Product: Integrations

Article Link: http://help.truecommerce.com/en/articles/10450313-integrations-servers-client-and-workstations

Whenever you're working with an Integrated Solution whether it is a Framework or Flat-File based integration you will often come across some technical terms that can be confusing if you're not familiar with them.

For the purpose of a TrueCommerce Integration, we can break down that terminology into groups to help clarify the type of access TrueCommerce may need in order to ensure your integration operates smoothly.

For simplification we can break down a business process into Servers, Clients, and Workstations that each have their own unique usage.

A dedicated machine that is central to your system's operations, these often hold the primary installation of your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, your databases which contain all your data, and often many important documents & files in a central location allowing everyone to access them from different computers.

Simply any machine that is used to access the server, or shared files through an external way. For example - the computer or laptop that most employees log into to perform day to day tasks are usually a client machine.

A dedicated machine that is often built for a set of specific tasks - this could be a machine designed to handle all your warehousing needs, or one that is used as an access point for employee's to access your Business System. It may be an automated machine that runs backups each night separate from the server.

There are many types of server configurations, but at a top-level overview a Server is a machine that controls or stores data for all other machines to access.

Many servers these days would fall under the broad category of Virtual Server - these are servers that are typically hosted by a dedicated provider such as Microsoft Azure where they're less tied to any specific physical machine, and instead are being hosted through a series of images that can be created, destroyed, or restored in a manageable solution making them fairly versatile.

These servers are typically accessed through Remote Desktop Connection(RDC) through windows or another application granting access and ability to remotely start/shut down the server.

A Database (db) Server or a SQL Server is a dedicated machine that holds a Database where often your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data is stored safely to be used across your company.

Often many applications will have a database installed onto your SQL Server allowing this server to house data for multiple important applications in a central location.

A Terminal Server is a type of server that allows multiple users to log into it at a single time, each with their own username. These are specialized servers typically designed to give Administrators the ability to configure a single environment and then provide restricted access to employees who need to log in as clients to perform tasks.

Often an Application (App) Server is one that's dedicated for hosting of various Applications, Software, or Services typically accessed through a web-based platform - allowing clients to access various applications through their browser rather than needing to directly log in or gain access to the server through traditional networking means.

The term Client is fairly generic - it simply is referring to any connection that is not storing the data it is trying to access.

As previously discussed - most Workstations are considered clients. These are local machines configured for a specific purpose such as accessing or processing data in some particular way by interacting with a server and performing the operations on its end.

Whenever an individual logs into a Terminal Server utilizing credentials that are not local to that machine - the user is logging in as a Terminal Client which provides the user with restricted access allowing them to perform specific operations within the server, but often preventing making changes or modifications to the environment itself.

Any client that accesses a web-application through a browser is considered a Web Client - which is simply a set of user credentials used to access online platforms.

rev 1/23/2024