Installing Nexus PLM

Nexus PLM runs as a small set of Windows services with a web client in front of them. This is the shape of an installation rather than a click-by-click script — the specifics depend on your environment, and we go through them with you.

What you need first

A host — a Windows server for the services. One machine is enough to start; the services can be split across machines later.

A database — MariaDB for production use. SQLite is supported for evaluation and local development, which means you can stand up a working instance with no database server to install at all.

File storage — a directory or share for the vault. Plan for it to grow: it holds every unique file version your team ever checks in.

A certificate — the services talk to each other and to the clients over HTTPS, so you need a certificate the client machines will trust.

The services

Each runs independently and can be restarted on its own.

Engine — the central API. Everything else depends on it.

Vault — file storage.

Indexing — full-text search.

Translation — background format conversion. Optional if you do not need it.

Addin relay — runs on each engineer machine alongside the CAD addins, not on the server.

Order of work

Create the database and its user. Install and start the Vault. Install the Engine and point it at both. Bring up Indexing and let it build its first index. Deploy the web client. Install the tray host and CAD addins on the machines that need them.

The order matters: the Engine will not come up cleanly without its database and vault, and indexing has nothing to read until the Engine is running.

Configuration

Each service reads its settings from a configuration file. The values you will set are the database provider and connection string, the vault location, the URLs the services use to reach each other, a shared secret so they will only accept calls from one another, and your mail or notification settings if you want alerts.

Keep the shared secret out of source control and set it per environment. Note also that data-protection keys should be persisted to a known location — if they are lost, stored integration credentials have to be re-entered.

Checking it worked

Sign in to the web client, create a part, attach a file, check it out and check it back in, then search for it. That single round trip exercises the Engine, the vault, the permission model and the index in one go. If it works, the installation is sound.

Help with an install

Nexus PLM is in development and we would rather walk you through a first installation than leave you with a document. Get in touch at nexusplmadmin@gmail.com.