The following figure is a general illustration of the components in an implementation of OpenEdge REST Web services.
Figure 12. OpenEdge REST Web services architecture
As illustrated in the above figure, the components of an OpenEdge REST Web application deployment can be grouped in four distinct functional areas:
AppServers — The ABL business logic that is accessed by OpenEdge REST Web applications resides on one or more AppServers.
Web Server — OpenEdge REST Web applications are Web Application Archive (WAR) files that reside in a Java Servlet Container on a Web server. OpenEdge REST Web applications interpret incoming HTTP requests from REST client applications and return results from ABL business logic executed by AppServers.
The Web server's Java Servlet Container is also the host of the OpenEdge REST Management Agent, which is an OpenEdge REST Web application that you can optionally install. It enables the management of other of the OpenEdge REST Web applications through OpenEdge utilities.
Management Tools — The interfaces to the REST Management Agent on the Web server are the command line utility, RESTMAN, and the browser-based OpenEdge Explorer/OpenEdge Management tools.
Clients — OpenEdge REST clients can reside on a variety of devices, including servers, desktop, and mobile devices.
AppServers — The ABL business logic that is accessed by OpenEdge REST Web applications resides on one or more AppServers.