Information for OZP vs. OWF

[zachary...@gmail.com]

Our customer is interested in upgrading from OWF to OZP.  I am gathering information regarding OWF, OZP, and any significant differences.  A few questions:

1.  What was the rational in switching from a Java to a Python based backend?  What are the advantages in the Python approach?

2.  In the solution we had delivered to our customer, we bundled PHP, Python, and Perl interpreters/bridges such that the Tomcat instances could run python/perl/php code.   Are there any similar bridges for gunicorn (from what I can find, there don’t appear to be any)?

3.  Are there significant differences between OWF and OZP widgets?  I saw some discussion of this in a previous thread, but that was before the official OZP and python backend release.  Is there a process for converting OWF widgets to OZP?

4.  Does current OZP have all the functionality of OWF?  If not, what features are missing?

 

Any help is appreciated.

[Wagner, Jason]

A lot of choices are due to the Apps Mall needs and requirements.  Since they were the only ones paying the bills at the time, they had the important vote.

Replies inline...

On Wed, Jul 27, 2016 at 3:50 PM, <zachary...@gmail.com> wrote:

Our customer is interested in upgrading from OWF to OZP.  I am gathering information regarding OWF, OZP, and any significant differences.  A few questions:

1.  What was the rational in switching from a Java to a Python based backend?  What are the advantages in the Python approach?

The consensus among the operators of large OWF Java backend instances was that it had severe scaling issues, was difficult to extend with new capabilities, and just generally in need of a massive overhaul.

OZP required significantly different APIs designed to be stateless, thus easier to scale and expand.  With the legacy Java codebase was taken off the table, the AML team chose Python because that's what their team had expertise in.

2.  In the solution we had delivered to our customer, we bundled PHP, Python, and Perl interpreters/bridges such that the Tomcat instances could run python/perl/php code.   Are there any similar bridges for gunicorn (from what I can find, there don’t appear to be any)?

Deployment streamlining the biggest weakness in OZP, currently.  The code and ansible scripts are designed for the AML instance.  At Tensor Wrench, we build a docker container as a traceable artifact to run through our build and test pipeline.  It's not freely available, though.

 

3.  Are there significant differences between OWF and OZP widgets?  I saw some discussion of this in a previous thread, but that was before the official OZP and python backend release.  Is there a process for converting OWF widgets to OZP?

OZP was designed to work with full-fledged web applications.  Under this definition, a "widget" is just a web application that's designed to fit into a portal, which doesn't have to be the OZP webtop.  

The API is significantly different and requires replacing calls to "OWF.foo()" with their OZP equivalents in your app.  There's an adapter that can wrap an OWF widget and turn it into an OZP app, though I don't know the level of support in the open source OZP and wouldn't recommend it as a long-term solution.

4.  Does current OZP have all the functionality of OWF?  If not, what features are missing?

Three answers:

The OZP API has all of the features of OWF with improved performance, security, and future-proofing.

The OZP Center is close to OWF Marketplace in features, but with significantly better performance and scaling.

The OZP Webtop intentionally lacks many of the capabilities of OWF.  That's because you can now use any commercial or open source portal software to house widgets or build your own out of simple HTML.  Also because the teams that worked on OZP did so in response to a user-base that strongly disliked the webtop.

 

 

Any help is appreciated.

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Jason Wagner    --    @nialscorva 

Tensor Wrench    -    @TensorWrench