Re: [school-discuss] ZIS Server (was: Project Proposal)

[Les Richardson <richl@mail.tfsd.sk.ca>]

As well, this will also mean that we will have to have apps that can test
interoperability such as your admin setup, Steve, and some of the
administrative packages I've written.

So it means not _just_ writing a ZIS server, but also updating the apps
themselves to support this... ;-(

Les





On Tue, 22 Jan 2002, Tonnesen Steve wrote:

> 
> On Tue, 22 Jan 2002, Chris Hobbs wrote:
> 
> > Tonnesen Steve wrote:
> > 
> > >As far as demand goes, don't forget
> > >that this machine isn't actually _generating_ any of this data, it is just
> > >passing messages back and forth between other applications.  I don't
> > >suspect that speed of the ZIS server is going to be as critical as you
> > >might think.  
> > >
> > So based on this message and the one where you detail SIF messages, a 
> > server merely acts as a gatekeeper - when a request comes in from app A, 
> > the server checks it's registrations to see which app provides that 
> > info. If app B is registered as the provider, does this mean that the 
> > server merely tells app A where to find the info, or does the server 
> > request the data from app B and then resend it to app A?
> 
> The latter.  The ZIS server is in charge of all access controls.  It can
> read all data from app B, but if app A is actually a student running an
> application that shows daily announcements, they will only be allowed to
> view announcements intended for students.  The SIF protocol outlines 3
> types of nodes:
> 
> ZIS server  - There is only one of these
> 
> Agent
> Application
>   These are in pairs.  The application is something like a Student
>   Information System.  The agent is the program that passes messages back
>   and forth between the Application and the ZIS server.
> 
> >From what I understand, the Agent may have to be capable of receiving
> messages that are PUSH'ed from the ZIS server, so it has to be capable of
> sending out HTTPS requests as well as receiving HTTPS requests.  I think
> that agents might be able to tell the ZIS server that they are PULL only
> agents and the ZIS server cannot contact them directly.   It woouldn't be
> necessary for a "Daily Announcements" application to have PUSH capability,
> for example.  The user could just click on a Refresh button to PULL new
> announcements or the application could poll for new announcements.
> 
> Steve.
> 
>