E-business concepts and applications

E-Business

Web Server

Every computer on the Internet that contains a Web site must have a Web server program. The software accepts HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connections from Web browsers and delivers web pages and other files to users, as well as processing form submissions. Two leading Web servers are Apache, the most widely-installed Web server, and Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS).

Which is the better option depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

I recommend Apache as the best choice for Java-based projects, particularly those that require better support for Java Database Connectivity than most Web servers offer. Apache, is open-source software, meaning it's free and can easily be accessed to make changes, but support will have to come from third-party companies. Although Apache is multi-platform software, it runs best with Linux. For users of NT, on the other hand, I recommend IIS. IIS comes free with NT and is integrated seamlessly with this operating system. Thus, it will be easy for someone familiar with NT to set up IIS. IIS's major differentiator is the handling of Active Server Pages (ASPs), pages that are generated by the Web server software using Active X scripting - usually Visual Basic Script or JavaScript code. Therefore, IIS offers superior ASP-based interface to ODBC sources such as Microsoft databases Access and SQL Server. On the down side, IIS is Microsoft proprietary and limited to NT.

2.0 Database

A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed, and updated. In computing, databases are sometimes classified according to their organizational approach. The most prevalent approach is the relational database, a tabular database in which data is defined so that it can be reorganized and accessed in a number of different ways.

Two popular choices for relational databases include SQL Server 2000 and Oracle 9i.

Platform support, price, performance, administration and SQL dialects differentiate the databases. For Windows-based platforms, I recommend Microsoft SQL Server while advising Oracle 9i only for other platforms because SQL Server is limited to Windows. One of the main Microsoft SQL Server 2000 advantages in comparison with Oracle 9i Database is that SQL Server is about a third cheaper (see table below). And, SQL Server comes with management tools and business intelligence features that are sold separately by Oracle, making it even more attractive.

Number of CPUs

Oracle9i Standard Edition

SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition

1

$15,000

$4,999

2

$30,000

$9,998

4

$60,000

$19,996

8

$120,000

$39,992

16

$240,000

$79,984

32

$480,000

$159,968

Further, the lower price of SQL Sever does not come at the expense of performance. In fact, SQL Server 2000 holds the top TPC-C performance and price/performance results. SQL Server 2000 is easier to install, use and manage. However, Oracle allows finer tuning of its configuration. And, the dialect of SQL supported by Oracle, PL/SQL, is more powerful than the dialect supported by SQL Server 2000, Transact-SQL.

3.0 Digital Certificates

A digital certificate is an electronic credit card that establishes a user's credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Web. The digital certificate contains the user's name, a serial number, expiration dates, a copy of the certificate holder's public key (used for encrypting messages and digital signatures), and the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a recipient can verify that the certificate is real.

There are several companies that issue Digital Certificates -- they are known as Certificate Authorities. The two largest and most widely supported issuing authorities are VeriSign and Thawte. The Verisign certificate price schedule is much higher than that of Thawte (see table below), but the VeriSign certificate is supported by a larger number of the older browsers.

And, VeriSign includes insurance against fraud and offers better service in processing certificate requests.

However, I would still recommend Thawte to save money when time to process a certificate request is flexible.

Cost Per Year

Verisign

Thawte

U.S. And Canada

$349

$125

International

$449

$125

4.0 Log Analysis

Log analysis got its start crunching server logs and uncovering broad Web site trends such as page views and user clickstream behavior. Today the focus has expanded to include business reporting -- pinpointing the effectiveness of promotional campaigns, measuring ROI, and analyzing processes. This information can be used to determine how the placement of a product on a home page affects sales; which e-mail campaign best persuades recipients to make purchases; or whether a pay-per-click keyword campaign is driving the right customers to a site.