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.
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.
