Deployment Configuration File

On the first run of NEXUS on a particular PC under a particular user account, NEXUS will ask the user for details of the database to connect to: server name, database name (along with options to create a new database or restore a database from a backup file). This can be intimidating to new users. Instead, you can (optionally) supply these details in a databases.xml file, in the same folder as the IntegrityCentre.exe executable. If NEXUS finds this file during startup, it will connect to the named server and database. If SSO is specified for the user, no user interaction is necessary. If SSO is not specified, the user will be shown a NEXUS login dialog, to enter their NEXUS credentials.

The format of the databases.xml file is:

<databases Force="[force restricted?]" AdministratorEmail="[email]" allowedExtensions="[list]">
  <database server="[server name]" name="[DisplayName]" database="[database name]" NetworkPath="[backup path]" SkipValidation="[skip validation?]"/>
</databases>

Force: determines whether users are restricted to only being able to connect to databases listed. If Force is Yes, they will be so restricted; if Force is No, users can use the Database ‣ Connect menu to choose a different database to connect to. Force defaults to Yes.

AdministratorEmail: the email address shown when users attempt to connect to a database that they don’t have access to.

allowedExtensions: a list of file extensions that can be launched by the user e.g. from library items. Defaults to “doc;docx;xls;xlsx;jpg;png;jpeg;bmp;tiff;gif;mpg;mp3;wav;ppt;pptx;txt;pdf;emf;zip;dwg;avi;rtf;mp4;csv;wmv”.

If allowedExtensions includes a blank extension (e.g. “doc;docx;;”) then users can launch library items that are just folders (e.g. “C:\myfolder\”). These will be opened in Windows Explorer. A single trailing semicolon in allowedExtensions is insufficient — you must use two, or use two at some other point in the string, e.g. “doc;;docx”.

Server: Full SQL server name including instance. e.g. .\sql2019 or sqlserver\sql2019 or sqlserver (for the default instance).

Name: Name shown to the user when connecting.

Database: Physical database name.

NetworkPath: provides the path required for the user to perform a database backup. The SQL Service user account needs read/write permissions on this Network share. The users performing backups also need read/write permissions.

SkipValidation: if Yes, NEXUS will not attempt to verify the NetworkPath. This means that non-admin users can still carry out backup and restore operations.

Here’s an example file:

<databases Force="Yes" AdministratorEmail="support@nexusic.com" allowedExtensions="doc;xls">
   <database server="." name="Client Database 1" database="Database1" NetworkPath="C:\Backups"/>
   <database server="." name="Client Database 2" database="Database2" NetworkPath="C:\Backups"/>
   <database server="." name="Client Database 3" database="Database3" NetworkPath="\\server\backupfolder" SkipValidation="Yes"/>
</databases>