY_BASE_URI`, `poolparty.base.uri`
`some.setting`	`_POOLPARTY_SOME_SETTING`, `_poolparty.some.setting`

This unified configuration mechanism applies consistently across all components of the PoolParty application, including:

Tomcat Startup Code: For parsing XML definitions before Spring initialization.
Non-Spring Utility Classes and core services.
Spring-managed beans, components, and XML configuration.

This ensures predictable behavior regardless of the execution context.

In this section: