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Chapter 4 Hardware, Software, and Connectivity. Objectives. We will concentrate on Servers and their configurations, the software terminology, and the Internet connectivity in E-commerce. By study of the chapter, you will be able to: Identify the needs of the servers for your E-business
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Objectives We will concentrate on Servers and their configurations, the software terminology, and the Internet connectivity in E-commerce. By study of the chapter, you will be able to: • Identify the needs of the servers for your E-business • Analyze the specifications of the servers and server-side software • Describe what is RMI • Describe the JDBC-ODBC • Describe XML and why XML is so popular and important in E-commerce and Web-services • Describe the types of Internet connectivity in your e-business • Questions and Discussion • Homework
Needs of Servers in Your E-Business • Servers are the backbone of any good website • Server is the combination of hardware, software, operation systems, database, and server-side software • All E-businesses need server or servers to host their websites • For a large or sophisticated E-business, you may need multi-tire client-server architecture or infrastructure, so many dedicated servers are needed, such as proxy server, Web server, e-mail server, business logic server, database server, and so on
The Small Website’s Server Specifications • Since the hardware necessary for hosting your own website is no longer expensive or difficult to setup and configure, so you may consider to have your own server, instead of renting a host server • Hardware specifications: • CPU speed: at least 2 GHz; Select the fastest one your budget will allow • Memory: at least 256 MB; otherwise Install the largest memory card your budget will allow • Hard drive: at least 20 GB with RAID; otherwise Install the largest memory card your budget will allow
The Small Website’s Server Specifications (continue) • Backup protection • Read/write CD • Zip drive • Tape backup system • Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) • Software Specification • Operation systems • Windows Server 2003 • Windows XP VPN Server (Virtual Private Network) • Unix/Linux • OS/2 • Mac OS X and servers
The Small Website’s Server Specifications (continue) • Web server software • E-mail server software • Commerce server software
Server Specifications for a Robust Website • For a large and sophisticated e-commerce website, clusters of multi-servers with fault tolerance, integrated database accessibility, cashed data, ability of Web-services, and network routes may be needed • You must have a coordination team that works with the designers, programmers, developers, and IT staff to accomplish your goals and objectives
Server Specifications for a Robust Website (continue) • “You can never have too much capacity in the server world.” ---- CEO of BEA • Suggested server configuration: • CPU selection: at least a DUAL Pentium IV Xeon 2.4 GHz HT • Memory: 2048MB RAM • Hard drive: 72GB SCSI (small computer system interface) • Backup: 70 GB RAID-5 array (Redundant Array of Independent or Inexpensive Disks)
Server Specifications for a Robust Website (continue) • Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) • Examples • Software Specification • All software specifications discussed before should be applicable here
Some Related Terminology • CPU architecture • AMD’s Athlon (K9?) • Intel’s Pentium VI? • MIPS (Microprocessor without interlocked pipeline stages) R16000 • Sun’s Ultra SPARC (Scalable Processor ARChitecture) Workstations and servers • Hewlett Packard Servers
Some Related Terminology (continue) • Clusters • Clusters are essentially multiple servers that are used as single unified resource through the use of software, switches, and routers • Features: data sharing; co-existing systems at different software release level; ability to dynamically vary systems off-line; and robust recovery models • Loading Balance Switches and Routers • Use of switches and routers to balance the Web/Internet traffic
Some Related Terminology (continue) • Rack Units • A rack unit is a vertical shelving device to mount servers • Dual-CPU Servers • Is a good choice for websites that demand high-end computing environment • http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1645814,00.asp • Server Cabinet
Some Related Terminology (continue) • RMI • Remote Method Invocation • For distributed computing in the network • An object in a client can call methods of a remote object in server • More information: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/kenb/com3337/rmi_tut.html#intro • We will discuss RMI in detail in Web Services
Some Related Terminology (continue) • What is JDBC? • Stands for Java DataBase Connectivity • JDBC technology is an API (included in both J2SE and J2EE releases) that provides cross-DBMS connectivity to a wide range of SQL databases and access to other tabular data sources, such as spreadsheets or flat files. • It’s widely used in development of the Internet applications, e-commerce, and Web-services • More information about JDBC
Some Related Terminology (continue) • ODBC stands for Open DataBase Connectivity, a technology developed by Microsoft to Connect to a variety of popular databases and data files • It comes with all Windows operating systems • JDBC-ODBC is Java database connection through ODBC technology • There are many tools (drivers) developed by third-party vendors to connect a database via JDBC • J2EE makes JDBC much easier to use • More information about ODBC
Some Related Terminology (continue) • What is XML? • Stands for eXtended Markup Language • XML was designed to describe data • XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags • XML uses a Document Type Definition (DTD) or an XML Schema to describe the data • XML with a DTD or XML Schema is designed to be self-descriptive • All data, method calls, request/response in a Web-service are transmitted by XML; it’s up to the application to parse or interpret the message • More information about XML
The Internet Connectivity • Types of the Internet connectivity • DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technologies (see Table) • ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network); it available in US and Europe • T-1 (E-1 in Europe) • More information about T-1 • T-3 • More information about T-3 • Cable Internet • Comcast is icon in US for cable Internet • More information about cable Internet
The Internet Connectivity (continue) • Wireless Internet Connectivity • Use of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) technology • Satellite Internet • Cell phone and PDA wireless Internet connection
Homework for Extra Points • Describe what are the most important issues and considerations in an e-business for the selection of hardware, software, and the Internet connection? • Describe what types of Web hosting services and the Internet connections available in China for an e-business. What are your suggestions in the selection? Due: Wednesday, April 6, 2005 in the class