Your Own Web Site CSCU9B2 CSCU9B2 1

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1 Your Own Web Site CSCU9B2 CSCU9B2 1

2 Summary Domain registration and DNS Renting server space Free server space Server support tools Dedicated servers FTP Content creation CSCU9B2 2

3 Domains An internet domain forms the address of certain sets of things on the internet such as web pages, addresses, file spaces, etc. E.g. transitive.com, incf.org Generally identifies a machine or set of machines In the end it has to be translated to an IP address so that data can be sent to/received from it CSCU9B2 3

4 DNS DNS stands for Domain Name System Essentially about this mapping DNS is based on a hierarchy of sub domains Domain names are build from right to left working down the hierarchy Top level domains (TLDs) include country code (.uk,.fr,.de, ) or generic domains (.com,.org,.info) CSCU9B2 4

5 DNS Sub domains are to the left of the top level domain in a domain name,.ac is the subdomain for academic institutions, and.stir, for example is the Stirling university sub domain.cs is the sub domain of.stir www is the sub domain of cs that handles web pages CSCU9B2 5

6 Other sub domains Common sub domains that are found at the start of a domain name include: www for web pages ftp for ftp servers mail for mail servers (mail.google.com) But it s optional Or there may be none of these, just the name of a machine: shark.cs.stir.ac.uk CSCU9B2 6

7 Domain Ownership If you want a web site of your own, you might want a domain name You register your chosen name, and then you can use it as the address for a web site, , ftp server, etc. CSCU9B2 7

8 Picking a Domain Name Many of the good ones have gone over 200 million of them Still, you might be able to find something suitable Longer more specific names are more likely to be available Check that joined words don t cause problems: Experts exchange (expertsexchange.co.uk?) Therapist finder (therapist.com?) CSCU9B2 8

9 What You Can Own You register the right hand side of an address to own the whole domain: Say you register example.com or example.co.uk Means you own those two domains and can create sub-domains below them mail.example.com, me.example.com etc CSCU9B2 9

10 Registering a Domain Plenty of web services will do this for you cheaply fatcow.com easyspace.com You might want to register more than one to protect your name (.com and.co.uk) mynicenewcomany.com, mynicenewcompany.co.uk CSCU9B2 10

11 Generic TLDs Some generic top level domains are reserved for certain uses or organisations.org is for non-profit organisations, but anyone can register one.edu is for American educational establishments CSCU9B2 11

12 Country TLDs You can register a domain with the TLD of almost any country Some countries require you to live there, or have a local contact, or run a business there Commonly used ones are: Ascension Island =.ac Federated States of Micronesia =.fm Montenegro =.me I might try for an Irish one lesl.ie, Or my colleague Kevin Swingler for an Indian one: kev.in See CSCU9B2 12

13 Want to Know Who Owns a Domain? (test this out) CSCU9B2 13

14 Hosting Your Site Your domain name can point to any computer on the internet One computer can host many domains virtual hosting One domain can be distributed over many computers redundancy Computers are identified by their IP address, of the form xx.xx.xx.xx where each xx is between 0 and 255 This is IPv4: IPv6 is coming along as well IPv6 supports many more addresses Some dual running now: full rollout has not yet happened. CSCU9B2 14

15 Choosing a Host You could host the site on your own computer, but as soon as you turn it off, or lose your internet connection, your site would vanish Professional hosting is cheap due to virtual web hosting around 20 a year Most offer nice site management tools for , DNS, site building etc. CSCU9B2 15

16 Windows or Linux Many will ask you which operating system you want Virtualisation You will probably never interact with the operating system directly, (you use the web interface) Linux is good for PHP and MySQL Windows if you want to run ASP Otherwise, it doesn t matter too much CSCU9B2 16

17 Free Hosting You can create a web site using Google sites for free You can use the service with or without your own domain, mapping it is a bit complicated Without one, you get sites.google.com/site/mysite CSCU9B2 17

18 Google Sites Google sites offers less functionality than a paid for host Nothing server side (no PHP or other scripts, no database) Offers templates and styles to make site creation easier CSCU9B2 18

19 Server Support Web statistics Number of views Which pages viewed Referrers Search terms CSCU9B2 19

20 Site Building Tools Free page creation tools, templates etc. Paid for premium tools Forum Search engine optimisation Photo albums E-Commerce tools Product catalogue Shopping cart / payment processing CSCU9B2 20

21 Other Tools Different server providers offer different other tools Finding the one you want is not always easy Blogs, fora, wikis etc. Who has a blog? What s it useful for? Photo albums, galleries, Surveys, forms, feedback Security CSCU9B2 21

22 FTP Access File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows you to upload and download files from your computer to a server There are plenty of stand alone FTP programs, and some web development software has them built in Try FileZilla open source, free, very good CSCU9B2 22

23 Dedicated Servers If you want to build a site that will get a lot of visitors or you want full control over the computer it runs on, you need a dedicated server More expensive, as you don t share the server with other sites per month CSCU9B2 23

24 Cloud Hosting A compromise between dedicated servers and virtual servers Many (very many!) servers packed into data centres You don t buy space on a particular computer, just cloud resources, which could be almost anywhere If demand for your web site is variable, you can automatically vary the amount of resource you buy along with it CSCU9B2 24

25 Cloud in a Shipping Container Sun pioneered the idea that a data centre built in a shipping container could be viewed as a single unit of server capacity Just plug it in and it is ready! CSCU9B2 25

26 Content Creation We have already mentioned content creation tools that service providers offer This course includes HTML5, CSS, and some JavaScript for creating content. CSCU9B2 26

27 Client / Server Scripts A web script is a program that alters the content of a web page The script can run in one of two places Client side (i.e. in the browser), e.g JavasScript Server side before the content gets to the browser, e.g. PHP Where it is best to run a script depends on a number of things such as speed, data location, security concerns and capability CSCU9B2 27

28 Summary A domain name uniquely identifies an identity on the internet A domain can have web pages, addresses, ftp addresses, etc. The physical location of these resources can change You can host resources on your own computer, a virtual host, a dedicated host, or in the cloud You can create content for web sites either from scratch with HTML, PHP etc. or use templates and tools from existing services CSCU9B2 28