AWS Marketplace

Nected is a modern decision automation platform that enables organizations to centralize, control, and automate real-time, business-critical decisions such as approvals, pricing, risk assessments, and payouts, all without writing code. It empowers teams to go live 5x faster, iterate on logic 10x quicker, and cut development costs by 60% or more.

Prerequisites

Before commencing the deployment, ensure you have the following ready, as these are crucial inputs for the CloudFormation stack:

• Four Sub-domains Configured: These sub-domains are essential for accessing various components of the Nected service. As explicitly demonstrated in the video:

  • UI Domain: Used to access the Nected user interface (e.g., app.xyz.com as shown in the video).

  • Backend Domain: The API endpoint that the UI interacts with the backend (e.g., api.xyz.com as shown in the video).

  • Editor Domain: Specifically for the Nected editor service (e.g., editor.xyz.com as shown in the video).

  • Router Domain: Utilized for triggering rules and workflows (e.g., router.xyz.com as shown in the video).

• A Valid SSL Certificate ARN from AWS Certificate Manager (ACM): This SSL certificate is mandatory for secure Ingress. The video demonstrates using a pre-existing ARN.

Deployment Steps

1. Access Nected in AWS Marketplace and Subscribe:

   • Begin by navigating to the AWS Marketplace and locating the "Nected Decision Management Platform" product.

     
   • On the product page, you can "View purchase options". It's important to note that this product is available free of charge, though additional AWS infrastructure costs will apply. You can use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate these infrastructure costs.

   • After reviewing, subscribe to the Nected software.

2. Continue Configuration and Launch CloudFormation Template:

   • Once subscribed, you will be directed to the configuration page. Here, as shown in the video, you will see the available version, explicitly mentioned as "version 3 3.0". This version can be launched using the CloudFormation template.

     
   • Crucially, from this configuration page, you will see "launch steps". You then click on the "deployment templates" link.

   • This action will directly take you to the AWS CloudFormation service to begin the stack creation process.

   • Clarification on "EKS": It is important to clarify that while Nected deploys onto Amazon EKS and its supported services include Amazon EKS, you do not navigate to the EKS service console prior to launching. The CloudFormation template, launched from the AWS Marketplace product page, automates the provisioning of the EKS cluster itself.

   
3. Configure CloudFormation Inputs: On the CloudFormation starting page, you will be prompted to provide several input parameters to customize your Nected deployment:

   

   • Stack Name: Provide a unique name for your CloudFormation stack.

   • VPC Configuration: You have two options for your Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) setup:

     • Create a new VPC: This is the option used in the video for simplicity, where the CloudFormation template will provision a new VPC for you.

     • Use an existing VPC: If you select this, you must provide specific details:

       • At least two private subnet IDs.

       • At least two public subnet IDs.

       • The CIDR block for your existing VPC.

   • Domain Names: Enter the four sub-domains you configured earlier. These are crucial for accessing different parts of the Nected platform. The video explicitly shows these being entered and their purpose described:

     • UI Domain: For accessing the Nected user interface (e.g., app.xyz.com). The video states, "This will be used to access the UI".

     • Backend Domain: The API endpoint used by the UI to interact with the Nected backend (e.g., api.xyz.com). The video notes, "This is the API which will be used by the app.xyz.com to interact with the back end".

     • Editor Domain: For the Nected editor service (e.g., editor.xyz.com). The video states, "This is the editor the editor service".

     • Router Domain: Used for triggering rules and workflows (e.g., router.xyz.com). The video specifies, "Then this is the router the domain for triggering the rules and workflow".

   • SSL Certificate ARN: Input the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of your valid SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager (ACM). This is a mandatory field for secure Ingress. The video demonstrates using a pre-existing ARN.

4. Initiate Provisioning & Installation:

   • After providing all the necessary input parameters, launch the CloudFormation stack.

   • The stack will then begin rolling out the services, a process that typically takes around 15 minutes to complete.

     
   • During this phase, the CloudFormation stack automatically performs the following actions:

     • It will first create a VPC.

     • Then, it will create an Amazon EKS cluster and its associated nodes.

     • Before deploying services, it will securely store credentials for Redis, RDS, and OpenSearch in AWS Secrets Manager.

     • It will then create required services like an Amazon RDS instance (for PostgreSQL), a Redis instance (using Amazon ElastiCache), and an OpenSearch cluster.

     • Finally, it will install Nected services using Helm charts over the provisioned EKS cluster.

     • It will also set up a load balancer with target groups to route incoming traffic to the Nected services.

Post-Deployment Configuration

Once the CloudFormation stack rollout is successfully completed (as shown after "around 15 minutes" in the video), a crucial post-deployment step is required:

• Domain Mapping to Load Balancer:

  • Go to the Amazon EC2 console within your AWS account.

  • Locate the newly created load balancer that was provisioned by the CloudFormation stack.

  • Copy the domain name (DNS name) of this load balancer.

  • Update your DNS records (e.g., in AWS Route 53 or your chosen domain registrar) to point all four of your configured sub-domains (UI, Backend, Editor, Router) to this copied load balancer's domain name. The video explicitly demonstrates this step, showing that all four domains are pointing towards the same load balancer. This ensures that your custom domains correctly resolve to the Nected services running on your EKS cluster.

Accessing Nected UI

After the DNS updates have propagated and your domains are successfully mapped to the load balancer, you can access the Nected user interface:

• Access the UI using your designated UI domain (e.g., app.xyz.com).

• Log in with the following default credentials:

  • Username: [email protected]

  • Password: Password123

• Once logged in, you will have access to the Nected services, allowing you to create and manage rules and workflows, such as the sample rule demonstrated in the video.

For further customization, you can use Helm with values.yaml files, referring to the Nected Helm documentation. For any support, you can contact [email protected].