SAML MCM software includes piece of instrumentation functionality which sends a small batch of statistical data about the environment in which application is deployed such as Docker image name, version, application name, etc. to a running "Beacon collector" facility which is exposed as a REST HTTP endpoint, as defined here: https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/display/TWGH/TIER+Instrumentation+-+The+TIER+Beacon In the specification page it is described to be implemented as a external cron job running inside Docker container, which is true for other TAP docker images instrumented with Beacon, but Shibboleth Idp UI application has this functionality implemented as an optional Java module. It is an opt-in type of functionality which is off by default but could be turned on with the following application property:
shibui.beacon-enabled=true
Once it is turned on it will asynchronously send beacon data which it will gather from necessary environment variables (which will be set by TAP Docker image for the SAML MCM application), but if running outside of TAP Docker container and those environment variables are not set, even though the beacon module is enabled, the data will not be sent. Below is the example of necessary environment variables that need to be set in order for Beacon module to kick in if running outside of TAP Docker container:
LOGHOST="https://collector.testbed.tier.internet2.edu"
LOGPORT="5001"
IMAGE="shibui_local_no_image"
MAINTAINER="local_no_maintainer"
VERSION="1.11.0-SNAPSHOT"
TIERVERSION="191010"