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Onboarding and Updating a Connector

Every EEI connector reaches your Seeq agent host, and stays current there, through the same two workflows. This page describes what is common to all of them; each connector's own pages give the steps for that connector (see Each connector's pages).

Workflow When What it involves
Onboarding The first time a current EEI connector goes onto an agent host: a new install, an upgrade from a legacy connector, or a move to a new agent host A form and the agent facts beforehand; a session of an hour or more; a license for that host
Update A newer release on a host that already runs the connector Confirming the facts EEI holds; a short session; usually no license step

EEI starts the request

Your agreement comes first. Before any onboarding, EEI sets up your account and the license agreement behind it from your order: the product, how many datasources or sources it covers, its features and its term. An onboarding request is opened only once that is in place, and a change to it (more datasources, a renewal) is agreed with you before the work that needs it.

Then your invitation to the support portal. The people from your side who will work with EEI each receive an invitation to the support portal, and accepting it comes before anything else: EEI cannot add anyone to a request until they have. What the invitation is and why it matters: Your invitation to the support portal.

Knowing when an install, an upgrade or an update is due is part of EEI's support, so EEI opens the request, on your behalf, at support.endeavoreng.com, rather than waiting for you to ask. If you want something sooner (a new install, a connection added), ask through any support request, and EEI opens the right one from it.

  • One request per agent host. Everything for that host goes through it: your answers, the release download and its checksum, the license, the session. Please attach files to the request rather than sending them by email.
  • Everyone stays in the loop. The request is shared with your organization and, where Seeq is involved in your Seeq server, with Seeq; your team, Seeq and EEI all see it. EEI plans and agrees the work with one of them, the responsible party, usually whoever your Seeq server was bought through.
  • No credentials, ever. Nothing in the request, the form or the agent facts asks for a password, user name or domain. Please do not include them anywhere.

Before the session

Onboarding: the form and the agent facts

The request's first message asks for two things:

  1. The form on the request, completed on the support portal: your Seeq server, whether EEI has an administrator account on it, the agent host, whether it serves all of the connector's datasources, one phase or two, the dates that suit you, when the datasources may be interrupted, and your internal change request number if your site needs one before a production change.
  2. The agent facts: a short description of the agent host and the connector's settings. The Agent Facts page has a read-only PowerShell script that collects them into one file for you to read and attach, explains every step it takes, and lists the same facts for you to give by hand if you prefer not to run a script. Where EEI has an administrator account on your Seeq server, it reads most of them there.

The message also names the organization your license will be issued to, so you can correct it before the license exists.

EEI then reviews the facts with you (anything to fix before the session is found here, not during it), confirms your license agreement covers what the facts show, and posts the release and its checksum in the request.

Update: confirm what EEI holds

For an update, EEI already holds the facts from the onboarding. The request lists them (the agent host, the connector version, the datasources, the Seeq agent and server versions) and asks you to confirm them or say what has changed. If something has, EEI adds the form to the request. EEI also asks you to confirm the facts at least once a year, on an update or on their own.

The session

You run each step on the agent host; EEI leads, reads the connector's log with you after each start, and makes the go or roll-back call with you. Every connector's pages use the same step labels, so everyone on the call means the same thing by "Window 4":

Steps What happens
Window 1–4 Stop the Seeq agent, set aside what is installed (your rollback copies), place the new connector, start the agent
Window 5–7 Only when a license is needed: you send the license request the connector writes, EEI issues a license bound to this host, you place it. The connector picks it up without a restart
Verify Each datasource connected, an index completes with the counts you expect, an existing worksheet still trends
Go decision Together, at the end of the session. If something fails that cannot be fixed then, you roll back the same day
Rollback A planned option, not a failure: each connector's pages say exactly how

A connector adds its own named steps where it needs them; an upgrade from the ABB Knowledge Manager legacy connector, for example, also moves the Knowledge Manager passwords into the connector's secrets store.

The license. A connector serves data only with a license issued for the agent host it runs on. An onboarding always needs one; an update needs one only when it adds datasources beyond your license, the license is due to expire, or a feature is added. See Licensing.

After the session

  • The next scheduled index is the key check: it completes, with the counts you expect. You confirm it in the request.
  • One index cycle later you delete the rollback copies, and EEI closes the request.
  • From then on, EEI keeps a record of the deployment (the facts above, never credentials or contacts), so later updates start from what is already known. Updates come when there is a reason (a fix, a feature, a change in Seeq) and at least every six months.

Each connector's pages

Connector Onboarding Update Agent facts
ABB Knowledge Manager Upgrading from the Legacy Connector Updating the Connector Agent Facts: the script and an ABB Knowledge Manager section
Metadata Connector With EEI, as part of the engagement With EEI Agent Facts for the agent host; the connector's settings with EEI