Architecture
Last updated
Last updated
Hoozin is a SharePoint-based solution that's deployed on an existing web farm, and requires minimum SharePoint farm settings that include the following components:
One or more web frontal servers
One or more application servers to host services, notably the search function
One or more database servers to host the SQL instance that manages all SharePoint data
The hoozin architecture consists of three layers:
The web interface, which is a SharePoint portal deployed on the frontal server(s).
A hoozin application service that handles access and security. This service is deployed on one or more application servers.
A set of databases that store user data (SharePoint data), profile information, and security (AD LDS Directory), as well as indexation information, settings, and statistics related to hoozin.
This schema shows an overview of the general hoozin architecture, with its main components and interactions:
The hoozin web portal is the main element that will be automatically deployed on your SharePoint frontal server(s). This will allow the user interface to be visible to end-users.
The hoozin application service, deployed on one or more of your servers, will handle all operations and actions performed by end-users or administrators. These will impact the following key areas:
Security
User management, profiles, and members
Creation of new communities and discussions
Management of alerts and notifications
The SharePoint content database will stock all data created by end-users. Hoozin stores all shared information using the standard SharePoint format, such as:
Sub-sites for communities
List elements for messages
Comments, documents, attachments, etc.
All data is stored in SharePoint, allowing you to leverage its search capabilities and use any existing backup systems already in place for SharePoint.
SharePoint's native functions will handle all of your security smoothly in a standardized and automated manner. SharePoint's native functions will handle this smoothly.
The hoozin database uses SharePoint indexing and referencing to speed up data interfacing. The database hosts a set of indexes and views that are queried by the hoozin engine to speed up data lookup and retrieval, with the remaining data hosted in the SharePoint content database. It also stores all hoozin-specific settings, as well as the configurations of your hoozin applications.
The hoozin database also contains change logs and consolidated metrics related to activity in hoozin. Hoozin statistics and monitoring rely on this information, on top of other information from SharePoint or your company directory, to deliver meaningful reports and graphs about users, content, trends, etc.
The hoozin application directory's AD LDS component stores extended profiles for your users who will be accessing hoozin. This directory will also manage the accounts and passwords of external hoozin users who do not exist in your company’s Active Directory.
Community member lists and discussion members are also managed through AD LDS. Hoozin comes with a set of administrative tools that give you the ability to automatically synchronize your AD LDS with your corporate Active Directory or any other directory source. This allows you to extend your user profiles even further using additional business information from your HR systems, accounting systems, etc.
User authentication management in hoozin is based on standard SharePoint APIs to secure content and authenticate users, which guarantees both security and reliability for the platform. It also offers the best integration capabilities for your existing IT environment and infrastructure.
Hoozin supports several authentication modes. The hoozin SharePoint web application that will be provisioned during the hoozin installation uses a claims-based authentication mechanism that works with:
Integrated Windows authentication (NTLM, Digest, Kerberos, etc.), like most SharePoint web applications.
Form-based authentication (FBA), which also gives you the ability to invite external users (users with no account in your company’s directory) to hoozin. We recommend using the SSL protocol when working in form-based authentication mode in order to protect your users' credentials.
A combination of these two authentication modes (mixed authentication) can also be set up.
A new SharePoint web application will be provisioned for your new hoozin portal.
A new AD LDS instance will be created on the designated server.
A new SQL Server database will be created on the designated SQL Server instance.
A new SharePoint Application Service will be provisioned on one or more of your SharePoint application back-end servers.
Hoozin SharePoint solutions (WSP packages) will be installed and deployed on your SharePoint farm. The entire deployment process is automated and performed using the hoozin setup program. Hoozin SharePoint solutions are built and packaged according to Microsoft’s SharePoint software development and deployment best practices. This guarantees the best reliability and scalability, and lowers maintenance costs for your platform.
