DATABASE SYSTEMS AND THE WEB - Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals - page 588

longer adequate for today's environment. Web users need to react to the informa-
tion these pages present and use the data content interactively. Mere storage of
information as rigid web pages does not serve the purposes of today's users. Infor-
mation content has to be stored in databases managed by powerful DBMSs to
provide interactive access in a fast and reliable manner. Electronic commerce has
made the database the centerpiece of its operations over the Internet. The produc-
tive integration of Web and database technologies has emerged.
In this chapter, we will concentrate particularly on the combined application of
Web and database technologies. We will consider the types of computing architec-
ture that promote the use of database systems in delivering information on the
Web. We will specifically review some of the common approaches that make the
integration of the two technologies happen. Although we will begin with a brief
overview of the Internet and the Web, this is just background information, not the
main focus. The primary emphasis is how database and Web technologies are made
to work together.
WEB TECHNOLOGY: A REFRESHER
Let us first set the stage for our coverage of database systems in the Web environ-
ment. How do Web and database technologies merge and work together? How is a
user interacting with a website able to retrieve web pages and input parameters and
to access a database that drives the applications? What type of system architecture
supports access of web pages and data from a database at the same time?
Our main discussion is concerned about such questions. But to put those ques-
tions in proper perspective, let us begin with an examination of a few basic concepts
of the Internet and the Web. For information technology professionals in today's
environment, this has to be just a brief review. After beginning with the basics, we
will quickly walk through the languages for the Web and the data communications
protocol for moving web pages around.
The Internet and the Web
Very simply stated, the Internet is a collection of interconnected networks sepa-
rately owned by government, commercial, industrial, educational, and research
organizations. In addition to these organizations, internet service providers (ISPs)
are also connected to the network. With this interconnection, the Internet is able to
provide a number of services including e-mail, transfer of files, conferencing, and
chat with others with the same interests. The Internet had its experimental begin-
ning in the late 1960s. Here is a very brief history.
• Late 1960s: U.S. Department of Defense project ARPANET (Advanced
Research Projects Agency NETwork) set up to build networks that would stay
up even if some sections of the network go down because of any catastrophe.
• 1982: TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) adopted
as the standard communications protocol for ARPANET. TCP ensures correct
delivery of messages. IP manages sending and receiving information packets
based on a four-byte destination address (IP number).