2.3. The IDERI note Server Components

The IDERI note server components consist primarily out of a service program (the “IDERI note service”) that runs on a single computer and stores the messages that are created for users by the IDERI note administration components.

This service runs two network interfaces, the administration interface and the client interface. The administration interface is the network interface that the IDERI note administration components connect to in order to view, create, modify or delete messages or in order to use the push-model to notify users about alerts that require immediate attention. Using this interface, administrative users can also retrieve statistic information such as how many clients are currently connected to the IDERI note server and when they last synchronized with the server or if the current amount of client licenses is still sufficient. The client interface is the network interface that IDERI note clients connect to and register with.

Once a client has connected to the server, the number of available client licenses is reduced by one. If the client disconnects (because the user logs out, the client computer is shut down or the client loses connection to the server for whatever reason), the number of available client licenses is incremented by one. Using the client interface, the client also receives updates about messages that have been deleted, changed or created since it last connected to its server.

Besides from the IDERI note Server itself, the IDERI note server components contain a control panel applet that allows for changing operating modes of the IDERI note server, change log file settings, backup settings and most importantly, manage licensing information.

The IDERI note server components are typically installed on a single computer in an organization.

If an IDERI note server is installed in an Active Directory® environment, it is easily possible to register this computer as an Active Directory® Service Connection Point (SCP). Using a service connection point, clients find their server via an AD query, so they don’t have to be deployed in such a way that they have to connect to a server with a hardcoded server name. If more than one IDERI note server has to be deployed in an AD, because of the sheer size and number of clients or because of network topology or network reliabity reasons, then the IDERI note servers can also be configured as service connection points. The only constraint that has to be kept in mind in this case ist that there should only be at most one IDERI note server that is registered as a Service Connection Point per each AD site. If multiple IDERI note servers are registered as Service Connection Points within the same AD site, then clients that are configured to choose their server via an AD query might connect randomly to the available servers. In order to prevent this, clients should be configured in such environments to connect to a hardcoded server (“hardcoded” means that the client should be deployed in such a way that the server name is passed to the client program as a command line parameter). If a client is configured to determine its associated IDERI note server via an AD query for a Service Connection Point, then the client will preferrably connect to an IDERI note Server in the AD site, where the client is currently located. Only if there is no IDERI note server in the current site, the client will connect to another server in the AD. This way, clients that frequently change their AD sites will always connect to the most appropriate server for their current location. Of course, these considerations don’t apply if you have only one IDERI note server running in your AD and registered as a Service Connection Point. In that case, all clients that determine their IDERI note server via an AD query for a Service Connection Point will only use that server.

The terms “IDERI note server” and “IDERI note service” are often used interchangeably to refer to the same thing, namely the service that runs as a separate process on a computer to which IDERI note clients connect. Sometimes the term “IDERI note server” is also used to denote only the computer that runs the “IDERI note service”. In the following, it should be obvious from the context, what is meant when the term “IDERI note server” is used.