Key Components
9 min
Activate is composed of modular components that can be deployed together or distributed depending on scale, security, and operational needs. Each component has a specific role in the overall platform architecture, but all work together through a shared configuration, database, and orchestration model.
Activate Web
The user and administrator portal.
- Purpose: Dashboards, self-service requests, approvals, and administrative tools.
- Key capabilities: HTTPS enforcement, Content Security Policy, and modern session protections.
- Authentication: Integrates with supported identity providers for SSO and MFA.
- Scale: Stateless and horizontally scalable behind a load balancer.
- Dependencies: Activate Database (read/write), identity provider, SMTP or other notification services (optional).
Activate Orchestrator
The workflow execution engine.
- Purpose: Runs scheduled, event-driven, and on-demand workflows.
- Key capabilities: Queues, retry policies, compensation steps, error handling, and transaction boundaries.
- Security: Uses least-privilege service accounts and scoped connector credentials.
- Scale: Multiple worker instances for parallel processing; concurrency tuned per connector limits.
- Dependencies: Activate Database (state and audit), downstream systems via connectors.
Activate Studio
Design-time configuration and administration.
- Purpose: Build workflows, forms, parameters, roles, permissions, and integrations.
- Key capabilities: Export and import of configuration between environments, validation tools, and change auditing.
- Access: Restricted to administrators and designers.
- Dependencies: Activate Database.
Activate API
Programmatic interface for integrations.
- Purpose: REST endpoints to create, read, update, or trigger workflows and objects.
- Security: OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect with defined scopes.
- Use cases: Integration with ITSM tools, custom portals, and automation platforms.
- Dependencies: Activate Database and the identity provider.
Activate Anywhere
An optional proxy component for segmented networks.
- Purpose: Securely bridges requests between cloud-hosted components and on-premises resources without exposing the internal network.
- Placement: Typically deployed in a DMZ or isolated subnet.
- Use cases: Hybrid environments or externally facing scenarios.
- Dependencies: Secure channel to Web/Orchestrator, controlled access to on-premises targets.
Activate Database
The system-of-record and operational store.
- Purpose: Stores configuration, workflow state, audit history, cached directory data, and search metadata.
- Platform: Enterprise SQL Server (including servers hosted in Azure).
- Operations: Backups, integrity checks, index maintenance, and performance monitoring.
- High Availability: Supported through SQL clustering or Availability Groups.
Connectors and Adapters
Integration endpoints to external systems.
- Targets: Microsoft 365 (Azure AD, Exchange Online, SharePoint), on-prem Active Directory or Exchange, ITSM, HR, or custom REST/SOAP APIs.
- Security: Dedicated service principals and accounts with scoped permissions and regular secret rotation.
- Operations: Includes throttling, pagination, and change tracking where supported.
Identity and Access
Authentication and authorization services.
- Authentication: SSO via Azure AD or other supported providers; MFA and conditional access enforced at the identity provider.
- Authorization: Role-based access control (roles, permissions, and policies) managed in Studio.
- Service Accounts: Least-privilege accounts for connectors and orchestration functions.
Search and Indexing
Fast retrieval across Activate objects and requests.
- Scope: Users, groups, services, tasks, articles, and other core objects.
- Data Source: Indexes built from cached data stored in the database.
- Operations: Scheduled refresh tasks maintain current indexes without overloading external systems.
Notifications and Approvals
User communication and decision flows.
- Channels: Email and optional chat integrations for notifications and approvals.
- Features: Tokenized approval links, reminders, and summary notifications.
- Audit: All approval actions and workflow decisions are logged in the database.
Background Tasks and Scheduling
Platform-level automation and maintenance.
- Workloads: Cache refresh, index rebuilds, orphan cleanup, SLA tracking, connector health checks.
- Scheduling: Cron-like and event-driven jobs managed from Studio.
- Monitoring: Metrics for queue depth, job runtime, and failure trends.
Caching
Performance optimization and reduced dependency load.
- Types: Directory/user/group snapshots, connector-specific lookups, computed attributes.
- Freshness: TTL or event-based invalidation; background regeneration off-peak.
- Resilience: Cache misses degrade gracefully; workflows continue safely.
Telemetry, Logging, and Audit
Visibility and compliance across all tiers.
- Logs: Structured output from Web, Orchestrator, and API.
- Metrics: Latency, throughput, error rates, and connector performance.
- Audit: Immutable records for configuration changes, workflow actions, and approvals.
- Integration: Forward logs to enterprise monitoring and SIEM platforms.
Security Posture
Defense-in-depth approach aligned to zero-trust principles.
- Network: HTTPS enforced, minimal inbound exposure, restricted outbound access to trusted APIs.
- Data: Encrypted in transit, least-privilege access to SQL, protected backups.
- Secrets: Managed and rotated securely, with full audit tracking.
- Hardening: WAF or gateway protection for Web/API; regular OS and dependency patching.
Dependencies and Port Summary
- Inbound to Web/API: TCP 443 from users and integration clients.
- App to Data: TCP 1433 from Web and Orchestrator to SQL Server.
- Outbound: Identity provider endpoints, Microsoft 365, ITSM or HR systems, and approved external APIs.
Deployment Considerations
- Co-location: Web and Orchestrator can share a host in smaller deployments.
- Scale-Out: Add Web nodes behind a load balancer; add Orchestrator workers for concurrency; size SQL appropriately for IOPS and memory.
- Resiliency: Multiple instances per tier with health checks and graceful degradation on external failures.
- Promotion: Use export/import and change control to move configuration through Dev → Test → Production.
Avoid SQL platform features that conflict with Activate’s operational requirements. Follow the supported SQL Server guidance in the system requirements.Exact ports and endpoints depend on the connectors in use and customer security policies.Activate components are modular and adaptable. Deployments can combine on-premises, hybrid, and cloud-only identity or messaging models as needed.