[ARCHIVED] "Test Cluster Only" check box in API Developer Key Settings

[debbie_ellis]

I am going to make my question as uncomplicated as possible, so here it goes. First, when I am setting up a new API developer key there is a check box "Test Cluster Only." In this article (https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Admin-Guide/How-do-I-add-a-developer-key-for-an-account/ta-p/259) it says that this check box "Creates a developer key that can only be used in the Canvas test environment." I assume this does just what it says.

Specifically, one of my colleagues is setting up single sign-on for Panopto and is working in our Panopto test environment (all in cloud). He wants to make sure that with the new SSO Panopto opens up in Canvas as it normally would. I am assuming I can create a developer key for use in Canvas test. But, if the SSO was set up in Panopto test will the developer key I create actually work?

My confusion comes because when I log in to Panopto test, I can't do it by selecting "Canvas Test Environment" from the login drop-down menu. I get an error message. The Canvas Support rep I talked to awhile ago said that this is because I shouldn't be using Canvas test for testing something that is related to a third-party tool and that I should set this up in Canvas production.

Aargh! Does anyone have experience with this?

[James · Accepted solution]

@debbie_ellis 

I cannot answer the question directly, just provide some hopefully helpful insight.

LTIs have long had problems with beta or test environments. Even some of Canvas' tools pull the information from production when you access them in beta or test -- if you can even get them to run in beta or test at all. The presence of a test and beta in Canvas does not mean that the third party tool automatically has a beta and test as well. If you are given a test environment from a vendor there is nothing that inherently requires that it be tied to the test environment inside Canvas. That is Canvas test does not equal Panopto test.

If you create the developer key in test or beta, it is for short term development only. Production  values overwrite test once a month and beta once a week. This may be another reason why most vendors do not support test and beta -- although the greater reason may be that it is production that generates the data.

Normally, information is passed from production to test and beta on a schedule and not on demand. I would not expect that a new key generated, even if it is "only in test", to be recognized in test until the next update. Again, I have no specific knowledge, just inferring from ways other things work.

My interpretation of the "test cluster only" setting is that it is a security measure to prevent access to the production data. If you are developing a program and you don't want to mess up production data with a mistake, this is a great option to choose. However, that means that the a key generated with that setting would not be recognized by production, which makes it unlikely that the SSO would work from production.

[debbie_ellis]

James,

Thank you. Your explanation makes sense. Thankfully, my colleague ended up not wanting me to move forward when he found out I would need to set things up in Canvas production. Since I'm not an IT person by education, it's hard sometimes to get my head around some of these concepts in practice even though I get the "theory" of them.