Architecture

This section provides a comprehensive overview of PATH DRC EMR’s technical architecture.

System Overview

PATH DRC EMR is a containerized OpenMRS 3.0 distribution consisting of five main components orchestrated with Docker Compose.

graph TB
    Client[Web Browser] -->|HTTP/HTTPS| Gateway[Gateway<br/>nginx:1.25<br/>Reverse Proxy]
    Gateway -->|/openmrs/spa/*| Frontend[Frontend<br/>nginx:1.25<br/>O3 SPA Bundle]
    Gateway -->|/openmrs/| Backend[Backend<br/>OpenMRS Core 2.7<br/>+ Modules]
    Backend -->|JDBC| DB[(MariaDB 10.11<br/>Database)]
    Backup[Backup Service<br/>Restic] -.->|Scheduled| DB
    Backup -.->|Volume Backup| Backend

    style Client fill:#e1f5ff
    style Gateway fill:#fff4e6
    style Frontend fill:#e8f5e9
    style Backend fill:#e8f5e9
    style DB fill:#fce4ec
    style Backup fill:#f3e5f5

Components

Gateway (nginx)

Reverse proxy routing requests to frontend or backend services. Handles CORS and provides a single entry point.

Frontend (nginx + O3 SPA)

Serves the OpenMRS 3.0 Single Page Application with pre-built frontend modules.

Backend (OpenMRS)

OpenMRS server providing the REST API, business logic, and data persistence.

Database (MariaDB)

Persistent data storage for OpenMRS.

Backup (Restic)

Automated backup service for data protection.

What’s in This Section

Build Architecture

PATH DRC EMR supports two build types:

graph LR
    A[Source Code] --> B[Maven Build]
    B --> C{Build Type}
    C -->|distro| D[Base Distro<br/>:latest]
    C -->|site| E[Site-Specific<br/>:latest-sitename]

    style D fill:#e8f5e9
    style E fill:#e1f5fe

Data Persistence

Docker volumes used for data persistence:

Volume Purpose Backed Up
db-data MariaDB database files Yes
openmrs-data OpenMRS application data Yes
openmrs-config-checksums Initializer state Yes
openmrs-person-images Patient photos Yes
openmrs-complex-obs Complex observation data Yes
restic-cache Backup cache No

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