N-Tier architecture

U Do is built upon an N-Tier architecture where the Data, Application and Presentation layers of the system have been separated.

Data Layer

The data layer contains the data in regard to content, version control, and access restrictions etc of the site; these are stored in a Relational Database Server such as Microsoft SQL or My SQL database server. Many content management systems dynamically create each individual page from each individual web request, a process referred to as "frying". This can achieve high degrees of access control but at the price of performance. Others use a more efficient process referred to as "baking" where content is cached as static HTML pages thus unable to have personalisation or multiple access areas etc.

U Do caches out the data relating to individual pages in XML data blocks to remove the performance bottleneck of "frying", while storing interactive content and permission control information in the database. Thus U Do enjoys the performance of the "baking" method, while retaining the flexibility of the "frying" method; simply put U Do has the best of both worlds.

Application Level

The application layer is the source of the power behind the U Do engine. It controls the logic that controls the version control, workflow process and both access permissions and access restrictions etc. For example, it is the application layer that both generates the XML representation of the web page that is cached and checks that a user requesting information meets all the requirements before providing them with it.

Presentation layer

Upon a page request, the application layer checks permissions etc, then passes an XML representation of a page from the data layer to the presentation layer. The presentation layer controls the presentation logic of a site. The presentation layer takes the XML and transforms it into the html layout and design that the requested page is displayed as. One of the main benefits of presentation layer is that the entire look and feel of the site can be changed at a later date without any impact upon the data or application layers.

Technical summary

• Pure XML & XSLT with dynamic server side transformation into requested HTML output.
• Modular design for efficient future system expansion
• Cross system compatibility for operating system, web and database servers.
• n-tier architecture with separate a data, application and presentation layer for scalability and flexibility.
• Intuitive 100% browser based, non technical interface with full rich text editing of content and system administration.
• Multi tiered user access enabling "one to one" communication
• Unlimited user accounts
• Unlimited role-based groups
• Distributed publishing - ability to publish 1 page to many menu locations, with different display formatting
• Automated user administration and permission based marketing
• Incorporates support for the new "compact privacy policy" standard introduced by Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 in response to privacy concerns relating to the use of cookies.
• No reliance on cookies
• Multiple "display options" and theme manager for formatting of content and micro branding within a site

Server Requirements

Server - hardware*

• Intel Pentium III Processor 1.0 Ghz (or higher) or
• AMD Athlon Processor 1.0 Ghz (or higher)
• 512MB RAM
• 20MB free hard disk space for initial installation

* All hardware specifications are minimum requirements, based on a dedicated server hosting Libertas content management server, and do not make any allowance for additional applications, excess system load or database size which varies from client to client.

Server - Operating System:

A unique capability of U Do is its ability to be deployed on either a Microsoft Windows or a Linux / UNIX platform. All that is required is a current installation of PHP 4 or above.

Windows

• Microsoft Windows 2000 / 2003 Server
• Microsoft Windows NT 4 Server SP6A
• Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP

Linux / UNIX

• Ubuntu Server 7.04
• Redhat Linux 7.2 / 7.3 / 8
• Solaris 7 / 8

Database Server:

• Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0
• Microsoft SQL Server version 2000
• MySQL 4+

Application Server:

• PHP 4 - 5.2.1 with XSL, XSLT, TIDY enabled
• Zend Optimiser 2.1.0

Web Server:

Windows Environment

• Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 - 7.0
• Apache 1.3.2 *
• Apache 2 *

Unix / Linux Environment

• Apache 1.3.2
• Apache 2.2