How to Deploy or Upgrade a Multi-Server Configuration

• Multi-Server Configuration

• Multi-Server Upgrade

• How to Connect Connectivity Hub to an Existing Database

• Load Balancer Configuration

Multi-Server Configuration

For a multi-server environment, you need to install Connectivity Hub on each server in the farm you wish to use.

Note the following key points:

• All servers connect to the same Connectivity Hub SQL database.
• Use the instructions below to connect each server to the current Connectivity Hub SQL database.
• If you need to upgrade Connectivity Hub on multiple servers, use the "Multi-Server Upgrade" steps below.

Multi-Server Upgrade

For multi-server upgrades, use the following steps:

1. Uninstall the old version of Connectivity Hub from each server in the farm of a multi-server environment. 
   
2. Install the new version of Connectivity Hub on all servers.
   
3. Use the instructions below to connect Connectivity Hub to your existing database. 
   
4. Navigate to one of the servers connected to your SQL database in your multi-server environment.
   1. Open Connectivity Hub.
   2. Select Tools > Configuration.
   3. On the Configuration Database tab, click the “Upgrade” button to upgrade the database schema.
      
5. Connect all other servers to the upgraded SQL database (use the instructions below).

How to Connect Connectivity Hub to an Existing Database

During a multi-server deployment or when upgrading, you must connect to an existing database. Use the following steps to create a new configuration database or to connect to an existing configuration database by using the Connectivity Hub Administration program. The configuration database contains your database settings and is required by the BA Insight Connectivity Hub.

1. Launch the Connectivity Hub Administration portal by clicking Start > Connectivity Hub Administration.
   
2. The site opens in your web browser.
   
3. Select Tools > Configuration.
   
4. The Configuration Settings page opens and the Configuration Database tab is shown. See the graphic below.
   
5. The fields shown contain the settings that are required by the Connectivity Hub to function.
   1. Enter the appropriate values in the fields for your database.
      
6. Connection mode:
   1. Basic: Displays basic settings (shown below).
      
   2. Advanced: Displays a Connection String field that enables you to enter your SQL connection information in SQL string syntax.
      Due to a vulnerability fix on the SQL Client, the default encryption flag for SQL Connections has been changed to true. As a result, if you do not support encryption in your database, you must use an advanced connection and specify Encrypt=false in your connection string. For example, Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword;Encrypt=false;
7. Authentication mode:
   1. Service Account: This mode uses the service account, either local machine or network, depending on your configuration. "Service account" means the following accounts must be granted access to the Connectivity Hub database:
      • The account the Job Service is running under
      • The account the Connectivity Hub Admin site is running under.
   2. SQL Account:
      • This mode requires your SQL account login and password.
8. Create/Connect to the database:
   • If this is a new installation, click the Create button to create a new database. 
   • If this is an upgrade or if you are adding an additional server within an existing deployment, click the Connect button.

Load Balancer Configuration

A multi-server Connectivity Hub farm needs a load balancer for two reasons:

• If the Administration UI is load balanced, then it can be reached on a common URL regardless of which Connectivity Hub server is currently running in the farm.

• A load balancer is needed for the crawl service to process documents on all servers in the farm concurrently, improving the time required for crawls.

The crawl service and Administration UI support Layer 7 load balancers only. Layer 4 load balancers are not currently supported. Examples of Layer 7 load balancers are the following:

• Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

• AWS Application Load Balancer

• Nginx

Since the administration portal and crawl service are listening on the same port (55001 by default), the same load balancer configuration can be used for both, but the crawl service requires additional steps:

1. Open the Connectivity Hub administration portal and click Tools > Configuration.

2. Click the Farm Servers tab.

3. In the Load Balanced URL field, enter the load balanced URL.

4. Click Save.

Security

Since the crawl service is called from the local network only, it is recommended to configure on the local listener. Connectivity Hub signs all requests sent to this service, therefore HTTPS it not needed, but supported. The Administration portal, however, is often used from the Internet, therefore, it is recommended to configure on the public listener over HTTPS. As basic authentication is supported by all Layer 7 load balancers and secured over an encrypted channel, it is recommended to enable this kind of authentication in IIS for each backends server.