Suggestion: Support for Self-Hosted Handle.NET Server as PID Provider

Feature Request: Support for Self-Hosted Handle.NET Server as PID Provider

Overview of the Suggestion

Introduce full support for an institution-run ©Handle.NET server (self-hosted) as a configurable PID provider in Dataverse. This includes configuring base URL, authentication key/privileges, index/authority mapping, and monitoring/logging of PID-creation operations.

What kind of user is the suggestion intended for?

System Administrator / DevOps engineer of a self-hosted Dataverse installation who requires full control of the PID infrastructure and must meet institutional, compliance or network/ security requirements.

What inspired this idea?

• Earlier versions of Dataverse documented support for independent Handle.NET services.
• Institutions may wish to run their own PID service (e.g., for data sovereignty, auditability, custom workflows) rather than relying on third-party or shared providers.
• The current documentation/configuration may not clearly support this scenario in all deployment models (especially containerised/Kubernetes setups).

What existing behavior do you want changed?

• Provide clear and comprehensive configuration to enable a self-hosted Handle.NET service (including base URL override, full key/auth file configuration, handle prefix/authority settings, and disable fallback to external/global handle registry if desired).
• Ensure the deployment path (Docker image, Helm values, environment variables) supports injecting these values and verifying usage of the custom service.
• Improve logging/monitoring so that it is evident which PID provider is used and whether registrations went to the custom service or external.
• Possibly remove implicit dependencies on external services or “global registry” for Handle where not required.

Any brand new behavior do you want to add to Dataverse?

• A new config section (for example in dataverse.ini or via ENV/Helm values) such as:

  handle.provider = own
  handle.baseUrl = https://handle.my-university.edu/
  handle.keyFile = /etc/dataverse/handle/admpriv.bin
  handle.keyPassphraseEnv = HANDLE_PRIV_PASSPHRASE
  handle.index = 300
  handle.independentService = true
  handle.authorityPrefix = 12345
  

• On application startup: perform a self-check connecting to the custom Handle server, verify authentication and index access, log result (INFO or WARN).
• Add an Admin UI page (or CLI query) displaying “Active PID Provider: Handle.NET (custom)” and recent registration/resolution stats.
• Backwards-compatible fallback: if no custom Handle service configured, continue to use existing default provider model.

Any open or closed issues related to this suggestion?

None found that exactly match “self-hosted Handle.NET server support” as a feature request. PID-provider documentation exists, but this specific scenario is not clearly addressed.

Are you thinking about creating a pull request for this issue?

Not at this time, but I would be willing at a later point.

Start by locating the existing PID-provider configuration and documentation, then trace how dataverse.ini, environment variables, Docker images, and Helm values reach the deployment. Define the supported self-hosted Handle.NET configuration, startup verification, fallback behavior, and monitoring or Admin UI scope before implementation; confirm completion with configuration and deployment tests.