What's New in Previous v7.x Releases

This documentation provides a summary overview of the major improvements, updates, fixes, and changes made in previous releases of the Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.x suite of releases and provides links to additional documentation.

Detail about each change follows.

Improvements & Enhancements - Version v7.1

Data Model Changes

Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.1 adds support for implementing Ed-Fi Data Standard v5.0, which introduces important updates that impact multiple domains of the Ed-Fi data model. There are breaking changes to the model so implementers are advised to review the changes carefully.

External Cache Performance Optimization

The ODS / API utilizes caching for descriptors, person-USI-to-Unique-Id mapping and API client details used for authorization, which improves API performance by eliminating the need for additional database calls. However, when this cache is store in memory, it increases memory requirements, repetitions on large scale implementation with multiple API servers and potentially leads to cache sync issues.

In ODS / API  v6.1, an optional feature was introduced, enabling API hosts to leverage a shared external distributed cache service, specifically Redis. During the development of this feature, the existing cache access logic that was written optimized for local cache access and speed was adapted for use with the distributed cache. While this adaptor successfully avoided multiple copies and reduced cache sync issues, it did not address optimization of cache access over the network.

A notable enhancement in ODS / API v7.1 focuses on optimizing the network usage of person-USI-to-Unique-Id mapping in external cache storage. In previous versions, the entire serialized mappings were transferred to and deserialized from an external cache provider like Redis every time a translation was needed. With the latest release, this process has been refined to minimize network overhead. Refer to How To: Use an External Cache Provider for the Ed-Fi API for details on how to enable external caching and how to choose external or in-memory caching for specific cache data.

Support for OpenAPI 3

The Ed-Fi ODS/API exposes metadata based on the open-source OpenAPI Specification (OAS), which is a widely adopted, standardized format for describing REST APIs. This metadata comprehensively outlines all API resources, including inputs, HTTP verbs, and the schema of the exposed resources. The OpenAPI specification is utilized in generating Online Documentation, and by the code generation tools to Generate SDKs. In earlier versions, the ODS/API exposed OAS version 2. However, in ODS/API 7.1, metadata is exposed in OAS v3 by default, while still allowing access to OAS v2 through a version parameter for backward compatibility. This ensures a smooth transition for users while providing compatibility with previous specification.

MetaEd IDE v4.3

Implementing extensions in Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.1 requires implementers to update to MetaEd IDE v4.3 or higher.

Improvements & Enhancements - Version v7.0

This section briefly describes the new features and enhancements built into the Ed-Fi ODS / API Platform v7.0 and provides links to additional documentation.

Data Model Changes in v7.0

Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 add support for implementing Ed-Fi Data Standard v5-pre2, which introduces important updates that impact multiple domains of the Ed-Fi data model. There are breaking changes to the model so implementers are advised to review the changes carefully.

Flexible Data Standard Version Support in the Ed-Fi ODS / API

In the past, each release of the Ed-Fi ODS / API implemented a specific version of the Data Standard. Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 introduces the capability to build and deploy APIs that adhere to either the Ed-Fi Data Standard v4 or Ed-Fi Data Standard v5. This enhancement involves updates to the source code structure, build process, packaging, and deployment components of the technology stack to process either one of the data standard versions. This flexibility empowers implementations to leverage bug fixes and advancements within the technology suite, while incorporating supported data standard upgrades at a pace suitable for their institution's needs.

It is important for implementers to note that Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 introduces breaking changes listed in the release notes. These changes will impact the behavior of the API in both Ed-Fi Data Standard v4 and Ed-Fi Data Standard v5 implementations. Additionally, Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 brings non-breaking changes to the ODS database schema, aimed at enhancing performance. Implementers are advised to upgrade their existing ODS to incorporate these schema changes, particularly when upgrading from an existing Ed-Fi Data Standard v4 (ODS / API v6.1) implementation. Beyond the ODS, it's essential to update the Admin and Security database schemas to the latest versions when upgrading to Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 for implementing Ed-Fi Data Standard v4.

Dynamic Profile Configuration

Ed-Fi ODS / API profiles facilitate the creation of data policies for specific sets of API resources, thereby limiting the data (including properties, collections, and collection items) available for reading and writing. In the past releases, configuring profiles required code modifications, rebuilding and redeployment. Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 introduces the capability for runtime profile configuration and updates without the requirement for recompilation or redeployment.  Additionally, profiles now integrate seamlessly with extension plugins. This enhancement empowers administrators to modify data policies even after the deployment of ODS / API throughout the school year, accommodating evolving consumer needs. For general overview of profiles feature refer to API Profiles and for for technical implementation details consult How To: Add Profiles to the Ed-Fi ODS / API.

In addition to profile configuration, Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 simplifies profile usage. The ODS / API now evaluates incoming API requests to determine whether the requested resource is linked to a single profile for the API client. If this is the case, API will automatically handles the request using that specific profile and API client is not obligated to to apply profile specific HTTP header to the request (i.e. Accept for GET requests, and Content-Type for PUT/POST requests).

Multi-Tenancy, Deployment Modes, Routing

Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 introduces architectural changes that enhance scalability, performance, and deployment flexibility beyond what was achievable in previous versions. ODS instances are now configured and linked to API clients within the Admin database, allowing configuration of complete connection strings. This setup enables ODS instances to reside on separate database servers, ensuring improved performance and security. Refer to API Client and ODS Instance Configuration for details. API administrators retain the ability to implement previously supported database segmentation strategies. API administrators can opt for implicit routes (segmentation information not visible in the routes). Additionally, administrators have the option to configure database segmentation for explicit routes with Context-Based Routing. Streamlined routes in ODS / API v7.0 offer simplified route configurations within client applications. Details on route patterns can be found in the API Routes section.

Further enhancing capabilities, snapshot for change processing can now be configured on separate database server from the primary ODS. Additionally, newly introduced Read-Replicas can offload GET requests, contributing to optimized performance.

To ensure security and efficient management of tenants, ODS / API v7.0 introduces support for Multi Tenant Configuration. This setup configures separate Admin and Security databases for each tenant.

MetaEd IDE v4.2

Implementing extensions in Ed-Fi ODS / API v7.0 requires implementers to update to MetaEd IDE v4.2 or higher.