Infrastructure of an e-Commerce System
Mohammad A. Rob
School of Business and Public Administration,
University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, Texas 77058
Abstract - In recent years, many universities have been developing programs or courses in the area of electronic commerce (e-commerce). One of the important courses that address the technology issues of electronic commerce is “e-commerce technology." This course should not only address the theoretical understanding of hardware and software requirements of Web servers, databases, security, payment processing, and marketing technology, but it should also provide an opportunity for students to develop "true" e-commerce applications. Most educational institutions have existing technology that can be configured to set-up an e-commerce applications environment. This paper outlines the process of launching and managing a live e-commerce application within an existing university network using readily available Microsoft software such as the Internet Information Server, Microsoft SQL server, and Visual InterDev.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, many universities have been developing curriculum in the electronic commerce or e-commerce area [2]. Some universities are developing a full e-commerce program, while others are offering a concentration in e-commerce. In most cases, these programs have evolved from the existing management information systems (MIS) programs offered in schools of business. Depending on the university and the involvement of the faculty group, the thrust of the program may be directed towards the areas of marketing, finance, or e-commerce technology. For the same reason, the name of the program may vary; however, e-commerce and e-business are the two common names found among many universities.
Irrespective of the name of the program, a well-rounded e-commerce curriculum should include a course on e-commerce technology. This course should not only address the theoretical understanding of the required technology, but it should also provide hands-on opportunity for true e-commerce projects. Experience shows that students also like to learn the technology that drives today's information technology job market.
Most academic institutions now support one or more laboratories with networked personal computers (PCs). These laboratory computers are managed centrally, along with other networked PCs that are used by the members of the university staff. The laboratory PCs are often loaded with programming and designing tools for enterprise application development such as the Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 suite, which not only provides application development tools such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, and Visual InterDev, but also includes several designing and modeling tools. However, these tools are not sufficient to develop an e-commerce application, that requires support from a Web server and a database server, which may not be readily available. Most importantly, the academic laboratories are not suitable for developing hands-on projects that require hardware or software to be configured according to project requirements.
In order to develop an e-commerce application, one needs to configure the Web server and the database server according to the need of the application. The best solution is to have a dedicated e-commerce laboratory. For large universities this may not be a problem, but for most educational institutions, developing a dedicated e-commerce laboratory requires commitment of resources from the administration, which might be lacking in many institutions. The alternative approach is to exploit the existing campus network.
In this paper, we outline the process of setting-up an e-commerce application development environment within a campus network. We also discuss the management of the application development environment by a faculty member form his or her personal computer within the network. We will limit our discussion within the Windows operating systems, as the required software are either readily available or can be purchased at a reasonable cost. We will also limit our discussion on the business-to-consumer e-commerce.
ARCHITECTURE OF AN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SYSTEM
In general, an e-commerce system includes mainly three software components that interact over the Internet: a browser, a Web server, and a database server. This is illustrated in Fig. 1. These components create an architecture that is commonly termed as a three-tier client-server architecture [8]. The browser is the client installed on a computer at home or business. The Web server and the database server are installed on computers in a merchant network. The client searches for products through a URL or a link on a Web page that is stored on the Web server. The Web server interacts with the database server whenever a Web page finds any code that requires data access from the database. Incidentally, the Web server and the database server could be installed in a single computer, furthermore, the merchant network may include more than one Web servers or database servers. Fig. 1 also illustrates that a merchant Web server may interact with an Automatic Clearing House (ACH) computer for an on-line credit card processing, or with a computer in the shipping company that delivers products for the merchant. These interactions create a multi-tier architecture for the electronic commerce application.
To set-up an electronic commerce system, one needs to consider various technical and management issues before attempting to develop an application. As shown in Fig. 2, an electronic commerce application development environment can be considered as consisting of six major components: network, hardware, software, database, developmental tools, and people. These components work together to generate an e-commerce system. The circle in Fig. 2 represents this application. In terms of the management of an e-commerce application development environment, these components can also be grouped into three broad areas of infrastructure, management, and application development. The infrastructure needs to be in place before considering any developmental and management issues.
INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS OF AN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SYSTEM
The infrastructure requirement of an electronic commerce system entails network, hardware, and software as discussed below.
A. Network Requirements
A merchant must have a presence on the Internet so that a client from anywhere on the Internet can interact with the electronic shop set-up by the merchant. The merchant also needs to interact with other third-party companies through the Internet for order fulfillment. This sets up a multi-tier architecture as mentioned before and illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 also illustrates the architecture of the internal network of a merchant. The exact architecture of the network or the number of interconnected networks is not important here, except that many computers can be connected to a network and some of these computers can be used to install necessary software for e-commerce application development.
In most cases, one or more interconnected networks are already in place in a university and these networks are also connected to the Internet. For the e-commerce application, the university network mainly serves as the merchant network.
B. Hardware Requirements
The hardware architecture for a typical e-commerce application is illustrated in Fig. 3. Three PCs are identified with shaded rectangles that are involved in a typical e-commerce application. Two are server-type PCs and the third is a regular office PC. The later is to be used by a faculty member to manage the application development environment. Please note that, to start with a simple e-commerce application, one server-type PC is sufficient to load the necessary software, as discussed in the following. It is expected that a PC is available is faculty member’s office.
Once the PCs are available, a network administrator can connect the PCs in the available network nodes, install necessary operating system software, and assign IP addresses to the computers. Typically, these PCs are located in the server room or in close proximity of the network or lab administrator. This arrangement allows the network administrator to manage the PCs like any other network resource in a campus network.
Once the necessary hardware is in place, required software are installed in the hardware as described below.
C. Software Requirements
Several software components are required to develop and manage an e-commerce application. These include: a network operating system, a Web server and a database server. Fig. 3 illustrates the software requirements for an e-commerce application.
a. Network Operating System
A network operating system is necessary to manage the hardware, software, and users of a network. Microsoft Windows NT operating system is the most popular network operating system in a PC networking area and it should be available in any university. As shown by the dark rectangles in Fig. 3, the NT server should be installed in the server-type PCs, and the NT client or Windows 95/98 should be installed in the other PC. This last PC is typically a faculty member's personal computer that will be used to manage the Web server and database server, as discussed in the following.
b. Web Server
The Web server is the most important software of an e-commerce application that provides the Web presence for a merchant. As shown in Fig. 3, the Web server software needs to be installed in a PC running the NT Server. Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is the choice for the Web server, because it comes free with the Windows NT operating system and is widely used in the industry [8]. Thus it is readily available to a network administrator. The faculty member may need to work with the network administrator to install and configure the Web server. To start with, it involves setting up a default Web site, a home directory, and a default Web page. The Internet Service Manager, which is installed with the IIS, is the administrative tool for the management and configuration of the Internet Information Server. See Fig. 4.
Upon installation, the IIS automatically creates a default Web site with a home directory such as C:\Inetpub\wwwroot. The name of the Web site can be changed, and more than one Web site with different home directories can also be created. Fig. 5 shows the IIS property sheet with the Web Site tab, displaying the name of the web server. The network IP address of the computer is the default IP address of the Web site. Fig. 6 shows the Home directory setting of the IIS. As shown, the home directory can be selected from a directory in the local Web server or it can be changed to a directory in any computer within the network. If a user is allowed to browse the Web site to search for a file in a folder instead of typing the full path in the Web browser, "Directory Browsing Allowed” should be checked.
Fig. 7 illustrates the property tab setting for selecting one or more default documents for the Web site. As shown, the “Enable Default Document” box needs to be checked and a default file name needs to be identified. In order to allow any user of the Internet to access the Web site, “Allow Anonymous Access” should be checked on the “Directory Security” tab, as illustrated in Fig. 8.
Once the Web server is configured, a user within the network can type the name of the computer in the address line of a Web browser (for example, and the Web server will respond by displaying the default Web page. On the other hand, a user anywhere on the Internet (within the network or outside), can access the default page of the Web server just by typing the IP address of the computer (for example, If the MIS or e-commerce program wants to have a domain name for the Web site, then a faculty member can work with the network administrator to register a domain name through an accredited domain name registrar [3]; however, this is not necessary for the e-commerce project development.
One of the best way to learn about a Web server is to start with the Microsoft Personal Web server for Windows 95, 98 or NT, which can be downloaded free from the Microsoft site. Personal Web server can be used to set-up and configure a Web site in a local host. Morrison and Morrison[6] provide an excellent overview of the Microsoft Personal Web Server and its step-by-step configuration. A book on the Microsoft Internet Information Server might be useful to set-up and administer the Web server [7]. The IIS help menu also provides various features on Web administration and Web publishing.
c. Database Server
Database is an essential component of an e-commerce application. It holds information on the electronic merchandise. An e-commerce database is accessed concurrently by many users over the Internet. Thus a network database is essential to develop a true e-commerce application.
A network database has a client portion and a server portion. The server portion is installed in a computer that runs a server-side operating system such as the Windows NT server. See Fig. 3. The client portion is installed in one or more computers in the network running a client operating system such as the Windows 95, 98, or NT client. The server contains the actual database and database-management tools. The client is used for operating and managing the database system from a remote computer within a local network. Many databases can be created in a single database server and many users can access and manipulate a single database from multiple computers. Incidentally, the database server can be installed in the same computer that runs the Web server. This arrangement does not compromise the performance of the database or the Web server in an application development environment.
Microsoft SQL Server is a popular network database, because most networked PCs run on the Windows operating system. The graphical user environment of the SQL Server, version 7.0, is very simple to use. The SQL server also comes free with the Windows NT operating system and a few other Microsoft software bundles. The security of the SQL server is integrated with the security of the Windows NT operating system. It allows a network administrator to easily map a user’s database access permission to that of the network permission. When the SQL Server is installed, “Enterprise Manager” management tool is automatically installed with both the server and client versions. Thus the SQL server can be managed either from the server computer or from a remote computer within the network using the Enterprise Manager. The most important management activity for an e-commerce database is the management of user permissions, which is discussed in the next section.
In order to create a database for an e-commerce application, students need to access the database server from a client computer. Thus the SQL server client portion needs to be installed in the laboratory personal computers. Once the software is installed, each client needs to register the database server under a valid username of the SQL server. This is performed through the “New SQL Server Registration” option in the Enterprise Manager.
Once the software are in place, the infrastructure for the e-commerce application development environment is complete. Then it becomes the responsibility of a faculty member to manage the students who will develop e-commerce applications from semester to semester.
MANAGEMENT OF AN E-COMMERCE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT
Managing e-commerce application development entails two sets of activities: the database server management and the e-commerce project management. The following sections discusses these activities and the Microsoft tools available to support them.
A. Management of Students’ Projects
Management of students’ projects involve two activities: (i) to create a folder in the Web server root directory for each e-commerce project and (ii) to provide permissions to students to create Web files in these folders. These responsibilities may be delegated to a senior student of the MIS or e-commerce program if he or she has the proper authority.
In order to manage the e-commerce application development activity, a faculty member needs to obtain an “operator” privilege for the Web server from the network administrator; better if he/she becomes an administrator in the local Web server computer. This is the only permission he or she needs to manage project developments. At the beginning of each semester a faculty member may want to divide all students into groups and create a folder for each group in the root directory (c:\Inetpub\wwwroot) of the Web site. Each folder should be given appropriate (read/write) permission so that each student can create, save, copy, and delete files in their respective directory.
B. Management of the Database Server
The primary activity pertaining to the database server is to manage users and assign various database-related permissions. In order to manage the database server, a faculty member needs to obtain the “Security Administrator” permission from the network administrator. This permission allows the faculty member to create other users and assign permissions to create and manipulate databases. In the Microsoft SQL Server, a network user can automatically be given permission to access the database or the access can be controlled through a user defined in the database itself. Note, the user management in the SQL Server is managed through the "Security" option of the Enterprise Manager window.