TM1 Architecture

[Acc_Moonwalk]

Hi Team,

I want to know what is TM1 Architecture , Is it 3 Tire or 2 Tier . Because i see in IBM site it saying 3 Tire if we use Contributor . Then if we use only TM1 WEB will it be 2 Tire . If we dont use TM1 web will it be single Tier Architecture.

Normally what "Archi" exactly is this .

Regards
Ashok

[qml]

I'm not sure if you understand what you are asking about (1-tier?!), but TM1 Web and TM1 Contributor would be an example of a 3-tier architecture (browser - app - database), whereas using the thick Excel-integrated Client/Perspectives or Architect would equal to using a 2-tier architecture (client - server).

[mce]

Tm1 does not store its data in a relational third party database. It stores it in memory and in Tm1 application server. Hence I think we cannot talk about it being 3 tier (db-app-web). For Tm1 web and Tm1 Contributor, you can have seperate web servers than the TM1 application server. Hence they would be considered as 2 tier I think.

[jim wood]

They may be describing contributor as 3 tier as it uses Tomcat which is used to serve intranet rather internet where as TM1 Web uses IIS which is straight to web.

I'm only taking a shot in the dark trying to guess why they are saying one is 3 and the other is 2 so don't shoot me down.....

[Alan Kirk]

Isn't this getting a bit like arguing about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin?

With TM1 the number of layers, tiers, call them whatever you want between you and the data will depend on what method you use to access the data. (Perspectives, Web, EV, BI, Citrix, a VB.Net app plugged into the API...) And given that in many environments a mixture of these may be used, I'm not sure that much is gained by trying to stick a specific label on it.

Or put another way, why was the original question even asked? Was there some purpose behind it?

[jim wood]

A good point Alan. My guess would be that teh original question was about somebody who doesn't currently use TM1 trying to understand the architecture.

It's like somebody going on to a cloud storage forum and asking about it's architecture. I guess the best piece of advise we could give somebody in that situation is that they should read the through the IBM TM1 pages and watch the videos available on you tube.

Or we could we could go on debating what defines an architecture layer for a bit???

[tomok]

I think you can always debate the definition of architecture but under the traditional definition it means how many different software components the system passes through, not how many actual boxes you run it on. Under that definition Perspectives is two-tier and TM1Web is three-tier. Whenever a client wants an architecture discussion, that's what I tell them. I also believe that is the official answer given by IBM as well.

[jim wood]

I think you can always debate the definition of architecture but under the traditional definition it means how many different software components the system passes through, not how many actual boxes you run it on. Under that definition Perspectives is two-tier and TM1Web is three-tier. Whenever a client wants an architecture discussion, that's what I tell them. I also believe that is the official answer given by IBM as well.

When it comes to data and it's storage that can get a little fuzzy but I think you are right.

[mce]

With TM1 the number of layers, tiers, call them whatever you want between you and the data will depend on what method you use to access the data. (Perspectives, Web, EV, BI, Citrix, a VB.Net app plugged into the API...) And given that in many environments a mixture of these may be used, I'm not sure that much is gained by trying to stick a specific label on it.

Agreed. For example, when it is used as a datasource in Cognos 8 BI, TM1 becomes the db tier, being part of a 3-tier architecture.