Community Server Architecture:
Built on top of the object oriented Microsoft .NET 2.0 platform Community Server receives all the advantages of native compiled code and can run on either 32-bit or 64-bit Windows operating systems.
Community Server has been built from the ground-up to take advantage of the core capabilities of the Microsoft .NET platform and as an application is organized around 3 logical tiers:
- Web tier – this includes a suite of over 100 compiled C# server controls for rendering the user interface components as well as all the individual pages for displaying the UI.
- Core Services tier – this includes an abstract data access API; over 75 different business logic components; an event pipeline for plugging in custom business logic; and a set of background services for operating on tasks outside of the processes serving active requests.
- Repository tier – through the data access API the core services connect to the data repository through a well defined set of database calls.
Extend it, improve it, and make it better
With an open and published API, source code available, and an event driven pipeline there are a variety of ways to extend Community Server. The user interface can be extended and customized without any recompilation to the code and new user interface elements can easily be added.
The core services business logic can be extended through pluggable modules that can participate in the processing of any request. The user authentication system also supports a pluggable single sign-on system for Windows Active Directory, Microsoft ASP.NET, Microsoft Passport, and Custom for any other single sign-on systems.