The TICS Architecture

There are four different entities identified in the TICS architecture:

TICS Architecture

Legacy TICS Architecture

As of version 2021.3, the preferred and default deployment architecture for deploying TICS was changed to the one described above. The old deployment architecture, now called legacy architecture, is still supported, but will be deprecated in the future. In the legacy architecture, the configuration and artifacts are hosted on a separate File Server, whereas in the new architecture, these are hosted and controlled by the TICS Viewer.

The TICS executables determine whether they are running in legacy mode by looking at the TICS environment variable:

There are five different entities that play a role within the legacy TICS architecture model:

TICS Legacy Architecture

Installing TICS on physically different machines

It is possible to install the logical servers mentioned above on one or more physical machines. All logical servers can reside on a single machine or each logical server can run on its own separate machine. Mixed combinations are also possible, where multiple servers run on a single machine, and the remaining other servers each on a separate machine. For example, the file- and webserver may run on the same machine, while the database runs on a separate machine and the build server is yet another machine. The main motivation to decide how many physical machines are going to be used depends on the size of the organization/project. Organizations with less than 100 software engineers can typically do with one machine. It is possible to start installing everything on one machine and split up at a later stage.

When installing TICS, run the specific steps and installers on the physical machine for which the software is to be installed. The different servers are linked together by configuring them.

The examples given in this installation guide assume the simplest configuration, namely, where the File Server, Database Server, Web Server and Build Server are all located on the same machine. This is reflected in the destination folders suggested for the different components during the installation process.