Why the Java Web Server? Well for one thing, check out the title of this
article. Java Web Server is very inexpensive and it is easy to
administer.
Donald King
is an Applications Programmer/Analyst with the Kansas Department on Aging. He is also a Computer Information Systems Major at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.
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Java Web Server is very inexpensive and it is easy to
administer.
Ecommerce on a Budget
by Donald King
Have you ever thought about having a Web server for your small business, but you just didn't think you could afford it? NT Workstation can be the perfect platform for running a small Web server. The particular Web server I am referring to is Java Web Server from Sun Microsystems.
September 1, 1999
The whole idea behind a Web server for a business is to serve the business needs of the
customers, either through distribution and publication of information or
to provide a transaction process over the Internet. Companies like
Novell, IBM, Microsoft, and Sun require huge servers that cost a lot of
money to serve their millions of customers. But what about your
business? How big is the customer base that you cater to? If you are
like most small companies your customer base may not exceed a thousand
people and may even be less. And out of those thousand people how many
use the Internet? Enough to provide a Web site but not large enough for
you to invest in a Sun Enterprise 3000 server? Most small business
owners have the misconception that only the big boys can have a presence
on the Internet. This just isn't so. The ideal platform for a Web
server may be in your organization right now and you may not even know
it. It's called Windows NT Workstation 4.0.
Many small businesses have gone the way of the LAN (Local Area Network)
based PC in exchange for their mainframe predecessors. At present, you
may have a LAN system in your office that has a couple of servers to
handle print serving, office mail, file sharing, and other network-specific tasks. One of these servers may provide a proxy for
workstations on the LAN to the Internet. One of these workstations may
be running Windows NT Workstation. So what? Well, if you are like me,
you may have found that Windows NT server, aside from having some extra
administrative tools and being a bit more powerful, is nothing more than
a scaled-up version of Windows NT Workstation. In other words, NT
Workstation can be the perfect platform for running a small Web server.
The particular Web server I am referring to is Java Web Server 1.1 from
Sun Microsystems.
Why the Java Web Server? Well for one thing, check out the title of this
article. Java Web Server is very inexpensive and it is easy to
administer. An administration applet is provided to help set up and tune
the basic services like HTTP. The Java Web Server also provides support
for CGI scripts and services including Java's own flavor of CGI(Common
Gateway Interface) called servlets, which is one of the Web server's best
qualities. The Java Web Server, along with the freely downloadable Java
Development Kit(JDK) and Java Servlet Development Kit(JSDK), make the
recipe for a small business to get up and going with Internet-based
reporting, customer service, or electronic commerce. Whatever you
decide to do on the Internet, chances are that the Java Web Server can
handle it.
So what do you do? Obviously your first task is to evaluate the needs
of your business as far as Internet service goes. You do not
necessarily need a LAN system to accomplish getting a Web server up and
going. There are other options like using dial-up networking, leasing
an ISDN line, or whatever your heart desires. Just try to figure out
what your needs are. Remember, the purpose of this article is to
introduce the possibilities of putting up an internal Web site without
spending thousands of dollars. On a budget, remember? The next step
would be to figure out what you want to use as a server. Do you want a
dedicated Web server, or is your Internet traffic going to be low enough
that you can use an existing workstation that is still used by you or
your staff? The Web server will run in the background and with a low
volume of traffic - there should not even be a noticeable difference.
Depending on what you want your Web site to be named, e.i.
www.mycompany.com, you will need a static IP address and a Primary
Domain Name Server (DNS). If you do not have a LAN or WAN (Wide Area
Network) that provides this already, you may want to talk to your local
Internet Service Provider and see what options they can offer you. One
final note: Java Web Server 1.1 can run on Windows 95, but the
manufacturer recommends against it and suggests running on Windows NT. I
have run the newest version on Windows 95 and I have had no problems
with it.
In my next article, I will show you how to write a simple servlet and HTML data-entry page that will give you an idea about how to get started
with creating your own CGI programs, and why Java servlets have become a nice alternative to using Perl or C.
The Java Web Server can be downloaded from Sun Microsystems' Java
software site at: http://jserv.java.sun.com/products/webserver/index.html
Java Web Server, Java Development Kit, and Java Servlet Development Kit
are all products of Sun Microsystems.
Donald King
is an Applications Programmer/Analyst with the Kansas Department on Aging. He is also a Computer Information Systems Major at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.
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