Sprint 2 - R2 [*Obsolete*]

Provision Connexion

Provisioning of the Integrator network requires the following steps:

1. Download Connexion (Developer Build) in the datacenter environment.
2. Run the installer, but do not yet run through the configuration wizard. The installer will deploy the files to the Program Files (x86)\ConnexionV14 folder.
3. Copy the Hub database script files into the Program Files (x86)\ConnexionV14\Connexion.AdvancedServices folder. If this folder does not exist, create it.

4. Continue running the install wizard. An 'Advanced Services' configuration page should appear as one of the tabs. 

   
5. Continue the configuration process by stepping through the configuration wizard.
6. Add a link to the Integrator Management UI by right clicking on the Program Files (x86)\ConnexionV14\Connexion.Integrator.Management.Ui.exe and choosing Send To > Desktop.
   
   

External Endpoint

When testing on the same network, you can ignore this step.

Before provisioning remote agents, you need to set the public endpoint of the hub. You will need to add a firewall rule to route the external endpoint to the internal one. The external endpoint is set via the hub dialog.

Open the Management UI and click the edit hubs button. Update the host and port, and click save.

Provision a Remote Agent

You now have all of the data center components installed and are ready to start provisioning remote customers. There is a well-defined workflow for provisioning a remote agent:

1. Create a registration file unique for the customer we're going to provision. You will be prompted to save a registration file as well as provide a password.
2. Securely send that registration file and the Remote Agent Installer to the client, and have them place both files into a new folder on their PC.
3. Have the client run the installer, using the password you specified in step 1.
4. Authorize the newly established connection from within the Remote Agent Management UI.

Let's look at these steps in detail.

Open the Management Ui and select the "Pending Remote Agents" tab.

Now click the "Provision New Remote Agent" button.

The "Add/Edit Remote Agent" dialog will be displayed. Enter the name of the customer (Site Name). You can optionally add keywords (which are searchable), notes, and contact details.

Click "Save". A save file dialog will appear prompting for a location to save the registration file created for this customer. Choose any convenient location and continue. A password dialog will be displayed. You should enter a reasonable strong password here (for production), but since the customer will need this password to install the Remote Agent, you must remember it.

We now have a row in our pending table. Notice the 'Status' shows 'Awaiting Connection'. The hub is now waiting for a remote agent with a specific signature to connect. The signature is contained within the registration file we just created. Let's install the Remote Agent software and connect to the hub.

Installing the Remote Agent

You must provide 3 things to the customer:

1. Remote Agent Installer
2. Registration File
3. Password

You should consider using some sort of two-phase authentication when sending the registration file and password. For example, you could email the registration file and phone or SMS the password.

Once the client has all three items (preferably with the installer and registration file in the same folder), launch the installer.

Accept the EULA and click Next.

If the path to the registration file is not already filled in, add it. Enter the password you used to create the registration file. Once the correct password has been entered, the 'Registration Info' field should display the site name (customer name) and the public URL of the hub.

Click the 'Install' button to start installing the Remote Agent components. If the .NET 4.5 framework isn't installed, then it can take several minutes for it to be downloaded and installed prior to the progress bar moving. Once the install is complete close the installer via the 'Close' button.

To verify that all the required Remote Agent components were installed, open the task manager, select the Services tab, and ensure the following are present:

The remote agent (customer site) has now been successfully installed.

Authorizing a Remote Agent

Now that the customer's Remote Agent has been installed, we need to open the Management UI, find the entry for that customer, and authorize it.

Open the management UI, select the 'Pending Remote Agents' tab, and find the entry corresponding to the given customer.

Notice the status has changed from 'Awaiting Connection' to 'Awaiting Authorization'. The 'Source', 'IP Lookup' (if coming from an external network), 'Last Register', 'Time Zone', and 'Machine Name' fields should all be filled. If this information shows expected values, you can authorize this Remote Agent. Authorization will record the signature of that remote agent, and that signature will be used to authenticate all future connections / method calls.

To authorize the Remote Agent, click the 'Authorize' button.

The current row will be remove from the 'Pending Remote Agents' tab and will now appear in the 'Remote Agents' tab. All remote agents displayed in the 'Remote Agents' tab are authorized.

Notice our customer connection state is 'Connected', and the Hub displays the endpoint that this Remote Agent is connecting through. Congratulations you have now installed all the components to create a Connexion network, and established an authorized connection between both endpoints.

Devices

Please note that not all devices are supported on the remote agent - specifically the Branch and Queue devices. We have developed a special queue device for Integrator channels.

In order to create integrator channels with queueing functionality, you will need to import our "Mongo Queue Device" via the Connexion repository. In the Connexion V14 UI, open the device repository and use the following steps to import the Integrator queue:

1. Open the repository screen
    
2. Select the Devices tab and then click the 'Show All Package Versions' button
    
3. Select the 'Connexion.Queue.Mongo' package and click install, the click OK on the import summary screen. 
   (NOTE: In R2, you will require version 14.0.6434.0 of the Mongo Queue Device, or higher)
   
    

You should now have three devices in the 'Remote Integrator' category:

 Do not use the regular queue device for Integrator channels - use the 'Mongo Queue Device'.

Managing Remote Agent Channels

The Management UI does not let you create or edit channels. Channels must be created in the main Connexion UI and exported to a channel file. Since it is a cumbersome process to be switching into the Connexion UI to perform any channel edits, be as thorough as possible when initially creating the channel.

Please note that not all devices are supported by the Integrator. You cannot use the Branch device or standard Queue device. Please use the Mongo Queue Device located in the Remote Integrator category (when creating your channel in Connexion).

 Once you have created the channel file, switch to the Remote Agent Manager and click the add channel button. Point to the channel file you created from the Connexion UI and click open.

The following channel operations are supported:

• Start (click the start button)
• Stop (click the stop button)
• Replace(overwrites the existing channel)
• Export (export the channel to a file and the import it into ConnexionV14).
• Delete
• View (double click on the device icon)

You can double click on a device icon to view its configuration:

Unofficially, you can edit this configuration and then use the 'ctrl + s' keystroke or the save button on the channel to commit your changes. This functionality is currently being evaluated.
 

Creating Routes

In order to transfer data to/from the Remote Agent, we have created two new devices:

• Remote Agent Inbound Connector
• Remote Agent Outbound Connector

These devices are listed in the Remote Agent category when building / editing channels in Connexion. These devices need to be deployed in pairs - ie - when sending data from the Remote Agent to Connexion, the Remote Agent channel will use a Remote Agent Outbound Connector device at the end of a channel, and the receiving channel (in Connexion) will start with a Remote Agent Inbound Connector device.

From the Remote Agent:

To Connexion:

In the above example, the Remote Agent will be receiving HL7 from one of the customer's systems, pushing the HL7 through a transform device, and then to Connexion via the Remote Agent Outbound Connector Device. Notice the 'To Connexion' box at the end of the channel which isn't set yet.

The receiving channel (in Connexion) starts with a Remote Agent Inbound Connector device, meaning this channel will accept data from a remote agent. Notice how we have 'paired' a Remote Agent Outbound device and Remote Agent Inbound device. There must always be a sender (outbound) and receiver (inbound) in order for data to transfer.

Simpy having both Outbound and Inbound devices is not enough to transfer data between channels. We must also specify a route, to tell the system which channels should be paired. This is done by choosing the target channel name in the 'To Connexion' box at he end of the channel. If you don't see the target channel listed, click the refresh button in the top-right corner of the 'To Connexion' box.

We have now successfully created a route which will forward data from 'Some Channel' on the Remote Agent to the 'From Remote Agent' channel in Connexion.

To reverse the flow and send messages from Connexion to the Remote Agent, we simply invert the location of the Inbound and Outbound devices.

From Connexion:

To the Remote Agent:

Notice the route box now appears at the beginning of the channel, and instead of specifying which channel you are sending to (in Connexion), you specify which channel you are receiving from (in Connexion).