BI Connector Server Edition – Deployment Guide

This guide walks you through deploying the BI Connector Server Edition on a Windows server, enabling network access, configuring SSL, and setting up a reverse proxy with Nginx.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation, ensure:

• You have a Windows Server OS
  
  

• You have administrative privileges on the server
  

Installation Steps

1. Download and Run the Installer
    Locate the BI Connector Server installer and launch it.
   Follow the prompts in the installation wizard to complete the setup.
   
   

2. Verify Local Access
    Open your browser and go to:
    http://localhost:3005
    You should see the BI Connector interface.
   

Configure Network Access

A. Enable IP-Based Access

 To access BI Connector from other machines on your network:

1. Create an Inbound Firewall Rule

• Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security
  
  

• Go to Inbound Rules → click New Rule…
  
  

• Select Port, click Next
  
  

• Choose TCP, specify port 3005, click Next
  
  

• Select Allow the connection, click Next
  
  

• Apply to Domain, Private, or Public profiles as needed
  
  

• Name the rule: BI Connector, and click Finish
  
  

2. Access via IP

 From another machine, open a browser and go to:
 http://<SERVER_IP>:3005
 Example: http://192.168.1.100:3005

B. Enable Domain-Based Access (Optional)

To enable Domain-Based Access, you must first configure IP-Based Access. This ensures your server is reachable through its IP address before pointing a domain name to it.

Be sure to complete the IP access setup (Firewall rule and port configuration) before proceeding with domain setup.

To use a custom domain name for access:

1. Log into your DNS provider (e.g., GoDaddy, Cloudflare)
   
   

2. Create a new A Record
   

   • Name: Subdomain (e.g., bi)
     

   • Value: Your server’s public IP address
     
     

3. Access BI Connector at:
    http://yourdomain.com:3005
   

Enable SSL (Recommended for Production)

To secure communications with SSL/TLS:

A. Modify the Configuration File

1. Go to:
    C:\ProgramData\Guidanz\BI Connector\config
   
   

2. Open bip-connector.yml as Administrator
   Enable SSL by setting:
    ssl: true

      cert: 'path/to/your/certificate.pem'

      key: 'path/to/your/private_key.pem'

3.  If using self-signed certs, also add:
    ca: 'path/to/your/ca_certificate.pem'
   
   

4. Never use skipVerify: true in production.
   
   

5. Restart the BI Connector service.
   
   

B. SSL Certificate Requirements

• Certificate file (.pem or .crt)
  
  

• Private key file (.key or .pem)
  
  

• CA certificate (optional) for self-signed SSL
  
  

Ensure all files are readable by the service.

Configure Reverse Proxy with Nginx

Reverse proxy is not required, but can be used if the network team prefers it. 

This enables access via a clean URL like /bi/:

A. Enable Proxy Path in BI Connector

1. Edit bip-connector.yml
   Uncomment
   proxyPath: '/bi'

2. Restart BI Connector service
   
   

B. Nginx Configuration

HTTP Configuration

Create or modify your nginx.conf file with the following server block:

server {

    listen       80;

    server_name  localhost biconnector.example.com;

    location /bi/ {

        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3005;

        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        proxy_set_header Host $host;

        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

    }

}

HTTPS Configuration

For production deployments with SSL, use this configuration:

# HTTP to HTTPS redirect

server {

    listen       80;

    server_name  localhost biconnector.example.com;

    # Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;

}

# HTTPS server block

server {

    listen       443 ssl;

    server_name  localhost biconnector.example.com;

    ssl_certificate     certs/certificate.pem;

    ssl_certificate_key certs/private_key.pem;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;

    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;

    proxy_buffer_size          128k;

    proxy_buffers              4 256k;

    proxy_busy_buffers_size    256k;

    location /bi/ {

        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3005;

        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        proxy_set_header Host $host;

        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

    }

}

C. Restart Nginx

Apply the configuration changes by restarting Nginx.

Final Access URLs

After configuration, you can access BI Connector at:

• HTTP: http://domain.com/bi/
  
  

• HTTPS: https://domain.example.com/bi/

For further help, please contact us at support@biconnector.com or raise a ticket on our support page.