Software Architecture - Quiz 1 Notecards

Business Capabilities

Design of key operations (functions, cross-functional processes) in eg, manufacturing, marketing, sales, R&D

IT Applications

Software, including CRM ERP, SCM, PLM, payment systems, that support key business processes

IT Integration platform

Software that integrates company’s applications, determines which application provides which functionality or service

IT Infrastructure products

Grouping of hardware into infrastructure products with define service-level agreements

IT Infrastructure

Standardization of physical infrastructure to optimize procurement and maintenance

Consistency and standardization

Uniformity and conformity in the design and implementation of IT architectures

Business Model

Company’s strategy for creating value for customers; business processes to deliver that value

Software

Programs and operating information used by a computer

Applications

Computer software designed to help the user to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks

OS

Operating system software that manages computer hardware and software resources

Hardware

Physical components of a computer system

Client

A computer or program that requests services or resources from the server

Server

A computer or device on a network that manages network resources

Storage

The retention of retrievable data on a computer or other electronic system

Input/Output

The communication between an information processing system and the outside world

Network

A group of interconnected computers or other devices that can communicate with each other

Presentation Layer

The layer that interacts with the user and displays the user interface

Business Layer

The layer that contains the business logic and rules of the application

Data Layer

The layer that manages the data access and storage

Service Layer

The layer that provides service-based solutions to integrate directly to support clients

Architectural Styles

Families of architects that share certain characteristics in IT architecture

N Tier Architecture

Dividing applications into layers that perform logical functions such as presentation, business logic, and data access

Microservice

An architecture that consist of a collection of small autonomous services that communicate via API and are responsible for persisting their own data

Big Compute

The ability to split work into discrete tasks that can run across many cores simultaneously

Big Data Architecture

Handles the ingestion, processing, and analytics of data that is too large or complex for traditional database systems

Design Principles for Well-Architected Applications

Includes reliability, redundancy, scalability, security, and evolutionary architecture

Highly cohesive and loosely coupled services

Services that are logically connected and can be changed independently without affecting other services

Open interfaces

Interfaces that expose well-defined API contracts and are versioned for easy updates

API

A set of features and rules that act as an interface between a software program and other items

Private API

An API for initial use with the company having most control

Public API

An API open to anyone that allows third parties to develop apps that interact with it

Partner API

An API shared with specific business partners to provide additional revenue streams without compromising quality

Message Brokers

Inter-application technology to build a common integration mechanism to support various architectures

Client Server architectures

Allowing hardware and software from different vendors to be used together

Integration Layer

Used to achieve interoperability between different components or enterprise applications

Middleware

Software that connects components or enterprise applications, enabling communication and data management

Distributed Computing Environment (DCE)

A standard for middleware that provides a set of services for distributed applications

Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)

A standard for middleware that enables communication between distributed objects

Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC)

A standard for middleware that provides a standard software API for accessing database management systems

IT Architecture

Provides a structured approach to designing applications on the cloud that are scalable, resilient and highly available

Layers

Describe the logical groupings of the functionality and components in an application

Tiers

Describe the physical distribution of the functionality and components on separate servers, computers, networks, or remote locations

Non Distributed Deployment (N-Tier)

Has minimal number of physical servers and limited scalability

Distributed Deployment (N-Tier)

Has the layers of the application residing on separate physical tiers and is scalable

Reliability

The ability of a system to recover from failures and continue to function

Redundancy

Build [blank] into your application, to avoid having single points of failure

Scalability

The ability to use as much capacity as you need, scaling out as load increases, and scaling in when the extra capacity is not needed

Security

Protecting applications and data from threats

Evolutionary Architecture

The ability to allow systems to evolve over time so that businesses can take advantage of innovations as a standard practice

Load-balanced Cluster

Receive incoming requests and redirect them to a specific host if necessary

Scale Up

Adding hardware such as processors, RAM, and network interface cards (NICs) to your existing servers to support increased capacity

Scale Out

Add more servers and use load balancing and clustering solutions

Availability Zones

A single data center or a collection of data centers within a Region

Orchestration

The automated configuration, management, and coordination of computer systems, applications, and services