Web Server Administration Chapter 1 The Basics of Server and Web Server Administration

Overview Review the Internet and the World Wide Web Learn about server administration Learn about Web server administration Explore the common tasks and services performed by administrators Examine networking building blocks Compare Web server platforms

Review the Internet and the World Wide Web The Internet is a worldwide network of networks Shares WAN used by the international telecommunications network Uses TCP/IP Where the Internet uses the HTTP protocol, it is called the Web Web servers use HTTP to communicate The Internet is not centrally controlled

Review the Internet and the World Wide Web Internet had its origins in the 1960s In 1995 a high-speed backbone was created Included 4 network access points (NAPs) More have been created since then Now much Internet traffic is handled without going through NAPs Peering agreements allow this

Understanding Server Administration Server administrators Focus on the LAN Provide access to software and services Make sure environment is reliable and consistent Minimize harm that users can do to network

Working with Users A LAN can server hundreds or even thousands of users Users need to be productive Users like consistency Roaming profiles allow users to have the same personalized desktop environment on multiple computers

Establishing Access Control Users need just enough access to do their jobs, but not more Typically, users are organized into groups, and groups are given access to network resources Users can be given different access to the same resources A document can be read by everyone but modified by only specific people

Understanding the Server Environment All but the smallest network includes more than one server With Windows computers, servers and users’ computers can be organized into domains in order to centralize control In Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, domains can be grouped into forests

Understanding Web server Administration Web server administrators focus on the Internet Need to work with ISPs and Web page developers Typically, a Web server provides information to anyone who requests it over the Internet Web servers can contain other applications such as FTP and e-mail

Understanding Web server Administration Depending on the size of the organization, some tasks may be delegated Web page development Database design Programming E-mail administration Security

Selecting Programs and Databases Web server administrators need to install programming languages Web developers use a variety of languages Active Server Pages (ASP) Original language from Microsoft ASP.Net A newer environment that includes many languages Java Server Pages (JSP)

Selecting Programs and Databases Non-Microsoft languages are popular, even on Microsoft Web servers Perl – one of the first and still popular PHP – easy to use Java Server Pages (JSP) Macromedia ColdFusion

Selecting Programs and Databases A database management system (DBMS) is used to store data used with Web pages Microsoft Access is appropriate for small sites Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle 9i, and MySQL are sophisticated DBMSs for larger sites Standard Query Language (SQL) is the language used to communicate with the DBMS

Managing E-mail Servers Open by design to accept e-mail from anyone Spam can be a problem to manage Specific utilities can be used to help minimize spam Viruses are commonly sent by e-mail Use virus detection software and keep it updated

Other Applications Firewall FTP DNS Helps protect your Web server environment from attack FTP A service that allows users to download files from and upload files to a server DNS Translates host names such as www.technowidgets.com to an IP address

Administrators' Common Tasks and Services Installing and configuring systems Maintaining security Monitoring the system Maintenance and backup

Network Building Blocks- The OSI Model Layer Name Description 7 Application Responsible for low-level application access to the network. 6 Presentation Can convert data into a format that is understandable to the Application layer. 5 Session Can open, maintain, and shut down communication. 4 Transport Responsible for transporting the data from one computer to another. (TCP and UDP) 3 Network Primarily responsible for addressing between two computers. (IP and ICMP) 2 Data Link Responsible for the interface between the packets coming down through the upper layers and the physical layer. 1 Physical Responsible for transferring the data to the network medium.

TCP/IP Model Layer Name Common Components OSI Reference Application HTTP, SMTP, POP3 FTP, DNS Presentation Session Transport TCP, UDP Network IP, ICMP Physical Ethernet, FDDI Data Link

TCP/IP Protocols Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Web servers implement this protocol Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Used by e-mail servers (and sometimes Web servers) to send e-mail Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3) Used to retrieve e-mail

TCP/IP Protocols File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Transfers files to and from server Domain Name Service (DNS) Translates host names to IP addresses and IP addresses to host names Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Creates a reliable connection between two computers

TCP/IP Protocols User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Internet Protocol (IP) Does not establish a connection, just sends messages Internet Protocol (IP) Provides addressing scheme Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Provides error messages

Connecting Your LAN to the Internet Your ISP connects to the Internet A WAN connection is used between your building and the ISP A T-Carrier connection is often used A digital connection for voice and data

Common T-Carrier Connections

Connecting to the Internet

Other ways to Connect to the Internet Integrated services digital network (ISDN) Dial-up access Basic Rate Interface (BRI) up to 128 Kbps Primary Rate Interface (PRI) up to 1.544 Mbps Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Often differing speeds for uploads and downloads Depending on type, up to 6.1 Mbps for downloads and 1.544 Mbps for uploads Cable Modem Shared access cable provided by cable TV company

Web Hosting Solutions Standard hosting Dedicated server Co-location Your site resides on the same computer with many other sites Cheapest solution Dedicated server You have a server that only you use Co-location Your own server is physically located at the company that does your Web hosting

Web Server Platforms- Microsoft Windows NT (IIS 4) IIS (Internet Information Server) was added in the mid-1990s, and support for ASP was added later Windows 2000 (IIS 5) IIS part of the OS from the beginning .NET Framework add-on allows use of ASP.NET Windows Server 2003 (IIS 6) .NET Framework integrated into OS

Other Microsoft Server Products Application Center Allows you to manage a cluster of servers as if it is one server Biztalk Server Connects to your business partners using XML Commerce Server Builds e-commerce sites in a short amount of time

Other Microsoft Server Products Internet Security and Acceleration Server Combines a firewall product with a Web cache Operations Manager Helps decrease support costs for a server environment SharePoint Portal Server Set up a site that is highly personalized

UNIX/Linux UNIX was introduced in 1969 Linux is from the early 1990s Based on MINIX Three basic components Kernel – central portion of OS File system – provides input and output mechanisms Shell – provides user interface

Linux Source code is freely available Developers can make changes Available from a number of organizations Red Hat Mandrake SuSe

Summary Server administration focuses on LANs Web server administration focuses on the Internet Both types of administrators install, configure, and maintain servers Many pieces make up the network There are many Web server platforms from which to choose