Exercises

Today's exercise, like that of Day 1, “The Challenge of N-Tier Development,” is theoretical rather than practical. Your online sales department is having trouble piecing together all the different elements of the architecture of an e-commerce system. At the heart of the system is a J2EE server. Underlying this there is

• An extensive legacy C library that provides a number of cryptographic functions the system requires

• An ERP that is used for managing customer service

In addition, the application must automatically forward orders to two of the company's suppliers. The first provides a public interface through the use of CORBA objects, and the second through RMI.

Devise a suitable architecture for his e-commerce system. Create a visual representation of the architecture, ensuring that you highlight any J2EE components, the legacy and non-Java elements, and customers and suppliers. Briefly justify your choice of architecture.