As these notes are derived from a training course, the details here are for a specific configuration.
There are sure to be many variations available which are not noted below.
Disclaimer!
The “trainer” was excellent and if any of the following seems poorly ordered (or incorrect) it is not their fault.
They did their best to provide the necessary information to a fairly diverse group.
Hardware overview:
In this particular system there are 3 “core” computers:
Main server
Backup Server
Witness Computer
The Servers are “serious” with multiple CPU’s, each with multiple CORES and a lot of memory.
The Witness is a PC.
All are using SSD’s to assist performance.
Server Software overview:
Cerebrum servers (main and backup).
Each server runs multiple applications: the “Cerebrum Server application” itself and optionally an SQL Server.
There is no requirement for the SQL server (main or backup) to be physically on a cerebrum server, so its flexible but can get a bit messy!
In a simple system each physical server has a Cerebrum application and an SQL server.
Server User interface:
Everything these days has a GUI of some kind.
To those who are familiar with “Cortex”, Cerebrum server has a similar appearance, but with much much more.
Server User Interface – Views:
There are a number of views available.
Server System/Device View:
This shows all the devices in a tree structure.
Devices are added/deleted/configured here.
Clicking on a Device in the tree opens up a Control view which contains all the details for that device (which can be rather substantial).
Time spent perusing the Device view and the associated Control view’s is worthwhile as much can be learned about the system architecture and Cerebrum’s operation.
Server Control and Navigation View:
These may be configured to do what the end user requires.
Server Event log View:
Enough said.
Witness (any pc on same network).
The witness is simply that, an application that monitors other applications, in this case the two Cerebrum Servers.
Essentially the 3 computers communicate between each other, monitoring status and health of the others.
If for example the Main server starts to fail, this will be detected and the Backup server takes over.
Other Applications – Cerebrum Client.
Also running on the Witness PC is a Cerebrum Client.
It is possible for 4 Cerebrum Clients to be active simultaneously.
This is the run time environment customized to the end user’s requirements.
The Control and Navigation View are also available for custom user applications.
It contains a similar System View but not all settings are available (some are present only on the Server)
Other Applications – Cerebrum Designer:
As the name suggests this is the development tool used to create the custom pages and application above.
This may be used online or offline, however in offline mode no real time data is available.