Set up a Formal connector

C1 provides identity governance and just-in-time provisioning for Formal. Integrate your Formal instance with C1 to run user access reviews (UARs) and enable just-in-time access requests.

Capabilities

Resource	Sync	Provision
Accounts
Groups

Gather Formal credentials

Configuring the connector requires you to pass in credentials generated in Formal. Gather these credentials before you move on.

A user with the Connector Administrator or Super Administrator role in C1 and the ability to generate API keys in Formal must perform this task.

Generate a Formal API key

1. Sign into Formal and click the API Keys tile.

2. Click Create API Key.

3. Give the new key a name, such as “C1 integration”.

4. Click Create. The new API key is generated.

5. Carefully and copy and save the API key.

Done. Next, move on to the connector configuration instructions.

Configure the Formal connector

To complete this task, you’ll need:

• The Connector Administrator or Super Administrator role in C1
• Access to the set of Formal credentials generated by following the instructions above

Cloud-hosted

Follow these instructions to use a built-in, no-code connector hosted by C1.

1. In C1, navigate to Integrations > Connectors and click Add connector.

2. Search for Formal and click Add.

3. Choose how to set up the new Formal connector:

   • Add the connector to a currently unmanaged app (select from the list of apps that were discovered in your identity, SSO, or federation provider that aren’t yet managed with C1)

   • Add the connector to a managed app (select from the list of existing managed apps)

   • Create a new managed app

4. Set the owner for this connector. You can manage the connector yourself, or choose someone else from the list of C1 users. Setting multiple owners is allowed.

   If you choose someone else, C1 will notify the new connector owner by email that their help is needed to complete the setup process.

5. Click Next.

6. Find the Settings area of the page and click Edit.

7. Paste the API key into the API key field.

8. Click Save.

9. The connector’s label changes to Syncing, followed by Connected. You can view the logs to ensure that information is syncing.

Done. Your Formal connector is now pulling access data into C1.

Self-hosted

Follow these instructions to use the Formal connector, hosted and run in your own environment.

When running in service mode on Kubernetes, a self-hosted connector maintains an ongoing connection with C1, automatically syncing and uploading data at regular intervals. This data is immediately available in the C1 UI for access reviews and access requests.

Resources

• GitHub repository: Access the source code, report issues, or contribute to the project.

Step 1: Set up a new Formal connector

1. In C1, navigate to Integrations > Connectors > Add connector.

2. Search for Baton and click Add.

3. Choose how to set up the new Formal connector:

   • Add the connector to a currently unmanaged app (select from the list of apps that were discovered in your identity, SSO, or federation provider that aren’t yet managed with C1)

   • Add the connector to a managed app (select from the list of existing managed apps)

   • Create a new managed app

4. Set the owner for this connector. You can manage the connector yourself, or choose someone else from the list of C1 users. Setting multiple owners is allowed.

   If you choose someone else, C1 will notify the new connector owner by email that their help is needed to complete the setup process.

5. Click Next.

6. In the Settings area of the page, click Edit.

7. Click Rotate to generate a new Client ID and Secret.

   Carefully copy and save these credentials. We’ll use them in Step 2.

Step 2: Create Kubernetes configuration files

Create two Kubernetes manifest files for your Formal connector deployment:

Secrets configuration

# baton-formal-secrets.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: baton-formal-secrets
type: Opaque
stringData:
  # C1 credentials
  BATON_CLIENT_ID: <C1 client ID>
  BATON_CLIENT_SECRET: <C1 client secret>
  
  # Formal credentials
  BATON_FORMAL_API_KEY: <Formal API key>

  # Optional: include if you want C1 to provision access using this connector
  BATON_PROVISIONING: true

See the connector’s README or run --help to see all available configuration flags and environment variables.

Deployment configuration

# baton-formal.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: baton-formal
  labels:
    app: baton-formal
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: baton-formal
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: baton-formal
        baton: true
        baton-app: formal
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: baton-formal
        image: public.ecr.aws/conductorone/baton-formal:latest
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        env:
        - name: BATON_HOST_ID
          value: baton-formal
        envFrom:
        - secretRef:
            name: baton-formal-secrets

Step 3: Deploy the connector

1. Create a namespace in which to run C1 connectors (if desired), then apply the secret config and deployment config files.

2. Check that the connector data uploaded correctly. In C1, click Apps. On the Managed apps tab, locate and click the name of the application you added the Formal connector to. Formal data should be found on the Entitlements and Accounts tabs.

Done. Your Formal connector is now pulling access data into C1.