Copyright © 1996 by Sams.net Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. For information, address Sams.net Publishing, 201 W. 103rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46290.
International Standard Book Number: 1-57521-089-4
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Sams.net Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Windows NT is a Trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
President, Sams Publishing | Richard K. Swadley |
Publishing Manager | Mark Taber |
Managing Editor | Cindy Morrow |
Marketing Manager | John Pierce |
Assistant Marketing Manager | Kristina Perry |
Acquisitions Editor | Kim Spilker | Development Editors | Sunthar Visuvalingam, Brian-Kent Proffitt |
Software Development Specialist | Cari Skaggs | Production Editor | Keith A. Davenport |
Copy Editors | David Bradford, Kristi Hart, Chuck Hutchinson, Anne Owen | Technical Reviewer | Christopher Stone |
Editorial Coordinator | Bill Whitmer | Technical Edit Coordinator | Lynette Quinn |
Resource Coordinator | Deborah Frisby | Formatter | Frank Sinclair |
Editorial Assistants | Carol Ackerman, Andi Richter, Rhonda Tinch-Mize | Cover Designer | Tim Amrhein |
Book Designer | Alyssa Yesh | Copy Writer | Peter Fuller |
Production Team Supervisor | Brad Chinn, Production, Carol Bowers, Georgiana Briggs, Mona Brown, Paula Lowell, Donna Martin, Ian Smith, Mark Walchle |
This book is dedicated to all the Windows NT users who are about to embark on an exciting journey of discovery! It opens the gates of convenience, power, and versatility for your successful deployment of Internet information systems. May the road ahead, at least for us ;-), run on Windows NT!
I am indebted to many individuals who helped me complete this project. Although this project consumed me for a few months, the following people helped me complete it and reclaim my life-although temporarily!
I'd first like to thank my acquisitions editor, Kim Spilker, for suggesting this timely project and helping me bring it to fruition. It has been a pleasure working with you and everyone else at Sams.net. Sunthar, Brian, Kristi, Chris, and Keith did a wonderful job editing and developing chapters of this book. Their knowledge in new technologies and foresight helped shape this book into what it is. Copy editors of this book were Anne, Chuck, and David. They did an excellent job editing this book and refining its content. Thanks for all the valuable suggestions and comments! Lynette Quinn is the technical editor coordinator of this book. Many thanks to Cari for putting together the CD-ROM that accompanies this book. I do not personally know everyone at Sams.net who make books like this possible. All the same, I'd like to thank them for helping me complete this project because it would never have been possible without all their help.
I am especially indebted to Sandra for proofreading the last few chapters of this book. I'd probably still be proofreading them if not for you! (You still owe me dinner and a movie, though!) Thanks to Robert for helping me set up and test NT BIND in the wee hours of the morning. Many thanks to Michael for helping me move to my new apartment in the middle of this project and helping me put everything together so I could get back to work.
This book covers numerous Windows NT applications that can be
used to publish information on the Internet. The following persons
helped me evaluate the applications discussed in this book. I
am very much indebted for their help in making this book the most
comprehensive source of information for setting up Internet information
systems with Windows NT.
iBasic.com | Tom Billings |
Internet Shopper | Brian Dorricott |
Software.com | Kevin Thau |
Metainfo | Jason Morse |
egSoftware | Alice F. Boyd |
InContext | Craig L. Dudley |
FutureTense | BC Krishna Gayle Evans |
Microsoft | George Bukow Benjamin Slivka |
Verity | Marguerite Padovani Stephany Derry |
NetManage | Steve Cirimele Ellie Saif |
Process Software | Tom Ricci Donna Clayfield Barbara Gaumond |
O'Reilly & Associates | Ellen Elias Kimberly Simoni Sara Winge |
I know there are many others who helped me put this book together. I'd like to thank them for all their help. It has been a pleasure working with them and I look forward to working with them again.
Sanjaya Hettihewa is an accomplished Webmaster and a consultant specializing in integrating Windows NT-based information systems on the Internet. He has lived in the Washington, D.C., area for the last six years and is a computer science major attending the University of Maryland. For the last two years, Sanjaya has done extensive research in setting up Internet information systems with Windows NT as well as exploring ways of using Windows NT's unique features to publish information on the Internet. Sanjaya is the co-author of Designing and Implementing Microsoft Internet Information Server, Internet Information Server Unleashed, FrontPage Unleashed, Internet Explorer Unleashed, and Windows NT 3.51 Unleashed, all by Sams and Sams.net Publishing. Sanjaya can be reached at http://www.NetInnovation.com/ (if you prefer the old-fashioned way, sanjaya@NetInnovation.com).
As a reader, you are the most important critic and commentator of our books. We value your opinion and want to know what we're doing right, what we could do better, what areas you'd like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you're willing to pass our way. You can help us make strong books that meet your needs and give you the computer guidance you require.
Do you have access to CompuServe or the World Wide Web? Then check out our CompuServe forum by typing GO SAMS at any prompt. If you prefer the World Wide Web, check out our site at http://www.mcp.com.
Note |
If you have a technical question about this book, call the technical support line at (800) 571-5840, ext. 3668. |
As the team leader of the group that created this book, I welcome
your comments. You can fax, e-mail, or write me directly to let
me know what you did or didn't like about this book-as well as
what we can do to make our books stronger. Here's the information:
FAX: | 317/581-4669 |
E-mail: | opsys_mgr@sams.mcp.com |
Mail: | Dean Miller
Comments Department Sams Publishing 201 W. 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290 |
Welcome to the world of deploying information systems on the Internet with Windows NT! With the growth of the World Wide Web, many organizations are establishing a presence on the Internet. Although until recently a considerable amount of money, time, and effort had to be invested to set up, manage, and administer a good Web site, things have changed. Windows NT is responsible for most of this change. While being a high-performance and robust operating system, Windows NT is user friendly and easy to work with. The purpose of this book is to show you how to exploit the strengths of Windows NT and publish information on the Internet. I hope Windows NT 4 Web Development becomes a major resource in your bookshelf.
The World Wide Web has experienced phenomenal growth during the last few years. This book is different from most books about the Web. Navigating the Web, using various Web browsers, or learning boring details of various HTML tags is not what this book is about. Although use of HTML tags is discussed, it's presented in a concise manner so that you will be able to refer to the information when the need arises. Instead of focusing on details such as how to use HTML, this book will show you how to use new Web publishing tools that exploit the user-friendly environment afforded by Windows NT to make Web publishing easier and more fun.
Although several Web publishing books that discuss how to set up and manage Web sites have been written, most are not written for the Windows NT community. The Windows NT community has lacked a book that comprehensively covers all aspects of setting up and deploying information systems on the Internet using Windows NT. This book is special because it has been written by an author who believes that Windows NT is the best environment to publish information on the Internet. Therefore, as you read along, you will discover various Windows NT tools and shortcuts that will save you time, frustration, and money. You will also benefit from the knowledge the author has gained by administering a Windows NT-based Web server at the University of Maryland for the last two years.
Every author believes his or her book is special. Therefore, I might be biased in my opinion. However, after reading this book and setting up an outstanding Web site with Windows NT, I hope you will agree with me.
The primary goal of this book is to provide you with all the information that's necessary to set up an outstanding Internet server with Windows NT. I will walk you through setting up Internet information distribution applications and highlight advantages of using one application over the other. One of the biggest advantages of using Windows NT to host a Web site is how easy it is to publish content on the Web with NT-based tools and applications.
Instead of focusing entirely on details such as the syntax of HTML tags, this book will provide a more abstract point of view when it comes to developing Web sites. Many new tools have been invented to make Web publishing easier. I will evaluate various Windows NT Web publishing tools and provide you with hands-on examples of when such utilities can be used to make Web site development easier. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to tackle virtually any Web publishing task.
This book will teach you everything that's needed to set up a Windows NT-based Web site. Although it is written for Web site developers, even if you have little prior knowledge about Windows NT, the Web, or either, you will be able to easily follow this book. The topics covered in this book are all explained in easy-to-understand terms. Screen shots and diagrams are used whenever possible to explain topics. This book should be read by anyone who wishes to utilize Windows NT to host a Web site. Its purpose is to make life easier for those using Windows NT to publish information on the Internet. The Web is made up of a very diverse group of people. Likewise, this book has been written for an equally diverse group of people.
As the name suggests, this book is primarily written for Web site developers. The Web has been rapidly expanding for the last few years. As more and more organizations want to establish a presence on the Web, these organizations will need skilled developers who can utilize state-of-the-art Web publishing tools to build Web sites. One of the main goals is to demonstrate how to make use of tools that are available for Windows NT to develop an outstanding Web site in the shortest possible time. Since I cover all aspects of Web publishing, Web site developers will become familiar with virtually all Windows NT tools available to create outstanding Web sites.
The role of Web site administrators is becoming more complicated. In order to maintain an information-rich Web site that is updated frequently and provides users the capability to interact with the server to obtain various information, Web site administrators need to be knowledgeable about various Web publishing tools. Although in the past, most programming was done "in house" when it was needed to develop customized solutions, more and more powerful Web publishing tools are being created for Windows NT. This book will provide an overview of virtually all tools that can be used to make publishing information on the Web easier for developers.
Although originally the Web was used mostly for distributing information, it is increasingly being used for more sophisticated tasks. The Web is providing dynamic content to millions of users when they want it. Due to this, the role of Web application programmers is becoming more important. If you are a Web applications programmer, it is crucial that you stay on top of new Web publishing tools and know how and when to use them. We will cover virtually all Windows NT Web programming interfaces and explain their strengths and weaknesses along with practical applications.
This book is of particular value to information systems architects who have been delegated the task of establishing a Web presence and exploring options available for publishing on the Web. Since this book covers virtually all Windows NT Web publishing tools, information systems architects will be made familiar with the latest tools that are available for publishing on the Web.
By the time you read this, a new version of Windows NT will have been released. This release, presently called the Shell Upgrade Release (SUR), is more Internet-aware than any operating system previously released by Microsoft. The SUR release of Windows NT will have not only built-in TCP/IP network support like prior releases of Windows NT, but also various applications designed to serve information on the Internet. Until now, in order to publish information on the Internet with Windows NT, someone had to purchase additional applications such as Web servers and database interface applications. However, with the integration of these services into the core operating system, Windows NT system administrators should be increasingly familiar with Internet Services. Although system administrators might not be directly responsible for publishing information on the Internet, they need to have a working knowledge of tools, utilities, and Web publishing technologies. They also need to be familiar with issues such as security that arise when information is published on the Internet. With the help of this book, a system administrator will become familiar with all aspects of using Windows NT to host a Web site and distribute information on the Internet.
You might wonder why Windows NT 4 Web Development should be read by UNIX Web Site Developers. The reason is that no matter how much someone is familiar with the ins and outs of UNIX, virtually everything that has to be implemented on a UNIX-based Web site is a major project. Often, before doing something new, someone has to spend a great deal of time reading "man pages" and figuring out how applications have to be set up, configured, and administered. All this can be expensive and time consuming in a production environment. On the other hand, Windows NT Web development tools are true turnkey solutions. Often, all that's needed to do is to figure out how to run SETUP.EXE and answer a few simple questions during the course of installation. With the aid of this book, a UNIX Web site developer will find out how Windows NT can be utilized to host a Web site that's robust, secure, and much easier to maintain than any UNIX-based Web site.
This book will help you learn all aspects of setting up and managing a Windows NT-based Web site. The book deals with topics ranging from an introduction to the Internet to publishing databases on the Web. To give you a better understanding of how information is presented in this book, listed next are topics covered in various parts of the book.
The introductory section providing a quick overview of the Web is for readers who are relatively new to the Web. The purpose of this section is to introduce the reader to the Web as well as explain terms and topics that will be covered in greater detail later. By reading this section, the reader will learn all that's needed to understand even the most advanced topics covered later in this text. However, if you are more familiar with the Web, you might want to skim this section quickly and move on to the next.
The second part, "Business Aspects of Web Publishing," deals with business aspects of the Web. Since information published on the Web can be made available to an audience consisting of a few million users, it is a very powerful medium of information distribution. Since the information that can be distributed is determined only by the bandwidth of the Internet connection, publishing on the Web is free from most of the limitations of traditional information mediums. This section will list ways you can make use of the Web. By demonstrating how others are utilizing the Web and letting you know where in the book you will be shown how to implement similar capabilities, you will have a better perspective of what you will be able to implement.
The third section, "Setting Up Your Web Server," will demonstrate how to set up your Web server. There are over two dozen Windows NT-based Web servers. To give you an overview of various Web server choices, four of the most popular Windows NT Web servers-including Microsoft Information Server, Netscape Enterprise Server, WebSite, and Purveyor-will be evaluated. This section will also cover Windows NT security issues that you should be aware of when publishing information on the Web. After completing it, you will be able to set up a Web site and configure it to meet your needs. Your Web site will now be ready for the next section of the book, which deals with publishing information on the Internet by designing its contents.
The "Designing Your Web Site" section will cover Web publishing tools that can be used to easily publish information on the Web. One of the greatest advantages in using Windows NT to host a Web site is the large number of tools that are available for Windows NT to publish information on the Web. You will be shown how to exploit the user-friendly environment and tools afforded by Windows NT to create content for your Web site in the shortest possible time. This section will also cover Web page editors and content management utilities that can be used to easily update and manage the contents of your Web site.
After designing Web pages and setting them up on your Web server, it is time to add some interactivity to your Web site. Section five, "Making Your Web Site Interactive," demonstrates how to use several tools to make your Web site interactive. Several Web-database interfaces will be evaluated in this section to give you an overview of their relative strengths and weaknesses.
With the recent increase of commercial uses of the Internet, many new technologies have been invented to satisfy the needs of a diverse user group. It is necessary to keep up with newly emerging Web technologies to exploit what they offer. This section discusses various emerging Web technologies such as Java, JavaScript, and VBScript, demonstrating how they can be used to make your Web site richly interactive.
After designing your Web site, setting up various CGI scripts to make the site interactive, and incorporating various new technologies to your Web site, it has to be maintained. The success of a Web site is dependent upon how many repeat visitors it attracts. In this section you will be shown how to maintain your Web site. Web site maintenance issues range from registering your Web site with various Web search engines and Web server cataloging databases to analyzing the log file of your Web server to determine various access statistics.
Setting up a Web server alone might not be enough to meet your needs. The final section, "Enhancing the Capabilities of Your Server," demonstrates how to set up additional information services on the Internet. Internet information distribution services discussed in this section include News, Mail, Telnet, FTP, Finger, Mail List, and DNS.
Information in this book is organized in a sequential manner. The first two parts of the book will explain various new topics quickly and go on to discuss more advanced material. The book is written so that even if you are new to Web publishing, you will be able to understand everything in the book if you read from the first chapter and work your way through. Although material in later chapters builds upon earlier chapters of the book, all chapters are self contained so that if you are familiar with simple Web concepts you will be able to read and understand the chapters you are interested in.
Listed next are topics covered in various chapters of the book.
The book begins with an introduction to the Web and discusses its architecture, strengths, and weaknesses. By understanding how the Web has evolved and where it is heading, you will be able to set up your Web site with a better perspective of where you are headed. This chapter also discusses terminology that will be used throughout the book.
This chapter is devoted to how Windows NT can be utilized to publish information on the Web. When publishing content on the Internet with Windows NT, it's important to be aware of advantages and drawbacks associated with using Windows NT. Then you can exploit the advantages of NT and at the same time find solutions and ways of dealing with the limitations of NT. This chapter first discusses how Windows NT is different from other operating systems, outlining why it's an ideal platform for publishing information on the Internet and why UNIX is not an ideal choice to publish information on the Internet. The last section is devoted to identifying and dealing with the drawbacks of Windows NT.
It's a safe bet that you are reading this book to set up a Web site for you or your organization for business purposes. Even if you are not interested in the business aspects of setting up a Web site, you will benefit from knowing potentially what you can accomplish business-wise. Before developing a Web site, it helps to know how others are using the World Wide Web. Various Web sites presented will give you a few ideas for your Web site.
Before setting up a Web site, it's important to understand how to use the Internet to your advantage. You can accomplish this by exploring how you can use the World Wide Web for various business applications. Tips and ideas presented will help you make the best use of your Web site to distribute information on the Internet.
After all the introductory material about the Web and its business aspects, you are now ready to set up your Web site. Before setting up your Web server, you need to select suitable hardware. This chapter will help you analyze your needs and select the best hardware platform to meet them. This chapter will also help you analyze your Internet bandwidth requirements and help you select an Internet connection that is within your budget and yet suits your needs.
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is bundled free with Windows NT Server. Although Microsoft will make a version of IIS available for Windows NT Workstation, it will not be as powerful as the version that ships with Windows NT Server. Internet Information Server is shipped with the Internet Database Connector. In Chapter 6, you will learn how the Internet Database Connector can be used to effortlessly publish any ODBC datasource on the Internet taking advantage of high performance afforded by ISAPI. IIS is a powerful, easy-to-manage server designed to make maximum use of Windows NT's system architecture. You can use it to publish information on the Internet via HTTP, Gopher, and FTP.
There are over two dozen Windows NT Web Servers available. Some of these Web servers are commercial and others are free. The chapter on various Windows NT Web servers will cover three NT Web servers and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Choosing the right Web server is an important aspect of setting up your Web site. In the past, Web servers did few other tasks besides serving HTTP requests. This trend, however, is changing. Web servers are increasingly being equipped with powerful new features that can be used to effortlessly publish information on the Internet. Some of these features include database publishing wizards, built-in search engines, and various site management tools. The three Web servers, WebSite, Purveyor, and Netscape Enterprise server were chosen because they are shipped with powerful Web site management tools. After these Web servers are evaluated, their various capabilities will be compared and contrasted outlining their suitability for various tasks.
When distributing information on the Internet, you should be concerned about security issues. This chapter will address these concerns that need to be dealt with when setting up a Windows NT Server on the Internet. You can take several steps to protect an NT Server on the Internet against unauthorized access. Although setting up an Internet server that is immune to unauthorized access is virtually impossible, you can take steps to make access harder and, in some cases, prohibitively expensive for someone to gain unauthorized access.
This chapter provides you with an overview of advanced HTML tags and demonstrates how Netscape and Microsoft enhancements to HTML can be used to make your Web pages more appealing. You can make a Web site more interesting to navigate by using a number of advanced HTML techniques. For example, you can use tables to format objects of a Web page such as text, video clips, and Java applets. You can use frames to make it easier to navigate a Web site and make a Web page's text more attractive to read by applying special attributes such as colors and fonts. Chapter 9 demonstrates how advanced HTML tags can be used to create a visually attractive Web site that is easy to navigate.
Several Web site development tools will be discussed in chapter. The chapter first covers several HTML editors that can be used to edit Web pages in raw HTML format as well as in a WYSIWYG environment. Use HTML editors discussed in this chapter to fine-tune HTML code of Web pages. Although raw HTML editors are useful for fine-tuning HTML code, they are not generally recommended for large projects. A new breed of WYSIWYG HTML editors is coming into existence as this book goes to print. Use WYSIWYG HTML editors whenever possible to simplify projects and reduce time wasted worrying about various HTML syntaxes.
InContext WebAnalyzer is a useful Web site management tool. You can use it to manage the contents of a Web site by viewing it from a graphical perspective. As more Web pages are added to a Web site, at some point, keeping track of various Web pages and how they are linked to each other becomes increasingly difficult. This can lead to outdated Web pages and broken links. You can use InContext WebAnalyzer to solve some of these problems by viewing how Web pages at a Web site are linked and locating invalid URLs.
When used properly, multimedia can complement the contents of a Web site by making it easier and more interesting to browse for information. Multimedia formats are commonly used on the Internet. When adding multimedia to a Web site, it's important to know strengths and weaknesses of multimedia formats and when to use which formats. Examples and tips provided in this chapter will help you select the best multimedia format and optimize multimedia files at your Web site for transmitting on the Internet. Due to bandwidth limitations, every effort has to be taken to ensure multimedia files are as small as they can be.
Although tools discussed in this chapter are very useful for creating Web pages, they do not help much in terms of organizing the contents of your Web site. FrontPage is an application for developing and maintaining Web sites on the Internet. It is also designed to help developers manage their Web sites easily. A major feature of FrontPage is how it allows the creation of fully functional CGI applications without writing a single line of code. The chapter on FrontPage will demonstrate how it can be effectively utilized to simplify Web publishing and create a richly interactive Web site without developing CGI applications. You will also be shown how to use FrontPage wizards and templates to create Web pages.
Microsoft Office is a powerful suite of productivity applications. Internet Assistants available for Microsoft Office can be used to effortlessly publish content on the Internet. These Internet assistants are especially useful for converting large amounts of MS Office files into HTML so they can be published on the global Internet or a local intranet. Internet Assistants available for Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint will be covered, demonstrating how each of these applications can be used to effectively distribute information on the Internet.
Texture is a powerful Java-based Web content development application. It can be used to create publications that are highly interactive and exciting to browse. Texture also provides Web content developers better control over publications they create. For example, fonts used in a Texture publication are portable across all platforms that support Java. This is a major advantage since finally, with Texture, Web content developers do not have to be bound with using only one or two standard typefaces. In addition to this, Texture includes a collection of powerful objects that can be used with actions and triggers to create active publications. FutureTense Texture is an ideal solution for creating high impact Web publications that require complete control over the layout, typefaces, and interactive behavior of the publication.
Making your Web site searchable is very important so that users browsing it can locate information they need without unnecessarily browsing hierarchies of Web pages. After reading Chapter 15, you can make a Web site searchable in a matter of minutes.
Although a number of off-the-shelf applications can be used to make your Web site interactive, it's always beneficial to know what really happens when CGI scripts are executed on your Web server. This chapter will cover all the fundamentals you need to know about Windows NT CGI programming. After reading this chapter, you will understand how simple CGI scripts work. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to create customized solutions for various problems you encounter. As an example of how CGI can be utilized to enhance the capabilities of a Web site, you will be shown how to create a CGI script to provide dynamic content based on the browser used to access your Web site. You will also be shown how PERL and C CGI scripts can be set up at your Web site. Security issues you need to be concerned about when setting up CGI scripts will also be discussed in this chapter.
PolyForm and iBasic are two useful CGI applications that can be used to create interactive and dynamic Web pages. Although these two applications are not distributed free of charge or included with Windows NT, they can potentially save days or even weeks of CGI application development time. PolyForm is a tool that can be used to create interactive Web forms and iBasic is a server-side scripting language.
For most organizations and even individuals, databases are a principal way of storing and organizing information in a logical manner. However, out of the box, most Web servers do not offer capabilities for publishing databases on the Web. Although some Web servers support Web database interfaces, some require you to be familiar with a programming language such as Visual Basic. Although Visual Basic is not very hard to learn, there are a number of Web database interactivity applications that are very easy to set up and use. After reading this chapter you will be able to determine which Web-database interactivity applications best meet your needs and publish databases on the Web in just a few minutes.
Developed by Sun Microsystems, Java is a programming language that allows developers to design richly interactive multimedia Web pages. The chapter on Java will explain to you the basics of this exciting programming language and how you can set up Java applets at your Web site after downloading them from Java applet distribution sites on the Internet. You will also be shown the fundamentals of the Java programming language and how to use Java to develop applications. After reading this chapter, you will also be able to develop Java applets to solve problems.
JavaScript is a new Web publishing technology that has a great deal of potential. Using JavaScript, it is possible to make your Web pages interactive without using CGI. The chapter on JavaScript will demonstrate how to unleash the potential of JavaScript, integrate it to your Web pages and how you can benefit from this integration.
VBScript is an exciting Web interactivity technology developed by Microsoft. The chapter on VBScript will demonstrate how VBScript can be utilized to create interactive Web pages with embedded scripting, automation, and customization capabilities. VBScript can be used to perform a variety of tasks such as validate user input before a form is submitted to a CGI script for processing. The chapter on VBScript will demonstrate how VBScript can be utilized to design richly interactive Web pages. At the end of the chapter, VBScript will be compared to JavaScript, outlining advantages and drawbacks of using one over the other.
The key to making your Web site popular on the Internet is knowing how to publicize it on the Internet. Although there are millions of users on the Internet, attracting users who will find your Web site useful is not always easy. This chapter will show you how to publicize your Web site on the Internet and inform users about your Web site. By exploring how to publicize your Web site using a number of ways, you will be able to inform those who are most likely to be interested about the contents of your Web site. After reading this chapter, you will be able to make your Web site well known on the Internet.
After setting up your Web site, it needs to be maintained and there are a number of issues you need to be concerned about. The chapter on Web site design and maintenance issues will discuss issues such as legalities you need to be concerned about when distributing information on the Web. Although your Web site might look very attractive when viewed with the latest version of Internet Explorer (or Netscape Navigator) on a large super VGA screen, not all Web surfers are privileged with the same technology. This chapter will provide numerous tips to design the contents of your Web site so that your Web site will look appealing on a wide variety of Web browsers and hardware platforms. Optimizing the contents of your Web site for the Internet will also be discussed in this chapter.
Maintaining your Web server is a very important part of publishing on the Web. If it is not maintained properly, soon you will start experiencing problems that will distract you from developing your Web site. Issues (such as disk fragmentation and resource management) and tips discussed in this chapter will help you maintain and host your Web site on a healthy server. In addition to maintenance issues, a few Windows NT utility applications will also be discussed in this chapter.
After setting up a Web server, the contents at your Web site will be accessible to anyone who has access to a Web browser. However, users might not always have access to a Web browser. In such an instance, if you have set up an FTP server, users will be able to access various files such as documentation and applications by accessing your Web site. The chapter on setting up and configuring the FTP service will demonstrate how to set up the Windows NT FTP service to distribute files on the Internet. You will also be shown how to reduce the load on your Web server by setting up an FTP service and allow users to access files at your Web site using Web browsers.
The benefits of setting up an SMTP mail server are twofold. First, users will be able to e-mail you with regards to various questions and feedback. Second, you can communicate with these users without utilizing an external mail server setup on another server. By not depending on another mail server for e-mail, you will be able to respond to feedback and communicate with users efficiently using your own mail server.
Benefits of setting up a mail list server are different from the benefits of simply setting up a mail server. Mail list servers are very effective in forming discussion groups. If you are familiar with Internet newsgroups, you can think of an Internet mail list as an Internet newsgroup. However, all discussions that take place in an Internet mail list take place via e-mail. This is because all discussions that occur in a mail list are transmitted to all users who subscribe to that mail list as regular e-mail. Since all discussions are sent to users via e-mail, they tend to pay more attention and read the messages and respond to them more quickly. With newsgroups, users often have to use a special news reading program to read the newsgroups. However, when a mail-list server is used, they can just use their regular e-mail reading application to read and respond to various discussions. This chapter demonstrates how to set up and administer a mail-list server to allow users to participate in discussions.
Some Internet access service providers require that you have your own domain name server (DNS) setup. Domain name servers do the job of translating a domain name alias (www.NetInnovation.com) to its corresponding Internet protocol address (206.161.77.220). Even if your Internet access service provider provides you with a DNS, it's always a good idea to set up a local DNS service for backup purposes. This chapter will demonstrate how to set up a DNS service on your server and how to address various issues related to setting up a DNS service under Windows NT.
A Telnet server will be very useful to you if you need to access your server from a remote location to perform system administration tasks. After setting up a Telnet service, using any Telnet client you will be able to access your server from anywhere on the Internet. This chapter will demonstrate how to set up a Telnet server under Windows NT. Security issues related to setting up a Telnet server will also be discussed.
Although your Web server can reach a large audience of users, it's not really designed to host a discussion group where users can post comments and questions. Even though Web-discussion applications have been created by a number of companies, they are usually CGI programs that lack the functionality offered by a news reading application. If you would like to host Internet discussion forums on your server, you will need to set up an NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) server. This chapter demonstrates how to set up an NNTP news server on your NT server so that users can take part in various discussions.
WebBoard can be used to set up a Web conferencing system and allow users navigating your Web site to interact with each other. Because conference forums set up with WebBoard are accessible via a Web browser, they are easily accessible to users browsing a Web site. A Web site, which is mostly a one-way medium of information distribution, can be turned into a two-way medium of information exchange by setting up a Web conferencing system and making your Web site a rich and diverse source of information.
The CD-ROM that accompanies this book contains all the source code from the examples of the book. These examples include HTML Web pages, VBScript, Java, JavaScript as well as C and PERL CGI programs. The CD also contains many tools that can be used to publish information on the Web. These utilities consist of a number of freeware and shareware applications and can be used to design Web pages and manipulate graphics at your Web site. By utilizing these tools, you will be able to publish content, write CGI programs as well as manage the contents of your Web site. Since the Web is hampered by bandwidth limitations, you will be able to use graphic manipulation utilities in the CD-ROM to optimize graphics at your Web site for transmitting via the Internet.
It is highly recommended that you have access to a Windows NT workstation or server that is connected to the Internet. Most topics and discussions can be read off-line when you have time. However, examples presented in this book should be done online. This will enable you to understand topics covered in the book more thoroughly and also provide you the opportunity to experiment with examples by making changes to them. The ideal computer to use with this book should have the following configuration or better.
You are now ready to learn about exciting ways of publishing information on the Web at your own pace by reading the rest of the book. Since the purpose of the first few chapters is to familiarize yourself with various terms and topics, you will be able to go through them fairly quickly. Even if you are familiar with topics covered in the first few chapters, you might want to skim them quickly before moving on to sections that detail various ways of publishing content on the Web. After reading the following chapters, you will be able to set up an outstanding, richly interactive Windows NT-based Web site that is optimized for the Internet. Good luck and have fun!