How do we get a Hosted Integration Set Up?

Author: Eric Vasbinder

Third-Party App Hosting No Longer Supported (Mostly)

As you may have read previously in this FAQ and other places, Viewpoint does not support, for the most part, hosting third party integrations. Our preferred standard is to have the third-party solution (including data connector services, a.k.a. "shims") installed in an external location, such as the vendor's own cloud, the customer network, etc. We then use an IPSEC VPN tunnel or a TLS Database Endpoint (TLS VPN) to connect the two networks together; to "bridge the gap".

Historically, we used to host a number of third-party integrations. Though that is still true today for our older cloud, Viewpoint For Cloud (VFC), please note that VFC is no longer available for new customers. As of today, in our current cloud environment, Trimble Construction One (TC1) / Viewpoint One (VP1), we no longer support physically hosting 99% of third party integrations in our cloud.

IMPORTANT

You may still connect an approved third party integration over either the TLS Database Endpoint (TLS VPN) or an IPSEC VPN, however, the physical installation software ("the bits") must be installed outside of the Viewpoint cloud.

Supported Hosted Integrations

All of that above notwithstanding, there remain a few integrations that Viewpoint still will physically host in our cloud when necessary. An example of this type of integration is Ryvit, which can be hosted physically in our cloud if there are performance concerns. However, even with these solutions, our default is still to host their physical bits outside of our cloud.

IMPORTANT: IS THIS INTEGRATION ON THE APPROVED LIST? IS IT AN APPROVED INTEGRATION?

IF NOT, PLEASE REQUEST SUPPORT FOR THIS INTEGRATION USING THIS PROCESS

1. If the Integration is approved, then please look for the integration on this cloud FAQ site. The page for the integration in question will say if hosting is supported for that integration or if it must be hosted outside of the Viewpoint cloud. Please note that nearly 99% of all supported third party applications will only be supported for remote hosted, connected over the TLS or IPSEC methods.

2. If the integration is supported for hosting, please determine if you already have a separate, third party integration server already on your Viewpoint cloud (i.e. VEC or Viewpoint One) contract. Also known as a "Standard Windows Server", it will be visible as a separate line item on your contract. Contact your account rep if you are unsure.

NOW, ASK THIS QUESTION: DO YOU HAVE IT PURCHASED / IS THE SERVER ON YOUR CONTRACT?

3. If the server is not purchased, please reach out to your Viewpoint Sales rep to have the server added to your contract.

ONCE THE SERVER IS PURCHASED (OR VERIFIED AS ALREADY BEING PURCHASED)

4. Once the server is purchased, you (the customer) should place a cloud support request to ensure that the server is stood up.

5. Once the server is stood up, Viewpoint will coordinate a WebEx with the third party vendor to have the vendor's solution installed.

NOTE: It is possible to install multiple third party integrations on the same integration server box. However, this must be approved by the vendors in question and we need to ensure that these integrations can peacefully co-exist on the same server. If these integrations cannot technically co-exist on the same server, then you should either work to host the integration on-premise or purchase an additional integration server for your cloud environment. NOTE: this is highly unlikely to occur as of 2022, as most integrations are no longer supported for hosting physically in our cloud.

tl;dr: Only approved, supported integrations are allowed to be hosted or connected to our cloud. 99% of all supported third party integrations MUST be hosted outside of our cloud. We cannot host any third party software on our Vista / Viewpoint servers in the cloud. As such, for integrations that cannot work over a VPN (preferred), make sure you have an available third party integration server on your cloud contract and then request to have this integration installed on your integration server.

TO CHECK TO SEE IF THE INTEGRATION YOU DESIRE IS SUPPORTED FOR HOSTING IN THE VIEWPOINT CLOUD STILL, PLEASE SEARCH FOR THE INTEGRATION ON THIS SITE. THE PAGE FOR THE INTEGRATION IN QUESTION WILL SAY IF HOSTING OF THAT INTEGRATION IN VIEWPOINT'S CLOUD IS STILL SUPPORTED.