A basic strategy for intranet/internet technology

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Table of contents

1  CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR INTRANET/INTERNET TECHNOLOGY  3

1.1  THE SCENARIO  3

1.2  REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS  3

1.2.1  Email service  4

1.2.2  Internet access  4

1.2.3  Web server to store teaching material  4

1.2.4  Web pages promoting the school  4

1.2.5  Web based forms for staff to submit leave applications  5

1.3  DERIVING THE STRATEGY  5

1.3.1  Proposition of an Intranet solution  5

1.3.2  Applying a web based IT solution  6

1.4  IDENTIFYING MANAGEMENT ISSUES  6

1.4.1  Cost benefit analysis  7

1.4.1.1  The costs of the strategy  7

1.4.1.2  The benefits reaped  8

1.4.2  Managing Web Content  9

1.4.3  Security issues and policies  10

1.4.4  Maintenance support  11

1.4.5  Upgradability  12

1.4.6  Funding the Intranet / Internet  12

1.5  IDENTIFYING IT SOLUTIONS  13

1.5.1  Email services  13

1.5.1.1  SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol)  13

1.5.1.2  POP (Post Office Protocol)  14

1.5.1.3  IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)  15

1.5.2  The Internet access  16

1.5.2.1  ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)  17

1.5.2.2  DSL (Digital Subscriber Loop)  18

1.5.2.2.1  ADSL  18

1.5.2.2.2  SDSL  18

1.5.2.2.3  HDSL  19

1.5.2.2.4  IDSL  19

1.5.2.2.5  VDSL  19

1.5.2.2.6  RADSL  19

1.5.3  The servers and databases  20

1.5.3.1  Linux versus NT  20

1.5.3.2  The web server  22

1.5.3.3  The mail server  23

1.5.3.4  Database considerations  23

1.5.4  The homepage  24

1.5.4.1  Content Management  24

1.5.4.1.1  CGI (Common Gateway Interface)  25

1.5.4.1.2  ASP (Active Server Pages)  26

1.5.4.1.3  Coldfusion  27

1.5.4.1.4  JSP (Java Server Pages)  27

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1.5.4.1.5  PHP (Postscript Hypertext Preprocessor)  27

1.5.4.2  The Intranet pages  28

1.6  THE ARCHITECTURE  28

1.6.1  Hardware implementation  28

1.6.1.1  The network  28

1.6.1.1.1  Outgoing traffic  29

1.6.1.1.2  Incoming traffic  30

1.6.1.2  Clients  31

1.6.1.3  Server  31

1.6.1.4  Modem and Firewall  33

1.6.1.5  Network equipment  33

1.6.1.6  Additional equipment  33

1.6.2  Operating System  34

1.6.3  Running Applications  34

1.6.3.1  Workstations  34

1.6.3.2  Server  35

1.6.4  Dedicated Services  35

2  REFERENCES  36

- 3 - 1Corporate strategy for intranet/internet technology

1.1 The scenario

The secondary school UniSec is going to upgrade its network on campus. With 1500 students enrolled and a total of 225 computers, the school recognises the need for the appliance of an appropriate Intranet and Internet technology. The current situation at the school shows already existing facilities that could be of use for a new implementation or an upgrade:

There are six computer labs of both Macintosh and PC computers, which run either on MacOS 8 or Windows 98. The computers share a peer-to-peer Ethernet network for file sharing whereas no servers are involved that could establish print and file sharing facilities for the students. Microsoft products are installed on the students’ computers.

Furthermore there are 25 PC computers running on a Windows 98 platform for administrative purposes. Their interconnection bases on a client-server model that allows the staff to share printers and files. The server is NT-based. Within that network there is a human resource application that is running on a MS SQL-Server platform, which is located on the only server at school. In addition the staff uses the accounting application MYOB, that is running only on the PC based hosts.

1.2 Requirement analysis

According to the board of directors of UniSec the main intention is to adapt the present scenario to the current Internet and Intranet Technology standards. Therefore the following services should be implemented:

- 4 - 1.2.1Email service

The school needs an email service to improve the communication between both staff and students. The service should be accessible on and off campus. Every email client in school should have his or her own email alias and should be able to receive and send emails within the Intranet and as well through the Internet. There are no further restrictions that claim whether the email service should run on particular protocols - so an critical evaluation of the distinct technologies seems to be necessary.

1.2.2 Internet access

As the importance of the Internet increases significantly the school decides to give staff and students the opportunity to use the Internet as a large information source. Its users should be able to access the net from the local workstations on campus. An external dial-in possibility from computers which are located off campus is not planned. Restrictions on using the Internet apply only to students in order to avoid using the workstations for non-academic purposes.

1.2.3 Web server to store teaching material

The school has got the demand for a facility to store and access teaching material on and off campus. The files should be stored on a web server so teachers and students can easily download requested files through the internet via particular protocols. There are many possibilities to implement this facility, so an evaluation of appropriate alternatives must be considered.

1.2.4 Web pages promoting the school

UniSec wants to present itself on a homepage for promotion purposes and in- formation delivery. A particular domain has to be selected, registered and as-

- 5 -signed to the web server of the school. In addition a concept for designing, pro-gramming and implementing the homepage must be done. Questions about a proper content management system will arise since the intention is to keep the homepage’s maintenance easy for the staff.

1.2.5 Web based forms for staff to submit leave applications

An further urgent requirement is to establish a web based interface between the school’s homepage and the human resource application MYOB. Forms should enable teachers to submit leave applications from their home to the human resource department in school where it will be electronically processed and stored into a database. The idea is to enhance the flexibility concerning the staff’s availability in school.

1.3 Deriving the strategy

1.3.1 Proposition of an Intranet solution

Looking at the requirement analysis it seems to be obvious that the school wants to establish an IT solution that enables both staff and students to communicate with each other and to entities outside campus. Information should be distributed, processed and integrated within the value chain of the organization to enhance its service and to achieve time efficiency for managing projects and tasks.

So what we need is a coherent system that is capable to provide UniSec with the issues stated above. The idea is to get rid of the stand-alone computer systems and replace them with interconnected client-server based networks to create a corporate information network, the Intranet.

Limited to physical borders the Intranet connects an affiliated set of clients using standard internet protocols, esp. TCP/IP and HTTP. It bears a lot of challenges for the school since it aggregated information from different sources which is

- 6 -accessible to all the stakeholders (the pupils, the teachers, the staff, etc.) within the organization. It guarantees availability, security, serviceability and perform-ance (in terms of bandwidth). The Intranet is an Internet-based technology that is based on standards that provides integration and access to information, processes and applications. (Horgan, 1998)

1.3.2 Applying a web based IT solution

This corporate Intranet will be extended by establishing the connectivity to the Internet. Used as an external source of information the Internet technologies are also web-based and therefore easy to conjunct with the Intranet. You can watch the tendency that more and more applications are getting developed webenabled or having web front-ends so that interconnectivity allows them to exchange information.

Therefore the aim is to establish a web-based environment on campus with integrated Intranet and Internet facilities. The benefits are enormous. The simplicity of managing highly developed homogeneous systems, the ease and speed of communication, the access of information independent from your physical position and many more issues can have a major impact on the school’s business. But there are some crucial issues that have to be considered when planning and implementing an Intranet. Security issues, staff competencies, content management, sufficient support from the management and much more issues are important for the effectiveness and efficiency of such a network. There are heaps of potential difficulties and problems that have to be identified and addressed before planning an Intranet or Internet. Those issues will be discussed in the following section.

1.4 Identifying management issues

The most important questions that have to be considered are what will be the value and the benefits of the Intranet for the school and what how much will it

- 7 -cost. Due to that reason a cost benefit analysis is unavoidable to get an impres-sion about the returns of investments.

1.4.1 Cost benefit analysis

1.4.1.1 The costs of the strategy

The first major cost is related to the analysis and design process. External consultants and IT specialists have to be employed to determine the requirements for the school. With those requirements the network architecture can be designed and implemented afterwards. This takes a lot of time and consultants get paid for the amount of time they worked on a project. The longer the IT project lasts the higher the costs for UniSec. So it is the time that bears costs as well. The implementation of hardware and software bears further crucial costs, since they have to be financed. First of all the proper hardware has to be selected and ordered which involves time. After the needed parts will be delivered to the school which has to implement and test the new network. The implementation takes a lot of time and makes the former network unavailable during that period. The implementation requires expertise and knowledge from staff or external employed people who work on the physical integration of the equipment. Once the systems has been build and configured there is some special training needed to make both staff and students able to use the new infrastructure properly. This training must hold on continuously until the most important and urgent elements are known and everybody is familiar with the features and advantages of the network. Otherwise there would not be any benefits reaped. So the training is expensive and certain teams are needed to spread the knowledge all over the campus. One possibility is that student groups can be trained to deal with the network and then they will support the system administrators in terms of training. Besides a support team must be established to guarantee that the network is always running properly and that people who are having trouble with their computer have someone who can help. This support team has to get paid since it must be available on campus most of the time. Even if this team consists of students they will get paid for their work they do.