Two involved services are:

1. A set of  XML-RPC servers (currently running on lxvm0341 and voatlas18 at CERN). The role of those servers is to work, to execute extraction (or other tasks) using standard Atlas Python environment.
2. A J2EE/Tomcat server running on centrally managed service in CERN. The role of that server is to be a unique front-end to worker servers. It knows about all running XML-RPC servers (on different ports, machines or even sites), it knows their characteristics. It can start new server as needed. At the same time, this server checks pre-conditions and post-conditions of the extraction tasks, accumulates statistics and handles errors.

• Athenaeum server can be hosted on the Tomcat/J2EE container (accessed over http) or can exist as a standalone executable. All access to Extraction servers goes via that Athenaeum server. Command line access has two modes: over http or via direct call to Athenaeum executable. Both J2EE server and command line run the same Athenaeum code (they contain the same Athenaeum.jar library+executable).
• The Athenaeum server processes the input, creates a simple Python script (Extract.py) which then sends to one of XML-RPC servers for execution. That script calls the extraction service on the XML-RPC Server (tagExtrcat.py). In other words: the Athenaeum server creates an extraction job to be executed on an XML-RPC extraction server.
• Athenaeum server can be deployed on any Tomcat container. It is distributed as a single file Athenaeum.war.
• Athenaeum server containes other auxiliary methods, like GetFile.jsp.
• Clients communicate only via http, which makes the configuration simpler and the service less vulnerable (there is no need to open additional holes in firewalls).