MEGA Web Application Architecture Overview MEGA 2009 SP4

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MEGA Web Application Architecture Overview MEGA

2009 SP4

Revised: September 2, 2010

Created: March 31, 2010

Author: Jérôme Horber

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MEGA Web Application Architecture Overview MEGA

2009 SP4 page 2/15

C ONTENTS

Summary

This document describes the system requirements and possible deployment architectures for MEGA Web Application.

This document only applies to MEGA 2009 SP4.

It does not describe:

• How to perform installations (see installation documentation).

• How to upgrade installations (see CP/SP upgrade documentation).

• How to manage installations (see administrator manuals).

• How products are licensed (see licensing documentation).

• How to use features (see user manuals).

Contents ... 2

Deployments Models ... 4

Deployment Comparison Table ... 4

Standard Deployment ... 5

Advanced Deployment ... 6

Deployment requirements ... 7

Common Model Requirements ... 7

Web Client ... 7

Web Application Server ... 7

Web Cluster Server ... 7

File Server ... 8

Database Server ... 8

Communication ... 9

Between Web Client and Web server (Web Application Server or Web Server Cluster) . 9 Between Application Server (MEGA Application Services) and Database Server (Oracle)9 Between Application Server (MEGA Application Services) and Database Server (SQL Server) ... 9

Between Web Server Cluster (MEGA Application Services) and File Server ... 9

Security and Administration ... 10

Making Architecture Secure ... 10

Firewalls and DMZ ... 10

Making Communication Secure ... 10

High load and Scalability ... 10

Data Protection ... 10

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Data Integrity ... 10

Data Access and Visibility ... 10

Securing Access to Solutions ... 11

Licensing ... 11

Authentication Policy ... 11

Password Protection and Storage ... 11

Login and Password Management Rule ... 12

LDAP Integration ... 12

Service Administration ... 12

Process and Session Monitoring ... 12

Activity Tracking Elements (Logs) ... 12

Glossary ... 13

General terms ... 13

FAQs ... 15

Is MS Internet Explorer 6.0 supported as an HTML client? ... 15

Why are Windows Server 2008 systems recommended? ... 15

Is Google Chrome supported as an HTML client? ... 15

Can the MEGA Web Application run on a web server other than IIS? ... 15

Can MEGA Web Application run on a mobile platform? ... 15

What are the JavaScript technologies used by MEGA Web Application? ... 15

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D EPLOYMENTS M ODELS

MEGA Web Application can be deployed in different typical architectures:

• Standard deployment: common deployment model, recommend for standard requirements.

• Advanced deployment: recommended for large deployments or if scalability and load balancing are concerned.

Other deployment models – For specific requirements, other deployment models are possible. For further information, contact your sales representative.

Deployment Comparison Table

This table can help you choose the appropriate deployment model:

1 - 29 concurrent

users 30 - 500 concurrent users*

Recommended architecture Standard deployment Advanced deployment

* Beyond 100 users, we recommend a specific study to confirm that the deployment model and the administration procedures are appropriate for project activity and the technical architecture used.

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Standard Deployment

Here is a short description of the most common deployment model, recommended for standard requirements.

3 main nodes are involved:

• Web Client.

• Web Application Server: single server used as:

o Web Server.

o Application and File Server (MEGA Application Services, MEGA Environment, MEGA License).

• Database Server.

W in dow s File System Inte rnet Info rma tion

Serv ic es

Web Application Server Web client

H T ML Brow ser

Database Server

R D BMS Serv er

MEGA Repository

HTTP Request

HTTP Response

MEGA App lic a tion

Serv ic es

DCOM Request

DCOM Response

RDBMS Request

RDBMS Response

MEGA Environment

MEGA License Folder M EGA W e b

App lic a tion (IIS) Ado be Flash

Pla yer

2009 SP4 page 5/15

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Advanced Deployment

Here is a short description of the advanced deployment model, recommended for high scalability requirements.

4 main nodes are involved:

• Web Client.

• Web Server Cluster (MEGA Application Services, Web Server).

• File Server, used to host MEGA Environment and MEGA License.

• Database Server.

W in dow s File Syste m

Inte rnet Info rma tion Serv ic es Web client

H T ML Brow ser

Database Server R D BMS Serv er

MEGA Repository

HTTP Request

HTTP Response

M EGA Ap plic ation Serv ic es

DCOM Response

RDBMS Request

RDBMS Response

MEGA Environment MEGA License Folder Web Server Cluster

File Server

DCOM Request

SMB Request

MEGA W e b App lic a tion (IIS)

Ado be Flash Pla yer

SMB Response

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D EPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS

Common Model Requirements

Web Client

HTML client MS Internet Explorer IE 7.0, 8.0 Mozilla Firefox

Firefox 3.0

Configuration Screen resolution 1024x768 65000 colours

JavaScript enabled Cookies enabled

Plug-in Adobe Flash player

9.0 or higher

Web Application Server

Operating system Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) recommended Windows Server 2008 (32-bit or 64-bit) recommended Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2003 SP2 (32-bit)

For other systems a specific study is necessary Hardware Processor

Multi core RAM

2 GB minimum.

1 GB for the system

250 MB per concurrent user Disk space

1.5 GB recommended for MEGA Application Services 500 MB recommended for MEGA Web Application (IIS) 1 GB recommended per MEGA Environment folder 10 MB for MEGA Licence

Web Server MS Internet Information Services 6.0 MS Internet Information Services 7.0 MS Internet Information Services 7.5

Script layer ASP .NET

.NET Framework 2.0 or higher

Web Cluster Server

Operating system Windows Server 2008 (32-bit or 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)

For other systems a specific study is necessary

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Hardware Processor Multi core

1 core per group of 20 users.

RAM

2 GB minimum.

1 GB for the system

250 MB per concurrent user Disk space

1.5 GB recommended for MEGA Application Services 500 MB recommended for MEGA Web Application (IIS) Web Server MS Internet Information Services 6.0

MS Internet Information Services 7.0 MS Internet Information Services 7.5

Script layer ASP .NET

.NET Framework 2.0 or higher

File Server

Operating system Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 (32-bit or 64-bit) Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit or 64-bit) Windows Server 2003 SP2 (32-bit)

For other systems a specific study in necessary Hardware Processor

Multi core RAM

1 GB minimum.

1 GB for the system Disk space

1 GB recommended per MEGA Environment folder 10 MB for MEGA Licence

Database Server

Operating system See RDBMS requirements

RDBMS Oracle Database Server 11

Standard or Enterprise Edition Version 11.1.0.6

Oracle Database Server 10g R2 Standard or Enterprise Edition Versions 10.2.0.4 or higher

SQL Server 2008 (32-bit) Standard or Enterprise Edition SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise Edition

Disk space Data: refer to the document 'Repository - RDBMS Installation Guide MEGA 2009 SP4'. For Oracle, 2 GB minimum per user or system repository

Hardware RAM: a specific study is required. Refer to the separate article 'Repository - RDBMS Installation Guide MEGA 2009 SP4'.

CPU: see hardware requirements of the RDBMS.

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C OMMUNICATION

Between Web Client and Web server (Web Application Server or

Web Server Cluster)

Protocol HTTP by default

Port 80 by default

Network bandwidth 512 Kbit/s or higher recommended

Between Application Server (MEGA Application Services) and

Database Server (Oracle)

Protocol Oracle Native protocol

Port TCP 1521 (Oracle Remote Database)

Network bandwidth 100 Mbit/s or 1 Gbit/s recommended

Between Application Server (MEGA Application Services) and

Protoc ol

Database Server (SQL Server)

ol SQL Server native protoc

Port UDP/TCP 1433 (Microsoft-SQL-Server) Network bandwidth 100 Mbit/s or 1 Gbit/s recommended

Between Web Server Cluster (MEGA Application Services) and File

Pr Server Message Block Protocol (SMB Protocol)

Server

otocol

Port SMB Ports:

• NETBIOS

• NETB Datagram Service (UDP/TCP 138).

P 445) IOS Name Service (UDP/TCP 137).

• NETBIOS session service (UDP/TCP 139)

• Simple Network Paging Protocol (UDP/TC Network bandwidth 100 Mbit/s or 1 Gbit/s recommended

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S ECURITY AND A DMINISTRATION

Making Architecture Secure

Firewalls and DMZ

To configure firewall ports, see the table above.

The Web Cluster Server, Application Web Server and File Server must be located inside the DMZ.

Making Communication Secure

You can configure the HTTPS to improve the security of flows between the Web Client and the Web Server.

High load and Scalability

The advanced deployment architecture is recommended for high load and scalability requirements.

Data Protection

Data Integrity

The MEGA Web Application platform benefits from the proven MEGA Repository storage

Note also that, by default, all updates are performed in transactions.

Data Access and Visibility

It is possible to configure the MEGA repositories to which a user has access.

It is possible to configure the type of information to which a user has access by configuring

See document 'MEGA Administration - Supervisor', section 'Filtering the Metamodel'.

It is also possible to configure the data to which a user has access by implementing data

See the document 'MEGA Administration - Supervisor', section 'Data Confidentiality'.

solutions.

metamodel filters on the MEGA Profile.

confidentiality management.

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Securing Access to Solutions

Licensing

MEGA Web Application only supports MEGA Must Licences.

An installation will require:

• At least one Data Access Product

E.g.: Repository Storage (ORACLE) or Repository Storage (SQL Server).

• At least one Web Platform Product

E.g.: MEGA Architecture Anywhere Storage (ORACLE)

See also the 'Must License Installation Guide MEGA 2009 SP4' document.

Authentication Policy

Connection to the MEGA Web Application is controlled to enable access to authorized MEGA Environments, MEGA Users and MEGA Repositories.

The connection window enables the web user to select:

• A MEGA Environment.

• A user (login) for the selected MEGA Environment.

• A database for the selected MEGA Environment and MEGA User.

• A password for the selected MEGA User.

The user and password are checked according to the authentication mode. Anonymous connections are not authorized.

Several authentication modes are available and must be specified:

• MEGA authentication: authentication is managed by MEGA in a specific MEGA directory.

• Windows authentication: authentication is made using MS Active Directory.

• LDAP authentication: authentication is made using an external LDAP directory.

Configuration can be done at the MEGA user level but it is recommended to adopt a homogeneous policy.

Users must be identified as MEGA users in the MEGA data (systemdb repository).

The list can be initialized (one shot) from an access to a MS Active Directory. MEGA does not

propose a permanent synchronization feature.

Connection to the administration page should be protected by configuring the IIS server.

User configuration is made by the administrator using MEGA Administration Console.

See the 'MEGA Administration - Supervisor' document, the 'Authentication in MEGA' section.

Password Protection and Storage

Password check depends on the chosen authentication mode:

• MEGA authentication: user passwords are stored within a MEGA directory (systemdb repository, value encrypted with the AES algorithm).

• Windows authentication: user passwords are stored in the MS Active Directory.

• LDAP authentication: user passwords are stored in an LDAP directory.

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Login and Password Management Rule The MEGA Administration Console enables to

• Manage MEGA Users (create, delete, disable, change and configure authentication).

• Reset MEGA User passwords (only for MEGA authentication mode).

LDAP Integration

MEGA enables the LDAP authentication.

• A LDAP server must be configured for the MEGA environment.

• LDAP Authentication must be activated at the user level.

See the 'MEGA Administration - Supervisor' document, the 'Authentication in MEGA' section.

Service Administration

Process and Session Monitoring Process monitoring is carried out using the:

• MEGA Administration Page.

• Web Server standard monitoring tools (IIS Manager…)

• Application server standard monitoring tools (Task manager…).

The MEGA Administration Page enables monitoring various elements including:

• Web user connections to the MEGA Web Application.

• Active MEGA processes.

• MEGA Connection Profiles.

• Administration and diagnosis report generation.

Besides, the administration of MEGA Environments and MEGA Users is carried out on the MEGA Administration Console.

See the 'MEGA Administration - Supervisor' document, the 'Managing users' section.

Activity Tracking Elements (Logs) The MEGA Application Services enable managing:

• An Embedded logging of data updates (active by default). This has an impact of data size on application performances.

An external logging of data update

• s (not active by default)

Log configuration and consultation of activity tracking for an object is carried out using the MEGA Administration Console.

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G LOSSARY

General terms

Term Definition

Availability A measure of a computer system's ability to maintain services despite hardware or software failures. A highly available system delivers services to clients a high percentage of the time.

Cluster A group of independent computer systems, referred to as nodes, working together as a unified computing resource Database Server A database server is a machine providing database

services to other machines. In this document the database server is a machine running relational database management systems. A database server can host one or several instances.

Example:

• Server 'iba.company.com'

• Server '192.888.777.666'

• Server 'SQL02'

Domain User User in MS Active Directory

File Server Server used to share files. Hardware must include upper quality components for disk and disk-controller card.

Configuration must be in favour of file access performances in read and write mode.

IIS, Microsoft Internet

Information Services Microsoft technology. Web Server Platform enabling the execution of web applications.

Load The amount of work being done by a node. In Network

Load Balancing, load is measured as a raw number of connections.

Load Balancing A technique for scaling performance by distributing requests across multiple nodes.

MEGA Administration Console Administration console that performs administration tasks including:

• Managing MEGA environments.

• Managing MEGA repositories.

• Managing MEGA users.

• Managing MEGA profiles.

MEGA Administration Page Web page that enables the performance of basic administration tasks including:

• Managing web user connections.

• Managing caches.

MEGA Advisor Web application enabling to consult a MEGA Repository.

With MEGA 2009, it is designed for IIS. One server machine can host a maximum of one MEGA Advisor installation

MEGA Application Services MEGA Application installed on a server and providing services to other applications such as the MEGA Web Application.

MEGA Disk CD/DVD containing the installation program of the MEGA

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software. The content of this disk can be copied to a network folder and installed from the network.

MEGA Environment Data workspace for a group of MEGA users. A MEGA environment references a systemdb repository and one or several user repositories

MEGA Licence Licence used to run MEGA software (MEGA Product, MEGA Options or MEGA Bundles). Different technologies are available. The most common one is the MEGA Must license.

MEGA Profile Group of MEGA users in a MEGA environment (systemdb).

It makes it easier to manage MEGA user configurations (options, permissions, license)

MEGA Repository A MEGA repository is a database that constitutes the workspace in which modelling data is stored. Several users can connect to the repository and work simultaneously. A repository therefore allows several users to work as a team on the same project.

MEGA Storage Format There are different storage formats for a MEGA repository:

• GBMS (MEGA DBMS, proprietary format).

• Oracle (RDBMS, Oracle).

• SQL Server (RDBMS, SQL Server).

MEGA User User account in a MEGA environment (systemdb) MEGA Web Application MEGA Platform for web environments.

Note that the MEGA Products and Options available for the MEGA Desktop Application are different from those available for the MEGA Web Application.

MEGA Web Application (IIS) .NET application installed on an IIS server using the MEGA Disk program. It communicates with MEGA Application Services to provide the MEGA Advisor Application.

Server Message Block Protocol

(SMB Protocol) Protocol used by a client machine to request file and print services to a MS Windows file server. Previously called CIFS protocol.

Web Application Server Server playing both web server and application server roles.

Web Server Cluster Cluster of Web Servers

Web User A Web User is a user of a web application, for example of the MEGA Modeller or the MEGA Advisor application.

This user may either be authenticated by the Web server (IIS, Apache…) or by the Web application (written in PHP, ASP, JSP, ASP.NET...). The authentication defines whether the user exists and if it can connect to the Web site.

Windows User for MEGA Web

Application Domain user that owns the process of MEGA Web

Application on the Web Application Server E.g.: [email protected]

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FAQ S

Is MS Internet Explorer 6.0 supported as an HTML client?

Only versions 7.0 and 8.0 of MS Internet Explorer are supported.

Why are Windows Server 2008 systems recommended?

Our tests confirmed that the most recent Windows Server 2008 systems were superior to Windows Server 2003 systems.

• More robust.

• Easier installation and configuration.

• Additional features (clustering…).

Is Google Chrome supported as an HTML client?

Google Chrome has not been qualified for the MEGA Web Application.

Can the MEGA Web Application run on a web server other than IIS?

With MEGA 2009 SP4, MEGA Web Application is designed for IIS only. MEGA is working on the

a mobile platform?

top computer.

What are the JavaScript technologies used by MEGA Web Application?

ide, nothing is required except Adobe Flash player and an HTML browser.

side, nothing is required except the .NET Framework. All necessary execution talled by MEGA. MEGA uses an embedded JRE (Java run-time environment SE deployment on other web servers (WebSphere).

Can MEGA Web Application run on

MEGA Web Application is designed for a web client running on a desktop or lap It has not been designed for pads or smart phones.

MEGA Web Application uses different JavaScript related technologies:

• Ajax.

• Extjs.

• Dojo.

• JSON.

• Flash.

On the client s On the server layers are ins version 6.0).