Slides from Oracle's ADF Architecture TV series covering the Deployment phase of ADF projects, investigating different server topologies to support ADF applications. Like to know more? Check out: - Subscribe to the YouTube channel - http://bit.ly/adftvsub - Deployment Playlist - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJz3HAsCPVaTFLxxO8qwwZqk7mpEcXOwG - Read the episode index on the ADF Architecture Square - http://bit.ly/adfarchsquare

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2. 2 Copyright © 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Real World ADF Design & Architecture Principles
Server Topologies
ORACLE
PRODUCT
LOGO
15th Feb 2013 v1.0

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Learning Objectives
• At the end of this module you should be able to:
– Identify a WLS topology that suits your requirements
– Understand the restrictions of ADF Runtime Libraries & how this
impacts your WLS topology
– Appreciate that high availability is a sliding scale of requirements
and can raise the costs of your systems significantly
Image: imagerymajestic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Program Agenda
• Server Topology Introduction
• WebLogic Server Topology
• System Topology

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Server Topology Introduction
• Investigate WLS server topologies and “system” topologies for ADF
• Learning path
– Start with overly simplistic development topologies to assist learning
– Progress to considering production topologies
• We will consider ADF infrastructure only
– No other Java EE (e.g. JMS) or FMW components (e.g. MDS or WebCenter)

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WLS Topology Challenges & Considerations
• How to support?
– Scaling
– Application failover and high availability
– Fine grained JVM tuning per application
• How to control?
– Security
– Maintenance costs
– License costs

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Program Agenda
• Server Topology Introduction
• WebLogic Server Topology
• System Topology

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WLS Quick Refresher
• Hosts = physical or virtual machines
• Domains = cross server configurations
• Managed servers = run applications
• AdminServer = administrates managed
servers
• Node manager = starts managed servers
(not considered beyond here)
• JVM per managed server
• Cluster = collection of managed servers
Image: Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Architecture and Management – McGraw Hill Oracle press

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Minimal “Developer PC” Topology
• 1 ADF application
• 1 WLS “AdminServer” (~managed server)
• 1 WLS Machine
• 1 ADF Runtime version
• 1 WLS Domain
MachineY
AdminServer
ADF Runtimes
V12.1.2
ADF v12.1.2
Application1
DomainA

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Minimal “Developer PC” Topology
• Advantages
– Little server configuration and maintenance
– JVM can be tuned to single application
– Low license costs
• Disadvantages
– Really only suitable for Developer PCs
– Security risk in AdminServer used for applications
– No clustering, no high availability
– Application not tested for clustering

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Multiple Application Topology
• >1 ADF applications
• 1 WLS “AdminServer”
• 1 WLS Machine
• 1 ADF Runtime version
• 1 WLS Domain
Challenge addressed: Support multiple ADF applications
MachineX
AdminServer
ADF v12.1.2
Application1
ADF v12.1.2
Application2
ADF v12.1.2
Application3
ADF Runtimes
v12.1.2
DomainA

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Multiple Application Topology
• Advantages
– Little server configuration and maintenance
– Running multiple applications
– Low license costs with one physical machine.
• Disadvantages
– Really only suitable for Developer PCs
– Security risk in AdminServer used for applications
– No clustering, no high availability
– Application not tested for clustering
– Can’t support multiple ADF Runtimes
– Host bounce reboots all applications
– One JVM has to cater for all application, can’t be tuned for 1 app

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Multiple ADF Runtimes Topology
ADF Runtimes v12.1.2.0.0
• Only 1 version of ADF Runtimes can
be installed in a domain
• = (1 Domain + 1 Machine + Managed
Server) x ADF Runtime versions
• ADF applications must be deployed
to domain of same ADF Runtime
version
Challenge addressed: Supporting multiple ADF applications on different
ADF Runtime versions
DomainA
MachineX
AdminServer
ADF Runtimes
v12.1.2
ADF v12.1.2
Application1
ADF v12.1.2
Application2
DomainB
MachineY
AdminServer
ADF Runtimes
V11.1.1.6
ADF v11.1.1.6
Application3

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Multi-ADF Runtimes Topology
• Advantages
– Run multiple applications on separate domains
– Host bounce limited to smaller subset of applications
• Disadvantages
– Security risk in AdminServer used for applications
– No clustering, no high availability
– Application not tested for clustering
– JVM configuration still can’t be tuned for 1 app
– Licensing costs
– Maintenance costs

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Split AdminServer Topology
ADF Runtimes v12.1.2.0.0
• AdminServer split from Managed Server
• Managed Server hosts ADF application
• AdminServer still runs on same physical
host to reduce license cost
• Can be turned off when not in use
Challenge addressed: Reserving AdminServer for administration,
creating separate managed server for application(s)
DomainA
MachineX
AdminServer ServerA_X_1
ADF Runtimes
v12.1.2
ADF v12.1.2
Application1

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Split AdminServer Topology
• Advantages
– AdminServer can be shutdown and restarted separate to application’s managed
server, enhancing security if needed
– JVM for manager server can be tuned for ADF application only
• Disadvantages
– No clustering, no high availability
– Application not tested for clustering

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Single Machine Cluster Topology
DomainA
MachineX
Cluster
AdminServer ServerA_X_1 ServerA_X_2
ADF Runtimes v12.1.2
ADF v12.1.2
Application1
Instance2
ADF v12.1.2
Application1
Instance1
• Managed servers host same ADF
applications
• Applications share state through
serialization
Challenge addressed: graceful application state failover

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Single Machine Cluster
• Advantages
– If application fails can switch over to other application instance on cluster
– Allows you to test failover – making it suitable for test environments
– Low license costs
• Disadvantages
– If machine/host fails, all applications and state are lost
– Overhead of running 2 JVMs on one machine
– No scalability benefits

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Multi Machine Cluster Topology
DomainA
MachineY
Cluster
AdminServer ServerA_Y_1 ServerA_Z_2
ADF Runtimes v12.1.2
ADF v12.1.2
Application1
Instance2
ADF v12.1.2
Application1
Instance1
• Managed servers host same ADF
applications, applications share state
through serialization
• Applications are split across machines
• Automatically restart failed nodes with
node manager
Challenge addressed: graceful application failover and scalability
MachineZMachineX

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Multi Machine Cluster
• Advantages
– If application fails can switch over to other application instance on cluster
– Additional machines increase scalability of applications
• Disadvantages
– Configuration and maintenance
– Hardware & license costs

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Program Agenda
• Server Topology Introduction
• WebLogic Server Topology
• System Topology

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System Topologies
• Consider suitable production topologies
• Ignored discussing logical “VM” and physical hosts
• WLS topologies have been diagrammatically simplified to hide detail
• No consideration of high availability at the persistence layers

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System Topology Challenges & Considerations
• Scalability
• High availability and failover
• Security
• Compression and caching
• Others?

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Assumptions
• Following slides assume Oracle products will be used for all parts of the
solution stack
• 3rd party products can be substituted, product names will vary
• High availability of the Oracle RDBMS and Oracle Identity Management
solutions will not be considered

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Low Volume Topology
• 1 server is sufficient for load
• No interest in HA or failover
• WLS is authenticating/authorizing client via LDAP
RDBMS
LDAP
Managed
Server
WLS Domain
Client(s)

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Managed
Server
WLS Domain
Non Clustered Scalable Topology
• Scalability achieved by adding separate servers (physical)
• Load balancer splits requests and provides client session affinity
• Load balancer can be a hardware appliance or software HTTP proxy
• Application failover is not a requirement
RDBMS
Client(s)
Managed
Server
WLS Domain
LDAP
Load
Balancer

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High Volume Topology
RDBMS
Client(s)
WLS Domain
LDAP
Load
Balancer
Cluster
Managed
Server(s)
Web
Cache
HTTP
Server
HTTP
Server
• HTTP servers offload processing from WLS including compression, SSL
termination (if not done at the LB)
• Web cache (or CDN) allows offloaded processing for serving static content
• Oracle Traffic Director can replace both these functions
• WLS Clustering gives high availability and failover
Web
Cache

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Active Active Topology
RDBMS
Client(s)
WLS Domain
LDAP
Local
Load
Balancer
Cluster
Managed
Server(s)
HTTP
Server
HTTP
Server
RDBMS
WLS Domain
LDAP
Local
Load
Balancer
Cluster
Managed
Server(s)
HTTP
Server
HTTP
Server
Global
Load
Balancer
• Off site disaster recovery
• http://bit.ly/N7EiWa
Web
Cache
Web
Cache
Web
Cache
Web
Cache

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Secure Topology
RDBMS
WLS Domain
LDAP
Cluster
Managed
Server(s)
HTTP
Server
HTTP
Server
Firewall
• Internet delivered applications will use firewalls to isolate the external
resources from the outside.
• More than one firewall can be used to create a DMZ in case the first firewall
is penetrated
DMZ
Firewall Firewall
Client(s)
Load
Balancer
Web
Cache
Web
Cache

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SSL Termination?
RDBMS
WLS Domain
LDAP
Cluster
Managed
Server(s)
HTTP
Server
HTTP
Server
DMZ
Firewall Firewall
Client(s)
Load
Balancer
Web
Cache
Web
Cache
Image: imagerymajestic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
What are viable locations
to terminate the SSL?
Do we need SSL
on the inside too?

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Conclusion
• “High availability” as a requirement isn’t a yes or no answer
– It’s a sliding scale of options
– The higher the HA requirement
• The more complex server topologies and configuration you require
• The higher your license costs
• The more staff you require to maintain the setup

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Further Reading
• Understanding WLS Domains http://bit.ly/USU7lX
• FMW High Availability Guide http://bit.ly/VHJhjn

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