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What is a Connector?

The Formal Connector is a protocol-aware reverse proxy that sits between your users and your protected resources. It provides real-time visibility, policy enforcement, and access control over all data flowing through your infrastructure. The Connector is designed to be extremely easy to deploy and manage, thanks to two key features:
  • Smart Routing: The Connector listens on a single port, automatically detects the wire protocol used by the client (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, HTTP, SSH, etc.), and parses this protocol in real-time
  • Zero Config: The Connector automatically discovers resources in your cloud environment (Kubernetes clusters, RDS instances, EC2 instances, etc.) and connects to them without manual configuration

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How Connectors Work

All client connections flow through the Connector: The Connector intercepts every request and response, allowing you to:
  • ✅ Authenticate users and verify their identity
  • ✅ Evaluate access policies in real-time
  • ✅ Log all queries, commands, and API calls
  • ✅ Mask and redact sensitive data automatically
  • ✅ Terminate suspicious sessions immediately

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Monitoring and Health

The Connector exposes a health check endpoint on port 8080: 
curl http://connector-host:8080/health
For production monitoring, configure:
  • CloudWatch Logs (AWS ECS)
  • kubectl logs (Kubernetes)
  • Cloud Logging (GCP)

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Configuration

  • Web Console
  • Terraform
  1. Navigate to Connectors
  2. Click New Connector
  3. Enter a name
  4. Add listeners with routing rules
  5. Save and copy the API token
  6. Deploy the container with the token

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Next Steps

Add Resources

Define the databases, APIs, and infrastructure the Connector protects

Configure Spaces

Segment access with logical groupings

Write Policies

Control who can access what with policy-as-code

Monitor Sessions

View active connections and session recordings