SecureView 3.0 Architecture Overview

1. General Architecture

SecureView for OWA 3.0 will integrate in to the existing Enterprise. The following diagram illustrates one possible scenario.

The existing network architecture remains in-tact, with the addition of a Transform Engine preferably running on a separate server.

SecureView for OWA v3.0 software is installed on each Exchange Front-End where the viewing technology will be made available to the end users. No additional modifications are required.

2. Process Overview

Document conversion through the end-users OWA takes place by the processes outline below in figure 2.0. The conversion process does not begin until after a user has logged in to OWA and clicked on a “Secure View” link next to an email attachment.

Step 1 Exchange Front-End requests a copy of the attachment from the users mailbox located on the Exchange Back-End. Step 2 Exchange Back-End makes the attachment available to the Front-End. Step 3 Exchange Front-End sends the file or file reference to the Transformation Server. Step 4 The Transformation Server converts the document in to HTML and makes it available to the Exchange Front-End. Step 5 The converted document is displayed in the end users browser in manner that prohibits client side caching of the file.

Figure 2. High-level process overview [Click image for larger view]

3. Component Overview

SecureView for OWA v3.0 consists of three components. These are:

• Front-End User Interface
• Conversion Request Component
• Transformation Engine

The following diagram, figure 3, illustrates the respective locations of each of these components.

Communication between the Front and Back-End Exchange servers is performed by the Front-End User Interface. All traffic between the Front-End and Back-End exchange servers takes place over the same channels it did before SecureView for OWA was installed.

Communication between the Front-End Exchange Server and the Transformation interface is executed by the Conversion Request component.

4. Front-End to Transformation Engine Connectivity

Communication between the OWA Front-End and the Transformation Engine is done exclusively through the Conversion Request Component.

The Conversion Request Component and the Transformation Engine use the SOAP protocol to communicate over a user-definable port number.

5. Load Balancing and Scalability

The bulk of the processing is done by the Transformation Engine. There are a variety of systems in place to allow load balancing and scalability.

1. Transformation Management
The Transformation Engine runs a manager which spawns agent processes to execute the actual transformation. The number of agents and time restrictions for each agent are configurable on the Transformation Engine.

2. Document Caching
Recently converted documents are stored in a cache on a per user basis so that the same document will not be converted twice if viewed multiple times.

3. Multiple Transformation Engines
Where the user base is very active multiple Transformation Engines can be used transparently by the end user. Conversion requests will be sent seamlessly to different transformation engines to split up the load.

6. Flexible Modular Design

Conversion Request Component
The modular nature of the components in the document conversion process will allow transformation requests to come from various sources.

By tying in various interfaces from across the enterprise is will be possible to use the Conversion Request Component, in various environments, for future projects.

Transformation Engine
Everywhere Networks can make additional interfaces available to the Transformation Engine. Existing infrastructure can remain intact while new services continue to be offered.

7. Requirements

The following software requirements are necessary for SecureView 3.0

Front-End
• Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server
• Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003
• Microsoft.NET 1.1

Back-End
• Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2003 Server
• Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003

Transformation Engine
• Microsoft Windows 2000 or 2003
• Microsoft .NET 1.1

8. Server Upgrade Considerations

When upgrading from Exchange 2000 to 2003 on the Front-End the User Interface component of SecureView 3.0 will need to re-installed, and the installer will automatically make the appropriate changes.

No modification is required to an Exchange Back-End to make SecureView work, so Back-End upgrades should not pose any concern.