How to Setup NinthBrain/Protean

We use SFTP to transfer files for NinthBrain and Protean. Below is a set of instructions to help with the setup. To set this up you will need to have access to your server and rights to make modifications.

Collect information from NinthBrain or Protean

Before you start make sure you get the following items from NinthBrain or Protean so that you can complete the process:

·       Username

·       Password

Instructions

If on Version 6.9.1.0+ 

The Output can simply be set the the SFTP path in this format: sftp://user:password@host[:port]/path/

Example -

Username: NinthBrain_FlightVector

 Password: password 

Host: sftp.ninthbrain.com

Port: 22

Path: Optional (would contain a specific folder name on the SFTP site)

Full Output: sftp://NinthBrain_FlightVector:[e-mail]:22/

                    sftp://protean_username:[e-mail]:31234/incoming/

1. Download the SFTP zip
   1. Build Downloads
2. Create a folder in your Flight Vector Server folder inside you C drive in the Softtech folder of your Program Files X86. Below images show you the file path
   1. 
3. You will want to extract the directory_to_sftp.zip into the above-mentioned folder… NinthBrain or Protean based on which service you are using.
4. Once you have the files extracted you will see the following inside of your folder above. (Remember that if you are using NinthBrain you will see that instead of the shown Protean)
   1. Create a new folder in this file and call it ‘outgoing’. See second image below
5. 

Open your config.json file. It will look like the image below. (To make sure it safes accurately it is best to right-click and run it as an administrator)

1. Change “read_from”: to the new path of the outgoing folder and flip the slashes (change from back slashes to forward slashes) as shown
   1. C:/Program Files (x86)/SofttechLLC/FlightVectorServer/Protean/outgoing
2. Change “destination_host”: according to your service
   1. Protean will be
      1. Proteanhub.com:31234
   2. NinthBrain will be
      1. “Sftp.ninthbrain.com:22”
3. Change “username”: and “password” to the username and password provided to you by either Protean or NinthBrain
4. Change “write_directory”: to
   1. For NinthBrain
      1. “/”
   2. For Protean
      1. “incoming/”
5. You may need to update the Winscp file path if you add in the location that is different than the below (do not forget the double back slashes and to add winscp.com to the end of the path)

**"\" = Sequence indicator and   "/" = to separate elements in file paths

CAD Settings

Now that we have our files and directories set up, we need to make a few modifications in the CAD.

1. Go to Settings in the CAD and type in Version 3, you will see the below items.
   1. Click on ‘Version 3 XML Output’
      1. Insert the path from your ‘read_from’ section in the config.json file
      2. C:\Program Files (x86)\SofttechLLC\FlightVectorServer\Protean\outgoing

Starting the Service

1. Open a command prompt. Type CMD in your search bar.
   1. 
2. Then you need to maneuver to the appropriate file location in the command prompt
   1. You can click in the path from the file explorer, then either right-click and copy or ctrl+c to copy the path
   2. 
3. If you switch to your command prompt window you can type ‘cd’ then a space and do a ctrl+v to paste the path, then hit enter
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4. From here we want to type ‘nssm install’ it is important to have the space and spelling correct, then hit enter
   1. 
5. Now you need to fill in the Path, Startup directory, Service name.
   1. Remember that if you are using NinthBrain to replace Protean with NinthBrain.
      1. 
6. After you have the data entered, click on ‘Install service’
   1. 
7. Now let’s start the service. Search for Services in your Windows Search bar and select services
   1. 
8. Scroll to ‘Protean’ or ‘NinthBrain’ and highlight the service
   1. Right-click on ‘Protean’ and select ‘Properties’
   2. Go to the ‘Log On’ tab and make sure your login credentials are here to ensure it will start appropriately.
   3. 
   4. Then click ‘Start’ from the left side menu, as shown below.
      1. 

Test the Connection

1. Go to your CAD and from the Utilities menu select ‘Create NEMSIS File’
   1. 
2. You will need to enter a request number to test the generation of the file
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3. From here go to your Outgoing folder and you should see the file there briefly before it is consumed by either NinthBrain or Protean.
   1. 

Trouble-Shoot Connection Issues

Sometimes we go through all of this setup and we encounter issues. Generally it is easy to diagnose the issue. Here are the steps to check.

WINSCP Tool:

1. First you need to install WINSCP, if you don’t already have it. Here is a link. Follow the steps, one by one
   1. https://winscp.net/eng/download.php
2. When you open WINSCP you will need to enter the username, password, and paths from your config.json file
   1. Once you enter the data, then login
   2. 
3. It should open your path right where you need it. You should see the incoming folder as seen below. Click on it.
   1. 
4. Open your outgoing folder from before and drag and drop the file that you generated into the incoming folder. See below.
   1. 
5. You should then see the file populate as shown below.
   1. 

If this is not working correctly please contact us so that we can assist you further.

**If the files are being consumed when running the executable, but not when running as a service, it could be the service account’s WinSCP profile did not trust Protean/Ninth Brain. To address, Run WinSCP as the service account, when you receive the prompt to “Trust the Key” select Yes. You should then be able to run the service as normal