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The Technology

A lot of ground has been covered in this article so far. Much of the information has been general discussions. It's now time to start getting into the details. This section starts by discussing specific technology issues that you will come across at some point in in setting up a corporate Intranet. Items covered include:

Network Infrastructure

Most organizations already have a network infrastructure in place. Running an organization of any size without a network in today's business world is not very practical. So we'll assume that there are already network connections on every desktop. Setting up an Intranet is, however, a good time to re-examine the LAN. This is especially true if it has been over a year since the last time a network assessment was done. If a network assessment is performed, be sure to consider longer range goals and technology. Some near future applications, such as desktop video teleconferencing require a lot of network bandwidth. Examining the current network is the perfect opportunity to take a look at the long term vision.

Title Chapter Description
The Human Side of Intranets 2 Network prerequisites.
How Intranets Work 14 - 17 Firewall, routers, proxy servers, and encryption discussed.
Handbook of Local Area Networks, 1998 Edition Section 1 Covers security, LAN-based application development.
Demystifying TCP/IP (2nd Ed.) Chapter 1 Defines network hardware, like routers and bridges. Important protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, TCP/IP, etc discussed.

Firewalls

Firewalls are also network related. A firewall is a physical barrier between the Internet and the local network.

Firewall Diagram

Title Chapter Description
How Intranets Work 14 Firewalls.
Internet Security with Windows NT (with CD-ROM) 10, 11 Choosing a firewall, security in general.
HTML 4 UNLEASHED, PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE EDITION Appendix G
Developing Your AS/400 Internet Strategy 3, 7 Networking for the AS/400 shop. Discussions of both firewalls and general Internet security.

Hardware Platform

Selecting a hardware platform is usually based on the existing platform used in the organization. An NT-based organization will probably select a server with an Intel processor and a Sun shop will probably select a Sun Sparc-based server. This is not a hard and fast rule. Unix-based servers are still preferred by many organizations where 24 hour per day/7 days a week up time is required.

Title Chapter Description
Practical Guide to Intranet Client-Server Applications Using The Web 3 Platforms are discussed.
Presenting XML 15 Platform independent data representation.
Windows NT, UNIX, NetWare Migration/Coexistence Part 3 Porting issues, administering NT and Unix systems covered.
Inside the AS/400 Second Edition 2 Covers architecture and management of AS/400e.

Client Software

The browser battle has come down to two browsers, Netscape Navigator/Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The latest beta versions even support XML data and XSL stylesheets. Both are high quality. There have always been some incompatibilities between the way more advanced HTML feature are implemented, including scripting languages. For this reason, it is very important that an official Intranet browser be selected. This means not only an official browser, a particular version of the official browser be selected. Supporting multiple browsers for simple, static HTML pages is not a big deal, but supporting multiple browsers can add significant development costs because portions of many Intranet applications will have to be implemented for each browser supported.

Title Chapter Description
HTML 4 UNLEASHED, PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE EDITION Appendix B Browser cross reference table.
Sams Teach Yourself Netscape 4 Web Publishing in a Week, Second Edition 2 Covers both Navigator and Composer. CGI, HTML, and JavaScript also discussed.
Practical Guide to Intranet Client-Server Applications Using The Web 3 Thin vs. Fat clients discussed.
Sams' Teach Yourself MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4 IN 24 HOURS Part I Browsing, E-mail, data channels, publishing Web pages with FrontPage covered.

Server Software

The second most visible software component after the browser in an Intranet is the Web server. Again, the platform often dictates the choice of Web server. At least, it narrows the field somewhat. Back in the early days of the Web, there was little to a Web server other than serving pages. That is no longer true with the Web server evolving into a true middle tier server. Today's Web servers come with a variety of add-ons ranging from HTML editors to search engines to application servers.

Title Chapter Description
Active Serves Pages in 14 Days 1 IIS overview.
Java 1.2 Unleashed 47 Sun's Java Web Server.
The Lotus Domino Server, 2nd Edition 1 Lotus Domino Web Server
Building an Intranet with Windows NT 4 Appendix B Several Web server reviews.
Official Netscape Enterprise Server 3 1 Netscape servers.

Web Site Management Software

This is a tough category to describe. All of the tools listed here include HTML editing capabilities along with Web site management. Web site management includes such things as uploading HTML files, showing a graphical view of a site, and checking for bad links are all part of these packages. Relatively static sites can be totally build with these tools.

Title Chapter Description
HTML 4 UNLEASHED, PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE EDITION Appendix G References many tools including FrontPage, HoTMetaL Pro, and InContext Web Analyzer.
TEACH YOURSELF JAVASCRIPT IN A WEEK Appendix D Demo copies of HoTMetaL Pro and other HTML editors on CD with book.
HTML in Plain English Appendix C Many tools listed with links to associated pages.
Special Edition Using Microsoft FrontPage 98 Part V How to manage a Web site with FrontPage 98.

Application Development Tools

The tools listed under this category have much in common with the site management tools. Both edit HTML and upload files to the server. The distinction I make for this category is these tools have built in support, usually drag and drop, for scripting. Application servers also have development capabilities built in.

Title Chapter Description
NetObjects Fusion 2 Design Guide 7 Site management using NetObjects Fusion.
The HTML Example Book 1 HoTMetaL Pro, HotDog editors.
Active Server: A Developer's Guide 4 ASP development, VBScript, Microsoft Transaction Server.
Official Netscape LiveWire Pro Book 1 Livewire is Netscape Server-side JavaScript.

Application Servers

Application servers are gaining in popularity as well as maturity. The following data flow diagram illustrates the architecture of a typical application server:

Application Server DFD Diagram

Title Chapter Description
Cold Fusion Web Application Kit, 2nd Edition 1-35 Over 800 pages of Cold Fusion information. Also covers Cold Fusion Studio.
Database Publishing on the Web and Intranets 5 - Cold Fusion
6 - dbWeb
8 - Data Ramp
9 - Netscape LiveWire
12 - Tango
Covers several application servers.
Building an Intranet with Windows NT 4 16 ODBC and Cold Fusion.
Special Edition Using Oracle Web Application Server 3 Part 1 Web development using the Oracle Application Server. A lot of other Oracle related areas are also covered.

Databases

Almost any database can be used in an Intranet. The general rule is to avoid single user databases like Access. They don't stand up to a load well, often crashing when multiple people try to access the same database. A single user database can be a very useful tool for Intranet development. Many Web developers prefer to develop applications on their desktop computer and install a "personal"Web server like Microsoft's PWS. It does not make sense to install a full Oracle on the local machine. An ODBC complaint database like Access is a good fit for the individual developer. Use a server-class database for production! All of the ones listed in the table are powerful relational database systems that will stand up to high volume use on an Intranet.

Title Chapter Description
Informix Unleashed Informix DBMS.
Oracle Databases on the Web 2, 5 Oracle DBMS, Web Server, and Application Server coverage. Oracle tuning and performance covered as well.
Microsoft SQL Server DBA Survival Guide 18, 25 Setup and administration.
DB2 Developer's Guide, Third Edition DB2 Relational DBMS.

Search Engines

Search engines are often not included in Intranets. They make searching the site a snap. Most even search the text of word processor documents. Some, like LiveLink include the Web server and workflow capabilities out of the box.

Title Chapter Description
Building an Intranet with Windows NT 4 21, Appendix C WAIS search engine.
Designing and Implementing Microsoft Index Server 2 Using IIS and Index Server to build Web sites.

E-mail

E-mail has several faces. There is the client side with packages like Microsoft Outlook , QualComm Eudora Pro , and Netscape Navigator/Communicator . Also on the client side are specialized SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) send-only packages like BLAT that are used to send E-mail from scripts. The server side has even more choices. The choices are mostly platform dependent.

Title Chapter Description
MS Exchange Users Handbook 5, 8 Covers installation, MAPI interface, Internet mail.
Active Serves Pages in 14 Days 15 BLAT
Handbook of Electronic Messaging Section 1 Discusses about a dozen E-mail packages and related topics.
The Microsoft Outlook E-mail and Fax Guide Outlook setup and use.

Implementation Approaches

There are several implementation approaches that are in general use today for both Web and Intranet applications:

Virtually every application can be done using any of these approaches. The difference is the skill required of the person doing the work and the amount of effort required for implementation. Database manipulation, both reporting and updating and reporting can be done using all of the techniques.

Title Chapter Description
Windows NT Internet and Intranet Development 10, 11, 12 CGI, VBScript, ISAPI, and ODBC discussions. Also Active-X.
Perl 5 Unleashed 1, 20, 22 Very complete Perl coverage. Processing HTML forms with Perl. Using Java applets with Perl.
Web Programming Desktop Reference 6-in-1 1-31 Perl, Java, JavaScript, VBScript, Active-X all covered in one book.
Teach Yourself VBScript in 21 Days VBScripting, Active-X, differences between Visual Basic and VBScript.

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