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  2. Student Success & Engagement (SSE)
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  4. SS&E - SIS Integration

Connect Overview and Requirements

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Overview

Connect2 (formerly Aviso Connect) is a software package offered by Watermark Student Success & Engagement that permits the SS&E hosted platform to integrate with an institution’s on-premise systems. This guide provides information regarding prerequisites for the connector implementation and the various setup and configuration requirements of an institution. The details outlined in this guide are subject to change as Watermark processes and requirements change over time.

Connect2 requires an institution to be able to do one of the following to facilitate the data transfer.

  1. Export CSV files to the Connect Server (which the institution will set up on their network) OR
  2. Connect to the SIS DB/run SQL queries from the Connect Server (which the institution will set up on their network)

See Import Process and Infrastructure Summary for more information. 

Software Requirements 

Connect2 runs on infrastructure provided by the institution. 

Institution to Provide 

The Institution will provide a virtual machine with the following: 

  1. A Windows 64 bit OS. Windows must be Windows 2016 R2 64-bit or newer.
  2. Minimum of 20GB of RAM. 
  3. Minimum of 80GB of disk space (at least 40GB available).
  4. The server must be configured to use a global time service (NTP or like) to ensure its clock is consistent with the SS&E platform. This is required by the security implementation. 
  5. Access to the SIS and LMS data stores or APIs as supported. 
    Note: For Connect Method 1: CSV via Informer, CSVs must be able to export to the virtual machine or a network/share drive accessible to the service account user.
  6. Service Account User: A local or network user with the following privileges:
    • Local admin on server
    • Right to run a scheduled task (Log on as a batch job)
    • Ability to run a service (if using Connect Method 1: CSV)
    • Account must have local administrative rights so we can install programs with administrative privileges and use command prompt as an administrator. 
    • Ability to copy and paste to the server.
    • Institutional IT staff to screen share with Watermark staff to install Connect (signed in as the Service Account User).
  7. Installation of all of the following:
  8. TLS 1.2 should be set as the default. If you are getting an error in the update script that the connection was closed while trying to run invoke-webrequest, in command prompt run: 
    [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
  9. Required outbound firewall connections for the data gathering and pushing process:
    • HTTPS - https://meiwdkq3y0.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:443
      Used to pull the Accelerate configuration from the SS&E instance.
    • HTTPS - https://{institution_acronym}.api.avisoapp.com:443
      Used to push log entries back to SS&E.
    • SFTP - s-7f32074b0a444c36b.server.transfer.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:22
      Used to push Connect files to SS&E.
    • HTTPS: https://avisoapp.s3.amazonaws.com:443
      Used for the Connect app to automatically update itself.
    • HTTPS - https://{institution_acronym}.avisoapp.com:443
      Used to connect to the SS&E web application. This is only needed in special cases.

Important: Student Success & Engagement solutions run on the AWS cloud.

As a result the rules above must use domain names and NOT try to use IP addresses.

Should an institution try to determine the IP address of a given URL it could change at any time without warning and their rule would no longer function.

Watermark to Provide 

Watermark SS&E Professional Services staff will install the following: 

  1. Installation and configuration of the Connect software.
  2. Installation of NSSM and Apache Drill for advanced querying capabilities (if using Connect Method 1: CSV)

Required Services

  1. For Connect Method 1: CSV, NSSM and Apache Drill are required to run persistently. 
  2. For Connect Method 2: Direct DB, there is nothing that needs to start/run persistently on the Connect server. However the Connect server should have persistent access to the Database server.

Technical Notes

Data compression: The connector uses SFTP for data transfer, therefore data is compressed and zipped by the SS&E Connector before being sent to the SS&E instance. This reduces the bandwidth required for such transit. 

Connect2 does not use Apache Tomcat.

Ongoing Support 

Watermark Student Success & Engagement develops and supports the Connect codebase. Connect is versioned with the core SS&E platform to ensure version compatibility. 

The institution is responsible for the virtual machine and on-going support of the installed software packages that Watermark provides.

Depending on the support package purchased by the institution, additional support may be provided by Watermark SS&E Professional Services staff to help with ongoing troubleshooting and maintenance. 

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