Manual and Documentation
THIS PROJECT IS NO LONGER ACTIVELY MAINTAINED AND IS LOOKING FOR NEW MAINTAINER. THE DOCUMENTATION REFERS MAINLY TO THE IDS-PROTOCOL AND NOT ON THE DSP-PROTOCOL!
This documentation should help you to become familiar with the Dataspace Connector - to try it out, integrate it in your use cases, or contribute to its development.
Get started now View it on GitHub
This project is currently no longer maintained but looking for new maintainers.
Applications for maintainers shall be directed to the International Data Spaces Association.
This project was previously maintained by Fraunhofer ISST and after that by sovity GmbH. Please do not approach former maintainers. If you have questions, plase open an issue / discussion for the community or approach the International Data Spaces Association.
With the help of the Dataspace Connector, existing software can easily be extended by IDS connector functionalities in order to integrate them into an IDS data ecosystem. Furthermore, it is possible to use the Dataspace Connector as a basis for the development of own software that is to be connected to an IDS data ecosystem.
The Dataspace Connector uses the recent IDS Information Model version and the IDS Messaging Services for message handling with other IDS components. For managing datasets by means of their metadata as IDS resources, the Dataspace Connector provides a REST API. After an initial registration, IDS resources are persisted to an internal or external database of the connector. External data sources can be connected via REST endpoints, allowing the Dataspace Connector to act as an intermediary between the IDS data ecosystem and the actual data source.
Following the requirements of the International Data Spaces, TLS-encrypted communication with other IDS connectors and, for example, communication with an IDS broker are supported in the context of an IDS data ecosystem. The Dataspace Connector can simultaneously act as both a data provider and a data consumer, and thus both provide data in a data ecosystem and request it from other IDS connectors. The Dataspace Connector supports various usage control rules, which are implemented and enforced. This allows data in the IDS data ecosystem to be assigned usage control rules and ensures data sovereignty throughout the data lifecycle. Furthermore, identity management is supported by the integration of an identity provider in the IDS context, such as a DAPS.
The Dataspace Connector is an open source project whose development is being driven in collaboration with various research institutes and companies. Its architecture allows the existing implementation to be adapted as needed for domain-specific requirements. The deployment of the Dataspace Connector can be run in Docker as well as in Kubernetes.
IDS-ready
“The aim of the Dataspace Connector is to provide companies with an easy and trustworthy entry into the International Data Spaces. There are three levels of certification for the International Data Spaces, an initiative for cross-industry data exchange with over 100 European companies: Base, Trusted and Trusted+. The DSC was deliberately tested for the Base certification level, as this does not require specific hardware such as Trusted Platform Module chips in order to use the connector. This makes it easier to use the DSC on different hardware and in cloud environments with a reasonable sacrifice of hardware security features.
In addition, the Dataspace Connector is the only IDS connector that already supports the enforcement of eight usage condition classes of the International Data Spaces Association and thus exceeds the Base certification level.”