Architecture

Leaf is designed to be deployed in a standard three-tier architecture with two deployment models, depending on your environment:

Option 1: 3-tier architecture with Linux and Apache

or alternatively:

Option 2: Combined 2-tier architecture with Windows and IIS

Components

1. ** App Database Server**, with

   • The Leaf application database using MS SQL Server (2014+).

2. ** Clinical Database Server**, with

   • The clinical database you'd like Leaf to query, using MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Google BigQuery, or MS SQL Server *.

   * If using SQL Server, this may also be the same database server the App Database is deployed to

   * Prior to Leaf version 3.11, only SQL Server was supported and the App and Clinical databases were required to be on the same database server

3. Application Server, with

   • .NET Core Runtime installed.

4. Web Server, with

   • Apache or IIS installed to handle https routing for requests from the client app. These can be configured to work with a SAML2 Identity Provider to manage user authentication and authorization, such as Shibboleth or ADFS.

Info

Whether you use 2 or 3 servers, however, in general the deployment strategies are largely the same. For simplicity, in this guide we'll illustrate examples using a 3-tier architecture, but all steps are applicable to either deployment model unless stated otherwise.

Tip

Looking for a faster way to test Leaf out? Take a look at our Leaf Testing Guide for more information

Next: Step 1 - Create the Leaf Application Databse