Nyquest Consulting offers assistance in setting up XE enviroments.
- XE Upgrades
- Weblogic/Tomcat Server configuration
- XE Deployment
- CAS/SSO Server setup and configuration
- XE Customizations
How is Banner® XE Different?
- Banner® 9, also known as XE will be a complete rewrite of the product front-end The core, "back-end" components will still be an Oracle database with similar table structure.
- However, the front end will no longer be the classic Oracle Webforms. Instead Ellucian® is moving the entire front-end to a relatively new technology called Groovy using a Grails Framework.
What is Groovy and what is Grails?
- In very basic terms, Groovy is an offshoot of the Java programming language. It is "looser" than Standard java and allows programs to be coded in relatively less time when compared to Java.
- Grails is an application Framework for groovy. What this means is that it is a Groovy "toolkit" which contains a set of standardized codeblocks that produce many of the commonly seen entites on the web. (E.g. Drop Downs, textarea controls, etc)
- The Framework enable a web application to be developed quickly. For more information on Groovy and Grails, click here.
- This also means XE will no longer require a Java JRE to run. This also means XE will run an tablets such as iPad, iPhone, etc.
What is the Migration Path?
- Because the migration to Groovy means the entire front end will be rewritten, Ellucian® will release Banner® 9 in stages.
- The first module to be released at XE will be the Student Course Catalog and Class Schedule. Unfotunately, this does mean that for a time you will need to support both Banner® 8 and Banner® XE code simultaneously. The current version of both is 9.4
When will Banner XE be available?
- Various components are now already available. Currently the Student Course Catalog is avaible and can be download from the Ellucian® Support Site.
What sort of Application Server is needed?
- The weblogic server (10.3.6) used to run Banner® 8 Webforms is also supported to run Banner® XE. However, due to performance, you will most likely need to install this onto a separate server. Also note that only the 64 bit versions are supported.
- In addition, as part of Ellucian's gradual push to move away from their dependence on Oracle, Apache tomcat is also supported.
- Also important to note, in this version of Banner®, the Application Server will no longer serve forms (FMB/FMXs) as in previous versions. Instead the entire application will be deployed as a Web Archive file (*.war) in the same manner as Banner® online HELP.
Does XE Support Single Sign On
Yes and unless you plan to run only one XE module, a CAS or other SSO server will be required. All XE apps will be able to link to a CAS server and perform SSO. Keep in mind that you will need to populate a couple of general mapping tables (GOBUMAP and GOBEACC) with convert the CAS login into a Banner® Login/PIDM.
In most cases, you will have the following setup once you decide to install XE:
- Oracle Database
- Oracle Forms (INB) Server
- SSB Server
- Banner® XE Server (Running Tomcat or Weblogic)
- CAS or other SSO Server
How do I go back modifying the Front End Interface now?
- You will need to use a Java Based IDE to modify the Groovy files. Examples of such are IntelliJ or Eclipse with the Groovy-Eclipse add-on.
Banner® 8 Prerequisites for XE
Before you get started with this install, be sure you are at these Banner® Module Versions OR Higher:
- General 8.4, 8.4.1, 8.4.2
- Arsys 8.2, 8.3
- WebTailor 8.4, 8.4.1, 8.4.2
- GenWeb 8.4
- FacWeb 8.5,8.5.1
- Student 8.5
- Ellucian® DB Enhancement 1.0
Also make sure all forms from the patches as well as installs are compiled and installed.