Offshore Deployment
When deploying NEXUS, IC-Inspection, and IC-Recorder in an offshore environment, there are some differences to consider compared to a Wood-hosted or on-premise deployment. The main difference is the use of non-SSO user accounts to log in to the NEXUS database and the setup of SQL Server security.
The instructions and recommendations below assume that all machines on the inspection network are on a self-contained network with no internet access access and accessible only by trusted users. For ease of setup, the same credentials can be used to log in to all machines on the inspection network. Alternatively, if this is not an option, ensure that any of the logged-in users have sufficient permissions to connect to the SQL Server database from each machine on the inspection network.
Prerequisites
Ensure that the minimum software and hardware requirements are met. For more information, see Hardware and Software Prerequisites.
Physical Setup of Equipment
An offshore setup typically includes equipment for IC-Inspection that performs online inspection, video recorders (such as IC-Recorder) for recording video, NEXUS IC for offshore data review and survey sensors. These can all work together with a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) equipped with cameras.
The following image shows an example equipment spread, which is installed on a boat performing offshore inspection:
This example setup involves the following:
An underwater ROV that has multiple cameras, for example, a forward-facing camera and a manipulator camera installed. These cameras feed into a digital video recorder that has multiple instances of IC-Recorder running on it.
An IC-Recorder, which is recording the video from the ROV.
Survey sensors that feed survey data, such as depth or position into IC-Inspection. Usually this is going through a serial string.
An online inspection station with an inspection engineer, who is performing online inspection through IC-Inspection installed on a computer. The inspection engineer is looking at the video, may be adding audio comments through a headset and recording events as required. The audio data is transmitted to IC-Recorder.
A network switch, which is installed on the boat and connects the online inspection station with IC-Recorder, and two offline inspection stations.
One inspection station with NEXUS IC installed for offline data review. An inspection engineer is reviewing the video and events that the online inspection engineer has logged. In case anything has been missed, this engineer can update or create new event records as required.
Another station with NEXUS IC installed, where a client can view what happened on the job.
Software Installations
Software installations must be performed on all online data acquisition and offline review PCs/laptops, including SQL Server, NEXUS IC, IC-Inspection and, if applicable, IC-Recorder.
Set up the database backup folder location.
Create a Windows folder called NEXUS_Backups on any of the machines on the inspection network.
If you are not moving the backup files periodically to an external or NAS drive, then ensure that the machine with the NEXUS_Backups folder has enough storage space to store daily backups for the duration of the inspection campaign. For redundancy, we recommend having multiple copies of the database backup files.
Share this folder with everyone by granting read/write permissions to Everyone.
Install SQL Server.
When installing SQL Server, select Mixed Mode Authentication (both SA and Windows Authentication) and grant the current Windows user administrator privileges on the SQL Server Instance.
Warning
Confirm that you are using the same major version of SQL Server that is being used by the client. This ensures that the client is able to perform the synchronisation on completion of the campaign in the client environment once back onshore.
Set up permissions on the SQL Server Instance.
Using SQL Management Studio, add the Windows user from the inspection network as a new Login by navigating to under the database server.
Install NEXUS software using the Offshore Setup n.n.nnnnn.exe file provided to you by Wood.
Note
This installer should be executed on all online data acquisition PCs and offline review PCs.
We recommend using the defaults in the installation wizard.
Restore the NEXUS IC database backup file to the SQL Server.
Launch NEXUS to restore the NEXUS backup to the SQL Server. A typical NEXUS backup file will have a “nexus-backup” file extension. For more information about restoring the database from a backup file, see Connect to Database.
When entering the network path in the database connection wizard, use the shared folder that you set up in the first step of this process.
Note
When you are prompted to enter credentials to log in to the database, use the non-SSO credentials that have been provided for the client for use during this inspection campaign.
Schema updates should never be applied in the offshore environment unless explicitly approved by the client NEXUS focal point.
Validate the Software License.
For detailed instructions, see Validate the Software Based License. When performing this step, consider the following:
The machine that you are logged into on the inspection network needs to have temporary connection to the internet. After the license is validated, the internet connection can be disabled.
You will need the software license key issued to you from the client for use during this inspection campaign. Contact support@nexusic.com if you don’t have a license key or if it does not work for you.
Setup NEXUS IC Logins.
After performing the steps above, you should now be logged into the NEXUS IC database using non-SSO credentials that you have been provided for offshore use. Perform the steps below:
From the menu, navigate to and check that there are non-SSO login accounts for each of the users that will be logging in to NEXUS and IC-Inspection over the course of this inspection campaign.
If required, add new users to the Inspectors Security Group (or similar). For more information about adding new users, see Manage User Security and Permissions.