Tachyon Single-Server system
In the most basic setup there is a single server which hosts both a Master Stack and a Response Stack and this can be deployed by selecting the default settings in Tachyon Setup.
The following table shows the Tachyon Platform components, including Tachyon Master and Response Stacks, and also shows the DMZ Server discussed in Tachyon architecture for Internet-facing devices.
| Subsystem | Component | Web application | Master Stack | Response Stack | DMZ Server |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master Server | Tachyon Portal UI and Tachyon applications | Tachyon | 1 | ||
| Consumer API | Consumer | 1 | |||
| Coordinator service | 1 | ||||
| Tachyon Master database | 1 (optionally Remote) | ||||
| Experience | Experience API | Experience | 1 | ||
| Experience database | 1 (optionally Remote) | ||||
| Content Distribution | Content Distribution API | ContentDistribution | 1 (optional) | ||
| Content Distribution database | 1 (optionally Remote) | ||||
| 1E Catalog | Catalog UI | CatalogWeb | 1 | ||
| Catalog API | CatalogWeb | ||||
| Catalog Update Service | |||||
| Catalog database | 1 (optionally Remote) | ||||
| SLA and Inventory | SLA Platform UI and SLA applications | Platform | 1 | ||
SLA Admin | Admin | 1 | |||
| SLA Engine | 1 | ||||
SLA Integrate services:
| 1 | ||||
| SLA Operations Provider API | CoreExternal | 1 | |||
| SLA databases (Data, Integrate, Shared) | 1 (optionally remote) | ||||
SLA Business Intelligence (BI) (for Patch Success) | MDX API (BI) | 1 | |||
| SLA-BI database | 1 (optionally Remote) | ||||
| SLA-BI cube (requires SSAS) | 1 (optionally Remote) | ||||
| Response Server | Core | Core | 1 | ||
| Background Channel | Background | 1 | 1 | ||
| Switch(es) (also includes a single Switch Host service) | up to 5 (optionally Remote) | up to 5 | |||
| Tachyon Responses database | 1 (optionally Remote) |
The picture opposite shows a Tachyon Single-Server System with databases optionally installed locally or on remote SQL Server instance(s). Components colored green are optional in a Tachyon system.
The Response Stack has can be installed on the same server as the Master Stack, and on remote servers.
The DMZ Server has only the Tachyon client facing components of the Response Stack: the Background Channel and Switches.
Applications and Tools
Tachyon applications and tools are consumers, and all consumers connect to the Tachyon Consumer API.
The following consumer applications run on Tachyon Platform and are installed using Tachyon Setup. See Design Considerations: License requirements for consumer applications.
Applications are categorized as follows:
- Configuration - applications required to configure Tachyon Platform and required by all other applications
- Client - applications that communicate with devices in real-time
- Inventory – applications that use inventory features
Applications that are included in the Tachyon Platform license
| Application | Purpose | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory 8.1 | View and export inventory, and manage associations. | Inventory, configuration |
| Settings 8.1 | Configure and monitor platform features. | Configuration |
| Guaranteed State 8.1 | Ensure endpoint compliance to enterprise IT policies. | Client |
| Investigate, remediate issues and manage operations across all your endpoints in real-time. | Client |
Applications that require a license
| Application | Purpose | Type |
|---|---|---|
| AppClarity 8.1 | Manage software license compliance, License Demand Calculations, license entitlements, and for reclaiming unused software. | Inventory |
| Application Migration 8.1 | Intelligently automate the migration of applications during a Configuration Manager OS deployment. | Inventory |
| Nomad 8.1 | Manage content distribution across your organization using a centralized dashboard. 1E Client requires Tachyon and Nomad features to be enabled on all clients. | Client |
| Patch Success 8.1 | Reports on and ensures successful patching of your enterprise. Requires SLA Business Intelligence to be installed by Tachyon Setup, as described in Design Considerations: Business Intelligence. It also needs connectors to get meta-data for patches from whichever of the following that you use to approve patches:
| Inventory |
| Tachyon Experience 8.1 | Measure performance, stability and responsiveness for applications and devices to assess user experience across your enterprise. | Client |
- All Client applications
- Inventory applications if you intend using the Tachyon connector to populate your inventory.
The AI Powered Auto-curation feature is optionally used by Inventory applications to provide automatic curation of new products. This avoids having to manually add products to the 1E Catalog, or wait for it be updated. This optional feature requires additional memory on the Tachyon Server (Master Stack). Please refer to AI Powered Auto-curation: Memory requirements for details.
Some benefits of using AI Powered Auto-curation are that you can:
- Achieve significantly more normalized software from the first sync
- Reduce the manual effort required to normalize software
- Get an expanded SAM offering as more data is available for AppClarity
- Get additional coverage for Application Migration
- Identify more software to review for security threats.
Tachyon Tools
The following are tools included in Tachyon Platform 8.1. These tools are not installed using Tachyon Setup. They have either their own installers or are included in download zips.
- Tachyon ConfigMgr UI Extensions - installed as part of the Tachyon Toolkit, this is a right-click extension for the Configuration Manager console that providing the option to browse and run an instruction on devices in a specified Collection
- Tachyon Run Instruction command-line tool - installed as part of the Tachyon Toolkit, it is used for sending instructions to the Tachyon server from a script or from a command prompt
- Tachyon Product Pack Deployment Tool - included in the Tachyon Platform zip ProductPacks folder
- Tachyon Instruction Management Studio - used for development of Tachyon instructions using the Tachyon SDK.
A typical Tachyon license allows use of all these tools.
Tachyon Multi-Stack system
The picture opposite shows a Tachyon Multi-Stack System. Here the Tachyon Master Stack communicates with one or more Tachyon Response Stacks. A local Response Stack is not mandatory. Components colored green are optional in a Tachyon system.
As with a single-server system, the databases are optionally installed locally or on remote SQL Server instances(s).
Tachyon components
Let's take a look at each of the Tachyon components in slightly more detail.
| Component | Description | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IIS Components | The following components are IIS Web Applications that reside on a single-server. Other configurations - such as Response Stack and DMZ Server - have a subset of these. Under the Tachyon website:
| ||||
Core | The Core is a Tachyon Response Stack component which provides internal API and data processing. Core does the following:
| ||||
Background Channel | The Background Channel is a Tachyon Response Stack component which provides a means for the Tachyon clients to retrieve large data items from Tachyon without loading the Tachyon Switch:
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Switch | The Switch is a Tachyon Response Stack component which provides the following:
The Switch Host service is responsible for starting local Switches. | ||||
Tachyon Portal UI | Tachyon users browse to the Tachyon Portal to access Tachyon applications. Applications that are Tachyon built-in applications:
Applications that are optional:
| ||||
Tachyon Consumer API | The Tachyon Consumer API provides the following:
| ||||
Tachyon Coordinator | The Coordinator service is the coordinating service used by Tachyon components. It has two modules, Workflow and Instrumentation. The Workflow module provides the following:
The Instrumentation module processes instrumentation data from the following components:
And responds to requests for instrumentation data from the Consumer API. Supports the two-factor authentication feature, with email. | ||||
Content Distribution | Content Distribution replaces the Nomad features of ActiveEfficiency Server, which is deprecated. Legacy Nomad clients continue to be supported by direct communication with the Content Distribution API, whereas Nomad 8.x clients communicate with the Content Distribution API via the proxy feature on Response Servers. Tachyon Setup is used to install Content Distribution, and the Nomad app, and no longer installs ActiveEfficiency. Nomad uses Content Distribution for the following features:
| ||||
Catalog UI | The Catalog website used to view and interact with the Catalog. Tachyon Setup supports installation of 1E Catalog on the Tachyon Master Stack server. For customers that want to continue using an existing installation of 1E Catalog 2.0 then Tachyon Setup supports using a remote Catalog server as a custom setup option. Please contact 1E for details of how to use custom setup options. | ||||
Catalog Update Service | Service used to connect to the 1E Cloud Catalog in order to download the latest catalog entries. | ||||
Catalog API | Consumer API used to manage and update the 1E Catalog. | ||||
SLA Admin | Internal API used to manage SLA components. | ||||
SLA Platform UI | The website used to view and interact with the Inventory. | ||||
SLA Engine | The Engine service is the coordinating service used by SLA components. This includes processing of Management Groups. | ||||
SLA Integrate Services | The SLA Integrate Agent sevice performs Connector functions by connecting to data sources and importing data into repositories. The SLA Integrate Manager service manages Agent operations including repository action schedules. | ||||
SLA Inventory | The inventory repositories. Each instance of a repository is stored in SLA-Data database, and is based on a template defined in the SLA-Data database. | ||||
SLA Operations Provider API | Consumer API and functions used by SLA clients, including Application Migration task sequence steps and AppClarity Software Reclaimer. | ||||
MDX (BI) | Internal API used by Patch Success application. Business Intelligence is an optional component installed by Tachyon Setup on the Master Stack, and requires SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS). Business Intelligence is a prerequisite for the Patch Success application to support efficient presentation of visualizations on a large scale. | ||||
Consumer applications | The following Consumer applications are licensed:
The following Consumer applications are included with Tachyon Platform:
Other Tachyon Consumers are Tachyon Configuration Manager Console extensions, and other toolkit features. | ||||
SQL Server (Database Engine and Analysis Services) | Tachyon has two databases:
Experience has one database:
Catalog has one database:
SLA has three databases:
SLA BI has two databases:
Nomad has one database:
| ||||
1E Client | 1E Client includes clients for: Tachyon, Nomad, PXE Everywhere Agent, Shopping/WSA, and WakeUp. All the above are supported on Windows devices. Tachyon client features (excluding Experience and User Interaction) are also available on non-Windows devices. Tachyon clients communicate with the Tachyon Switches and the Background Channel to provide responses to instructions (questions and actions) and subscribe to policy events for Experience and Guaranteed State. Nomad clients use Tachyon Switches and the Background Channel as a proxy for communicating with the Content Distribution. |
Tachyon architecture for Internet-facing devices
Enabling Tachyon to support devices that are external to your company network is done by slightly extending the default single-server architecture.
The Responses Stack handles communications between the Master Stack and the Tachyon clients. The Background Channel and Switches components handle the direct communication with the Tachyon clients, the Core processes the information in both directions between the Master Stack and the Switches.
To enable external Tachyon client devices to interact with Tachyon you need to put the Background Channel and at least one Switch into the DMZ.
First, you need a working Tachyon system with a Response Stack that will provide the Core for the DMZ Server. The picture opposite shows a Response Stack and Master Stack on the same server, located on the internal network. This serves clients when they are connected to the internal network.
Then configure the internal firewall to allow two-way communication between each of the following:
- The Core on the Internal Response Stack and the Switch(es) in the DMZ
- The Coordinator on the internal Response Stack and the Switch(es) in the DMZ
- The Consumer API on the internal Master Stack and the Background Channel in the DMZ
Configure the external firewall to allow incoming connections for:
- The external Tachyon clients and the Background Channel in the DMZ
- The external Tachyon clients and the Switch(es) in the DMZ
After you have provisioned a server in the DMZ, you need to make the following changes in the existing Tachyon system:
- Run Tachyon Setup on the Tachyon Response Stack to tell it about the DMZ Server, which will do the following:
- prepare the Master database with relevant details of the DMZ Background Channel and Switch(es)
- raise the security level of the Core and Switch communications
- produce a configuration file for the DMZ Server
- Run Tachyon Setup on the DMZ Server using the pre-prepared configuration file, to complete the installation of DMZ Background Channel and Switch(es)
Detailed steps for the above process can be found on the Implementing a Tachyon DMZ Server page.
The DMZ picture shows a dual firewall design, but single firewall is also supported.
In the picture, components colored green are optional in a Tachyon system.
