Install Dialogue Manager

Component overview

Prerequisites

Licensing prerequisites

A valid WebAgent license for Omnichannel Communication is required. This entitlement may be included in your subscription or provided through PUL11, WebAgent for Omnichannel Communication.

An Enterprise license or higher is required to access these features.

Your subscription may already include the required entitlements. Contact your AnywhereNow representative if you are unsure whether your subscription includes these features.

Configuration prerequisites

  • WebAgentService deployed and configured per region, Install WebAgent Service

  • DC2023.03 or lower: CustomSessions plugin deployed and configured per region, Install Custom Sessions plugin

    Important

    Please note that as of DC2023.04 or higher, the CustomSession plugin is no longer needed and has been removed. You may safely remove any associated settings or configurations related to this plugin.

  • An Azure SQL database per region: recommended at least S1 20DTU during project initiation (and is typically sufficient for Golive to production, but exceptions may apply, see warning below)
  • Azure SQL DB is remotely accessible
  • SQL user account (for SQL authentication): which is database owner
    • For access to the database a Microsoft Entra account (for Microsoft Entra authentication) is also supported.
  • Connection string to the database(s): Only the formats provided below are supported (i.e. only connections directly to <server>.database.windows.net and the other parameters are required).
  • Firewall allowance for regional Dialogue Cloud IP address: will be provided by your AnywhereNow contact.

Note

After Go-live, maintenance and regular monitoring of the database(s) is the customer's responsibility.

Read more

Your database(s) will accrue data for every conversation and will grow with use over time, or your final count and configuration may be heavy on DB processing (many simultaneous dialogues in queue, frequent queries from PowerBI or e-mails with large attachments for example), so your maintenance (like monitoring size, adding additional archiving databases, deleting old data, reclaiming unused space or maybe even upgrade to a higher tier or storage) may be required. For more information on Azure SQL limits, pricing and maintenance tips a good starting point is https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/resource-limits-dtu-single-databases, or consult your SQL DB Administrator.
Also reference this anticipated growth article for AnywhereNow SQL databases, Learn More

Warning

DialogueManager Deployment Rules:

  • Only one DialogueManager is allowed per WebAgentService. Having multiple DialogueManagers in one WebAgentService, will result in missing messages and not receiving updates (see component overview above when and how more regions and 's can be used).
  • Each DialogueManager needs its own database. Having multiple DialogueManagers using one shared database will result in invalid states and missing messages. (see component overview above when and how more regions and DM's can be used).

  • 2024.02 and later: Microsoft ASP.NET Core 8.0.0 (or a later 8.0 series) Hosting Bundle installed (may already be installed).

Installation

Create DialogueManager Database

  1. Create a new database (in SQL Server Management Studio, Learn More - Microsoft).

    Note

    The Dialogue Manager service will perform the creation queries. Please ensure the account connecting to the database is owner of the database.

Configure PluginSettings

Note

Required settings fields will be automatically added in your SharePoint lists after requesting this feature through . Some of these settings, like ConnectionString, will need to be completed ASAP with your valid credentials.

  1. Open the UCC Config page on SharePoint

  2. Open the Plugin Settings list

  3. Configure the following settings:

    Note

    Upon startup of the service the database is checked for the correct db schema, if not it will be created (or updated in case a schema update is required for a new version of the software). The provided access rights have the proper permissions to perform these actions.

    Warning

    This Dialogue Manager service depends on consistent-primary settings shared across multiple UCCs, meaning the value should remain consistent across all UCC configurations using it. A consistent-primary setting is initiated only during startup of the UCC. The first UCC to publish its settings (which may not aways be the same UCC) defines the primary setting for all UCCs sharing this service. If values vary or are not entered (correctly) across multiple UCCs, this will lead to unpredictable behavior after a restart. It is extremely important to keep the values consistent and valid if multiple UCCs are configured.

    Setting Value Scope
    Enabled

    TRUE

    		 DialogueManager
    SqlConnectionString
    Option 1 (with encrypted Password, which will be decrypted by DialogueManager):

    Server=tcp:<server>.database.windows.net,1433;Initial Catalog=<dm-database-name>;User ID=<sa_username>;EncryptedPassword=<encrypted-password>;Persist Security Info=False;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=False;Connection Timeout=30;

    Note

    When creating a login or a password make sure it does NOT contain the following characters:
    # $ [] () , ; ? * ! @ = . % &

    Note

    The <encrypted-password> value should be encrypted by the A365.PWTool.exe

    Option 2 (with plain text password where encryption/decryption is not done):

    Server=tcp:<server>.database.windows.net;Initial Catalog=<dm-databse-name>;User ID=<sa_username>;Password=<password>;Persist Security Info=False;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=False;Connection Timeout=30;

    Note

    When creating a login or a password make sure it does NOT contain the following characters:
    # $ [] () , ; ? * ! @ = . % &

    		 DialogueManager
    Uri

    http:///dialoguemanager

    Warning

    It is important to configure this setting to one main regional URL when using multiple services in the same region. If this is not done, you may experience unexpected behavior.

    Note

    URL needs to be accessible from the WebAgent Service to the Dialogue Manager service.

    		 DialogueManager
    Uri

    http://fqdn/webagentservice

    Warning

    It is important to configure this setting to one main regional URL when using multiple services in the same region. If this is not done, you may experience unexpected behavior.

    Note

    URL needs to be accessible from the UCC Service to the WebAgent API service.

    		 WebAgentService
    RequeueEnabled

    TRUE/FALSE (Default = TRUE)

    Note

    Introduced in Bundle DC2024.02

    		 WebAgentService

Configure Settings list

  1. Open the UCC Config page on SharePoint

  2. Open the Settings list

  3. Add the following setting: 

Key Value Scope
DashboardServiceUrl http(s)://fqdn/dashboardservice

Warning

Make sure to leave the fqdn to this service configured as a ".local" URL, especially when using multiple UCC services in the same region. If this is not done, the UCC cannot reach the right webserver internally leading to undesired or non-functional WebAgent behavior.

Note

URL needs to be accessible from the UCC service to the Dashboard Service.

Config

Validate ListsEndpoints

Note

Required settings fields will be automatically added in your SharePoint lists after requesting this feature through OnePortal. Some of these settings, like ConnectionString, will need to be completed ASAP with your valid credentials.

  1. Open the UCC Config page on SharePoint

  2. Open the Plugin Settings list

  3. Validate DialogueManager settings endpoint for ListsPlugin -> ListsEndpoints

    Note

    Add to the existing item and separate with "Enter".

    Setting Value Scope
    ListsEndpoints

    http://FQDN/webagentservice/api/v1/settings (should already exist)

    http://FQDN/DialogueManager/api/v1/settings

    Note

    URL needs to be accessible from the UCC Service to the Dialogue Manager.

    		 ListsPlugin

Validate ForwardUri

Note

Required settings fields will be automatically added in your SharePoint lists after requesting this feature through OnePortal. Some of these settings, like ConnectionString, will need to be completed ASAP with your valid credentials.

  1. Open the UCC Config page on SharePoint

  2. Open the Plugin Settings list

  3. Validate DialogueManager settings endpoint for EventForwarderPlugin -> ForwardUri

    Note

    Add to the existing item and separate with "Enter".

    Setting Value Scope
    ForwardUri

    http://FQDN/webagentservice/api/v1/EventsHook (should already exist)

    http://FQDN/DialogueManager/api/v1/EventsHook

    Note

    URL needs to be accessible from the UCC Service to the Dialogue Manager.

    		 EventForwarderPlugin