Deployment Architectures and the Distribution of Work

No matter what deployment architecture you choose, someone is going to have to install, maintain, administer, and support it. These basic service and support functions can't be ignored. In a customer-site deployment, or when integrating with a Web service, the customer is responsible for the bulk of the workload. In an ASP, these responsibilities are shared. In an MSP and transactional service, they are the service providers. The various deployment choices shift the locus of control among the entities, as shown in Figure 7-2.

Figure 7-2. Distribution of work in deployment architectures