Preparing the Nintex Database Server

SQL Server Management Studio is required in order to work with the Nintex database schema. If not yet installed:

1. Download Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

2. Run the installation package using the default installation options.

You may be prompted to restart the sever after installation of SQL Server Management Studio. It is important to do so or an automatic restart will occur during Nintex RPA server installation.

The Nintex RPA Server installation package which automatically installs the Nintex RPA Server utilizes 2 databases: the application database and the authentication platform database. Both of these database schema must reside in the same SQL Server instance (though it's perfectly fine if other schema also exist in this instance).

If an SQL Server instance is not yet installed

• When installing the Nintex RPA Server, you can choose to install a local instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Express. If you select this option, skip the remainder of this topic and proceed to Nintex RPA Server installation.

• If you wish to manually install SQL Server, do so and proceed to the next section when SQL Server installation is complete.

If an SQL Server instance is already installed

If an instance of SQL Server is already installed on a machine that will be accessible over the network to the Nintex RPA Server, proceed with the instructions in:

• Configuring the SQL Server instance

• Creating a login for the Nintex RPA server to access the database

Configure SQL Server instance

Open SQL Server Configuration Manager (a tool installed with SQL Server), and follow these steps to configure the database instance:

1. Enable and configure TCP/IP

   1. Under SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for {Instance Name}, enable TCP/IP

      

   2. Double click TCP/IP to open its configuration

   3. On the IP Addresses tab, scroll down to IPAll

   4. Remove the 0 value from TCP Dynamic Ports (so that it now appears blank)

   5. In TCP Port, enter the port number used to communicate with this database instance

      • To use the default value, enter 1433

   6. Click the OK button to save your changes

      

2. In SQL Server Services, right-click the SQL Server service for the relevant instance and select Restart

   

3. Configure and start the SQL Server Browser

   1. In SQL Server Services, double click the SQL Server Browser service to open its configuration

   2. On the Service tab, set the Start Mode value to Automatic

   3. Click the OK button to save your changes

      

   4. Right-click the SQL Server Browser service and select Start

      

Create a login to the SQL Server

Create a login by which the Nintex RPA Server will access the database:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the database server

2. In the Object Explorer, right-click Security and select New > Login

3. Enter the following data to create the login:

   1. If you are using SQL authentication as your database authentication method:

      • Authentication: SQL Server authentication

      • Login name: set as desired

      • Password: set as desired (the following special characters aren't supported

        For password, the special characters \ ; & " aren't supported.

      • Enforce password policy: disabled

   2. If you are using Windows authentication as your database authentication method:

      • Authentication: Windows authentication

      • Login name:the user with rights to run Nintex services on the Nintex RPA server

4. Ensure that sysadmin is enabled on the Server Roles page of this login properties.

   What if I can't grant sysadmin rights to this login?

   The Nintex RPA Server installation package executes certain tasks that require sysadmin rights (e.g., creating database schema and building database tables). If the database doesn't have sysadmin rights at the time of installation, follow the additional steps in Creating Database Manually prior to the installation.

Hold on to that info!

Make your life easier when installing the Nintex RPA server by making note of:

• the FQDN of the database server

• the database instance name

• login credentials

You can encrypt your database for a more secured database setup. You will need to use a security certificate for this.

While encrypting your database, you will make many non-RPA modifications. You are advised to make frequent backups of your system and files, and proceed with caution as these modifications are not supported by Nintex.

To encrypt your database, do the following:

1. Use the Windows certlm feature: Retrieve your certificate's Thumbprint value.

1. In Windows search, search for "manage computer certificates" to launch the feature.

2. Go to Personal > Certificates to list your certificates.

3. Double click the relevant certificate then click Details tab. Get the value from the Thumbprint field.

   

2. In Windows registry: Set the Force Encryption and Certificate values.

   1. In Windows search, search for "registry" to launch the Windows Registry Editor.

   2. Go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\[your installed MSSQL]\MSSQLServer\SuperSocketNetLib.

   3. In the Certificate field, make sure the Thumbprint value is filled up and identical to the one used by your certificate.

   4. In the ForceEncryption field, make sure the value is "1".

3. Use the Windows certlm feature again: Ensure the mssql user has Read permissions so it can read the certificate private keys.

   1. First, use Windows PowerShell to retrieve the value of StartName of the database's service user. Use the following command in PowerShell for this: Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service | Where-Object { $_.Name -like 'MSSQL*' } | Select-Object Name, DisplayName, StartName, State

      

   2. You will need to grant the relevant StartName with Read permission. Launch certlm to do this.

   3. In certlm, go to Personal > Certificates.

   4. Right-click the relevant certificate and select All Tasks > Manage Private Keys....

   5. Click Add... to start adding the mssql user.

   6. Click Locations to find the mssql user in the relevant domain.

   7. Type the StartName that you retrieved from PowerShell in the Enter the object names to select: field and click OK.

   8. The mssql user will be listed in the Security tab. Select it and make sure the Read option is set to Allow.

      

4. In SQL Server Configuration Manager, complete the encryption process:

   1. Restart SQL Server service for the changes to take effect.

      • Go to SQL Server Services, right-click SQL Server [SQL edition] > Restart.

   2. Specify Force Encryption value and check that the correct certificate is used:

      • Go to SQL Server Network Configuration.

      • Right-click Protocols for [SQL edition] > Properties.

      • At the Flags tab, make sure the Force Encryption field is set to Yes.

      • Also, at the Certificate tab, specify the certificate to use at the Certificate field.