Cloud Adaptor - SampleManager

Owned by Sam Goddard
Dec 08, 2017
2 min read

The Remote Sampler Cloud Adaptor service (adaptor) can be set to integrate directly with ThermoFisher SampleManager LIMS.

Data Extraction from LIMS

The adaptor queries the SampleManager database and extracts any scheduled sample data for a given date range that has been logged in and for which sample ids and bottles ids have been generated. The extracted data is sent securely over HTTPS to the Remote Sampler cloud API where the data is processed and displayed to users of the Remote Sampler web hub for assignment to device users. Both the polling frequency and the date range for data extraction can be adjusted using configuration set on the cloud system to optimise the balance between responsiveness in terms of data extraction versus load on the SampleManager database/network.

The adaptor requires a connection to the SampleManager database. This necessitates the installation of the Oracle client on the machine running the adaptor (along with relevant TNS configuration) and a valid account that the service may use to query the database.

All database connection configuration should be entered in the settings.ini file described in detail here.

Data Upload to LIMS

The adaptor polls the Remote Sampler cloud API securely over HTTPS and downloads completed sample data in the form of Javascript Object Notation files (JSON), which it parses and then uploads to SampleManager. Parsed data is sent over TCP/IP to a batch service running a VGL report on the SampleManager server. The VGL report handles the specific mappings of the returned data with fields in LIMS and may be customised upon implementation to handle customer-specific variations in LIMS implementation and workflow. Polling frequency can be adjusted using configuration set on the cloud system.

Log Files

The adaptor generates log files which can be used to assist in debugging the service. The log files are written to the location specified below.

<Installation Directory>\ApplicationLogs

Installation Requirements and Prerequisites

General hardware requirements are covered here. Specific requirements for the adaptor are listed below.

  • Oracle Client installed on same machine.
  • TNS configuration pointing to SampleManager Database present on machine.
  • Firewall configuration on machine set to allow internal traffic to the SampleManager database.
  • Firewall configuration on machine set to allow internal traffic to the service running the VGL report.
  • Firewall configuration on machine set to allow outbound HTTPS traffic to the port 8081 on the domain of the cloud Remote Sampler system (usually of the form https://live.<customer>.remotesampler.com but this will be confirmed at the time of implementation).
  • Creation of a Windows service user with a non-expiring password with permission to read/write files to the installation folder of the adaptor service.
  • Creation of a database user with readonly access on the SampleManager database.
  • Creation of a SampleManager user with sufficient privileges to read and write data to LIMS (confirm permission level with implementation contact).

IP Address versus Domain Name

Note that firewall configuration for communications with the Remote Sampler cloud API should use the domain name rather than specific IP addresses to ensure the provision of a highly-available system.