Platform overview

The GDI User Portal is a distributed system composed of multiple independent services working together to provide dataset discovery and access management capabilities.

Architecture at a glance

For detailed architecture diagrams and component interactions, see: GDI application architecture.

Core components

User-facing layer

• Frontend (Next.js): React-based web application providing the user interface
  • TypeScript, Next.js 14, TailwindCSS
  • Server-side rendering (SSR) for performance
  • Responsive design for mobile and desktop

API layer

• Kong Gateway: API gateway handling routing, authentication, and rate limiting
  • Routes requests between frontend and backend services
  • Enforces security policies
  • Provides observability through logging

Backend services (Java/Quarkus)

• Dataset Discovery Service (DDS): Mediates frontend requests to CKAN

  • REST API for dataset search and retrieval
  • Transforms CKAN responses to frontend-friendly format
  • Implements business logic for dataset filtering

• Access Management Service (AMS): Manages access request workflows

  • Integrates with REMS for application management
  • Tracks application status and approvals
  • Provides notification capabilities

Data catalogue

• CKAN: Open-source data catalogue system
  • PostgreSQL database for metadata storage
  • Solr for full-text search
  • Custom GDI extensions make it possible to support DCAT-AP 3 and HealthDCAT
  • Harvester extensions for collecting external datasets

Supporting services

• Keycloak: Identity and access management (IAM)

  • OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication
  • Integration with LS-AAI federated login
  • PKCE flow support for secure authentication

• REMS: Resource Entitlement Management System

  • Access request workflow engine
  • Application approval processes
  • Integration via REST API

• FAIR Data Point (FDP): Metadata repository

  • Implements FAIR principles
  • Provides harvestable metadata endpoints
  • DCAT-AP compatible outputs

Technology stack

Component	Technology	Language
Frontend	Next.js 14	TypeScript
DDS/AMS	Quarkus	Java 17+
CKAN	CKAN 2.11.3	Python 3.9+
API Gateway	Kong	Lua/Docker
Database	PostgreSQL 14+	SQL
Search	Apache Solr 8+	-
Cache	Redis 7+	-
IAM	Keycloak 22+	-

Next steps

Now that you understand the platform, learn about repository structure to find where code lives.