DealVu Technical Specification

DealVu is a complex system comprising 2 main components:

1. Genesis deal aquisition, transformation and routing. Any Front or Back Office System may be targetted using any of a number of deal loading mechanisms. In the example above, a Sybase deal load is illustrated into an NGT Front Office System (see the Softek Products for more details (or click on the individual components in the diagram above)).
   
2. AllTrade deal information storage and presentation.

The glue between these two components is a purpose-built deal reader (called AllTradeFOS in the above diagram).

Components from the Genesis family of products are used to load bank Front and Back Office systems while AllTradeFOS captures and sends these deals to both an SQL compliant database and a real-time blotter server (called the AllTrade Server in the above diagram).

The AllTrade Server hosts a fast deal cache which serves deals to Java client applications (called AllTrade Clients AKA DealVu in the above diagram). AllTrade Clients are installed via an InstallShield which, when run, requires just the IP number of the AllTrade Server. By default, the InstallShield places application in the NT "Program Files" hierarchy and places a shotcut on the users desktop.

Except for the connection to the deal origination servers (which currently hahasve to be via RS232 serial line) and the "from-file" data link to the Genesis DealProc modules, all data is passed between modules via TCP-IP, allowing these modules to run anywhere on the banks intranet.

Front Office deal loading into NGT (or any other Front or Back Office System) is performed using Genesis Script files. Sybase table access is configured using a db.conf file.

IP-Merge configuration is achieved through the use of an IP-Merged file.

DealVuFOS, on the server, is configured using the winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file and several files in the Softek production area (normally found in c:\home\softek\production):

• %TRADEWAREBASE%
  The system variable TRADEWAREBASE is used to hold the fully qualified pathname of the root directory of the AllTrade file structure (the directory containing the directories called cfg, scripts, logs, bin etc). TRADEWAREBASE should be set in the System Control Panel as a global variable (normally to c:\home\softek\production).

This file contains the licence code for a specific DealVu server. The server can handle as many clients as available NT system and network resources allow.

This file contains connectivity details associated with the location of an "arbd" data process. The arbd process is responsible for loading data into an MSSQL database. The arbiters files contains entries (one per line) for different hosts that may act as database servers. Currently, the only relevent target in the arbiters file is ARB_FX. This entry looks something like:
• ARB_FX
  A tcp sun-ether 190.150.100.50 7733

where the first line is the service identifier (used as the value to the environment variable NETARB in the startup "cmd" files found in the ~softek\scripts NT directory). The "A" in the target's description signifies "address" and means that an address (not an IP name) will be supplied as the machine location of the arbiter process. If an "N" were used, a DNS name would be expected later in this information line. The second and third fields are the transport designator (tcp and sun-ether work for both NT and UNIX installations). The next field is the arbiter machine's IP number (if field one is "A") or the arbiter machine's IP name (if field one is "N"). The last field is the port number on which the arbiter process will accept connections.

• scripts/localenv.cmd
  To simplify setting the various environment variables a file called %TRADEWAREBASE%/scripts/localenv.cmd is provided. Most directory references in this in this file are made relative to %TRADEWAREBASE%. The only exception being those refernces relating to the web server that is used to initialise the AllTrade blotters.

The NT hostname (specified in the Networks control panel) must match an entry in the C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS file. This hostname must correspond to the IP number or name designated in the arbiters file and referenced by the contnets of the NETARB variable. Likewise, the license in the cfg\TWLICENSE file must have been generated for the IP number corresponding to the host specified in the cfg\arbiters file.

If a name server is specified in the Networks control panel (under the DNS tab within the properties selection of the TCP-IP protocol), then this DNS must be available or startup delays will result.

The AllTrade database is located in the C:\MSSQL\data directory. The administrator username and password should be obtained from Softek support.

Client Logins
Client workstations may host an AllTrade blotter session but each session must be logged in under a unique username. The authorised usernames and passwords are kept in the at_users table on the server. This table may be modified using any available SQL tools. The file Softek\Production\sql\atusers.sql may be edited (with a text editor) and executed using, for example, the Microsoft ISQL_w tool.

• NGT Loaders DealProcs and IP-Merge
  Standard UNIX startup for all these processes applies.
  
• DealVu Server (AllTrade)
  When properly configured, the DealVu Server processes are an NT service that is set automatically to start up at system boot time. This service is automatically taken down each night, just before midnight and automatically restarted again at about 2am (by the NT at facility). AllTrade may be restarted manually by activating the ATStartOfDay icon in the %TRADEWAREBASE%/scripts folder.
  
• AllTrade Clients (DealVu)
  An AllTrade Client application may be run on any intranet-connected MSWindows workstation by activating the Alltrade shortcut icon on any workstation desktop. This icon is installed using an InstallShield application available from your systems administrator.

The DealProc and IP-Merge process status may be determined by executing the i_query shell command.

Front Office (NGT) Loaders