Because the Data Server can exist behind firewalls, it also greatly simplifies and strengthens the secured delivery of information to clients beyond the firewall. In small scale deployments or prototyping situations there may be a case where it is desired not to provide the Data Server because of the costs of a dedicated machine or server software. However, the setup and security issues involved with the Direct Data Connection often outweigh any cost benefits.

NOTE: Refer to the Data Sources section of this documentation to see if deployment with a Direct Data Connection is supported by your data source.

The pros and cons of the two scenarios, Served Data and Direct Data Connection, are described below.

Pros and Cons

Issue	Served Data	Direct Data Connection
Setup	Server:  Requires Data Server and Data Servlet setup  Client:  Requires less setup since clients do not need to have security settings configured to allow access to back end data, and do not need to meet all system requirements for each data source	Server:  Does not require Data Server and Data Servlet  Client:  Requires more setup since each client must have security settings configured to allow access to back end data, and meet all system requirements for each data source
Performance	For a very small deployment it is slower, but for all other deployments it is faster	For a very small deployment it is faster, but for all other deployments it is slower
Security	Secure since only the Data Server accesses back end data applications and the firewall does not need additional ports opened.	Less secure since each client accesses back end data applications and the firewall needs additional ports opened
Scalability	More scalable due to data requests being federated and caching by the Data Server	Less scalable since each client makes  individual data requests
Cost	Large Deployment: Client maintenance more costly, hardware less costly Small Deployment: Hardware cost equal to Direct Data Connection but client maintenance more costly	Large Deployment: Client maintenance less costly, hardware more costly Small Deployment: Hardware cost equal to Served Data but client maintenance less costly

Rich Client Browser with Served Data
With this solution, the Data Server is typically installed on a dedicated server and gathers, federates and caches the data which is supplied via a socket to a Data Servlet installed on the application server. The clients can then access the Enterprise RTView displays via the Display Viewer Applet (see Figure 10).

Deployment with the Data Server has several benefits. Access to your data sources is restricted to a single machine, the Data Server, instead of multiple applet clients connecting to your data sources. This lends to better performance and higher security. This scenario also entails a simple client setup, fewer applet requirements, easy applet setup, and no modifications to your firewall. When you deploy Enterprise RTView as a Rich Client Browser with Served Data, depending on the command, commands are executed either on the server or the client. See command descriptions for information on where commands are executed.
  Figure 10: Rich Client Browser with Served Data Deployment Overview

Choose Rich Client Browser with Served Data Deployment

Each individual client must be configured so that it can have direct access to data sources. This may involve the installation of additional software such as database drivers or middleware components depending on the data source types used (see Figure 11).

NOTE: Refer to the Data Sources section of this documentation to see if deployment with a Direct Data Connection is supported by your data source. Figure 11: Rich Client Browser with Direct Data Connection Deployment Overview

Choose Rich Client Browser with Direct Data Connection Deployment