World Wide Web at

1. World Wide Web at 1999 Computing Advisory Committee Review Ruth McDunnWeb Information Manager Dennis Wisinski The Applications Group (TAG) Manager

2. Topics • A bit of web history • Review progress against our strategic plan • Vision • Goals • Progress • Needs • Summary • Resource Issues

3. Our Role in the WWW • In December 1991, SLAC installed the first web server outside of Europe • SLAC’s early web presence: • Reflects in established, legacy procedures • Some good, some bad, difficult to change • Has led to a very large and tangled web • Couldn’t plan for the technology advancements • We can’t start from scratch like those entering the web today

4. How Big Are We? • As of June 27, 1999 • Central SLAC web • Unix and most of the NT servers • 415,162 documents and 1,010,688 URLs • BaBar web • 15,068 documents and 26,354 URLs • Figures do not include • www-user and defined development spaces • slaconly and other areas with access controls

5. Main Unix ServerCurrent Statistics • June 15-25, 1999 • Average total hits • 132,413 • 149,841 (weekdays) • Total KB transferred • 1,607,429 • 1,802,599 (weekdays)

6. Vision • To provide a ubiquitous and efficient communication system enabling SLAC’s internal and external community to share information. In turn, allowing SLAC to perform collaborative, scientific, and technical work without constraints imposed by locations, hardware, software platforms, or unwarranted administrative obstacles. • Strategic Plan for Computing • Section 18, World Wide Web at SLAC

7. Goals • Provide highly available access to information • Provide high quality and accurate information • Provide easy-to-use access to information • Draw in WWW support and expertise from across the lab • Provide appropriately secure access to information

8. Provide Highly Available Access to Information • Central web servers • Unix (Netscape/Apache) and NT (Microsoft IIS4) • Uninterruptible power supply • Nightly incremental backups • Network monitoring every 15 minutes, daily heartbeat • Long term logs show very high availability • Slowdowns usually involve local and remote robots indexing the site, script or AFS problems, or excessive network traffic

9. Provide Highly Available Access to Information • Need • Move problem services (such as ASP scripts) to their own server • Establish fault-tolerance, mirroring, and load balancing for Unix web severs and clustering techniques for the NT servers • Develop scripts to monitor and possibly restart critical services, as necessary

10. Provide High Quality and Accurate Information • Many aspects of web policy, procedures, and resources are documented and advertised • Standard software with defined support • FrontPage, FTP, browsers • Web Information Manager appointed • WebAnalyzer Professional purchased • Web interface to retrieve PeopleSoft data • Purchasing, Property Control, Stores, Financials

11. Provide High Quality and Accurate Information • Need • Continued development of web interface to PeopleSoft and other institutional data • Input data, change data, and query • More author friendly tools • Considering FrontPage extensions and ASP on Unix and PERL CGI for NT servers • QA program to spot review web sites • Link analysis, outdated materials, meet page requirements

12. Provide High Quality and Accurate Information • Need • Better log analysis tools • Unix logs range from 10–40 M daily and growing • Consistent format on all six real and “virtual” servers (production space)

13. Provide Easy-to-use Access to Information • Year long meetings to revise home pages • Redesign implemented August 1998 • Phonebook search • Show Index script • Dynamically generates alphabetical list of links on a page • InfoSeek search engine/indexer • SLAC-specific index started late 1998 • Web space requests go through WIM

14. Provide Easy-to-use Access to Information • Need • More active review of current products • Web interface to database • Server technologies • Reorganization and maintenance of lower level pages

15. Draw in WWW Support and Expertise From Across the Lab • Central Support -- 3.8 FTE • Web Information Manager (.5 FTE) • Infrastructure in TAG (2.3 FTE) • Unix Web Admin (1 FTE) • NT Web Admin (1 FTE) • Direction, policy, programming (admin), security(.3 FTE) • Content in TAG (1 FTE) • Documentation/computing web maintenance (1 FTE, vacant)

16. Draw in WWW Support and Expertise From Across the Lab • Distributed Support • Web Coordinating Committee (12) • Web Technical Committee (33, informal) • Welcome Page Committee (4) • Web Support Coordinators (40) • Computer Coordinating Committee (13) • 102 people on these combined lists

17. Associate Directors' Committee on Computing Computer Web Web The Coordinating Technical Coordinating Applications Committee Committee Committee Group (TAG) Chair - Chair - Chair - Head - R. Mount T. Johnson P. Kreitz D. Wisinski Web Welcome Web Server Information Page Registrar Manager Committee C. Hee R. McDunn Chair- R. McDunn Web Management Laboratory Director SCS Web Support Coordinators Chair - J. Masek Divisional Web Management

18. Distributed Web Support (71 people)

19. Draw in WWW Support and Expertise From Across the Lab • Presentations • Searching and Being Searched, Java Overview, Introduction to JavaScript, About the New SLAC Home Pages, Web Management at SLAC, FrontPage at SLAC, Server Tricks, Cascading Style Sheets • Training Courses • So You Want (Need) to Be a Web Author, FrontPage 98, Introduction, Forms in FrontPage 98

20. Draw in WWW Support and Expertise From Across the Lab • Need • Appointment of WSCs to remaining departments • Immediate supervisor support for WSC and web author activities • Full day classes • Meeting participation • More staff • Develop and provide training • Develop materials related to our science • Review commercial products

21. Provide Appropriately Secure Access to Information • Security issues driven by PeopleSoft project • Needed encrypted transport of passwords and data • SLAC only, group only, password protected access via SSL on NT web server • Computer Security Officer/TAG • Computer security and web security policies web pages • Servers updated as fixes are issued • Server configuration changes restricted to a short list • Eliminated FTP access to NT web servers • Blocked non-approved port 80 web servers

22. Provide Appropriately Secure Access to Information • CGI wrapper • CGI script authors are tutored in security issues • Only Bebo, Dennis, or Les can add screened scripts to the wrapper • Simple checking on the input to the user's CGI script • Allows “authorized” UNIX commands • Specifies the server (test or production) it runs on and if it is “slaconly”

23. Provide Appropriately Secure Access to Information • Need • SSL on Unix (testing Apache) • Move the Unix and NT test servers to separate physical machines • Scripts to check and correct insecure directories • Explore JAVA servlets and CORBA technologies • Reduce dependence on CGI for legacy systems • Implement method to detect web server compromise

24. Summary • Needs • Server Issues • Content Analysis • Content Interface • Content Development • Implementation • Human Resources • Other Resources

25. Server IssuesSummary • Move problem services to their own machine • Move test servers to separate physical machines • Establish server redundancy, mirroring, balancing • Establish SSL capabilities on the Unix server • Develop scripts to monitor (restart) critical services • Develop scripts to check and correct insecure directories • Explore alternatives to CGI and evaluate new web technologies for strategic use applications

26. Content AnalysisSummary • Purchase a robust log analysis tool • Collect log data in a consistent format on all servers • Create a QA program to spot review selected web sites within the SLAC web • Obtain appointments of WSCs to remaining departments (who have, should have, or want a web presence)

27. Content InterfaceSummary • Continued development of web interface to PeopleSoft and other institutional data • Develop interface to non-institutional data • Evaluate FrontPage extensions and ASP for Unix, PERL CGI for NT servers, Office and FrontPage 2000

28. Content Development Summary • Perform more reviews of current web authoring and website management products • Assist authors with reorganization and maintenance of lower level pages • Request immediate supervisor support for WSC and web authoring activities • Provide/develop more and deeper author training • Develop more web pages to present our science to the public

29. Human Resource Needs • Infrastructure (TAG) • 1 to 2 FTE - Backup administrator, web tool and technology evaluation • Intellectual Content/Structure Support • 1 FTE - Web site design and (re)organization, training, log analysis, content review below the top level • .5 FTE - Writer to explain our science to the public (not just for the web)

30. Other Resource Needs • Cisco Local Director • Router to provide server redundancy, mirroring, and load balancing for Unix servers • Need to find an equivalent system for NT servers • Continuing upgrade of server hardware • Net.Analysis • Site traffic analysis tool that works across all servers • Looks at packet traffic, not web logs

31. More Information • Snapshot review of the Strategic Plan on Computing, Section 18 • http://www.slac.stanford.edu/slac/www/wwwcc/wim/1999review.html • Questions