NICE NT Web Services

1. HEP NT Days NICE NT Web Services Alberto Di Meglio CERN IT/DIS/NCS

2. Introduction • The NICE Web Services • A set of services and tools to publish documents and share information on the Internet • A CERN-wide service, flexible, expandable and scalable • A front-end for a community of users who want to share information dynamically on the web without having to learn (too much of) the technical details • Study phase started in April, implementation phase started in October HEPNT Days at CERN

3. History of the Service • One Windows NT Server (NICEWWW) • born in 1994 as an interface for the Novell NetWare-hosted user home directories • a special filter to access files via HTTP from a well-known URL (http://nicewww.cern.ch/~username) • a useful, well-accepted service in need of an upgrade: no scripts, no ACLs, caching problems, server dependency HEPNT Days at CERN

4. A Growing Demand • The need for publishing documents and sharing information, especially in the form of databases and dynamic charts is growing • New internet standards have emerged or are emerging (ASP, audio and video streaming, Internet calendars, interactive learning tools) • It is foreseeable that the XML/HTML format will be one of the standard document formats (Microsoft Office 2000?) HEPNT Days at CERN

5. The New ArchitectureMain Servers Infrastructure • Two main series of servers • the web servers (NT 4. IIS 4,MTS, NetShow Services, FrontPage, IS) host the user web sites, documents, streams, iCalendars, etc. • the profile servers (NT 4) host the user profile directories, containing the NT profile, links to the user web sites and documents (a sort of enhanced home directory) • Profile servers are protected from web servers troubles and the structure is more flexible NTWEBxx NTHOMExx HEPNT Days at CERN

6. User (share) Public files and folders Internet Server The New ArchitectureUser Profile Directory Structure Public Profile Private files and folders Www (links) HEPNT Days at CERN

7. The New ArchitectureAdditional Services (present and possible) • On-line training: • two servers set up in collaboration with the CERN Training Services, Gartner Learning and NETg to provide web-based tutorials (NT4,IIS3/4,SQL6.5) • NetShow Services to feed video and audio streams • Document indexing and serving (IS) • Internet Calendars: iCal, vCal, ICAP (in the profile directories or a dedicated web site HEPNT Days at CERN

8. A Special URL Naming Scheme • A sub-domain is defined in the main domain (web.cern.ch) • One DNS alias is defined for each web as: webname.web servername • An ASP script in the root default page removes the directory dependency • The URL for each web becomes: http://webname.web.cern.ch • All this with only one IP address per server HEPNT Days at CERN

9. Service Administration • Users can manage their web sites using a web interface (with authentication) to: • Register/Delete web sites • Edit permissions and properties (add/remove FrontPage Extensions, add/remove DSN for database support, change name and owner, etc.) • Search for/List documents using Index Server • The use of FrontPage Extensions allow easy, direct authoring with scripts, forms and database support • Administrators have a similar set of interfaces to manage servers and users HEPNT Days at CERN

10. Presentation Layer: Web Interfaces (IE or NS) to register, edit, delete web sites, access documents, etc. Uses ASP to produce HTML and activate COM objects Business Logic: a set of COM/DCOM components to perform the requested actions - VB/VC++ - FP/IIS ADSI objects (Active Directory), MTX Data Storage: an Access database with owners, webs, homes, quotas data. Can be upgraded to SQLS or Active Directory. Linked to the CERN general database on Oracle The Three-Tier Model HEPNT Days at CERN

11. HTML MTX Client IIS parse ASP scripts, creating objects and calling methods Basic Authentication SSL COM/DCOM The Transaction Model HEPNT Days at CERN

12. The Web Creation Script <% username = Request.Form("UserName") webname = Request.Form("WebName") webtype = Request.Form("WebType") set nwm = CreateObject("NICENTWeb.FP") if (nwm.IsOwnerValid(username) <> 1) then response.redirect ”…………" end if if (nwm.IsWebValid(webname) <> 1) then response.redirect ”…………" end if if webtype = "FP_Type" then LRes = nwm.CreateNICENTFPWeb(username,webname,username) end if set nwn = nothing %> HEPNT Days at CERN

13. Quota Management • Several possibilities: • Now: no control, third-party products, SP4 (?), custom solutions • Later: Windows 2000 • Custom solution: • background check of folder size • owners looked up from the main web service database • actions: send a message, remove write access, lock account HEPNT Days at CERN

14. Conclusions Advantages: • Rich set of features: FrontPage extensions, native ACL support, ASP and database support, streaming services, etc. • Easy to access and administer from a web browser anywhere (not necessarily from within CERN) with secure connections • Server independent: users don’t need to know where their homes or webs are, they use the generic name webname.web.cern.ch and can be moved transparently • Flexibility and scalability • Data is safe: daily backups, fault-tolerance Disadvantage: • Users are putting scripts on the web servers:security and stability must be carefully checked • Certificates for SSL are an open issue HEPNT Days at CERN