Creating custom environment variables

Security considerations for custom variables¶

Custom environment variables aren’t encrypted, and aren’t a substitute for secure credentials. Custom environment variables can be exposed in your application’s Drupal watchdog logs. Acquia recommends you do not include sensitive items, like the following examples, in a custom variable:

• SSL certificates
• SSH keys
• Login credentials
• API credentials

Adding a custom variable¶

To add a custom environment variable:

1. Sign in to the Cloud Platform user interface, and select your application.
2. Select the environment to which you want to add a variable.

3. In the left menu, select Variables > Add Environment Variable.

   
4. Add the information for your variable:
   • Name - Example: Drupal_API_URL
   • Value - Example: http://mydrupalsite.com/api
5. Click Add to add the variable, or click Cancel to discard your changes.

After your environment restarts, an item appears in the task log and the new variable is included in the Environment Variables list.

Editing a custom variable¶

To update an existing custom variable:

1. Sign in to the Cloud Platform user interface, and select your application.
2. In the left menu, click Variables.
3. Find the variable that you want to change, and click Edit.
4. Replace the information in the Value text box with your updated data.
5. Click Update.

After your environment restarts, an item appears in the task log and the variable’s new value is displayed in the Environment Variables list.

Calling a custom variable¶

Custom environment variables are available in both the $_ENV and $_SERVER superglobals. To call a custom variable, add the following code to your settings.php file, modifying variable_name to meet your application’s needs:

$myVariable = $_ENV['variable_name'] ?? getenv('variable_name');

Removing a custom variable¶

To remove a custom environment variable from use:

1. Sign in to the Cloud Platform user interface, and select your application.
2. In the left menu, click Variables.
3. Find the variable that you want to delete, and click Remove.
4. Click Update.

After your environment restarts, an item appears in the task log and Cloud Platform removes the variable from the Environment Variables list.

Filtering for specific variables¶

To locate a specific custom environment variable, use the Filter Variables field in the upper-right corner of the webpage to filter your displayed variables based on your entered text.

Custom variables in the Cloud Platform API¶

The Cloud Platform API provides the following endpoints for working with custom environment variables: