Connecting to WTS-SQLTOOLS and Software Resources

Connecting to WTS-SQLTOOLS

If you are at your office, connected to the internet with an Ethernet cable on campus, you will not need to establish a VPN connection first. If you are at home, or on-site and connected via Wi-Fi, then you'll need to establish a VPN connection first.

Open the Start Menu and begin typing Remote Desktop Connection. Click on the application that appears on top.
Type in wts-sqltools.articnet.local in the space provided, then click Connect.
Type in your computer login details in the following box like so:
You will be logged into the WTS-SQLTOOLS server, if the size of the window is odd, you can right click the title bar and select Smart Sizing to have it squeeze the view into the window, like so:

Accessing your Network Shares & Departmental Drives

While connected to WTS-SQLTOOLS, you can get to your network shares and departmental drives by clicking on the appropriate icon on the Desktop:

Do not save files on the desktop within wts-sqltools, instead, choose a location on your department drive or your home folder. Files saved on the desktop will deleted when your session has ended.

Software Resources on WTS-SQLTOOLS

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS): An application for querying and interacting with our on-premise databases.

Access: Email analytics@artic.edu and saops@artic.edu with a description of your needs. The team will then work with you to assign the appropriate access rights.
Connecting: Open the program. Enter the Server Name. Choose Encryption = Mandatory and Trust Server Certificate. Hit Connect.
- Authentication: For certain servers, it may be necessary to specify Authentication = SQL Server Authentication and to use a specific Login/Password. This will be communicated to new users of these servers.
Things to Know: Here are some other helpful points.
- Opening a File: There is a known bug with this current version of SSMS, where double clicking on a file to open it automatically opens another SSMS instance. To get around that, drag the file into an open SSMS window.
- Other Workspaces: If your work necessitates it, it is permitted to continue using SSMS on other workspaces (eg, rewtsl08, among others).

Tableau Desktop: An application for visualizing data.

Access: Email analytics@artic.edu with a description of your needs. The team will then work with you to assign the appropriate license.
Licensing: For new users, it's necessary to authenticate via Login Based License Management.
Login Based License Management: See the full steps below.
- Open Tableau Desktop. In the pop up window that appears, choose Activate Tableau.
  - If you have opened Tableau Desktop before, you may have to navigate to Help > Manage Product Keys instead.
- Click the Activate button, then select Activate by signing into a server.
- Follow the Tableau Online link, under the Quick Connect option.
- Enter your full form email address (eg, afialkowski@artic.edu) on the screen that appears, then click Sign In.
- This will redirect you to the ARTIC single sign on (SSO) screen. Enter your username and password there, just as you would when logging onto your email.
Cost: Desktop Licenses are limited, and they cost approximately $39.77 per month. This will be charged to your team's department.
Things to Know: Here are some other helpful points.
- Tableau Cloud: We also maintain a Cloud-based repository of Tableau workbooks at tableau.artic.edu. This allows for automated refresh and broader access. If you'd like to publish a workbook to Tableau Cloud for the first time, contact analytics@artic.edu. The team will work to understand your needs and configure the environment appropriately.

Visual Studio: An application for development. We primarily use it for Reporting Services reports. We use Team Foundations Server (TFS) for Source Control.

Access: Email analytics@artic.edu with a description of the reports you'll be working on. The team will then assign you the appropriate TFS access.
Licensing: We use the Community license, so no additional user-based licensing is required.
Source Control: Connecting to TFS allows you to access reports for development. See the full steps below. Please contact analytics@artic.edu before taking any of these steps yourself.
- Build a new folder on your H Drive. Name it using your LDAP (eg, Visual Studio > afialk TFS).
- Open up Visual Studio. Under Get started, choose Clone a repository.
- Select Azure DevOps, and enter this URL: https://aicvstf.artic.edu/. Then, hit Connect.
- Navigate to the Team Explorer, choose Configure your Workspace, then choose Map and Get. Use your previously-created H Drive folder.
  - You should Map at the highest level available to you. It should appear as a dollar sign.

Things to Know: Here are some other helpful points.
- Marketplace Extensions: For Visual Studio to work properly with Reporting Services, it's necessary to add extensions. This will be handled by the DSA team, and no user action is needed.
  - Navigate to Extensions > Visual Studio Marketplace. Download Microsoft Reporting Services Projects, Microsoft Analysis Services Projects, and SQL Server Integration Services Projects.
- Server Locations: The ESA team primarily uses Server Location TFS configuration, which allows for exclusive checkout. However, other teams typically do not use this due to a large number of unresolved checkouts.
  - Configuration: Here's how to configure the Location. Please contact analytics@artic.edu before taking any of these steps yourself.
    - Navigate to File > Source Control > Advanced > Workspaces > Edit > Advanced
    - Choose Server for the Location option

Update Cadence: The DSA team will maintain all software and apply updates and patches as needed. Updates typically occur before business hours on Monday mornings.