High-Level Architecture Model - Updated July 24, 2002


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High-Level Architecture Model

This topic describes the high-level architecture model for the BEA WebLogic Commerce Server and Personalization Server with Portal Framework, and Campaign Manager. It includes system architecture diagrams and brief explanations for each server component.

This topic includes the following sections:

Personalization Server with Portal Framework Architecture

The BEA WebLogic Personalization Server product enables you to build, launch, and maintain high-performance Web sites that offer dynamic and personalized content delivery. Figure 2-1 illustrates the high-level architecture of the Personalization Server.

Figure 2-1 WebLogic Personalization Server Architecture

Web clients or other Web-based devices access the middle layer of the WebLogic Personalization Server through HTTP. This middle layer contains various components for both presentation (including JavaServer Pages) and business logic (specialized Enterprise JavaBeans). The EJBs use JDBC connections to communicate with a relational database. The Personalization Server uses a rules engine in concert with the user profile and content management system to determine personalized content for a user.

Table 2-1 provides a brief description of each WebLogic Personalization Server component.

Table 2-1 WebLogic Personalization Server Components

Component	Description
JSPs	JavaServer Pages
JSP Beans	Accessed by using the useBean tag in a JSP. JSP Beans facilitate communication between JSPs and back-end services, and centralize reusable JSP functionality.
User Management	Supports the runtime access of users and groups, the relationships between them, and their associated properties.
Content Management	Provides the runtime API by which content is queried and retrieved.
Rules Service	Uses the underlying BEA rules engine to execute rules that have been defined with the Rule Editor tool. These rules query user profile information and other information to generate personalized content.
Personalization Advisor	Interface to the most common operations that personalized applications will require.
Foundation Classes and Utilities	Provides a set of objects and utilities to support personalization activities.

Commerce Server Architecture

The BEA WebLogic Commerce Server is an out-of-the-box product that allows you to quickly build and deploy e-commerce Web sites. The Commerce Server is shipped with the Personalization Server, which provides the mechanisms for personalization of this e-commerce functionality. Figure 2-2 illustrates the high-level architecture of the Commerce Server.

Figure 2-2 WebLogic Commerce Server Architecture

Web clients or other Web-based devices access the presentation layer of WebLogic Commerce Server via HTTP and HTTPS. The presentation layer handles the display of information using conventional technologies such as JSP, HTML, and XML. The Webflow layer handles all navigation logic. It also uses Pipeline components to access the EJB-based business logic that exists behind the Commerce APIs. Any of the layers within the Commerce Server system can make use of the personalization services provided by the WebLogic Personalization Server. Finally, the entire application leverages the WebLogic Server security services and WebLogic Server J2EE capabilities.

Table 2-2 briefly describes each WebLogic Commerce Server component.

Table 2-2 WebLogic Commerce Server Components

Component	Description
Presentation	JavaServer Pages (JSPs), static HTML, XML, and so on.
Webflow (Navigation)	Determines the destination where requests should be routed, based on a user's current location and the action performed. The destination could be a JSP, an input processor, or a Pipeline component.
Pipeline	Container that manages execution of Pipeline components. Pipelines can be transactional or non-transactional.
Pipeline Components (EJB Business Logic)	Services that perform the bulk of the commerce logic. These services are implemented with native Java objects and stateless session EJBs. The decision on whether to implement them as EJBs depends upon the requirements for security, object pooling, ease of deployment, and WebLogic Server resources.
WebLogic Personalization Server Services	WebLogic Personalization Server-provided services such as rules, Unified User Profile (UUP), and Content Management.
WebLogic Server Security Realm	Security services (authentication, role assignments, and so on) provided by the WebLogic Server security realm. These services are in place at runtime.

Campaign Manager

A campaign coordinates several WebLogic Personalization Server, WebLogic Commerce Server, and Campaign Manager for WebLogic services to create and track marketing goals on an e-commerce Web site. For example, an organization can use campaigns to sell 100 ACME saws during the month of June. To reach this goal, Marketing can target advertising, e-mail, and discounted product pricing to users who match a set of criteria, such as users who have previously purchased ACME hardware from a site.

Essentially, Campaign Manager is composed of a campaign service and a scenario service. There are two main Campaign Manager components: the Campaign Service on the server side, and the BEA E-Business Control Center^TM tools on the client, which are used to specify campaign scenarios.