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This type of datasource is required when the source of the data does not allow to install a connector app. In this case, you need to provide a user name and an API Token, so that the app can access and retrieve the information from these external sources. This mechanism is pretty common for integrations with third party vendors, and sometimes with Atlassian products too.
This API Token is stored in your Jira cloud instance as an entity property and encrypted using AES to keep it safe from crooks.
So, the API Token allows retrieving data from services and tools like the Atlassian Marketplace, Opsgenie, Statuspage (all avaiable today), and others available soon like maybe HubSpot, ServiceNow, Zendesk, Pipedrive… (see Dashboard Integrations: Supported Products). The main characteristics are:
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