This chapter briefly describes Internet services and how Internet server applications interact with client applications. Many client services are generally available for use with Windows and Windows NT computers. In addition, several server services are included in this resource kit. This chapter provides information to help you decide whether to provide specific Internet services, and how to set up an Internet server with the services you choose to provide. This chapter discusses two types of tools:
The following Internet information publishing tools are described in this chapter.
Table 21.1 Internet Information Publishing Tools
Service | Use to |
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server service | Transfer files from one computer to another. |
Gopher server service | Search files and directories distributed across thousands of gopher servers. |
World Wide Web (WWW) server service | Provide access to multi-media information via the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). |
Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) service | Permit users to query full-content indexes of distributed databases and retrieve requested data. |
WAIS Toolkit | Build and query indexes of words used in a set of files. |
The following Internet locator and retrieval tools are described in this chapter.
Table 21.2 Internet Locator and Retrieval Tools
Service | Use to |
Domain Name System (DNS) | Let the user specify user friendly computer names, which are then mapped to numeric IP addresses. DNS servers query other DNS servers to resolve portions of the address that they cannot map, until the entire IP address has been built. |
Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) | Map the computer names of computers running Windows or Windows NT to IP addresses. |
The Internet provides a vast collection of information with many tools that are used to publish and access the information. Consult the Internet or your local library or bookstore for comprehensive discussions of the tools available for using the Internet.
The Internet has been evolving since the early 1970's. Early servers on the Internet conformed to original Internet protocols, such as the file transfer protocol (FTP) or virtual terminal protocol (VTP, now called Telnet). These protocols let you copy files and/or issue commands or start programs through a character-based interface or a graphical user interface (such as Windows or XWindows).
Recently, Internet technology has grown beyond the simple file transfers on character-based FTP or Telnet clients. Newer protocols and clients on the Internet now have graphical interfaces and present information and services to Internet users using hypertext documents. Gopher servers and World Wide Web (WWW) servers now provide formatted text, sounds, and animation to Internet users. You must use the proper browser (such as Cello or Mosaic, or a Gopher client) to use these Internet services. Fortunately, these browsers often support the older standards, such as FTP, so you can use the newer browsers to access multiple services and data types.