Most organizations use the services of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to establish a link to the Internet.
|
ISPs are companies with an Internet gateway that is shared by organizations and individuals.
|
Not all ISPs provide the same services.
|
When selecting an ISP, you need to evaluate your organization's needs and consider the services offered, the fees charged, and the technical support provided by the ISP.
|
Most ISPs offer a flat-fee rate that provides a certain number of hours of use.
|
An ISP connects your network through either a dialup connection or a leased line.
|
The choice of whether to have a leased line or a dialup connection via an ISP will depend on the size of the company.
|
Most companies connecting to the Internet will want to provide their own domain name which will remain with them no matter what their means of connecting to the Internet.
|
This is possible with a connection from an ISP.
|
Dialup connections are generally used by home users and organizations that have a small amount of Internet traffic.
|
Dialup connections are particularly practical if your connection is used primarily to download and access mail.
|
With a dialup connection you establish a connection when you actually dial up the ISP and connect.
|
Some ISPs have the ability to dial you up, which is useful for when new e-mail arrives.
|
A dialup connection uses either Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) for communication purposes.
|
These protocols allow you to transfer TCP/IP packets over normal phone lines using standard high-speed modems.
|
A leased line is a permanent telecommunications link between your Web site and your ISP.
|
To have your Web site available to Internet users you will need some kind of leased line.
|
When deciding on what type of leased line to use, you need to consider the bandwidth you need.
|
Bandwidth is the amount of information that can be carried over a network.
|
An analog leased line is a telephone line that is permanently open between your Web site and your ISP.
|
Modems at your Web site convert analog signals to digital signals.
|
Digital leased lines to the Internet include Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN), T1, and T3.
|
An ISDN leased line is suitable for a light-duty server.
|
Companies with a server carrying medium traffic should find a T1 line suitable.
|
And large businesses expecting to handle heavy Internet traffic may need multiple T1 lines or T3 lines.
@@
Some very big companies decide to have their own dedicated gateway.
|
A dedicated gateway has a dedicated machine connecting to the backbone of the Internet.
|
A dedicated connection is always online.
|
It allows for greater data transfer rates than standard telephone lines.
|
It can be very expensive for an organization to have its own gateway.
|
It may, however, be less expensive than arranging accounts with an ISP, if there are a very large number of users at the organization.
|
To have a direct connection to the Internet, you need to have a dedicated machine, known as a gateway or IP router.
|
This provides full access to all services.
|
Online Services, such as America Online, Prodigy, and CompuServe are also an option for linking to the Internet.
|
Online services often don't offer all Internet services.
|
They are still used by individuals or small companies, but the growth of ISPs has seriously cut into their business.
@@
Every computer with a direct connection to the Internet needs a unique IP address.
|
IP addressing is part of the TCP/IP protocol.
|
An IP address is a 32-bit number which is normally written in "dotted decimal" form.
|
190.100.5.54 is an example of an IP address.
|
An IP address will usually be allocated to you by your ISP when you establish your Web site.
|
If your ISP cannot assign you an IP address, you can ask your ISP's ISP (if applicable).
|
As a last resort, you can contact the InterNIC Registry, which operates under the authority of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
|
InterNIC stands for the Internetwork Information Center.
|
A domain name is a hierarchically organized dotted word format address which is mapped to an IP address.
|
An example of a domain name is cdwares.com.
|
The com part of cdwares.com is a root domain (top-level domain) and is used to address Internet computers in the commercial sector.
|
Other root domains are "org", "net", "edu", as well as country codes such as "au" for Australia.
|
Domain names with no country code are usually situated in the United States.
|
If you are connected to an ISP you don't have to have a domain name.
|
But a domain name does allow you to customize your presence on the Internet - cdwares.com is certainly more attractive to potential customers than 190.100.5.54, for example.
|
It also allows you to create a variety of logically named Internet addresses, such as ftp.cdwares.com, www.cdwares.com, and info%004@cdwares.com.
|
The main purpose of the domain name addressing scheme is to reduce the addressing load of individual routers.
|
This is done by breaking the process of locating a computer's IP address on the Internet into hierarchical steps.
|
Each step is handled by a particular level of routers in the domain hierarchy.
|
The domain name addressing scheme is known as the Domain Name Service (DNS).
|
Domain names need to be registered.
|
Your ISP may be able to help you with the registration process.
|
If your ISP is unable to assist you, you should contact your local NIC or the InterNIC.
|
The InterNIC is the Registration Authority for the following root domains:
ò edu
|
ò gov
|
ò com
|
ò net
|
ò org
|
ò mil
|
A domain name can be up to 26 characters long, including dots and the root domain.
|
Only letters, numbers, and hyphens are allowed in a domain name.
|
You should never register a URL, such as http://www.cdwares.com, as a domain name.
@@
Domain name registration is a process that consists of a number of steps.
|
The first thing you need to do is check if the domain name you want to register is available.
|
Here we are using the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser, but you could just as well use any other Web browser available to you.
|
You can do this by following the links from the InterNIC Web site at http://rs.internic.net to their Whois database.
|
The database contains all the domain names registered through the InterNIC.
|
If no match is found, then the name has not been registered by any other organization, and you can safely proceed with the registration process.
|
Your next step is to get the names and IP addresses of two DNS nameservers.
|
A DNS nameserver allows your domain name to be contactable by Internet users by featuring your domain name and corresponding IP address in its DNS file.
|
You should ask permission from the DNS nameserver's maintainer before using the information.
|
Your ISP should be able to provide you with the details of at least one of their nameservers.
|
During the preparation stage of your domain name registration, you should also read about the policies and fees of InterNIC.
|
Links to these documents can be found at http://rs.internic.net/help/index.html.
|
InterNIC has various types of templates which are used to gather the necessary information for your registration.
|
So when you are ready to register your domain name, you can complete one of these templates.
|
Templates can be found at http://rs.internic.net/help/templates.html.
|
You should be very careful when entering information because most forms are processed automatically.
|
So the information you provide is the information that will appear on nameservers and in the Whois database.
|
Text version templates must be saved to your hard disk and completed offline before submission.
|
You can also use the Web interface at InterNIC to register a domain name.
|
The information you enter on the online Web form is used to construct a proper registration template.
|
This is then e-mailed to you for your approval before actual registration begins.
|
In the text version template you are asked to supply your requested domain name and information about your company.
|
You also need to provide the details of three people who can be contacted for administrative, technical, and accounts information.
|
Then you can fill in the details of the two Name Servers.
|
Once you have completed the template, you should e-mail it to hostmaster%004@internic.net.
|
All registration requests at InterNIC are assigned a unique tracking number.
|
It is e-mailed to you once you have submitted a completed template.
|
This allows you to track the progress of your domain name registration.
|
You are notified by e-mail once your request has been processed, usually within a day.
|
Your new domain name is then released into the relevant nameserver files, such as the COM nameserver files.
|
Registering a domain name costs money - you will be invoiced after your domain name has been registered.
@@
You have decided on cdwares.com as the domain name for your Web site.
|
Now you want to check the InterNIC database to see if it has been registered by any other company.
|
You would also like to download further information on the registration process.
|
There is no match for cdwares.com in the Whois database, so you can proceed with the registration process.
|
But first you want to get some more information on the steps involved in the process.
@@
@@
If you are conducting business over the Internet, you need to pay particular attention to security.
|
If your Web site is connected to your internal network, it is possible for outsiders to gain access to it.
|
So it becomes necessary to keep private data and software on the internal network secure, at the same time as allowing employees to access the Internet.
|
Companies often build firewalls to keep internal networks secure.
|
Without a firewall, your entire internal network is at risk from its connection to the Internet.
|
A firewall creates a barrier between the company network and the Internet.
|
You can use a firewall to isolate a section of your internal network from the Internet.
|
By isolating a section of your network from the Internet, you reduce the area that is at risk from Internet intruders.
|
Or you can isolate the entire internal network.
|
A firewall is a hardware and software system implementing security between networks.
|
It evaluates information passing to and from the network.
|
Firewalls are generally screening routers or proxy servers.
|
Firewalls can consist of either one of these components or a combination of the two.
|
A firewall should form part of a comprehensive security policy.
|
Staff should be made aware of security risks.
|
They should be advised to choose passwords that are not easily guessed.
@@
If you are conducting business over the Internet, it will often be convenient for you to accept payment over the Internet.
|
Forms or e-mail can be used to send credit card information over the Internet.
|
It is possible for information that is sent over the Internet to be intercepted.
|
When this is sensitive information like a credit card number, the customer is put at risk.
|
It is possible for credit card details to fall into the hands of someone who will abuse them and use someone else's number for their own purchases.
|
There are ways in which credit card information, or other sensitive information, can be made secure.
|
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is increasingly being used to make sensitive information secure.
|
SSL makes sensitive information secure by encrypting it.
|
Users can recognize a secure Web site by its URL.
|
The URLs of secure Web sites start with "https://" instead of the more common "http://".
|
The user will also get a message telling them that any information sent or received from the page will be encrypted.
|
To run a secure server you need to obtain a certificate from a certifying authority confirming the identity of your company.
@@
A connection to the Internet offers numerous advantages, one of them being that software can be downloaded.
|
There is unfortunately a down side to being able to download this software.
|
By downloading software you are opening yourself up to the risk of viruses.
|
A virus is a program that replicates itself, spreading from one program to another.
|
When viruses are active they can damage data or crash your computer.
|
And if you are on a network they can replicate through other network computers.
|
To avoid getting viruses you should only download programs from reputable sites on the Internet.
|
And you should use an anti-virus program.
|
As with any network, whether it has the added risk of an Internet connection or not, you should never use a floppy disk without scanning it first.
|
And you should back up your hard drive regularly when you know it is uninfected.
