CHAPTER 10

Creating and Managing Web Sites

If you are a teacher, your school probably already has one or more Web sites. The server for this book's Web site is hardwired to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's network; there is no modem. Most University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) rooms are outfitted with one or more outlets having two computer ports and one phone port. These are centrally controlled; the central office must be contacted to have a particular port activated. Once a port is live, a department or some agency is billed monthly for that port.

If your school does not run a server, use of a server may be available through your Internet service provider (ISP). Server memory of 10-20 Megabytes often is included as part of an ISP's package.

Macintosh computers make excellent servers. Macintosh computers with installed WebSTAR software make setting up a server simple. The most difficult part of setting up a server involves waiting for the arrival of the computer.

As of this writing, the authors run several servers. One is a Macintosh G3 with WebSTAR 4 software. After a rocky start due to flawed hardware, that server has done remarkably well. Another is an iMac server for FileMaker Pro database software. A third system is used as an experimental server, and still another as a development server. The hardware requirements for successful serving are minimal. Within limits, virtually any recently manufactured computer can be set up as a server.

Servers are usually up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reliability is critical. (As part of UNL's Y2K precautions, servers were shut down for a couple of days around December 31, 1999.)

You need minimal hardware and software to serve on the Web. But if you are using a telephone modem for Web access, you probably won't want to become a server site. It is very difficult to keep a site up and running all the time on a telephone modem. As of this writing, you really need a dedicated line to serve effectively.

Whenever a computer is turned on at UNL, the network and that computer exchange information with one another. When a computer logs onto the network, the IP number can be dynamically assigned. A dynamically assigned number is assigned temporarily to that machine, and can be used by different machines at different times. In order to establish a Web presence, the server requires an IP number that does not change. Web servers require a static IP address to allow users consistent access.

When we first set up our Web server, and since we work at the Center for Curriculum and Instruction, we negotiated with the person at UNL who assigns names for the name, "www.cci.unl.edu." So, on the Web, the numerical IP address and "www.cci.unl.edu" meant the same thing. The www.cci piece was a server name which, when attached to the domain name, identified the particular server with the domain. We've had so much Web activity that we changed our domain name to "dwb.unl.edu," reflecting the senior author's initials.

When a name is used, it must go to a "name server" on the Internet that translates the name into a number. The numbers are very difficult for humans to remember, so the name server tells Internet routers what number the domain name indicates. The Internet uses the numbers, not the names.

Having a "neat" domain address might help your teaching, but it’s not required. Once you have a valid address, hardware, a connection to the Internet, and server software, you’re ready to serve.

Nearly any Macintosh computer can be a server. Used computer systems that have a street value under $1000 work well. We have colleagues using old hardware to serve small numbers of students. For example, a Mac IIci or IIcx equipped with an inexpensive ethernet board will satisfy most small server needs very well.

The speed with which information moves over the network determines how fast most documents can be served from a server, not some internal limit. On one of our server's, HyperCard-based software processes complex requests for tests and enrollments. The requests are processed in 2 to 4 seconds. That time could be reduced by using much more expensive hardware and software, but turnaround time has not been a problem. While some readers of this book might be from large companies with massive Web presences, most readers will be teachers for whom 1000 students would be an enormous, nearly incomprehensible number. For our typical reader, hardware is not a limitation. One of us once ran a workshop from a distant site making connections back to Nebraska. Files were served in seconds. Busy signals were sent when all 18 student stations at the distant site called for the files within the same few moments. By immediately repeating their requests, the server never gave a busy response two times in a row to the same station at the distant site. Expressed in simple terms, we use slow software on modest hardware, but we've never had a serving problem, even when we have pushed our system.

When serving files on the Web, line speed usually is the weak link. At UNL, things really slow down around 3 o'clock when all of the students and faculty seem to hop onto the Internet at the same time.

Entering http://dwb.unl.edu at a browser will bring up the Web page of one of the authors (Figure 10.02).

How did this happen? Your browser sent out a request for a hypertext transfer (the http part of the URL). This request was directed to the server (129.93.84.115, also known as dwb.unl.edu). Over the Internet routers, the devices that really make this entire engineering marvel work, ultimately direct your message to the server. When the request reaches the server, it is directed to the WebSTAR software. Seeing no specific file requested, WebSTAR routes this to its default file. The default file is sent out, using the http protocol, in response.

If your server is centralized at some university or school, you will be downloading files, changing files, and so forth. Get help from local experts to learn to do this on your own. You are likely to need permissions and passwords, and these may not readily be forthcoming. We neither advocate nor discourage setting up a personal server. But setting up and running your own device is no big deal. Complexity of operation is not the issue. It's more a matter of costs, maintenance, and security. It may be much easier to have someone else running your server for you, and to forego that responsibility.

The issue of site organization is intertwined with the issue of security. Security is discussed in Chapter 18. When you organize a site, you are really talking about how folders and files are arranged. Figure 10.03 shows partially how the files are arranged on the server site for this book.