Web Server Administration

1
Web Server Administration

• Chapter 7
• Installing and Testing a Programming Environment

2
Overview

• Understand the need for programming languages
• Understand database management systems (DBMSs)
• Install and test DBMSs
• Understand the Web-based programming environment
• Program with databases

3
The Need for Programming Languages

• Web pages with just HTML statements are static
  pages
• Pages that contain programming statements allow
  changes and they are called dynamic pages
• Programming languages can also be used to update
  databases and communicate with other systems

4
Database Management Systems (DBMSs)

• The purpose of a DBMS is to store data in an
  organized manner for further processing
• Structured Query Language (SQL) is the language
  used to define and manipulate the data
• Most databases are relational and organize data
  into tables

5
Database Tables

• A primary key uniquely defines a row of data
• SSN in the Employee table and Department number
  in the Department table
• A foreign key is a column in a table that is
  related to a primary key
• Department number in the Employee table

6
Three Categories of SQL

• Data Manipulation Language (DML)
• Used for programming and to insert, update,
  delete, and retrieve data
• Data Definition Language (DDL)
• Used to create tables and other related
  structures in a database
• Data Control Language (DCL)
• Allows you to control access to tables

7
Installing and Testing SQL Server

• As with other applications, a wizard guides you
  through the installation
• By default, it uses the user name you logged on
  as (typically administrator) to gain access to
  the system
• This should be changed to "Use the Local System
  account" for single server systems
• If SQL Server needs to communicate with other
  servers, create a special domain account

8
Installing and Testing SQL Server-Authentication
Mode

• The Windows Authentication Mode controls access
  to the database based on Windows users
• The Mixed Mode allows for SQL Server
  Authentication
• This is more appropriate for Web-based systems
• The sa (systems administrator) account is a SQL
  Server user that has complete control over the
  databases

9
Installing and Testing SQL Server-Creating Tables

• The GUI interface is similar to Access in
  creating a table

10
Installing and Testing SQL Server-Filling Tables
with Data

• Although SQL statements are often used to
  manipulate data, you can use something similar to
  a spreadsheet

11
Installing and Testing MySQL for Red Hat Linux

• As with other applications, you run an RPM file
• Start MySQL with /etc/rc.d/init.d/mysqld start
• The command-line interface is accessed withmysql
• Create a password for mysql root account withSET
  PASSWORD FOR rootPASSWORD('password')

12
Login to mysql and Create a Database

• To login from the shell prompt use
• mysql uroot ppassword
• To create a database called hrcreate database
  hr
• In order to do any operations on the database
  such as create tables, you have to "use" ituse
  hr

13
Create Tables and Insert Data

• The following script creates the employee table
  and adds three employees
• create table employee (
• ssn char(9) primary key,
• firstname varchar(20),
• lastname varchar(30),
• deptno char(2),
• salary numeric(6))
• insert into employee values('553879098','Lynn','Gw
  eeny',10,55000)
• insert into employee values('623827368','Elark','K
  aboom',10,60000)
• insert into employee values('756838998','John','Do
  h',20,45000)

14
Web-based Programming Environment

• Cookie
• Text that a Web site stores on your disk
• Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
• A protocol that allows the operating system to
  interact with the Web server
• Practical extraction and reporting language
  (Perl)
• First popular language for Web servers
• Java Server Pages (JSP)
• Language similar to Java

15
Web-based Programming Environment

• Active Server Pages (ASP)
• Script-based environment available on all IIS Web
  servers
• ASP.NET
• Compiled programs operate under .NET Framework
• .NET Framework is an integral part of Windows
  Server 2003 and can be installed on Windows 2000
• PHP Hypertext Protocol (PHP)
• Popular language available on most platforms
• The structure of JSP, ASP, and PHP are similar

16
Using Forms

• The following HTML produces a form
• When the submit button is pressed, the data in
  the form is sent to the file designated as
  filename

17
Using ASP to Process a Form

• The following file displays the information from
  the form
• Notice how the items such as "first" match the
  text names on the form
• ASP uses lt and gt for opening and closing tags
• ltrequest()gt is one way to retrieve data from
  the form

18
ASP.NET

• ASP.NET is one of the many languages available
  under the .NET Framework that can be used for the
  Web
• The programming model of ASP.NET is superior to
  that of ASP
• Has modules for data validation that
  differentiates between browsers
• Producing sophisticated reports is much easier

19
ASP.NET Program that Combines Form and Output
20
Shell Script in Linux

• Uses CGI
• First line states that the shell is being used
• Not common because of lack of security

21
Perl Script to Display Contents of a Form

• Notice how cgi-gtparam("first") is similar to
  ASPs request("first")

22
Programming with Databases

• Microsoft uses two methods to bridge the gap
  between programming languages and databases
• Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
• The original standard
• Object Linking and Embedding Database (OLEDB)
• Current standard which is faster and more
  flexible
• Linux often uses Java Database Connectivity
  (JDBC)
• You can also have a direct connection between the
  language (such as PHP) and the database (such as
  MySQL)

23
Producing a Report

• Connect to the database
• Execute a SQL select statement to retrieve data
  from a table
• Put the data in a recordset
• Also known as a resultset, depending on the
  environment
• Loop through the recordset and display the
  contents

24
A Report in ASP
25
Using Data Source Names (DSNs)

• DNSs are connections to databases that an
  administrator creates on the server
• They encapsulate the information on the previous
  slide concerning the connection information
• The Data Sources (ODBC) wizard is in the Control
  Panel
• Once it is created, you can create a connection
  withConn.open "DSNhumanresourcesuidsa"

26
Programming with ASP.NET

• Although there is a connection and you send it a
  SQL select statement, the DataGrid component
  creates the report

27
Programming with PHP

• Note the similarity between ASP and PHP, and how
  different they are from ASP.NET

28
Summary

• Programming languages process data, allow you to
  create dynamic Web pages, and can produce other
  features
• Database management systems organize data for
  processing