Using Java, XML and XSLT to create secure internal access to local NOAA Research Science project and budget information Jason E. Fabritz, NOAA/PMEL-JISAO/UW presented by Nancy Soreide, NOAA/PMEL American Meteorological Society / IIPS January 13-17, 2002, Orlando, FL IIPS/AWIPS J10.5

Background: NOAA/OAR has developed a distributed Financial Data Management System (FDMS) Access database installations for each OAR Operating Unit AL AOML SGCP ARL HQ CDC CMDL ETL FSL GFDL GLERL NSSL NURP OAR HQ OGP PMEL SEC One database per laboratory Implemented in Microsoft Access Hosted on Seattle campus server Users connect through CITRIX Metaframe Described in IIPS/AWIPS paper 10.2

This paper describes A secure, internal “PI Reports” software system Local to one Laboratory or Program Office Focus of the “PI Reports” is the Access database for one OAR Operating Unit AL AOML SGCP ARL HQ CDC CMDL ETL FSL GFDL GLERL NSSL NURP OAR HQ OGP PMEL SEC Objective: To provide project leaders or Principal Investigators (PIs) within a single OAR operating unit With access to their own budget information from their own FDMS Access database PMEL

The secure, internal “PI Reports” software system Objective: To provide project leaders or Principal Investigators (PIs), within a single OAR operating unit With secure web access to their own budget information, from their own FDMS Access database Establish appropriate access permissions so that each project leader is able to view only their own project information. Access permissions can be established to allow managers and supervisors access to project information for every project leader under their management.

The secure, internal “PI Reports” software system Design goals: Integration with existing infrastructure Seamless integration with existing FDMS system No interference with the FDMS system No additional operational constraints on the FDMS system Insulation from changes Flexible to accommodating changes to underlying FDMS system Administrative functions to manage user access to information Fast, scalable, and affordable

The secure, internal “PI Reports” software system Architecture: Core application (FdmsXML Server) Customized API into the FDMS Access database tables Intranet webserver Communicates with FdmsXML server to obtain data from the FDMS database tables Administration module Provides a GUI for display and modification of security and configuration settings of the FdmsXML server.

FdmsXML Server Functionality: Hides details of core FDMS database table Provides an alternative API into the FDMS system The API consists of requests and responses written in XML and transmitted over HTTP protocol. The XML Server listens for HTTP POST requests on a given port When a request is received it processes the request, queries the FDMS Access database in real-time returns the results through HTTP formatted as XML With this module acting as an intermediary between client applications and database tables, changes in the underlying database tables only need to be reconciled with the FdmsXML server.

FdmsXML Server Technologies utilized: Compatible with existing core FDMS (Microsoft Access/VB) Runs inside Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) Active Server Pages (ASP) environment Business logic resides in a Dynamic Linked Library (DLL) Written in Visual Basic (VB) Communicates with the Access database tables Through Microsoft’s Active Data Objects (ADO) Utilizes libraries provided by IIS to facilitate exchange of XML data through HTTP

Website module Functionality: The “PI Reports” website is the component that users of the system interact with. User login is required; only appropriate information will be returned to the user Translates user inputs from the browser into appropriate XML requests and queries the FdmsXML server Interprets results and sends back HTML to the client’s browser. Technologies utilized: Runs inside Microsoft IIS Business logic resides in a compiled DLL written in Visual Basic Depends on XSLT for efficient generation of HTML from the XML returned by the FdmsXML server

Administration module Functionality: Provides GUI for administration of user accounts and security privileges for the FdmsXML server Assuring that each project leader can access only their own project information, etc. Technologies utilized: Written in Java Excellent support for XML Platform neutral Supports implementation in heterogeneous computing environment Eliminates Microsoft dependence of this component

The secure, internal “PI Reports” software system Summary and future plans: The “PI Reports” system is providing project leaders or Principal Investigators (PIs) With real-time access to their own budget information Via a secure, intranet web page Administrative functions allow establishment of user accounts and access privileges Enhancements are planned Based on feedback and requests from users for additional functionality