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iPlanet Market Maker 4.5 Deployment Guide |
Chapter 1 Planning the Deployment
This chapter discusses planning the deployment of the iPlanet Market Maker software for your environment.To accomplish full deployment of the iPlanet Market Maker software, you need to follow the instructions in the iPlanet Market Maker Installation Guide, Customization Guide, and possibly the Upgrade Guide.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Overview of iPlanet Market Maker
Overview of the Deployment Process
Overview of iPlanet Market Maker
The iPlanet Market Maker software is a business-to-business e-commerce platform for building digital marketplaces where buying and selling companies can come together to conduct business online.The iPlanet Market Maker software consists of a set of JSPs, Java servlets, and Java classes that are deployed on an iPlanet Application Server. The modular architecture of the software makes it an extensible platform to build custom marketplaces.
These modules are combined with a customizable portal layer to provide personalized views and content to participants. The platform is based on open standards such as J2EE technology, HTTP, LDAP, and XML. It is also made up of many other well-defined industry standard components and interfaces.
Figure 1-1 shows the architecture of the iPlanet Market Maker software.
Figure 1-1    iPlanet Market Maker Architecture. ![]()
Figure 1-2 illustrates the business process flow in a production environment.
Figure 1-2    iPlanet Market Maker Business Process Flow. ![]()
Overview of the Deployment Process
iPlanet Market Maker is supported by a number of other products. The major steps for deploying iPlanet Market Maker are:
Installing and configuring hardware systems.
For information on the known problems and limitations, refer to Chapter 6 "Troubleshooting." Before installing the supporting software products, read this chapter so that you have a better understanding of any known issues and workarounds.Installing and configuring software components, including:
Configuring the software components
Formatting and importing data, such as catalogs and price lists
Integrating the iPlanet Market Maker system with other applications and systems, such as iPlanet Messaging Queue and the iPlanet Portal Server
Tuning performance to make sure that the iPlanet Market Maker software is functioning smoothly and according to the unique needs of the customer
Table 1-1 provides a checklist of the high-level tasks for deploying the iPlanet Market Maker application.
The left column indicates the sequence in which the task should be performed.
The center column describes the task.
The right column provides information about where to find instructions, guidelines, or tools for performing that task.
Table 1-1    Deployment Task Checklist
Task
Location of Instructions/Guidelines/Tools
1
Plan the deploymentdetermine timeline, team members, locales, requirements
2
Chapter 2 "Sizing Your System"
Sizing Calculator tool
Developing the Deployment Plan section3
4
iPlanet Market Maker Installation Guide
Software Requirements section
Documentation for the software components
5
6
Chapter 3 "Configuring Your System"
Oracle documentation
Chapter 3 "Configuring Your System"
iPlanet Market Maker Installation Guide
Actuate documentation7
8
9
10
11
Planning for Installation
During deployment planning, you should have decided on the production setup and the server architecture for your marketplace. Don't start the installation process until your deployment planning is complete.
Further information on preparing, installing, and configuring the hardware and software systems is contained in the sections of this chapter. For detailed instructions on installing the iPlanet Market Maker software, refer to the iPlanet Market Maker Installation Guide.
The order of high-level installation steps is:
Ensure connection with the Oracle database.
Check the Java version. At the command prompt, type:
Stop your iPlanet WebServer.
Verify that the iPlanet Directory Server is running.
Extract the iPlanet Market Maker installation files and install the software on the server(s) where the iPlanet Application Server is installed.
Install and configure Solaris (with appropriate patches) on the servers designated to host the Oracle database, iPlanet Directory Server, iPlanet Application Server, iPlanet WebServer, and the iPlanet Market Maker software.
Install and configure Oracle with the interMedia option, iPlanet Directory Server, iPlanet WebServerr, and iPlanet Application Server on the designated servers.
Note If you need to install iPlanet Directory Server and iPlanet WebServer on the same machine, install iPlanet Directory Server first.
Software Requirements
The following software supports the iPlanet Market Maker 4.5 product:
Patches
Patches may be required for some of the supporting software products. Before installation, it is important to check the release notes for the supporting software to see if patches are required and how to get them.
iPlanet patches can be downloaded from the following web site:
Release notes for iPlanet products can be found at the following web site:
Solaris Patch Information
Refer to the iPlanet Market Maker Installation Guide for a list of the patches that are required or recommended for iPlanet Market Maker 4.5.JDK 1.2.2_07 + JDK patches for Solaris are available at:
In addition to the patches listed in the table, you may also want to install the latest patch cluster for your version of Solaris that includes additional recommended appropriate links starting at:
Patches can be obtained from your service provider or can be downloaded from the web. To download the patches, start at the following location and follow the links to download the JDK (the patches are available on the same page as the JDK):
For more information, refer to:
Developing the Deployment Plan
Before installing the iPlanet Market Maker software, the implementation team must develop a deployment plan to ensure optimal performance of the system. The deployment plan should identify the material contained in following section:
Determining the Development Setup
Determining the Marketmaker Requirements
Determining the Development Setup
To provide an environment for customizing and testing the iPlanet Market Maker software before sending it to the production environment, you should set up one of the following:
Basic Development Setup
This setup provides a platform for modifying the software and performing minimal testing after modifications are made. Typically, this setup consists of a single machine where all the software components (iPlanet Market Maker, iPlanet WebServer, iPlanet Application Server, iPlanet Messaging Queue, iPlanet Directory Server (LDAP) database, and Oracle database) are installed.
Note You need to install iPlanet Messaging Queue only if you are deploying the Exchange module.
Advanced Development Setup
This setup expands on the basic development setup by adding a quality assurance function to validate expected performance on a particular configuration. This setup accounts for the fact that user load will be distributed among several servers and that the database will run on separate machines.The advanced setup consists of the following:
At least one server where the iPlanet WebServer, iPlanet Application Server, and iPlanet Market Maker software are installed.
The advanced development setup is recommended over the basic development setup.At least one server where the iPlanet Messaging Queue, iPlanet Directory Server (LDAP) database, and Oracle database are installed.
Note The advanced setup recommended specifies only the minimum requirements. However, it can be expanded to install the server applications on separate machines.
Determining the Marketmaker Requirements
To determine the requirements of the marketmaker organization you need to consider the following:
AvailabilityDetermine the requirements in terms of how important it is for the marketplace to remain up and running.
SecurityDetermine the requirements in terms of the need for security features, such as SSL decryption.
Expected usage (user load)Estimate how heavily the different modules of the iPlanet Market Maker software will be used in terms of the following:
Number of concurrent usersThe most common variable in determining the scalability of any e-commerce platform is the number of concurrent users that the platform needs to support.
Note Concurrent users are those actively running the software at one time, which is not necessarily equal to the number of users logged into the marketplace at one time.
Intensity of usageIn order to size a production setup and tune an installation for better performance, the implementation team should quantify the intensity of usage for individual functions in terms of numbers of simultaneous users. The most commonly used functions, which were included in the mixed scenarios tested in our performance test labs, include the following:
CatalogUsers browsing and searching.
Size of the databaseAlthough the iPlanet Market Maker software is designed to work with large databases, it is normal to expect that a substantial increase in the size of a database could have an impact on the response times of the software. However, there is only a minimal relationship between the size of the database and performance of the software in terms of response times.RFxBuyers creating requests and sending the requests through distribution lists, and sellers creating responses.
Order Management SystemBuyers creating requisitions and submitting purchase orders for approval, and sellers approving or rejecting purchase orders.
Community RegistrationNew companies and users registering.
ExchangeTraders placing orders for commodities.
Estimating Initial Hardware Requirements
Based on the performance tests conducted using the development setup, you can develop a sizing calculator to derive an initial estimate of the size of the hardware configuration to meet the requirements of the marketmaker organization.Refer to Chapter 2 "Sizing Your System," for information on sizing.
Determining the Production Setup
Based on the policy considerations of the marketmaker organization and levels of security and availability required, you should select from the following production setups:
Basic Production Setup
The basic production setup includes facilities for balancing the load and connecting the web servers to a single port. This provides a level of security acceptable for marketmaker organizations that have separate enterprise security mechanisms or that run the software on intranets or virtual private networks (VPNs). If the enterprise security group at a marketmaker organization is not concerned with the security of data as it travels along the wire, this setup should be sufficient.The basic production setup includes:
Several web servers (iPlanet WebServer)
Several application servers (iPlanet Application Server) in which the iPlanet Market Maker software is installed.
A server for the iPlanet Directory Server (LDAP) database and iPlanet Messaging Queue.
A server for the Oracle database.
At least one firewall to protect the iPlanet Application Servers from the Internet
Note The basic production setup has been tested in our performance labs.
Production Setup with SSL
The production setup with SSL expands on the basic production setup by encrypting all communication sent over the Internet, ensuring that the data is secure. In addition to the elements used in the basic production setup, the production setup with SSL includes the following:
More powerful servers at the web server layer, so that SSL decryption can be performed on the data before the data reaches the web servers.
A separate web server for static content. This reduces the encryption overhead by removing static content that is not sensitive (for example, images).
Note The production setup with SSL has not been tested in our performance labs.
High-Availability Production Setup
The high-availability production setup expands on the SSL production setup by taking measures to ensure the highest levels of security and availability. In addition to the elements used in the production setup with SSL, the high-availability production setup includes elements such as the following:
An Oracle Parallel Server for high availability of database using Sun Cluster technologies to ensure that the iPlanet Market Maker software can work in the event of any one Oracle instance going down. This is important when the Oracle database is part of a lager database containing critical data.
Sun Cluster technologies to ensure that a hardware failure does not affect the marketplace.
An iPlanet Directory Server using the Directory Server Replication configuration to replicate a directory server, and high availability. Alternatively, you can use the iPlanet Directory Access Router implementation, which offers a complete 7X24 solution for high availability of the directory. For more details, consult your sales representative.
A message queue cluster.
Note The high availability production setup has not been tested in our performance labs.
Hardware Configurations
The iPlanet Market Maker software consists of a set of JSPs, Java servlets, and Java classes that are deployed on an iPlanet Application Server and static content on iPlanet WebServer. Consequently, when deploying the iPlanet Market Maker software, it is necessary to consider the scalability of the iPlanet Application Server, iPlanet WebServer, and the Oracle and LDAP databasesIt is also important to achieve an optimized balance between the processing power assigned to the servers where the iPlanet Market Maker software is installed and the processing power assigned to the database servers. In all production setups, the iPlanet Market Maker software runs on servers that are separate from the database and directory servers where the data is stored.
In the hardware configurations described in this section, we use mostly servers with four CPUs. Although you can use different machine configurations, you should consider the advantages of machine redundancy and machine similarity for load balancing and maintenance.
The components discussed here are:
Hardware Components
Each of these hardware components should be evaluated in relation to each other, so that the configuration of the machine is balanced. The purpose of balancing the right hardware component is to make sure that these components are utilized to the maximum extent without becoming CPU intensive or I/O intensive.
CPU selectionTo ensure scalability, you can select the latest versions of CPUs.
For the best combination of hardware for different setups, consult iPlanet Professional Services for recommendations.RAM selectionRAM is a key component in machine performance. Because access to hard disks is thousands of times slower than memory access, enough RAM should be available to cache the data and prevent operating system paging. This would increase the system performance enormously. One GB of RAM for each processor is a safe estimate to start with, however, it could be lower or higher depending on the application being hosted. Apart from the application and the databases, operating system file systems, such as UFS, use RAM for UNIX file system buffer cache. Ensure that the highest density of RAM (2G RAM instead of two 1G RAM) is used so that spare RAM slots are available for upgrading RAM.
Hard disk selectionSince I/O is the major factor influencing system performance, proper selection of drives, drive cache, and controllers is very important. Consider installing smaller and more drives instead of one large drive in order to achieve random I/O operation for databases. This can be achieved by using RAID options with multiple controllers. Selecting the drives with write-cache helps to improve physical I/Os by writing to the cache and avoiding I/O queues. When considering RAID, it is preferable that striping is done across controllers in hard drive storage arrays. Multiple controllers are required if the system is set up with any kind of mirroring.
The following sections describe the hardware configurations for each of the three production setups described previously. Because the three examples are so similar with regard to hardware requirements, we present only one configuration for each setup. These configurations should be acceptable for both examples.
Basic Production Setup
In this case, the basic production setup for the companies would include a firewall layer of web servers to isolate the application servers running the application from the Internet.Table 1-3 summarizes the hardware recommended for the basic production setup.
.
The Basic Production Configuration diagram (Figure 1-3) illustrates a basic production setup for the example companies. Although the sizing calculator indicated that the application server and web server layers would require four machines each, the diagram shows that you can start with two machines and phase in additional machines as the user load increases. When phasing in additional machines, you should always add machines to the web server layer and application server layers in pairs, maintaining a 1:1 ratio between web servers and application servers to maintain proper fail-over.
Figure 1-3    Basic Production Configuration ![]()
Production Setup With SSL
In this case, the production setup with SSL for the companies would include a firewall layer, an upgraded layer of web servers to handle SSL decryption, and a separate web server for static content. Table 1-4 summarizes the hardware recommended for the production setup with SSL. Instead of upgraded web servers, it might be possible to use Sun's Crypto Accelerator Boards to off-load SSL processing from the CPU.
The SSL Production Configuration diagram (Figure 1-4) illustrates a production setup with SSL for the example companies.
Figure 1-4    SSL Production Configuration ![]()
High-Availability Production Setup
In this case, the high-availability production setup for the companies would include a firewall layer, an upgraded layer of web servers to handle SSL decryption, and a separate web server for static content. The Oracle database should be hosted on a cluster, and the LDAP server should be a producer-consumer configuration. Table 1-5 summarizes the hardware recommended for the high-availability production setup.The goal of this configuration is to have no single point of failure. Therefore, all of the following servers need a load balanced/clustered configuration:
The High-availability Production Configuration (Figure 1-5) diagram illustrates a high-availability production setup for the example companies.
Figure 1-5    High-Availability Production Configuration ![]()
Summary
Table 1-6 and Table 1-7 below provide details of the development and production setups.Note that the production setup with SSL and the high-availability production setup have not been through all of our performance tests.
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Last Updated March 25, 2002