Step 2b - On-Prem Installation of Cognition360 Data Service

Marnel Catlett
Marnel Catlett
  • Updated

For ConnectWise Manage On-Premise Customers Only

If your ConnectWise Manage instance is hosted by ConnectWise in their cloud service, you will need to authorize Cognition360, you may skip this step and proceed to Step 2a - Authorize ConnectWise Cloud

 

If your ConnectWise Manage instance is on-premise or hosted by you, please continue using this article.

Not sure which setup instructions apply to you? Click here ConnectWise Manage - Hosted or Cloud?

 

Configure your on-premise instance of ConnectWise Manage to talk to our Cognition360 environment.

To setup the on-premise component of the Cognition360 Analytics to connect to your on-premise installation of ConnectWise Manage, you'll need to be a Network Administrator, and you will be performing the following:

  1. Create the user and set permissions in the Database.

  2. Install the Cognition360 Windows Service

  3. Configure the Windows Service

Create the DB User.

You will need to create a SQL Login/User in the Master database for Cognition360. This Login/User needs db_datareader access to the ConnectWise Manage database. 

Important note:  Please do not use special characters in the password as this could interfere with SQL reserved characters.

--Run in master database
--Create Database User 
CREATE LOGIN [svc-cognition] 
WITH PASSWORD = 'Alpha numerical characters only'

--Run in Database
--Create user in Datawarehouse
CREATE USER [svc-cognition] 
FOR LOGIN [svc-cognition] 
WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA = dbo
GO

--Add user to the database owner role
EXEC sp_addrolemember N'db_datareader', N'svc-cognition'
GO

Keep this information handy as you will need it again later.

 

Download and Install the Cognition 360 Windows Service

N.B. The Windows Service can be installed on any server within your network but has two mandatory requirements.

1- the service must reside on a machine that has access to the database server which hosts the ConnectWise database.

2- the service must reside on a machine that has direct access to the internet.

 

Disc space requirements:

You will need approximately 2GB free space on the disc for the Windows Service for the Service, Data and Compare files

Download MSI

Once the MSI file has been downloaded, double click to start the setup wizard.

Select and Click “Next” to proceed add the configuration items for the Windows Service.

Configure Windows Service Installation

 Select Installation Folder:

Either type or use the “Browse…” button to enter the drive and folder location of where you want to install the Windows Service. It is recommended that the windows service is not installed within the “Program Files (x86)” folder on the machine. Once the drive and folder location have been selected, save the value to Notepad as it will be needed for later in the installation process. Click “Next”.

 

Organization Connection Details: 

This info is unique to your account and should be provided during initial setup. If you cannot locate your info Contact Provisioning to request your unique token and key. The Organization Token is your unique identifier within the Cognition 360 environment. The "security key" is used to provide an extra layer of security when communicating with the Cognition 360 cloud environment. Once this information has been entered click “Next”.

 

Organization Database Connection String: 

This screen collects the information required to connect to your organizations ConnectWise database. The “Server” is the name of the Microsoft SQL Server that hosts your ConnectWise database. The “Database” is the name of the ConnectWise database (e.g. cwwebapp_xxxx), and the “Username” and “Password” are the SQL login credential with Read Only permissions to your ConnectWise database (As created in the first step). 

 

Once this information has been entered click “Next”.

 

Comparison Data Location:

This folder will only hold a small amount of data which is used during the daily incremental load of your data.  Add the saved folder path from Notepad to this screen. 

 

Click “Next” to confirm and start the installation.

 

Once installation is complete, use the close button to finish the MSI installation. 

 

Configure the Windows Service

Once the Cognition 360 Windows Service installation completes a new Service will show up within the Windows Services. There are two post installation updates that are required to ensure the correct running of the service.

1.  Set the Service to start – Automatic (Delay Start)

2. Confirm that the login account is “Local Service”

 

Open the “Services” control panel on the machine where the Windows Service has been installed. This can be found in the “Administrative Tools” section of the Windows Control Panel or can be access by running services.msc from the “Run” prompt (Windows Key-R).

 

Find and double click the “Cognition BIT Windows Data Service”. On the General tab select the “Startup type” drop down and select “Automatic – Delay Start”. Then select the Log On tab and ensure that the “This account” radio button is selected, and the Local Service user is selected. Apply the changes and close the window.

 

Start the Cognition360 windows service.

 

We activate the "Company" config when we create your account which should send the Company data once you start the service.  This is easy enough to confirm in the Log File.

If you discover any errors in the log file upon starting the service, feel free to send us a copy of your log file and we can troubleshoot the issue.  Alternatively, let us know once the service has been started and we can confirm connectivity.