Mendix Runtime

Introduction

The Mendix Runtime is an interpreter which runs a Mendix model and serves pages to the user.

Each patch version of Mendix comes with its own version of the Mendix Runtime which implements the features which are available in that version of Mendix. For example, runtimes for Mendix 8.4.1 and 8.4.2 are different and can only run Mendix apps built for that version.

Runtime Overview

The Mendix Runtime consists of two parts: the Runtime Server and the Mendix Client. The relationship between the two is shown in the diagram below.

Each of the components of Mendix Runtime is described below.

Runtime Server and Mendix Client

The Runtime Server is launched on a cloud platform. It executes microflows, and connects to files, the relational database, and any other required services. It waits to be contacted by the Mendix Client. The Runtime Server is described in more detail in Runtime Server.

The Mendix Client is started by the user, either within a web browser, or on another supported device. If it is in online mode, it starts a session with the Runtime Server which may or may not require authentication. The Runtime Server records the session details in the database, so that the Mendix Client can make requests. The Mendix Client is described in more detail in Mendix Client.

The user interacts with the Mendix Client, which then makes requests, via the request handlers, to the Runtime Server to process data or perform server-side functions (for example, to run microflows). At the end of the request, all state (including uncommitted data) is passed back to the Mendix Client. You can find more details of how this communication takes place in Communication Patterns in the Mendix Runtime.

Passing state from the Runtime Server to the Mendix Client enables the Runtime Server to be stateless, which means that any Runtime Server instance can respond to a request from the Mendix Client. A load balancer decides which Runtime Server instance will respond to a request. When a user session ends, the Runtime Server removes references to that session.

If there is more than one instance of an app, one of the instances is the Cluster Leader. This is responsible for Performing database synchronization tasks. It also schedules a number of cluster management activities which can then be picked up by any node. These include:

• Session cleanup handling
• Cluster node expiration handling
• Background job expiration handling
• Unblocking blocked users
• Executing scheduled events
• Clearing persistent sessions after a new deploy

More information on multiple instances is in Clustered Mendix Runtime.

External Services

External services provide data and other functions from outside your Mendix app. These can be external data sources like SAP, external display widgets like Google maps, or external data processing like IBM Watson machine learning. The Runtime Server communicates with these over HTTP (or HTTPS) connections.

Infrastructure

This is the hardware on which the Mendix app is deployed. It is usually provided as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which provides virtual machines in the public or private cloud. However, the infrastructure can also be physical machines running on-premises. Examples of infrastructure are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Windows Server machines.

Files

This is the storage location for data files used by the app. More specifically, it contains the value of FileDocument objects, including images, which are binary objects that are stored outside the database to avoid size and performance restrictions.

Relational Database

This is the database (or sometimes the schema of a shared database) which holds the objects as defined in the domain models in the app.

Platform

This is the operating system on which the Mendix app is running, plus additional services, such as a database, which are bound to the app.

Instance

Also called the App Container, this launches and exposes the Runtime Server. At least one instance must exist, but to provide high availability and better performance there can be many instances.

Load Balancer

The load balancer takes incoming requests from the Mendix Client and forwards them to a Runtime Server instance. It balances the load by making sure that requests are distributed evenly to the different instances.

The Mendix Client communicates with the load balancer using HTTPS. Communication on the server side of the load balancer, to environment instances, is performed using HTTP.

Static Content

Every Mendix app needs static content to be served in order to load the Mendix client in the browser. This includes the scripts needed to start the Mendix Client, CSS files which define the app's theme, and JavaScript files which define client-side logic.

Licensing

You need a license to run an application in production mode. Without a license, the Runtime Server goes to sleep after a couple of hours. Information on licensing Mendix apps can be found in Licensing Apps.

APIs

You can extend the functionality of the Runtime Server by writing Java actions. For more information, see the Mendix Runtime API.

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