Request a VPN Connection for Custom Dashboards

For on-site customers to create new connections from the dashboards in the Knowledge Platform to data sources in the Stewardship Tier, we need to have access to the database that QuickSight will use to read the data in the Stewardship Tier that informs the dashboards. Database administrators and network administrators must configure permissions and provide the information needed to make these connections. If you need any help with the process along the way, feel free to reach out to the Support Team.

Designate Database and Login for Dashboard Data

For Custom Dashboards in the Knowledge Platform to display live data from the Stewardship Tier, QuickSight must have read-only access to the SQL databases and views that contain the relevant data from the Stewardship Tier. To configure this connection, you can designate existing database(s) for QuickSight to access, but we recommend that you create a new database for this purpose. Additionally, you can use an existing read-only user to access the specified database, but we recommend that you create a new read-only user instead. It makes setting up access cleaner and easier on our end, but it's not necessary if you would prefer to use existing read-only databases and users. The following tasks should be completed by a database administrator.

Create Database and Login

To create a new database to connect to Custom Dashboards:

1. In SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), create a new database:

   1. Enter dgDashboards in the Database name text box.

   2. Click OK.

To configure read-only permissions for QuickSight to access Stewardship Tier data sources:

1. Create a new Login for the database:

   1. Enter quicksight_readonly in the Login name text box.

   2. Select SQL Server Authentication.

   3. Enter a unique password in the Password text box.

      Note

      This password must be shared with tenantprovisioning@syniti.com via an encrypted email before submitting the VPN / Data Source Request form.

   4. Select dgDashboards or your specified database from the Default database list box.

   5. On the User Mapping page, in the Map column, check the check boxes for each database to which dgDashboards will need access to display data for the Custom Dashboards.

   6. Check the db_datareader check box.

   7. Click OK.

Record and Send Database and Login Information to our Tenant Provisioning Team

Record the following information and send it to tenantprovisioning@syniti.com via encrypted email:

Provide Network Connection Information

To provide Customer Success with the connection information they will need to fulfill VPN/Data Source requests, consult the KB article Enable Custom Dashboarding in the Knowledge Platform for more information.

Note

The database server user password, like the one mentioned in the previous section, must be shared via encrypted email to tenantprovisioning@syniti.com.

• Requester Email-This person will receive the VPN configuration details in an encrypted message. This is also the address we'll use to contact if we have any questions about connection details.

• Client Name-This should be the client for whom the Custom Dashboard request is being made.

• Client VPN Gateway IP

• Customer IPv4 Network/Prefix

• Forbidden Subnets-You will need to configure your routing to send traffic from your database server to our internal network over the VPN, so if there are any network ranges that would conflict with your other routes, please specify them here so that we can choose an alternate subnet. Typically, unless it would conflict with your "customer IPv4 network/prefix," or any of the additional CIDRs provided here, we will use 172.16.0.0/24 as our subnet.

• Gateway Vendor / Platform / Software-If you choose to provide the vendor, platform, and software version of the gateway being used, we may be able to provide a complete configuration file with the VPN details. If you cannot provide this information, we will provide the VPN details in human-readable form that you can enter into any system you have.

• Database Server Name-The Windows computer name of the database server. This can be found under Control Panel > System & Security > Systems.

  Database Server IP Address

• Database Server Port

• Database Server Username-This should be the "quicksight_readonly" user created in the previous section. If you choose to use a different user for this purpose, please specify.

• Database Server User Password-This should be the password for the "quicksight_readonly" user created in the previous section, unless you choose to use a different user for this purpose.

• Should connections to the database server be made over SSL? Yes/No-If SSL is enabled, the server's certificate MUST be issued by a publicly trusted certificate authority. Self-signed certificates and certificates signed by internal CAs will be rejected.