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| Novell Portal Services Overview and Gadget Development | ||
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| April 2003 | ||
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| DeveloperNet University Course | ||
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Novell Portal Services: An Overview of the Technology
Now that we have a basic understanding of what Portals are all about, let's dive in and lean about Novell's solution: Novell Portal Services or NPS for short.
NPS is a software framework for creating and deploying enterprise portals. NPS is based on a Sun J2EE Architecture and is deployed to a Java Application server supporting the Servlet specification.
Marketing Blitz
The advent of the Internet has created a deluge of accessible information. Data, documents, and applications from practically any point in the world are virtually available to anyone at any other connected point. The major problem that exists as a result of this "connectedness" is in getting the right information to the right person. This involves not only making sure users get information they need and want, but also ensuring that access to this information is secure and protected.
One of the most valuable Internet technologies to address this problem is the Web portal. Portals aggregate appropriate information from multiple and disparate sources into a single view for users enabling them to see all information, perform any tasks, and access any applications that are relevant to their needs. News updates, messages, business applications, transaction information, current prices, inventory levels, project status, and white-page directories are just a few of the types of information that can be brought together for convenient user access through a portal.
Novell Portal Services is an Enterprise Information Portal that is designed to allow businesses to consolidate information from multiple sources into one view for employees, partners, and customers. Novell Portal Services allows implementers to build a comprehensive and consolidated view of data and applications that is easily accessed by any authorized party.
Novell Portal Services is based on Internet standards (XML, XSL, HTML, LDAP) and Novell's industry leading directory technology--NDS eDirectory. Using Internet standard protocols, information is available from practically any source, whether it be other Web sites, Web-based applications, databases, or data stored in legacy applications. eDirectory provides an advanced management and security infrastructure that greatly simplifies the organization and administration of a portal. eDirectory's object oriented schema and inheritance characteristics make it possible to uniquely modify portal views for thousands of users with one simple operation. eDirectory's authorization and sign-on mechanisms ensure access to information based on verified identity.
Novell Portal Services is valuable for several different market segments including enterprise companies, service providers, and systems integrators. Enterprises use Novell Portal Services to provide custom views of information to employees, customers, suppliers and partners. Service providers, such as application service providers (ASPs) or Internet service providers (ISPs) are implementing Novell Portal Services create portals and to enable customers to set up their own access to resources. Systems integrators and consulting services organizations are using Novell Portal Services to help organizations share information and access resources with all associated stakeholders.
Today's business environment demands that organizations make better use of their information so they can boost efficiency, build value, and achieve competitive advantage. Novell Portal Services provides the framework for bringing together all of the enterprise applications and information resources necessary to make those critical business process improvements.
Supported Platforms
The current version of NPS is 1.5, but there is also a Service Pack available for it, so v1.5 with SP 1.0 is the current version.
The NPS Server supports the following platforms:
- Windows 2000
- NetWare 6.0
- Linux (Redhat 7.1)
- Solaris 8
Web Server Support includes:
- Microsoft IIS for NT/Win2000
- Apache
Java Application Server Support includes:
- WebLogic
- Apache/Tomcat
- JRUN
- iPlanet
It is important to note that specific configuration/version details apply to each OS.
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) support includes:
- JVM: Sun 1.3.1_01, IBM 1.3
- JVM: Novell JVM for NetWare v1.3
Browser Support includes:
- Netscape Navigator 6.1 or later
- Internet Explorer 5.0 or later for Macintosh
- Internet Explorer 5.0.1 or later for a PC
- PocketPC
Administration and Standards Compliance
NPS is in compliance with the top and emerging web standards. NPS is 100% Browser/Portal based. It is also 100% based on LDAP. In addition, NPS makes extensive use of XML and XSL.
NPS High Level Design
NPS deploys into a Web Server/Java Server integration. Looking at the left side of Figure 1, you see the standard browser-based interface communicating through a corporate firewall to the corporate Web Server/Java Application Server.
Figure 1: High Level NPS Design.
NPS runs on the server, allowing access to back-end data sources via Gadgets and providing additional services such as:
- Session Manager
- Gadget Manager
- Configuration Manager
- Authentication Server, featuring Single Sign-On
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