Altium NEXUS Server FAQs

You can use the Altium NEXUS Server to manage just your components, but this is not recommended. One of the Altium NEXUS Server's greatest strengths is managing everyday PCB work-in-progress, which includes the design data. When properly used, the NEXUS Server creates relationship links between all library and design content, facilitating such functionality as 'Where-Used'. This is extremely helpful when identifying duplicate, or errant parts, that may have been mistakenly used in one or more designs.

The Altium NEXUS Server needs to be made aware of the existence of the design repository in which your design is stored. There are two methods of doing this:

• Internally - using an Subversion repository created through the NEXUS Server's local SVN server.
• Externally - linking to an externally-created Subversion (or Git) repository.

So, if you need your design repository to sit on a different server, or something like that, you can do that with an external repository - setup in the NEXUS Server so that the Server knows where it is. You can then take advantage of the Where-Used functionality.

You can certainly do this. Making local design changes is very much a part of Altium NEXUS's core functionality. However, this is not recommended. If you were to update that component at some stage, using one of the update features in Altium NEXUS, it’s going to bring in the next revision from the Altium NEXUS Server, which would overwrite any local changes. So it would be far better to make changes to your managed components directly in the NEXUS Server.

No, there is currently no way to acquire a local image of the Altium NEXUS Server.

Yes, and this can all be configured through an Output Job Configuration file. The Validate Project stage of the release process is run automatically when one or more Validation-type reports are detected in assigned OutJob file(s). All defined validation output generators, defined in an Output Job file assigned to the data item being released, are run. This includes running any of:

• Differences Report – using the comparator to determine if the source and PCB design documents are correctly in-sync.
• Electrical Rules Check – checking the electrical/drafting validity of the captured source design.
• Design Rules Check – checking the validity of the PCB document in relation to specified board-level design constraints.
• BOM Checks - checking for possible violations associated with Design Items or Part Choices in the source BOM document (*.BomDoc), where available.
• Footprint Comparison Report – comparing footprints on the board against their source library to ensure they are up-to-date, and matched.
• Component State Checking - checking for components that are in restricted states. As part of configuration, you determine the action to be taken for each currently defined state, of each currently defined Lifecycle Definition in the target NEXUS Server; no action, a warning, or generate an error. The latter will prevent release of the design. In addition, running the check will generate a handy HTML-based report, allowing you to see at-a-glance which design components are not in valid states.
• Environment Configuration Compliance Check – checking that only data items permitted through the environment configuration available for use by your assigned role (if applicable), are being used. This check can also ensure that all design items are sourced from an Altium NEXUS Server.

Yes, if your validation steps fail, then commit and release of the data into the NEXUS Server will not happen.

The workflow itself might not be too bad. When working with managed components, the initial browsing and searching might be a little slow, but once that data is cached, it will become easier. And for designs designs, when you go in and open a managed project, you’re storing and working on it locally.

So, the day-to-day use of Altium NEXUS shouldn’t be terribly affected. Obviously, having a faster VPN would be better, but we have had people tell us that their VPNs aren’t that great, but they make it work fine because there's not a constant interaction with the NEXUS Server.

Yes, everything is local. Everything is behind your firewall, we don’t touch any of that. The only thing that does go out to the internet is the supply chain data, and you don’t even need to necessarily use any of that. If you do want to go out and ping Digikey, Farnell, any of those guys, that’s the only kind of internet access that you would have. Everything else is local.

There is a part request process, but there is no review process for adding or modifying the designs themselves. There’s no overall workflow engine at this point, so in terms of redlining, ECOs, and things like that, they do not exist. There are some markup capabilities that you can use on the designs, that is controlled by the NEXUS Server - so you can do some commenting in the designs themselves and grant everybody access to that.

Altium NEXUS, in conjunction with the Altium NEXUS Server, provides a streamlined, simple process to quickly migrate your existing libraries to the Altium NEXUS Server - the Library Migrator. The GUI to this process presents an intuitive flow that takes initial selected libraries, and migrates them to your NEXUS Server instance. Catering for all types of libraries relating to older component management methodologies - SCHLIB, PCBLIB, INTLIB, DBLIB, SVNDBLIB - the Library Migrator is the perfect solution to quickly building your company's set of managed components, and the many benefits that such components enjoy (high-integrity, lifecycle management, centralized storage and management, where-used functionality, ease of design resuse).

The Library Migrator offers a minimalist Simple interface mode where the selected file-based component libraries are migrated to managed server components through a single step, while the migrator automatically takes care of type classification, the target source folder, parameter inclusion and value type, and the transfer of all relevant data. The interface is also available in an Advanced mode that provides a full preview of the proposed library migration, and access to its related data and settings. And while the migration is a single-click process by default, the migrator also offers advanced configuration options through the Properties panel for enhanced control over exactly how that migration is performed.

All information that is present in an original source library is migrated to the server-based managed components, including all referenced domain models (schematic symbols, PCB footprints, Simulation Models), parametric information, assigned part choices, datasheet files, etc . Component Templates are also created where necessary, and may then be refined and used for subsequent library migrations. If your original components have multiple PCB footprints defined, the Library Migrator will bring those models across and keep the current default footprint. And if you only work with PCB libraries – your only concern is PCB layout – then the Library Migrator supports migration of just those libraries, or it can be switched to a models only migration mode where specified models types are migrated from Integrated or Database libraries. Libraries that include multiple component types (monolithic libraries) are automatically detected and processed as well.

Yes, you can set different permissions for who can do what. You can create a librarian role and also say who can or can’t read (have access to) any folder. You can even create a sandbox folder that some engineers have access to if they want to create their own parts, but then the official released parts can go in a different folder that everybody has access to. So everything is very controllable.

You can move existing designs over into your Altium NEXUS Server, but you cannot currently move the existing subversion repository. If you want to move the design data, you have to pull it out and recommit it into the relevant repository in the Altium NEXUS Server. So you’d essentially lose history on those designs, and essentially be starting over, but you can pull that data out and move it back in.

You can also convert your components from older component management methodologies - or what we call unmanaged components - to managed components, with automatching capabilities provided through the powerful Item Manager.

Yes, there is a feature offered through the Content Cart that allows you to acquire components from your local Altium NEXUS Server, into an Integrated Library (*.IntLib). And when placing components from such an Integrated Library, the actual links are back to the Component Items in the NEXUS Server. This gives you the ability to effectively use your company's managed components in an offline fashion, while ensuring the design still maintains a true connection to those components in the source NEXUS Server.

Yes. While management of users by a non-administrative user is not generally possible, they are able to change the profile of their own user, where authentication of that user utilizes the NEXUS Server's Built In authentication service - including changing username and password.

Through the NEXUS Server's browser interface, an administrative user can kill the session for a user, to forcibly free up a connection. This is performed from the Sessions page of the interface.

Alternatively, and offering a far better long-term solution, simply add more seats (connections), through purchase of additional Client Access Licenses (Altium NEXUS Server CAL).

The Altium NEXUS Server relies on a number of Microsoft runtime components for successful operation and access, in some situations these may not be present on the target machine. If you receive an error message about a missing library (DLL) when you attempt to sign into an Altium NEXUS Server, it indicates that there are missing Microsoft runtime components. To-date, this is only known to occur on Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Datacenter.

Use this link to download and install these missing components: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=29

This error can occur when the NEXUS Server is installed on a computer that is also running Microsoft Exchange Server. The installation of the Exchange Server can change the Internet Information Services (IIS) configuration in a way that conflicts with the NEXUS Server.

To resolve this, the following changes must be made to the applicationHost.config file:

<handlers accessPolicy="Read, Script">
...

<add name="kerbauth" image="C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin\kerbauth.dll" preCondition="bitness64" />
<add name="WSMan" image="C:\Windows\system32\wsmsvc.dll" preCondition="bitness64" />
<add name="exppw" image="C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\Owa\auth\exppw.dll" preCondition="bitness64" />
<add name="cafe_exppw" image="C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\bin\exppw.dll"  preCondition="bitness64" />

...
</handlers>

For information about the ApplicationHost.config file, refer to this article.

For information on editing the file, refer to this article.

Absolutely. If you have a previous flavor of Vault running on the same PC, ensure that the communication ports are unique. An Altium NEXUS Server uses the default port 9780 (same as for its Altium Vault predecessor), an Altium Personal Vault uses the default port 9680.

To make your Personal Vault a 'Known Server' in Altium NEXUS - on the Data Management - Servers page of the Preferences dialog - sign out of your active server, then use the Sign in to Server dialog to connect to the Personal Vault. Remember that for a Personal Vault, you are connecting, not signing in - so the Altium NEXUS GUI will not show you as being signed in to any server after successful connection to the such a vault. You can then sign back in to the server that was active previously, while continuing to enjoy connection to your Personal Vault.

You can only be 'signed in' to one Altium NEXUS Server at any given time, since you are connecting to a platform of services, rather than to a single Server service. Typically an organization will have a single Altium NEXUS Server installation. However, if more than one Altium NEXUS Server is available, simply sign out of one, and sign in to another, as required.

From Altium NEXUS, you can still sign in to a legacy Altium Vault (Vault 2.0 to 3.0), or connect to a legacy Altium Personal Vault:

• Altium Vault - sign out of your active server, then use the Sign in to Server dialog to sign in to the Altium Vault.
• Altium Personal Vault - sign out of your active server, then use the Sign in to Server dialog to connect to the Personal Vault. Remember that for a Personal Vault, you are connecting, not signing in - so the Altium NEXUS GUI will not show you as being signed in to any server after successful connection to the such a vault.

Once you have signed in/connected to a target entity, it will be listed in the Known Servers region, on the Data Management - Servers page of the Preferences dialog, in Altium NEXUS.

Yes and No. It all depends whether the managed component - a Component Item - has associated Part Choices defined for it or not. When a Component Item is created and released, then referred to as a managed component, it simply represents the engineering, or design view of that component. It is, in essence, a container into which all information used to model that component in the Design Area is stored. This includes links to all requisite domain models (schematic symbol, PCB 2D/3D component, Sim, etc), as well as parametric information. It has great meaning to the designer using it in a board design, but is not meaningful outside of the design arena. To become a truly 'Unified Component', that unites the Design and Supply Chain areas, the Component Item must be mapped to physical, real-world manufactured parts. This is done by specifying Part Choices for the component.

And it is this intelligent mapping of a component - from the traditional electronics design arena into the bigger 'product arena' as seen by the rest of the organization - that turns the humble managed component into a truly Unified Component!