Keri Systems Doors.NET Manual - Manual (Page 11)

Doors.NET Reference Manual
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System Architecture Overview
The core software module is the Application Server. This component communicates with
the SQL database, client work stations, and software gateways that communicate with
the access control hardware. It is a TCP socket server that accepts connections from
both the gateways and clients, and provides a generic transport mechanism for any
.NET class object, collection of those objects, or file. It interrogates the transport objects
in real-time and determines which stored procedures are to be executed. It also controls
which clients have access to data and routes messages from the gateways to the correct
clients. All communication is handled asynchronously and has the following options on
encryption:
l
No Encryption
l
RC2
l
DES
l
TripleDES (128 or 192 bit keys)
l
AES/Rijndael (128,192, or 256 bit keys)
Both clients and gateways can be configured for DHCP as the Application Server tracks
each incoming connection by its current IP Address. Since only .NET class objects are
transported over the network socket connection, there is no need for any database know-
ledge at either the client or the gateway. This not only provides an increased level of
security to the database but also requires only a SQL client license for the Application
Server and not for each gateway/client connection. In addition, the optional encryption
on every network packet provides a secure Internet connection without the need for spe-
cialized hardware or VPN client software.
A single Application Server can communicate with up to 32 hardware gateways (512
readers per gateway, standard gateway license). The base Application Server is con-
figured to support 1 client work station, but can be expanded with additional client
licenses. A client license includes the standard Doors.Net GUI (Graphical User Inter-
face). At least one Application Server is required for each system. The Application
Server includes SQL Express.
The second required component is the Gateway. The Gateway is the software service
component that communicates with the field hardware and the Application Server. It
receives .NET class objects for the hardware that it is responsible for servicing. All trans-
actions generated by the hardware are formatted into a .NET class object for transport
back to the Application Server. The Gateway can reside on the same machine as the
Application Server, on another machine on the network, or across the Internet. The ser-
vice supports static IP Addresses as well as the default of DHCP. There are different
types of Gateways, each supporting different types of hardware.