WEEK 4
e-Service Networks and Objects That
Live On Them
Synopsis
We examine network technologies used to
build most of the established e-Services (client-server networks), and network
technologies that support emerging e-Services (distributed component/peer-to-peer).
Readings
Client-Server
Internet Technology
(R) Bhargava, H. K., and R. Krishnan,
“The World Wide Web: Opportunities for Operations Research and Management
Science,” INFORMS Journal of Computing,
Vol. 10, No. 4, 1998.
Handed
out in class - contact me if you didnt' get one.
"How the Net Works"
http://coverage.cnet.com/Content/Features/Techno/Networks/index.html
"How Web Servers Work"
http://www.howstuffworks.com/web-server.htm
"How CGI Scripting Works"
http://www.howstuffworks.com/cgi.htm
"HTML vs. CGI vs. Database Backed"
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question226.htm
"How DNS Servers Work"
http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/stories/articles/0,4413,1600861,00.html
TUTORIAL: “Web Hosting Tutorial”
http://www.iec.org/tutorials/web_host/index.html
Peer-to-Peer
Internet Technology
(R) Bradley, G. H., and A. H. Buss,
“Dynamic, Distributed, Platform Independent OR/MS Applications – A Network
Perspective,” INFORMS Journal of Computing,
Vol. 10, No. 4, 1998.
Handed
out in class - contact me if you didn't get one.
(R) March, S. A. Hevner, and S. Ram, "Research Commentary: An Agenda
for Information Technology Research in Heterogeneous and Distributed Environments,"
Information Systems Research, Vol. 11, No. 4, 2000.
Handed
out in class - contact me if you didn't get one.
http://www.omg.org/news/about/marketing.htm
(R) Malik, O., “Top Ten Trends 2001, Trend number one: Computing” Red Herring, December 4, 2000.
http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue86/mag-computing-86.html
Patrizio, A., “New Life For Peer-to-Peer Computing” InformationWeek, November 20, 2000.
“What is Peer-to-Peer Computing?”
http://www.groove.net/peer.gtml
“Why Peer-toPeer?”
http://www.groovenetworks.com/about/whitepapers/
“Peer-to-Peer: A Point of View”
http://www.viant.com/pages/frame_thought_headline.html
"Peer-to-Peer Makes the Internet Interesting Again"
http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/401
Mokhoff, N., “Two Distributed Computing Advances Hit Net,” EETimes, November 13, 2000.
http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?EET20001113S0028
"Introducing Groove: Peer Computing Comes to the Internet"
Deconstructing Groove
http://www.elearningpost.com/elthemes/groove.asp
http://www.elearningpost.com/elthemes/groove2.asp
http://www.elearningpost.com/elthemes/groove3.asp
http://www.elearningpost.com/elthemes/groove4.asp
Related Readings – Not Required
For an explanation of e-commerce technology terminology, refer to the following web sites:
http://www.microsoft.com/com/about.asp
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia
http://www.billingworld.com/ (click on “Library, then on “Glossary”)
http://www.ecompany.com/glossary/
TUTORIAL: "Groove Application and Platform Architecture"
http://devzone.groove.net/GDK/build747/Documentation/ArchitectureOverview/
http://devzone.groove.net/gdk/
"How do NetMeeting Directory Servers Work?"
http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/story/0,3650,2205118,00.html
Assignment
If
you have a computer with a 56k or faster Internet connection, you might download and
install Groove from the Groove Networks (http://www.groove.net/,
http://www.groovenetworks.com/) site, since
it provides an example of where WWW technology is moving. (If you don’t have a fast
connection, tell me the week beforehand during class, and I’ll copy the installation
program to a CD-R for you.)
Groove is interesting to me for several reasons:
1) It is oriented toward peer-to-peer activities, instead of client-server activities.
2) It uses the WWW for various client-server activities to maintain and upgrade its
system.
3) It facilitates synchronous and asynchronous collaboration between "project
team" members, so that people can create a "shared space", work online
(together, synchronous) and offline (individually, asynchronous), and have asynchronous
activities later reconciled in the "shared space".
4) It has a software development kit (SDK) available for programmers, so that they can
extend the platform, create organization-specific versions of Groove, and new "shared
space" formats that are specific to an individual organization's collaborative needs.
The Groove preview version is at:
http://www.groove.net/downloads/Groove/
There also is a User's Guide online (in HTML and PDF) versions, just in case you would
like a step-by-step tutorial of what to do, or would just like to read about the basics:
http://www.groove.net/support/guide.gtml
Note that there are some pretty steep system requirements for the Groove program, so if
you don't have a lot of free space, you may have some difficulties. If you have a new
computer with a 40-60 Gb hard drive, it is no big deal, but if you are still working with
a 2 Gb hard drive, this might be a system resource hog. Groove works in coordination with
an Internet browser, and that Internet browser must be the Microsoft
Internet Explorer, since Netscape browsers do not facilitate the actions
that Groove needs to do.
Groove Identity - Posting it in the Public Directory
In order to get the Groove application to work with the Groove network, you need to (i)
create a Groove identity (username/passphrase), and then (ii) register that
username/passphrase with the Groove Networks system so other people can find you. If you
want to create a new identity (different from the one created when you installed Groove,
the clicking sequence is as follows to create a new identity:
"My Account>Identities>New Identity".
After creating your identity, you need to upload it to the Groove WWW site. This is done
by just changing the option in the drop-down list toward the bottom of the My Account
screen that specifies how you want your identity displayed:
"My Account>List me in the groove.net Public Directory>Name Only (or
Full vCard)"
Then you will be immediately listed on the Groove directory of users, and you can have the
Groove client find other people from class (if they've downloaded and registered the
program). If you want to check whether your identity has been included in the Groove
directory, go to the following URL and search for your name:
http://www.groove.net/directory/contacts/index.gtml
If you are able to download and set up Groove, you might want to try to set up a file
sharing space between your group assignment members. You'll need to follow the following
steps:
Setting Up a Shared Space
Set up a "File Collection Space". You can do this by clicking the follow
sequence of menu commands:
"Home>Start A File Collection Space".
The Groove application will automatically create that shared space. An alternative way to
create a shared space is to go through the "New Space" menu and
clicking on one of the types of shared spaces to generate, then clicking on
"Create":
"New Space>Start a file collection>Create"
At any time, if you want to go to that shared space, you can click:
"My Spaces>File Collection Space (or whatever you named that
space)"
Adding Personal Contacts to Your Contact List
Add personal contacts to your user list. The command sequence is:
"My Contacts>Add Contact>From Groove.net"
Your MS Internet Explorer will then start up, and will take you to the Groove Directory
web page. You then need to search for the contact's name in that directory. For example,
if you search for "Heim" you will find my usernames about 4 or 5 down in the
list produced. If you click on the link for my name, instead of displaying something in
your browser, the file that is stored at that link will be "injected" into your
Groove application ... installing my information as one of your "Contacts".
Inviting People to Your Shared Space
Invite a user to that space, from the users listed in your contact list. The command
sequence is:
"My Spaces>[Double click on the shared space you want to go
to]>Invite>Invite By Instant Message>Select A Contact"
If you want, send an invitation for me to join that shared space. My identities –
listed in the Groove directory – are “GregHeim”
and “GregHeim1”.