Security Interview Questions
1. Is Web Sphere certified on People Tools 8.1 xs?
No. IBM Web Sphere is certified on People Tools 8.4 only. Customer wishing to use IBM Web Sphere with People Tools 8.1 xs may take advantage of an IBM Web Sphere for early adopters program, created and managed by IBM. Further information about this program can be found in the whitepaper The IBM Web Sphere 8.1x Early Adopter Program. Are there additional license requirements for IBM Web Sphere
2. Are disconnected mobile applications supported in People Tools 8.1x?
No. The PeopleSoft Mobile Agent architecture, which is used to support disconnected mobile applications, is only available in People Tools 8.4. The PeopleSoft Mobile Agent is dependent upon certain core technologies that were specifically developed for People Tools 8.4.
3. Why did PeopleSoft bundle IBM Web Sphere Advanced Single Server Edition rather than Advanced Edition?
The Advanced Single Server Edition (AEs) of Web Sphere provides the same core J2EE and Web Services programming model as the Advanced Edition (AE) with simplified administration. In the AE version Web Sphere uses DB2 or other standard database to keep the configuration and runtime information to support very large farm of Web Sphere servers. However, it is one more database to install, administer and maintain. The AEs version does not use the database and uses file based configuration in a way that is similar to BEA Web Logic. PeopleSoft and IBM Web Sphere architects determined that AEs version would satisfy the deployment requirements of PeopleSoft customers and would make it easy for owning and administering PeopleSoft Applications based on Web Sphere.
3. Why did PeopleSoft bundle IBM Web Sphere Advanced Single Server Edition rather than Advanced Edition?
The Advanced Single Server Edition (AEs) of Web Sphere provides the same core J2EE and Web Services programming model as the Advanced Edition (AE) with simplified administration. In the AE version Web Sphere uses DB2 or other standard database to keep the configuration and runtime information to support very large farm of Web Sphere servers. However, it is one more database to install, administer and maintain. The AEs version does not use the database and uses file based configuration in a way that is similar to BEA Web Logic. PeopleSoft and IBM Web Sphere architects determined that AEs version would satisfy the deployment requirements of PeopleSoft customers and would make it easy for owning and administering PeopleSoft Applications based on Web Sphere.
4. Is BEA Web Logic the same thing as the web server that was previously on the Tuxedo CD?
No. The web server that was delivered on the Tuxedo CD has absolutely nothing to do with Web Logic. Web Logic is a web application server that is designed for large-scale production websites. The HTTP server on the Tuxedo CD was only there to provide a mechanism for launching the graphical Tuxedo administration console if the Tuxedo administrator didn’t already have a web server in place. It was never intended for large-scale, production website use only for a system administrator or two.
5. Is web server load balancing supported with People Tools 8.4?
Customers can set up clusters of BEA Web Logic or IBM Web Sphere servers to do web server load balancing. In such scenarios, if an instance is down, requests are automatically routed to another instance. For more information on high availability and clustering with Web Logic, Web Sphere and other web servers.
6. Will the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture, now that it embeds BEA Web Logic and IBM Web Sphere, work with my other corporate web servers and tools?
One of the core values of the People Tools development group is investment protection. The time, money and resources that you may have already invested in licensing another web server, training developers and administrators, building and deploying other web applications will not be compromised by this decision. How is this accomplished?
7. IBM how should Web Application Servers be used with People Tools 8.1x and People Tools 8.4?
The PeopleSoft Internet Architecture uses a web application server and an HTTP server. People Tools 8.12 and above include both BEA Web Logic and Apache with Jserv. With People Tools 8.4, both BEA Web Logic and IBM Web Sphere are bundled. Apache with Jserv is no longer a supported web application server combination. Customers can choose which web application server to run during installation time. In a mixed People Tools 8.1 xs and 8.4 environments, each People Tools installation should have their own chain of web application server and application server, PeopleSoft Proprietary and Confidential Page 5and these can be on the same machine. For example, a People Tools 8.1xinstallation using Apache and Jserv could reside on the same machine as a People Tools 8.4 installation using IBM Web Sphere. Care should be taken to ensure that unique port numbers are assigned to each server chain.
8. How does the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal work with 8.1x and 8.4 applications?
There are several scenarios that may exist when customers use the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal with a mixture of 8.1x and 8.4 applications. Specific information on the use of the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal in a blended environment will be available in a forthcoming white paper, which will be available on Customer Connection. In general, the recommendation is to use the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 8.4with 8.1x and 8.4 applications, rather than an older version.
9. For the server layer on the web server, what version of the Java Servlet API are the PIA Java Serves coded to with People Tools 8.4?
The PIA Java servlets in People Tools 8.4 are coded to JavaSoft’s Java Servlet API 2.0 and are fully compatible with Servlet API 2.2. It should be noted that the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture is supported only on the BEA Web Logic and Web Sphere servlet engines.
10. Are there advantages or disadvantages to using BEA Web Logic over IBM Web Sphere or vice versa?
No. Both products are certified with PIA as of version 8.4 and work equally well. By offering both BEA Web Logic and IBM Web Sphere, we give our customers more choices and flexibility to run PeopleSoft in their preferred environment.
11. Does Application Messaging work between 8.1xand 8.4 applications?
Application Messaging is used by PeopleSoft applications to communicate with one another. This is true not just for 8.1x and 8.4 applications, but also between an 8.1x and an 8.4 application. For example, the HRMS 8.3 applications, which are based on People Tools 8.15, can communicate with Financials 8.4applications, which are based on People Tools 8.4, using Application Messaging. If specific issues materialize relating to the Application Messages published by certain applications, these new messages will be made available to customers.
12. Both BEA Web Logic and IBM Web Sphere have the ability to plug into many different web servers. Does PeopleSoft support the web servers that they plug into?
BEA and IBM provide plug-ins for many of the leading web servers. This allows the customer to use their own HTTP web server and Web Logic or Web Sphere Java servlet engine. PeopleSoft uses this plug-in capability to support IIS. We have no reason to believe that there will be any issues with other web servers that Web Logic or Web Sphere are able to work with through their plug-in architecture, but PeopleSoft GSC will not support these other web servers with People Tools 8.4