Technical System Landscape 
The portal platform is one of the building blocks of SAP NetWeaver. In it, other NetWeaver capabilities that run in the portal environment can be integrated, such as:
· Knowledge Management
· Collaboration
· Guided Procedures
Portal Platform
The portal platform is deployed on the SAP Web Application Server (JAVA), which implements the J2EE engine based on J2EE standards.
The platform consists of the following:
· Portal Framework
The portal framework is a virtual environment that enables the portal as a development, and a runtime environment.
Applications that run in the portal, such as iViews, are implemented by portal components and portal services including the Portal Content Directory (PCD), which interfaces with a database system.
Portal services, such as unification, enable the implementation of the interfaces that allow Drag&Relate processes among iViews and business objects for back-end systems, and enables connectivity to Enterprise Information Systems for connectors.
In addition, it supplies the Connector Framework, which is comprised of adapters that provide connectivity between an Enterprise Information System (EIS) and the portal.
The following components are required in a landscape of the portal:
· Database: The portal shares the same database and schema for SAP Web Application Server. The database stores various data and metadata required by the portal at runtime.
· User Persistence Store: A storage area containing information about users, such as directory servers. This system works with the mechanism that implements security systems for authentication and authorization: the User Management Engine (UME), an SAP proprietary mechanism that allows access to various content, using single sign-on (SSO) for users.
· Java Development Kit (JDK): The Java runtime environment required by the Java software and components in the portal.
The following figure illustrates the runtime resources of the portal:
Portal Resources at Runtime
Categorizing the resources required at runtime lets you identify those resources that can be shared, distinguishing them from those that should be distributed over several physical machines.
Portal resources are of two types:
Runtime resources consist of portal components and services that generate the portal framework, assemble portal pages and iViews, and those that manage themes and styles. These resources use stored data in the database system and in the user persistence store to implement the user interface of the portal.
The portal runtime resources are:
¡ The J2EE engine of the SAP Web Application Server
Every portal deployment requires an instance of the J2EE engine.
The portal infrastructure is scalable, and a highly available portal can be implemented using the load-balancing and clustering mechanisms of the J2EE engine of the SAP Web Application Server.
¡ Portal Framework
The portal framework provides the working environment for the portal. It allows a user to work as a portal administrator, a developer, or an end user, depending on the user’s logon profile.
Inter-operation and integration between the components and services that implement the portal infrastructure and functionality exist in this environment.
· Storage resources used during runtime
The storage resources maintain stored data that is used at runtime. These include:
¡ Database (RDBMS)
This is the database for SAP Web Application Server (JAVA), which is usually located in a separate machine.
The portal stores various data and metadata for the Portal Content Directory (PCD) in this database.
In addition, the database stores portal runtime objects, including role definitions, page-to-role relationships, deployable portal archive (PAR) files, templates, and personalization data.
¡ User Persistence Store
Refers to users-related data stored in one or more repositories. A user-related data repository might be a database, a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service, or an SAPsystem.