DIY Intranets with CFML/XML/HTML/CGI/ASP/JSP
| Published date | 01 February 2000 |
| Date | 01 February 2000 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040752 |
| Pages | 53-60 |
| Author | Peter Edwards |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
DIY Intranets with
CFML/XML/HTML/CGI/
ASP/JSP
by Peter Edwards, Intranet
Development Officer
This
article
is concerned
with
emerging
technologies that enable the construction of an
Intranet
with dynamically
generated content,
customised
for
different
users. The underlying
technology is server-side scripting using
'session cookies,'
which
overcome the
problem of
HTTP
being essentially stateless,
and maintain a state across
different
pages.
The
article
evaluates some of the available
platforms -
Allaire
ColdFusion,
Active Server
Pages, Java Server Pages and
CGI.
The
article
argues that developing a dynamic site
is relatively easy if you have a good grounding
in
producing web pages and SQL and if you
choose the
right
tools.
Intranets
/
Virtual Private
Networks
The traditional view
of
an
Intranet
is
that of a
private network of computers physically isolated
from other networks, but using the same protocols
as the Internet. One solution
to
the problem
of
providing
a
private network
in
this
way
isolates
computers
on a
network either by using communi-
cations protocols (based
on the use
of routers
and
firewalls1) or cabling restrictions.
By
isolating
the
computers that form the Intranet, users cannot
access
the
network unless the computer they
are
using
is on the
network. New advances
in
network-
ing are beginning
to
deliver Software-driven
solutions called Virtual Private Networks that
use
encryption2,
and
new developments
in
transport
protocols such
as
PPTP3
to
provide
a
secure means
of communication across networks.
This article
is
concerned with emerging technolo-
gies that enable the construction
of
an
Intranet
which
is
available from any location with
an
Internet connection,
by
logging
in to an
application
which dynamically generates
a set
of web pages.
The pages are sensitive
to the
identity of the user,
and
to any
information which
has
been given
by
them,
and
this information
is
used
to
provide
a
customised interface
to
each user and control
access
to
web-based resources.
One advantage of using this approach
is
that users
can access the network from any computer
in the
world, providing
it
has
an
Internet connection.
It
also enables you
to
provide access
to
resources
outside your Intranet,
and
will integrate seamlessly
with
an
existing Internet site on the same server.
By providing
an
anonymous "Guest" log
in (or
bypassing the log
in
altogether), you can still
provide
a
customised user interface and control
access
to
the resources
on the
site which require
users
to be
logged
in for
access.
Another advantage
is
that the pages can
be
con-
structed
so
they log access
for
each user, providing
a way of tracking the use of your network by each
individual user. This information can
be
stored
in a
database and used
to
provide site statistics
on a
page
by
page
or
individual user level. Because
you
control what information gets logged
in
this way
and the way
it is
displayed
(by
authoring the pages
which perform these actions), you can tailor the
collection
and
presentation
of
usage statistics
for
your own individual needs.
HTTP
- the
stateless protocol
In order to construct
a
network
in
this way,
it is
necessary
to
overcome one limitation of the HTTP
protocol, namely the fact that
it is
"stateless." This
means that each request
for a
web page from
the
server
is
treated
as a
separate request,
and
details
of who
is
requesting the page
are
irrelevant
as far
as the web server
is
concerned. With
an
Intranet
however,
we
need
to be
able
to
identify who
is
making the request
for
the page
in
order to ensure
security
and
enable the customisation
of
content
delivered
to
the user.
This can
be
overcome by the use of session
cook-
ies,
or
unique identifiers that
are
stored
in the
user's browser and transmitted
to
the server with
each HTTP request. Unlike persistent cookies,
session cookies expire once
the
user has stopped
viewing the pages
on the
site (or after
a
period
of
time which
can be
configured
on
the server),
so
VINE 119
—
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