Web Server Administration 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

Overview

Understanding Server Administration Server administrators Focus on the LAN Provide access to software and services Make sure environment is reliable and consistent Protection of system and database Minimize harm that users can do to network Access control Focuses on the LAN and interacts with users

Working with Users A LAN can server hundreds or even thousands of users Users need to be productive Reliable environment and equipments 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 Protecting information Typically, users are organized into groups, and groups are given access to network resources User groups as students or faculty 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 Networks may have one or more servers With Windows OS computers, servers, and users’ computers can be organized into domains in order to centralize the control In Windows server 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 (Internet Service Provider) Typically, a Web server provides information to anyone who requests it over the Internet Web servers can contain other applications 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 developed by Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) Original language from Microsoft ASP.Net A newer environment that includes many languages

Selecting Programs and Databases Non-Microsoft languages are popular, even on Microsoft Web servers Perl – one of the first and still popular Text-based PHP – easy to use Personal Home Page Java Server Pages (JSP) Uses Java – Dynamic web page design Macromedia ColdFusion

Selecting Programs and Databases A database management system (DBMS) is used to store data used with Web pages Database software is critical to the central concept of a database (collection of records) categorized according to the data model that they support: relational, object-relational, network, and so on How to query and access the database Popular software DBMS packages 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 E-mail is an application provided by the email server 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 File Transfer Protocol A service that allows users to download files from and upload files to a server DNS Domain Name Service 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

Web Servers and Networks Web servers are accessed through the Internet Internet is a giant Network We use OSI and TCP/IP modes to understand network communication The basic idea is to divide different tasks performed at the network level OSI: Open Source Interconnection TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol What is a Protocol? Set of communication rules

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 Application Protocols Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Web servers implement this protocol Web servers use HTTP to communicate 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 No retransmission, hence, faster Internet Protocol (IP) Provides addressing scheme Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Provides error messages