Platform Infrastructure

1.1 Overview

An overview of the Connec2 Platform infrastructure is depicted below.

1.2 Details

The Connec2 Platform is a cloud native platform based on Kubernetes.
This makes it possible to host the Connec2 Platform at different hosting providers (hosting agnostic), but also as a (local) private cloud.
Currently, the Connec2 Platform is hosted at the following providers:

• TransIP (www.transip.nl) — ISO 27001:2013 certified
  • Amsterdam, Netherlands (currently)
• Hetzner (www.hetzner.com) — ISO 27001:2013 certified
  • Falkenstein, Germany (currently, but only for trial)

On request, it is possible to host the Connec2 Platform at different hosting providers, regions, and availability zones, but this introduces extra cost.
Currently, multiple Kubernetes clusters are running at the hosting providers above.
All the communication within the Kubernetes cluster is secure.

1.2.1 Firewall

The firewall blocks all incoming connections, except the incoming connections as defined in the Connec2 Platform Guide: DNS & Whitelisting

1.2.2 Gateway

Level 7 application gateway that provides capabilities for dynamic routing, monitoring, resiliency, and security.
The application gateway routes HTTP requests to the corresponding micro services.

1.2.3 Micro Service

The micro service architecture consists of multiple micro services:

• Identity Management
  • User management and authorization
• Mail Support
  • Send mail to users
• Tenant Support
  • Tenant administration and configuration
• Key Value Store
  • Content management
• Extended Reality
  • Low latency exchange of events (e.g., virtual world coordinates, voice) between clients

1.2.4 XR Service

The XR (Extended Reality: Augmented + Virtual Reality) micro service differs from the other micro services.
XR traffic is directly communicated to the XR service without the gateway and transmitted with low latency between clients.
The XR service consists of multiple XR containers per tenant/workspace and channels (component, voice, screenshare).
A multi-load balancer dynamically routes the connections to the XR container and balances the load on the cluster.

1.2.5 NoSQL Database

Document-oriented NoSQL database.
Databases are isolated per tenant/workspace.

By default, the Connec2 Platform is hosted as multi-tenant.
On request, it is possible to host as single tenant, but this introduces extra cost.

1.2.6 Message Bus

Message Bus is a messaging infrastructure that allows the micro services to communicate through a shared set of interfaces.

1.2.7 SMTP Server

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server is responsible for sending emails.
The SMTP server of Connec2 is hosted at TransIP.