OpenPages components

Applies to: On premises

IBM OpenPages® consists of the following components:

  • An installation server, which is used to install IBM OpenPages.
  • A database server for hosting the OpenPages repository.
  • One or more application servers for hosting the OpenPages application.
  • One or more reporting servers for hosting IBM® Cognos® Analytics and OpenPages Reporting.
  • Up to one search server (optional) for hosting the OpenPages global search component.

After installation, users can access OpenPages from a separate client computer.

Installation server

The IBM OpenPages installation server is required to install and upgrade IBM OpenPages (migration upgrades and in-place upgrades). You can also use it to apply fix packs and interim fixes. The installation server includes a web interface, called the installation app.

You can set up the installation server on one of the servers in your OpenPages environment or on a separate computer.

Figure 1. Installation server
The installation server pushes agents to remote servers and starts the agents.

Database server

A database server is required to host the IBM OpenPages repository. The repository is a central source for metadata management, versioned application data, and access control.

To install the IBM OpenPages application, you must create an OpenPages database schema, a set of database users, and table spaces.

You can automatically create and configure these components during the OpenPages installation. Alternatively, you can create them manually before you install OpenPages.

You can use an IBM Db2® database or an Oracle database for the OpenPages repository.

Application server

An application server is required to host the IBM OpenPages application.

The IBM OpenPages application server runs the application solutions, and includes the definition and administration of business metadata, UI views, user profiles, and user authorization.

OpenPages uses IBM WebSphere® Liberty. WebSphere Liberty is installed automatically when you install OpenPages.

You can add horizontal and vertical cluster members for the application server.

The admin application server is the main application server for your deployment. In the installation app, the admin application server is called AppServer1 by default.

All secondary application servers are known as non-admin application servers.

Reporting server

A reporting server is required to host IBM Cognos Analytics and OpenPages Reporting.

IBM Cognos Analytics provides executive dashboards and reports that are designed to accelerate the review and approval of governance, risk, and compliance management (GRCM) information throughout the enterprise. Business users can browse through complex information easily by clicking dashboard elements to drill down through detailed reports.

IBM Cognos Analytics includes a content store, which is a relational database. The content store contains data, such as report specifications, published models, and the packages that contain them. The content store also contains connection information for data sources.

If you install more than one reporting server with OpenPages, you need only one IBM Cognos content store database for all servers. The main server is known as the active reporting server, and all secondary servers are known as standby reporting servers.

For more information on active and standby servers, see the IBM Cognos Analytics Installation and Configuration Guide.

OpenPages Reporting provides the integration between OpenPages and IBM Cognos Analytics so that you can create and run reports.

It installs the OpenPages security provider, creates the OpenPages data sources, and imports the report packages that are supplied with OpenPages.

Reporting on IBM Cognos Analytics handles API requests under /api/report. You can configure the SSL in two ways:
  • Directly through the Liberty server through port 9081
  • Through IIS with port 443 by using SSL termination and request forwarding
For more information, see Setting up a secure connection for Cognos.

Search server

OpenPages supports a single search server in the enterprise configuration.

The search server is required to host the OpenPages global search component. Global search is an optional component that you can install so users can search easily for objects across the entire application.

For best performance, install the search server on a separate computer.