FbF^® bioServer Standard

Requirements

The FbF bioServer is a high-speed, high-volume biometric transaction-processing engine with an objective of eliminating the time and cost required to develop and integrate a scalable biometric matching server.

The bioServer is designed to support scalable deployments ranging from a single PC-class computer to hundreds of servers distributed across a wide area network. With a common strategy across such a large variance in operating capacity, the bioServer is able to more effectively serve as a universal model for processing biometric requests in both small scale and nation scale solutions. Further, this scalability will allow the bioServer to more effectively be deployed in remote and distributed processing scenarios where 1,000’s of local servers are required in the absence of reliable network connectivity (e.g. developing nations and military applications).

FbF bioServer is comprises of various components which are:

1. FbF WCF Web Service: FbF bioServer exposes its web service to receive biometric-transaction calls from various clients. This web service sits on the core component of FbF bioServer which is responsible for all the operations done on FbF bioServer.
2. FbF Web Service (Standard Service): It is a web service running on HTTP protocol provided by FbF bioServer for quick integration of client applications with FbF bioServer.
3. FbF Matching Engine: This component is responsible for all the Identification and Verification operations done on the FbF bioServer.

Understanding bioServer Taxonomy

Taxonomy is basically process of identifying and dividing available resources sharing similar properties into different groups. Taxonomy also allows defining relationship schemes like parent-child hierarchy for parent groups and their child groups (Ex. “Company” is a parent group which normally have different departments like “Finance”, “Administration” and “Human Resource” as subgroups, each of which can further have different “Team of workers” as third level sub-groups under them)

FbF bioServer uses Taxonomy to classify the biometric data (Templates) into different logical groups. Classification of data under different user defined taxonomies makes it possible to dedicatedly run an instance of Matching Server for a particular Taxonomy which is nothing but a set of Biometric data (Templates). A FbF bioServer can have multiple instance of Matching Server dedicatedly working on different taxonomy. (To know how to create multiple instance of Matching Server, please refer to “Add\Edit a Matching Server” section)

A matching server instance only operates on the Biometrics data registered under the taxonomy it is running for (including its child groups). For example, a fingerprint matching request sent to bioServer for Taxonomy “78248:2:0:0:0:0:0:0” will be only matched against the data classified under the given Taxonomy and its child group i.e. “78248:2:X:X:X:X:X” (where X could be any number between 0 to 9) including Taxonomy “78248:2:1:0:0:0:0”

Some of the major advantages and features achieved by the use of Taxonomy are:

1. Biometric Data Isolation: Total Biometric data can be divided under different Taxonomy groups which makes it possible to complete isolate the biometrics of one group from others. To understand it thoroughly, consider the case when the biometric data of 2 different companies is stored on the same bioServer. By storing the Biometric data of these 2 companies under 2 different taxonomies (Ex. “78248:1:0:0:0:0:0:0” and “78248:2:0:0:0:0:0:0”) , it is possible to provide seamless isolation and privacy to each one of them from the other during all the Biometric Processes like Enrollment, Generalization and Matching.
2. Load Distribution and Balancing: By dividing the complete Biometric data logically under different taxonomies and running multiple instances of matching servers (one instance per Taxonomy with different configuration) the total operational load on a bioServer can be divided and balanced easily.

Client - bioServer Communication Model

The following diagram demonstrates the sequence of communication across the various FbF components and custom application components in case of FbF Basic communication model.

Client Application imports the references of “FbF Standard Service” (webservice interface exported by bioServer) and uses its APIs to send different type of request to bioServer. In return, bioServer send the responses back to the calling application in asynchronous call back events of the corresponding APIs (if implemented by the calling application)

Client Applications only have to create request (using FbFHelpers wrapper class) and send them to FbF bioServer and parse the response return to them by the bioServer. This enables developers to rapidly develop biometric applications without having any detailed knowledge of biometrics.

FAQ

• What is FbF bioServer License?
• What type of network environment is required in order to connect to FbF bioServer? Can I just use a household wireless environment?
• What is Taxonomy and how can I generate Taxonomy?
• Is it possible to change License server details after bioServer installation?
• What is FbF bioServer License?
• What does an FbF bioServer License looks like?
• Can I install different third party software that I need on FBF bioServer Machine? Or can I use the IIS installed on FbF bioServer Machine to host other items?
• What type of network environment is required in order to connect to FbF bioServer ? Can I just use a household wireless environment?

Q: What is FbF bioServer License?

A: FbF bioServer License is a combination of different sub-licenses which are provided to you as per your requirements. Few of these sub-licenses are mandatory to run the FbF bioServer and others are optional depending on what Biometric modality you want to work on (Like Fingerprint, Face, Iris etc).

Following sub-licenses are possible in a FbF bioServer License:

1. Fulcrum Server (Mandatory)
2. Fingerprint Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform fingerprint matching on FbF bioServer)
3. Face Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform Face matching on FbF bioServer)
4. Iris Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform Iris matching on FbF bioServer)

Q: What type of network environment is required in order to connect to FbF bioServer? Can I just use a household wireless environment?

A: There is no special network requirement for connecting to FbF bioServer. You can connect and communicate with FbF bioServer in “Large Scale Active Directory Driven Environment” or even in a “House Hold Wireless Network”.

Q: What is Taxonomy and how can I generate Taxonomy?

A: Taxonomy is simply a Unique Identifier to segregate the biometric data into different logical categories. You can generate taxonomy by yourself or call Fulcrum Biometrics support executive for help. BioServer must have atleast one taxonomy in order to function properly.

Q: Is it possible to change License server details after bioServer installation?

A: Yes, changing License server details is very easy using FbF bioServer Administrator Utility. Follow below mentioned steps to change License server details:
Run FbF bioServer Administrator Utility and go to “Server Configuration” tab.Stop FbF bioServer using Stop button present on FbF bioServer Administrator Utility.Change License server IP and port under the section “Server”.Click on “Apply” button. If everything is correct then you will receive a success message, else if any of the input provided is not correct then you’ll receive an error message.

Q: What is FbF bioServer License?

A: FbF bioServer License is a combination of different sub-licenses which are provided to you as per your requirements. Few of these sub-licenses are mandatory to run the FbF bioServer and others are optional depending on what Biometric modality you want to work on (Like Fingerprint, Face, Iris etc).

Following sub-licenses are possible in a FbF bioServer License:

1. Fulcrum Server (Mandatory)
2. Fingerprint Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform fingerprint matching on FbF bioServer)
3. Face Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform Face matching on FbF bioServer)
4. Iris Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform Iris matching on FbF bioServer)

Q: What does an FbF bioServer License looks like?

A: FbF bioServer License (applicable to other Fulcrum Licenses also) comes in two forms to solve 2 most common scenarios.

1. Movable USB Dongle Based License: USB Dongle (License container) based licenses are best suited for development environment because they are not bound to any specific machine hardware. USB dongle (License Container) can be plugged in to any machine and installed within a couple of minutes. When the development is over, USB dongles can also be used in production environment also.
2. Immovable File Based License: File (License container) based licenses are hardware bound licenses. License file is generated using a unique key which is generated on the target hardware. Files based Licenses are best suited for Production environments (Server Machines, Kiosks Client Machines)

Q: Can I install different third party software that I need on FBF bioServer Machine? Or can I use the IIS installed on FbF bioServer Machine to host other items?

A: The operating system and other supporting software installed on FbF bioServer WE7S machine are specially tuned to specific settings to achieve high performance along with maximum stability. And in order to maintain the same, it is highly recommended and encouraged running FbF bioServer in a controlled environment on a dedicated machine. Installation of any third party software or any kind of modification in the operating system may impact performance of FbF bioServer.

Q: What type of network environment is required in order to connect to FbF bioServer ? Can I just use a household wireless environment?

A: There is no special network requirement for connecting to FbF bioServer. You can connect and communicate with FbF bioServer in “Large Scale Active Directory Driven Environment” or even in a “House Hold Wireless Network”.