Setting up and managing an OpenERP installation will require a basic understanding of the components that make up OpenERP. Every ERP system has a set of technologies and underlying software platforms that are required for the system to function. Fortunately, unless you plan to do OpenERP customization, you only need to understand the very basics of the OpenERP architecture to manage the installation.
Tip
In this book we provide a basic overview of the OpenERP architecture. If you wish to get more detailed documentation on the OpenERP architecture visit:
Like most ERP systems, OpenERP has specific database requirements. In this case, that is PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL is an open source, cross-platform object relational database management system (ORDMS). While not popular on the scale of Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL, PostgreSQL is an enterprise-class database server with many advanced features. In fact, PostgreSQL stacks up very well against far more expensive databases such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database.
From a specification standpoint, PostgreSQL is perfectly capable of handling nearly any OpenERP installation. In most instances you will hit limits of OpenERP scalability and performance long before you will go past the hard limits of PostgreSQL itself. Still, when installing any ERP system, it is important that you clearly understand the most critical database specifications. Here are the specs for PostgreSQL:
|
Limit |
Value |
|---|---|
|
Maximum database size |
Unlimited |
|
Maximum table size |
32 TB |
|
Maximum row size |
1.6 TB |
|
Maximum field size |
1 GB |
|
Maximum rows per table |
Unlimited |
|
Maximum columns per table |
250 - 1600 depending on column types |
|
Maximum indexes per table |
Unlimited |
The primary programming language of OpenERP is Python. Like the other technologies underlying OpenERP, Python language is open source and will run on all the major contemporary operating systems.
You can learn more about the Python programming language at:
OpenERP is built upon a Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. One of the primary goals of this architecture is to separate the visual display of the information from the business rules and management of the underlying data. For example, if you need to change the way data is organized in the model, it is desirable not to have to make dramatic changes to how you view the data. The same is true for maintaining flexibility in viewing data. Today it is common to have many different client applications sharing the same underlying data.
In OpenERP's case, they have often supported a web-based client as well as a desktop client application based on the Gnome Toolkit and known at the GTK client. OpenERP's MVC architecture allows developers to create a wide range of client applications to extend OpenERP.
Tip
Starting with Version 7, the GTK client is no longer in development by the core OpenERP team. Instead, GTK development has been handed over to the community.
The model is essentially the data that makes up your OpenERP installation, which is stored in the PostgreSQL database. OpenERP is unique in the way that database structures are typically defined by the OpenERP modules at the time they are installed. The OpenERP framework takes the model definitions and automatically creates the necessary table structures inside the PostgreSQL database. Furthermore, a web interface in OpenERP allows administrators to easily extend the OpenERP data model in a variety of ways without having to modify the OpenERP source code.