| Oracle® Collaboration Suite Concepts Guide 10g Release 1 (10.1.1) Part Number B14478-01 |
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View PDF |
| Oracle® Collaboration Suite Concepts Guide 10g Release 1 (10.1.1) Part Number B14478-01 |
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|
View PDF |
Oracle Collaboration Suite is composed of three conceptual tiers, or layers. The Infrastructure tier of Oracle Collaboration Suite consists of Oracle Database 10g and the necessary Oracle Internet Directory components to support the second tier, the Applications Tier. The Applications tier consists of the components that are the heart of Oracle Collaboration Suite's functionality.
The third conceptual tier of Oracle Collaboration Suite is the Client tier. The Client tier of Oracle Collaboration Suite consists of the end-user applications that reside on client devices, such as desktops, laptops, wireless phones, and PDAs.
Figure 2-1 Oracle Collaboration Suite Architecture
This chapter consists of the following sections:
The Infrastructure tier of Oracle Collaboration Suite is the base tier of Oracle Collaboration Suite and consists of the following components:
Oracle Database 10g serves as the repository for the Oracle Collaboration Suite component schema information and Oracle Application Server 10g Metadata Repository. Depending on your needs, it is also possible to install Oracle Database 10g and then install the Oracle Collaboration Suite component schema and Oracle Application Server 10g Metadata Repository into this database.
Oracle Identity Management consists of the following components:
Oracle Internet Directory is a general-purpose directory service that stores security and management information for Oracle Collaboration Suite. It provides authentication and a centralized user model, which enables the creation and management of users on an enterprise scale. It also enables fast retrieval and centralized management of information about dispersed users and network resources.
As a result, Oracle Internet Directory offers the extensibility of LDAP v3 (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Version 3) along with the high performance, security, scalability, robustness, and availability features of Oracle Database 10g.
Oracle Internet Directory uses Oracle Database 10g to support large amounts of directory information and uses shared LDAP servers and database connection pooling to support thousands of concurrent clients in sub-second search response times.
Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On enables you to use a single user name and password and, optionally, a realm ID, to access all features, applications, and accounts of Oracle Collaboration Suite. By using Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On, you can access all applications for which you are authorized, without having to re-enter a user name and password for each application.
When a user tries to access an application in Oracle Collaboration Suite, the user is redirected to the Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On server module. This Oracle HTTP Server module provides authentication to Oracle Collaboration Suite applications.
Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On provides the following benefits:
Convenient login: You do not have to maintain a separate user name and password for each application that you access.
Increased security: When a password is required only once, you are less likely to use simple, easily exposed passwords or to write these passwords down.
Delegated Administration Services (DAS) is a set of service units that enable directory administrators to delegate responsibilities to lower administrators or to end users.
The Oracle Internet Directory Self-Service Console is a tool that is built using Oracle Delegated Administration Services units. It comes prepackaged, but you can, if you wish, build your own tool using the same Oracle Delegated Administration Services units out of which the Oracle Internet Directory Self-Service Console is built.
The Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning platform enables you to integrate applications and other directories with Oracle Internet Directory. It provides all the interfaces and infrastructure necessary to keep the data in Oracle Internet Directory consistent with that in Oracle Collaboration Suite's applications and connected directories. Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning also makes it easier for third-party vendors and developers to develop and deploy their own connectivity agents.
Based on the nature of integration, the Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning platform provides two distinct services:
The synchronization integration service, which keeps connected directories consistent with the central Oracle Internet Directory.
The provisioning integration service, which sends notifications to target applications to reflect changes made to entries of interest, such as users and groups
The Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository is a part of any Oracle Collaboration Suite Infrastructure installation.
Essentially, the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository is an Oracle Database 10g that is pre-seeded with schemas to support Oracle Collaboration Suite components and services. These stored schemas are used by Oracle Collaboration Suite components for organizing data in the Oracle Database.
Under the most common deployment scenarios, the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository is created as part of a single Oracle Collaboration Suite Database. However, in deployments using several Oracle Collaboration Suite Databases, only one would contain the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository.
Since the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository is an Oracle Database 10g database, it can be managed using standard Oracle database procedures and tools.
See Chapter 3 "Deploying Oracle Collaboration Suite" in Oracle Collaboration Suite Deployment Guide for more information on deployment options for the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository.
See the section "Managing the OracleAS Metadata Repository" in Chapter 6 of Oracle Collaboration Suite Administrator's Guide for information on managing the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository.
The Applications tier of Oracle Collaboration Suite is composed of the components discussed in the section Oracle Collaboration Suite Applications Overview in Chapter 1, "Overview of Oracle Collaboration Suite". Each of these components is discussed in greater detail in the following chapters.
