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Chapter 3 Options for Web Connections CONTENTS Choosing User Connections Choosing Information Provider Connections Accessing the Web Web Connections Check Both users and information providers have many options for connecting to the Internet and accessing the Web. This chapter surveys these options, covering Internet access choices and ways to become a Web user or information provider. This chapter also summarizes information available on-line about current Web server and browser software, and presents a bootstrap tutorial for accessing the Web. Because there is no single technical control point for the Internet, the process of joining may seem bewildering. There's not a single phone number or organization to contact (although the InterNIC organization registers Internet domain names), nor is there a single physical outlet for an individual user or information provider to "plug into" the Internet. Instead, there's a wide range of options for Internet service. Individuals or organizations have to take their particular situations and needs into account and choose the kind of service and provider that is right for them. This chapter goes over a checklist of considerations that can help you choose an Internet service provider and establish a Web presence. THE LIST-Find an Internet Service Provider The best one-stop place for finding information about Internet service providers is (ironically) on the Internet. The resource is called The List (http://www.thelist.com/). As of July 1996, The List had more than 3,000 Internet service providers in its database. You can view this list on-line by geographical area or by area code. What's really nice about the list is that the entries for each service provider follow a consistent format, so you can quickly compare service offerings. Obviously, if you don't have Internet access, you can't see The List. One method to get information from The List is to check with your local library to see whether it has an Internet terminal available for public use. If not, ask whether your reference librarian can obtain the Internet service provider list for your area code. You also might have an Internet Cafe in your local area where you can use the Internet for a small, hourly fee. If your library can't help you, and you can't get to an Internet Cafe, you might take advantage of the free trial offer that some national on-line services offer. One American on-line services company often gives out free disks with 10 free hours of use. Use this time to access the Web browser this service provides and find and download the list of Internet service providers in your area code or nationally. This section describes the options that users and information providers can use to access the Internet. Some choices for access will be the same for both groups; however, if you plan to be an Internet information provider-particularly if you will deliver Web-based information-you will have additional issues to consider, as described in the section "Choosing Information Provider Connections." In general, you work through some existing organization to connect to the Internet. For individual users, there are many consumer-oriented Internet service or access providers. For organizations or businesses, these providers could be major Internet service providers, such as PSI International, or telecommunications companies, such as MCI. If you work for a large company and are unfamiliar with the choices you face, you might consider hiring an Internet consultant to guide you through these choices and to coordinate everything that needs to be done to get connected. Terms Internet access provider An organization that gives customers the capability to use one or more Internet communications services (such as e-mail) or information services (such as FTP, Gopher, Telnet, and the Web). Customers often access these services via a dial-up (telephone call and modem) connection to the provider's computer, which has an Internet connection. If the provider gives a customer the capability to have a direct Internet Protocol (IP) connection to his computer (thus making the user's computer a part of the Internet), the user has an Internet connection (the organization, in this case, may call itself an Internet connectivity provider to distinguish its level of service). See http://www.thelist.com/ or the list of Providers of Commercial Internet Access (POCIA) at http://www.celestin.com/pocia/. Internet presence provider An organization that coordinates or obtains Internet access or connections for client organizations or individuals, as well as developing content, giving advice, or promoting content. See http://www.yahoo.com/Business/Corporations/Internet_Presence_Providers/. Internet service provider A generic term for organizations that provide Internet access, connectivity, or content development services. Also can include organizations that provide data or network communications services. See http://www.thelist.com/. Internet consultant A group or organization that helps clients obtain Internet services, including access, connectivity, or content development. See http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Services/Internet_Consulting/. Choosing User Connections You can choose from many levels of service and types of connections when deciding on an Internet connection. The best way to begin is to work down a list of some of the main choices you will have to make: the service(s) you want, your expected on-line behavior, and the type of connection you will use. Work through the sections of this chapter and figure out what you want before negotiating with a potential Internet service provider. Service Choices The Internet includes a range of tools for communication, information retrieval, and interaction. Choosing the Internet services you want is almost like choosing what cable television channels you'd like to buy; you can get the basic package, or you can buy the basics plus premium channels (and pay more). Here's a list of the services you might consider in gaining Internet access: Electronic mail service This is the basic tool used for communication on the Internet as well as throughout the Matrix (see Chapter 1, "The World Wide Web as a Communications System," for a description of the Matrix and on-line cyberspace). In fact, users with electronic mail access to any of the computer networks in the Matrix can interchange e-mail with all other users in the Matrix, including those on the Internet (see Inter-network Mail Guide, by Scott Yanoff and John J. Chew at ftp://ftp.csd.uwm.edu/pub/internetwork-mail-guide). Therefore, users who want only electronic mail to the Matrix do not need to get Internet access at all, but they can explore possibilities for access to other networks, such as UUCP, FidoNet, WWIVNet, commercial on-line services, local or national bulletin board systems (BBSs), or the range of dial-up access connections (covered later in the "Type of Connection" section). As a practical matter, however, higher levels of service directly to the Internet are so common that it might be easiest for new users, even if they expect to use electronic mail only, to get a higher level of service. This situation is not unlike that of rotary dial versus touch-tone service for telephone service. Touch-tone service is so widespread that, in some areas, customers can't even obtain rotary dial service. Users who want only e-mail access can, however, explore much of cyberspace with electronic mail only, although access to many Internet services is easiest with higher levels of Internet access. You can find out how to access the Internet by e-mail from the document Accessing the Internet by E-Mail, by "Dr. Bob" Rankin. You can get this document by sending the message send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email to the e-mail address mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu. Usenet news service Usenet is a cooperatively run system for distributing text discussions on many topic areas called newsgroups. Usenet discussion includes thousands of newsgroups ranging across just about any subject area imaginable in the sciences, social issues, recreation, business, and miscellaneous areas. A newsgroup called rec.autos.makers.saturn, for example, is available for people interested in the recreational (rec) aspects of automobiles (autos) manufactured (makers) by the Saturn Corporation (saturn). Other newsgroups include soc.genealogy.french, alt.politics.socialism.trotsky, alt.tv.barney, and biz.books.technical. Accessing these newsgroups requires a Usenet news feed or a set of Usenet articles that are distributed according to a cooperative and voluntary propagation scheme. Just as with electronic mail, users who want to access Usenet news do not need to have Internet access at all. Usenet news propagates throughout the Matrix, so potential Usenet users need to ask their on-line service providers about Usenet news feeds. In particular, you should ask which newsgroups the provider carries. Internet information services Internet information services include application programs, such as Telnet, FTP, Gopher, and Web browsers, that allow you to communicate with remote computer hosts on the Internet in real time-that is, without having to wait for possible time delays in electronic mail or Usenet news propagation schemes. The information services Telnet, FTP, and Gopher were shown in Chapter 1 as used with a Web browser. This set of information services gives users full access to the Internet and represents a significant upgrade in service level over the electronic mail and Usenet news service elements. Once users have the capability to access an Internet information service such as the Web or Telnet, they most likely should be able to access all other Internet services, provided that they obtain the appropriate client software for these specialized services (see Chapter 1's discussion of client/server systems). Enhanced commercial or proprietary services In addition to these Internet options, many commercial companies offer access to on-line communication and information services. These companies include nationally known ones such as CompuServe, America Online, Prodigy, Delphi, GEnie, and others. These companies often provide access to one or more of the preceding services (e-mail, Usenet, or full Internet information services) in addition to access to their own content created just for their members. Examples of member services include airline reservations, special-interest communications forums or information databases, and access to commercial publications (for example, Newsweek's full current issue, which is available on Prodigy). These enhanced commercial services cost money to produce (and access), but often are of higher quality than what is available on the free and open Internet. These services are analogous to the premium channels in cable television offerings. New users can prepare a list of what they'd like to be able to do before discussing service with potential service providers. Possible things to do on the Internet follow: Communicate via electronic mail Participate in electronic mail discussion lists or Usenet newsgroup discussions Interact with information and communications systems based on applications such as FTP, Telnet, Gopher, and the World Wide Web Purchase access to commercial proprietary information and communications services offered only by certain on-line providers Expected Internet User Behavior After you have some idea of the classes of services you want, the next step is to consider how you will use these services. Of course, you can't know for certain how you will use the Internet. Thinking about your expected Internet behavior can help in the planning process, however, because service providers often offer different plans based on your usage patterns. After you connect to and use the Internet for a while, you can see how you use the Internet and then consider a change in your Internet service. Issues about user behavior include pricing, speed, interface, storage, access, and acceptable use policies. Pricing Pricing often is the major concern for users. The good news is that an expanding private-sector Internet services industry has increased competition, reduced prices, and increased choices for users. The only bad news for users is that finding the best price is not straightforward; many prices depend on user behavior, service elements chosen, connection type, and other factors. The bottom line is that the common-sense rule you get what you pay for applies. If you want modest service, you will pay a modest price. For enhanced commercial services or extensive user support, you might get more, but the price rises. In general, the pricing structure for access to the Internet or on-line services often follows a combination of the following: flat rate (a single charge for access with no additional charges based on time), time block (charges for blocks of time usually measured in hours), time rate (charges by the hour or by the minute), use rate (charges for per-time use of services), or a combination of these. Here's a brief survey of Internet access pricing. Note that, to compare prices fairly, you also must consider other factors, such as modem connection speed, user interface, on-line disk storage, and Internet connection type (discussed later in this chapter). These examples give you a quick overview of sample time-pricing structures and rates. These rates reflect representative, publicly available offers in mid-1996: Sample flat-rate pricing An Internet presence company in a small, northeastern U.S. town offers a flat-rate plan for dial-up Internet connections. This flat-rate plan gives you unlimited use of the connection (regulated by the common-sense guidelines set by the company). Its lowest-rate plan offers a UNIX shell account with unlimited hours for $15 per month. A UNIX shell account gives you access to all the Internet services, but not most graphical Web browsers. To operate a graphical browser, you need to have a special account known as a SLIP or PPP account. With the shell account, you can send and receive e-mail and even use a text-based browser such as Lynx or a special browser that doesn't require a SLIP or PPP connection (such as SlipKnot). You just wouldn't be able to use a popular Web browser such as Netscape. This example Internet service provider also offers SLIP/PPP accounts for $20 per month for unlimited hours at any modem speed. This Internet connection offers you full access to Internet information services, e-mail, and Usenet news feeds, and you can use a graphical browser like Netscape. If you have an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) connection of 64 Kbps, the cost is $30 per month for unlimited hours. For a 128 Kbps ISDN line, the cost is $50 per month. The rationale is that the ISDN line offers such a large increase in speed, you're potentially using more resources at the provider's site. Sample time-block pricing An Internet access company in a large, midwestern U.S. city offers a time-block plan for dial-up access to Internet e-mail, Usenet, FTP, Telnet, Gopher, and the Web. The access is for SLIP/PPP access of up to 28.8 Kbps modem speech. The monthly rates follow: $10 for 10 hours, $20 for 40 hours, and $50 for 100 hours. You are charged $1 per hour for each hour you use that is over the amount you've purchased for that month. Sample time-block plus time-rate pricing A national commercial on-line access provider offers access to all Internet information services (including the Web, Internet e-mail, and Usenet newsgroups) plus its own proprietary content, which includes a wide range of information and services not available elsewhere. Access costs $30 per month for 30 hours of use. For hours exceeding the 30 hours, the rate is $2.95 per hour. The interface you use for access is the provider's own proprietary software interface. Sample use rate A national, commercial, on-line access provider charges users a nominal fee, 10 cents, for each electronic mail message they receive and read, and there is no charge for e-mail sent. The philosophy behind this structure is to allow for the free flow of information (users sending e-mail) but to discourage users from oversubscribing to electronic mailing lists. So, with regard to price, you can set a rough estimate for the amount of time per month that you plan to spend using the Internet. In general, the larger the amount of time purchased, the lower the rate per hour. Use habits as well as on-line access techniques can make time on-line vary widely (for example, the technique of quickly downloading all items and files of interest from a commercial service and then reading these off-line, when the charging clock isn't ticking, can save money on commercial on-line services). Speed Another aspect of user behavior is access speed. Notice that some of the sample pricing plans had separate rates for the different access speeds. This is to provide a price differential in fairness to those whose consumption of on-line information is slower because of the speed of their modems; they can't use as many resources as people with the higher-speed modems. Some people paying for a high-speed modem connection might not use this fully; their habits of access and reading text on-line might make their use pattern similar to those paying for slower modem speeds. For users who perform bit-intensive work (access to large numbers of databases or downloads of files at FTP sites), the higher-speed rates might make sense. Modem speeds are increasing quickly to levels at which the human in the chain of on-line interaction is the slowest factor-making a price differential for modem speeds of little value. Users, therefore, might see less and less price differential based on modem speeds; however, if you need or want very fast modem connections, you should ask the service provider about modem access speeds and pricing differentials based on them. Interface Many Internet access and connection providers give the user a raw interface to the Internet-a UNIX shell or command-line interface, for example. Using a shell account, you would have to be familiar with UNIX for file management as well as commands for operating Internet communication applications. For advanced, experienced, or do-it-yourself users, this interface might be a good choice. Other users want or need a more user-friendly interface. These interfaces can range from text-based menu systems to graphical user interfaces. Users must decide how much help they want to have in their interface with the Internet. Systems such as the World Wide Web appeal to users at all levels because of the immediate usability of these interfaces. Instead of learning obscure UNIX commands, the user can surf the Net immediately through a graphical interface. Even with the bare-bones UNIX shell accounts, however, you can obtain free interfaces for personal use. Many graphical Web browsers (sources of information are summarized later in this chapter) are available for free download and access. Other services bundle a Web browser with the services offered, so that the user can have a Web browser set up when the account first is obtained. The bottom line is that users should ask potential service providers about interfaces they will have when their accounts are set up. Storage As mentioned previously, time is just one factor in the price of an on-line service. Another factor is disk space. Users who buy Internet access also are buying space on another computer. With their account, they usually are allocated a certain amount of disk space, with provisions for purchasing more space. Space often isn't a concern for casual users, because they always can download large files or sets of files instead of leaving them on the remote host. The falling cost of disk space also has made the issue of storage less of a concern for casual users. A typical Internet access provider in a medium-sized city in the northeastern U.S. offered an Internet access account for $15 a month for 15 hours of use with 10MB of disk storage space, with a cost of $10 for each 10MB of additional space needed. (For comparison, the entire King James Version of the Bible in text form requires approximately 5MB of storage.) Access Access to the Internet means the capability to log onto your Internet account to read, create, store, or download files. For Internet users, concerns about access include issues such as restrictions based on time of access. Normally, most Internet service providers can give 24-hour-a-day access to user accounts, so access time is usually not too much of an issue for users unless there is a price differential based on time of access. You'll also consider from where you want to be calling. A service provider in your area code might not be of much use for you if you travel to another region of the world. The locations where you can dial into the service provider (via a local call) are called Points of Presence (POP). You always can call a service provider long-distance regardless of the POPs it has. Based on your expected use, decide whether you need a POP nationally or globally. A few trips outside the local calling area of your home POP might not make it worth while to find a national or global service provider. But if you travel a lot, check for national Internet service providers who have POPs in the cities where you travel so that your modem access can be a local call. Users who also are providing information through their Internet accounts (for example, through World Wide Web pages) may have to pay charges for users to access their information. A typical charge comes into play on the amount of information users download from your web pages. A sample Internet in a small city in the northeastern United States allows up to 100MB of information per day to be downloaded from an information provider's web pages. There is a $10 charge for each 100MB you exceed per day. For casual information providers, this may be a reasonable restriction; for information providers seeking to reach large audiences, such restrictions and charges may be a serious consideration when choosing a provider. Acceptable Use In general, commercial Internet service providers usually place few restrictions on their members. Internet access and connectivity providers essentially send their users to the open Internet, where the particular acceptable use and behavior policies for individual Internet forums and networks come into play. Commercial enhanced providers may be far more strict in terms of content provided or discussed in their proprietary forums. A commercial-enhanced provider often carefully scrutinizes discussion forums or even users' electronic mail in order to create an atmosphere that their particular service seeks to enforce. Many choices are offered for varying services and acceptable use policies, so a service provider's right to restrict content need not stifle your expression. Check out the policies. If they don't fit, you can find other, more appropriate forums for what you want to do. The point is that users should realize that there is no absolute right to access, free speech, or a particular kind of behavior on the Internet. The Internet service provider should spell out its expectations for its users, but service providers, as owners, generally have the right to refuse service to anyone or to restrict content, just as owners of printing presses, publishers of newspapers and magazines, owners of radio and television stations, and billboard companies have rights of restriction and refusal. A full demarcation of on-line rights is beyond the scope of this chapter, but often common sense can guide the user in making most choices. Differentiation of adult-oriented material versus family-oriented material, for example, is common when making choices about services providers or acceptable behavior in forums. Users always can seek out another service provider or forum more attuned to their communication desires. If none exists, users can start their own on-line service, BBS, or even an entire computer network for their expression. Among the many service providers available, users should seek out those with acceptable use policies that best fit their plans for communication. You'll also need to check with your national, state, or local governments. Due to widespread fear about Internet communication, some governments have passed or have proposed legislation that restricts Internet content. Most notably, the United States has taken a restrictive stance on content in its Communications Decency Act (see http://thomas.loc.gov/ for the latest rundown on United States Internet legislation). If you are an information provider, one possible way around any restrictive laws on content might be to get an account on a server in another legal jurisdiction where the content of Internet information is not restricted. Type of Connection The final technical issue involved in options for accessing the Internet is type of connection. In the preceding discussion and definitions, I made a distinction between Internet access and an Internet connection. Figure 3.1 illustrates the difference between access and connection (using the symbols from Figure 2.1). The term service, as in Internet service provider, is used as a generic term for Internet access, connection, or some other value-added service. With Internet access, the user is connected to a remote computer, which in turn is connected to the Internet. With an Internet connection, the user's computer is directly on the Internet. (In the diagram, the routers or switches of the Internet could be connected to the hosts shown through a LAN or some other connection.) The distinction between access and connection plays a role in choosing the type of Internet connection desired. Figure 3.1 : Internet access versus connection. In general, access and connections to the Internet include a diverse range of possibilities. Figure 3.2 elaborates on Figure 3.1 to include illustrations of other kinds of access. Gateways (as discussed in Chapter 1) may provide access to electronic mail or other Internet services to users of commercial on-line services or other networks. Other options include high-speed leased lines from the Internet to Internet access providers, allowing many users who are running server software on their own computer systems to access an information server. Figure 3.2 : Examples of Internet access. Types of Internet connections follow: Dial-up access In this type of service, users have access, through their modems, to a computer with an Internet connection. This is the service that user B has in Figure 3.1. Users need software to run on their own computer-terminal software such as Kermit or Procomm, or software provided by the Internet access provider. Users can employ various clients that run on the provider's computer. If users want to download files, they do it in a two-step process: first, from the network to file space on the provider's computer and then from the provider's computer to their own computer. Dial-up connection This is the service that user A has in Figure 3.1. Essentially, user A's computer is on the Internet, through an IP dial-up connection. The user still requires a modem, but downloading files is only a one-step process: from the network directly to the user's host computer. Alternate schemes that enable this direct IP connection to take place include Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) and Point to Point Protocol (PPP). After users install SLIP or PPP software on their computers and obtain the IP connection from their Internet connection provider, their computers are on the Internet. For more information, see Charm Net's Personal IP Page (http://www.charm.net/ppp.html). PPP is a newer, more functional protocol and is expected to become more prevalent. Both SLIP and PPP services cost a premium over regular dial-up IP connectivity. Enhanced commercial connection As described previously, many commercial services offer communication and information services on top of Internet access. These services generally offer dial-up access connections, but some also offer dial-up IP and SLIP/PPP connectivity. Dedicated connection Another step up in price and service is to get a direct, permanent connection to the Internet. This involves connecting the user's computer or local area network via a leased line to an Internet connectivity provider. This is the most expensive option, but it can provide high bandwidth (ranging up to speeds of 1.544 Mbps and faster) and continuous availability. A typical Internet service provider offers these dedicated lines at a price ranging from $150 per month for a 28.8 Kbps connection to $1,750 per month for a 1544 Kbps connection. The preceding choices for desired services, expected behavior, and types of connection should help you work with an Internet service provider. The difficulty for a first-time user is probably the vast range of choices possible. A first-time user might want to choose pre-packaged options, in which many choices already have been made and arrangements with service providers established. Large commercial providers often offer these packages in advertisements in consumer-oriented computer magazines-you should be able to find some at a newsstand or library. Based on choices from the preceding list, you should be able to negotiate a first step onto the Internet. Choosing Information Provider Connections If you will be an Internet information provider, you'll have an additional set of considerations. The preceding list of user options is useful for Internet information because it outlines the many ways your users may be accessing your information. Information providers also have some of the same choices for connectivity to the Internet. Information providers should consider the higher-speed choices, however, particularly if they plan commercial-scale, large-volume transactions. Also, Web information providers may bypass many considerations for establishing their own server and connections by leasing Web space instead of establishing their own. With the proliferation of Web presence providers in the Internet services industry, a leasing option might be the best way to go. The following sections explore the major options for Web information providers. Choosing a Dedicated Connectivity Connection An organization can choose to become part of the Internet by obtaining a permanent, direct (dedicated) around-the-clock connection to the Internet. This is called dedicated Internet access. The first step in getting dedicated Internet access is to choose an Internet service provider that offers direct connection to the Internet. Often, these Internet service providers deal only with large institutions (versus consumer-oriented Internet service providers). You can find many access providers listed in http://www.thelist.com or Yahoo! entries for Internet access and presence providers. In addition, many telephone and telecommunications companies, and even cable television firms, provide dedicated Internet access. If you are seeking dedicated access, get a simple individual Internet dial-up account first and then check the most current on-line sources of information for dedicated Internet access providers and prices. You can get on-line sources for lists of dedicated Internet connectivity providers at these sites: The Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) member list (http://www.cix.org/members.html) The Business: Corporations: Networks section from Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/Business/Corporations/Networks/) When an organization chooses a dedicated Internet connection, it also needs to consider a wide range of issues involved with administrative and technical work in hardware, software, network connections, and security; these issues are beyond the scope of this chapter. Options available for connections for dedicated Internet connectivity follow: Leased line This is a popular scheme that can be arranged with many major telecommunications companies. Users pay for the line and connect appropriate hardware-a channel service unit (CSU) and digital service unit (DSU)-to connect their networks to the Internet. Bandwidths available on leased lines range from the following: 56 Kbps Sample cost: $285/month. This could transfer the Bible in 11 minutes. 1,540 Kbps Sample cost: $1,163/month. This could transfer the Bible in about 4 seconds. 15,000 Kbps Sample cost: $13,000/month. This rate could transfer about three Bibles per second. 45,000 Kbps Sample cost: $49,000/month. This rate could transfer about nine Bibles per second. Of course, the price of the lease rises with the bandwidth (prices here are taken from a sample provider listed on the CIX at http://www.cix.org/members.html). Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) This service enables a user to have a digital phone line that connects to a computer using a codec (a device for connecting the digital computer to the digital ISDN line) rather than a modem. ISDN has been discussed a long time and has slowly gained acceptance. Basic ISDN involves three separate connections: two links at 56 Kbps and one control link at 16 Kbps. Higher-capacity ISDN includes links with a total capacity of 1,544 Kbps. For more information on ISDN, see Dan Kegel's ISDN page at http://alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/isdn/. Cable TV This option is just emerging for Internet information providers. Bandwidths of up to 4,000 Kbps to 10,000 Kbps or more may be possible. When used with ISDN for home consumers, cable delivery of high volumes of information to homes may be a useful option. Frame Relay and Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) These options allow an information provider to lease a line for only a certain time for service. If customers are active only during a certain time, for example, these options might be a good choice. Bandwidths for frame relays vary from 56 Kbps to 512 Kbps. SMDS ranges from 56 Kbps to 10,000 Kbps. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) This networking scheme is gaining wide popularity. ATM technology is based on fast switching and organizing data into packets called cells. ATM allows interoperability of data communication among both small and large networks and is well-suited to carry a variety of multimedia traffic for voice, data, and video simultaneously. Speeds possible on ATM networks range from megabits to gigabits per second. For more information, see the ATM Forum at http://www.atmforum.com/. Microwave and Satellite These options might be best for information providers in remote locations or in situations in which large amounts of data need to be transmitted worldwide. For more information on satellite options, see the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) Web site at http://www.intelsat.int/. For more telecommunications information in general, see Telecom Information Resources on the Internet at http://www.ipps.lsa.umich.edu/telecom-info.html. Establishing a Domain Name If you plan to provide information on the Internet for a long time to come, you should consider obtaining your own domain name. In other words, your Web site and electronic mail use a custom-named domain rather than the domain name of your Internet service provider. Your own domain name can help you in two important ways: Identity Instead of having your company name as a directory on a provider's Web server, your URL directly reflects your brand. If your brand is "foo," for example, your Web site can be http://www.foo.com instead of http://www.provider.net/~foo/. Portability More than 2,700 Internet service providers exist today. A shakeout in this industry is expected, particularly with the entry of major telecommunications players into the Internet service business. If your current provider goes under, or another provider can give you a better deal, you can take your domain name with you to the new provider with no disruption in service or URLs to your customers. The downside of a domain name is cost. You'll have the annual registration fees (currently, $100 per year), plus the additional fee your Internet service provider may charge you for its work in serving your custom domain. Domain names (discussed in Chapter 1), such as rpi.edu or ford.com, are registered through the InterNIC Registration Services. You can reach them at http://rs.internic.net/. Or, you can write to Network Solutions 505 Huntmar Park Drive Herndon, VA 22070 USA Attn.: InterNIC Registration Services Phone (703) 742-4777 A domain name provides a mapping from a logical, usually alphabetic name to an actual numeric IP address through the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). By reserving a domain name, an information provider can establish an identity on the Internet and have a base for future growth. Hints for Choosing a Domain Name You'll want to choose a name that reflects your brand. For example, chevrolet.com belongs to General Motors - Vehicle Sales, Service and (CHEVROLET-DOM) 30400 Mound Road P.O. Box 9015 Warren, MI 48090-9015 Some companies also choose nouns that reflect their area of business. For example, tissue.com belongs to Procter and Gamble (TISSUE-DOM) One Procter and Gamble Plaza P.O. Box 599 Cincinnati, Ohio 45201 You can use the whois command (described in Chapter 1) to find out who already owns a domain name. You can use a Web-based version of this at http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois or the domain lookup service at http://ibc.wustl.edu/domain_form.html. If you plan to do multiple kinds of projects at your domain, you should choose a name that is fairly generic yet distinctive. Here are some specific tips: Choose a name that distinguishes your domain from other well-known brands or names. Don't choose the domain macdonalds.com, for example, because people will confuse it with mcdonalds.com. Don't expect to register someone else's brand name (or your competitors'). Courts have upheld the right of brand name owners to own the domain names that reflect their brand. Registering your domain with the InterNIC doesn't mean that you have a right to use that domain name. The domains mtv.com and mcdonalds.com originally weren't in the hands of their present owners, but they both eventually did get into the hands of the owners of those brands after those companies discovered the Internet. Choose a name that allows your company's product line to grow. You might get onto the Web to sell hockey player yearbooks, for example. The domain hockeybook.com might fit that purpose well, but later your company might branch out into other hockey-related merchandise or publishing products. You could get more domains with each product line (big corporations do this on the Web), but with registration and maintenance fees, this can become expensive for small businesses. So a name like aceproductions.com might fit your hockey book business. Later, you might offer softball or football books, too. Choose a name that is easy to remember and type. You probably will print your domain name on your business cards, letterheads, advertisements, and other promotional material (see Chapter 9, "Web Promotion"). For the most part, companies use the shortest, distinctive sequence of letters to identify themselves-usually without the suffix "-inc" in their domain name. The domain ford.com, for example, identifies Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan. But if you are Ford Widgets Company, you might consider ford-widgets.com, fwc.com, or even fw.com. The two- and three-letter domain names can be cryptic, but they are easy to type and lend themselves to elegantly short URLs. Single-letter domain names are reserved by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. You can use a dash (-) in your domain name but not an underscore (_). Obtaining a domain name requires some paperwork, an annual fee (see http://rs.internic.net/templates.html), and the name of an Internet service provider ready to provide network feeds to that domain. Internet presence providers or consultants usually will fill out this application and send it in on behalf of the information provider for a small fee. Leasing Web Space With the increasing number of Internet presence providers available, leasing Web space versus building it could be a very attractive option. An Internet presence provider in a medium-sized city in the northeastern U.S. offers (mid-1996) information providers their own domain name (for a $25 one-time registration fee) and 10MB of Web space aliased to their domain name (for a $50 one-time setup fee, 100MB/day of Web traffic, and $10/100MB over this per day)-all for an ongoing fee of $25 a month. With this space located on a Web server connected via a fast, leased line to the Internet, you can save thousands of dollars per month compared to what you'd pay for a dedicated line of the same speed. This makes leasing Web space a good choice for small businesses or individuals. For more information on Web space leasing, see the Web leasing section at http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/leasing.html or the lists of Internet access, presence, or service providers mentioned earlier in this chapter. The benefits of leasing follow: Service provider maintenance The Internet service provider takes care of connecting computer hosts to the Internet, installing and maintaining Web servers on those hosts, and all the technical and administrative work of maintaining the server farm. Domain name aliasing Internet service providers can alias Web access and electronic mail to their customer's domain name. If the customer's domain name is example.com, for example, its leased Web space can be accessed through http://www.example.com/, and electronic mail can be routed to example.com. The Internet service provider can complete the domain name applications (usually charging a modest fee). Later, customers have the choice of taking this domain name with them if they choose another Internet service provider. There are drawbacks to leasing, such as security concerns or concerns about having another organization "in control" of your network presence. Large businesses and corporations, among the early adopters of Web and Internet technology, often "grew their own" servers instead of leasing them from an Internet service provider, and most large institutions operate their own server farm. This may change because of economies of scale, particularly if large telecommunications companies begin to understand Internet service. Leasing Web space may be even a more attractive way to have presence on the Internet. A Worksheet for Picking an Internet Service Provider As part of the support material available to you as a reader of this book, I maintain a spreadsheet (which requires a Java-enabled browser) that can help you work out your choices for picking an Internet service provider. This spreadsheet is at http://www.december.com/web/develop/pickisp.html. Accessing the Web After you negotiate Internet access or presence, your next step is to get on the Web. For information providers, getting on the Web involves choosing server software; for users, it involves choosing browser software. Web Server Options Information providers who have not chosen to lease Web space or users who want to be information providers can consider the range of server software options available. Since the development of the CERN Web servers in the early 1990s, a variety of commercial companies now offers server software. You can find lists of current servers on-line through these sources: W3 Server Software A list of server software, compiled and maintained by the World Wide Web Organization (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/Overview.html). The Computers: World Wide Web: HTTP section from the Yahoo! database Includes subsections for HTTP protocol information, security, and servers (http://www.yahoo.com/Computers/World_Wide_Web/HTTP/). World Wide Web FAQ Includes a section on establishing and using Web servers for a variety of platforms (http://www.boutell.com/faq/). Web Browser Options Much like the development of more options for Web servers, many more choices are available for Web browsers. These on-line sources contain up-to-date lists of current browsers: Browserwatch Offers the latest on WWW browsers. Includes news and rumors, information about plugins, and statistics. Also offers a long list of browsers, organized by the platforms they support, with links to the support sites for each browser (http://www.browserwatch.com/). Stroud's Consumate Winsock Applications list This Web browser section, at http://www.stroud.com/cwsa.html, offers lists of browsers as well as an excellent listing of many applications you can run with Windows software. The Web Access Bootstrap Tutorial This section is intended for users who may have not accessed the Web or need a concise set of bootstrap instructions for getting started using the Web. Accessing the Web via E-Mail If you don't have a WWW client or have e-mail-only access to the Internet, you can obtain Web resources via e-mail. First, you send e-mail to agora@mail.w3.org with the message body HELP You will receive instructions on retrieving Web resources via e-mail. The basic scheme is to send to agora@mail.w3.org with the message body www URL in which URL is the URL of the resource to obtain. The URL for the "bootstrap" introduction to the Web is http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/FAQ/Bootstrap.html, for example. To obtain this document, you can send e-mail by typing this: $ mail agora@mail.w3.org www http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/FAQ/Bootstrap.html . You will receive the text of the bootstrap page in the mail, with the hyperlinks in the document indicated by numbers in brackets ([]). By responding to the message with these numbers, you can browse the Web via e-mail. Note that you will not be able to follow all links in a document via e-mail (for example, you can't access Telnet services this way). Accessing the Web via Telnet Users with access to Internet information services can begin to access and learn more about the Web by using Telnet. You can Telnet to the host telnet.w3.org and then use the menu system available to follow links in hypertext documents, as shown in Figure 3.3. Figure 3.3 : Using Telnet. Using either the Telnet access or Agora e-mail browser, you will be able to learn more about the Web on-line. By exploring the Web on-line, you can find out about and obtain more sophisticated Web browsers or locate an Internet service consultant or provider. Web Connections Check You can access the Internet in a variety of ways. Users and information providers have choices among options for on-line services, pricing, speed, interface, storage, access, and acceptable use. Types of connections to the Internet include dial-up access, dial-up connection, enhanced commercial connections, and dedicated connections. Information providers can choose dedicated access, establish their own domain names, or lease Web space. Information on current Web servers and browsers is on-line. Users can use e-mail or Telnet to "bootstrap" themselves onto the Web and learn more about it. |