Learning Outcome 1.3: Configure server accessibility requirements.

Domain names

1.1. Definition

Domain name, otherwise called internet address: the sequence of the characters or
abbreviations, expressions or of words, which is used as address of Internet of a computer or a
network.

The address of Internet, the number of identification which enables any computer on the
Internet to find any other computer on the network. It is made up by four numbers separated
by periods. For example: 123.56.78.90.

The address of Internet, also called IP address, is translated into address based in words. For
example: president.whitehouse.gov by the DNS server.

A domain is a set of computers connected to the Internet and which present a common
characteristic.

The domain names are very useful, because they allow to easily finding a web site by recalling
of its name (for example: www.yahoo.com is very easy to memorize than 206.190.34.135).

1.2. Domain Name System (DNS)

The DNS allows associating the IP address of a computer to a name.

Thus, when we write www.yahoo.com, the browser will search in the list to which IP address
that corresponds. This lists are stored in the DNS servers, distributed on the network.

If after several tests on the different DNS servers, a site is not found, an error is returned to the
client browser.

i.e. “Internet explorer cannot display the web page” or “Page cannot be found”.

3
DNS
124.50.70.89
www.yahoo.fr
124.50.70.89
1
2
Case where the site exists
 Error
DNS
3
www.nar.rw

1
2
Case where the site does not exist
2.3. Syntax

2.3.1. Domains of first level

The first level is represented by the right part of a domain name (DN).

a) National domains

Called “Country Code Top-Level Domain”, they are identified using 2 letters, a country or a
territory.

i.e.

 be: Belgium
 ca: Canada
 ke: Kenya
 rw: Rwanda
 ug: Uganda
 uk: United Kingdom
 za: South Africa
 .br (Brazil)
 .ca (Canada)
 .cn (mainland China)
 .fr (France)
 .in (India)
 .jp (Japan)

.ru (Russian Federation)

b) Generic Domains
Generic Top-Level Domains, they identify the sector of activity of a web site, using 3 letters or
more.

Here is the list of the possible generic domains

Extension Significance Example

.aero Aeronautic nic.aero
.biz Business billboard.biz
.com Commercial ibm.com
.coop Cooperative cooperative.coop
.edu Education mit.edu
.gov Government fbi.gov
.info Information info.info
.int International who.int
.jobs Job research jobsadvert.jobs
.mil Military defenselink.mil
.museum Museum louvre.museum
.name Name of a person platon.name
.net Network Service company.net
.org Organization with no lucrative goal caritas.org

.pro Professional registrypro.pro

.tel Telephone
.travel Travel

2.3.2. Domain of second level

The second level represents the left part of the first level (www.igitondo.com). Here, igitondo
is the second level domain.

It refers to the organization having recorded the domain name (DN).

The hierarchy of domains descends from right to left; each label to the left specifies a
subdivision, or sub domain of the domain to the right. For example: the label scut specifies a
sub domain of the edu domain, and www is a sub domain of scut.edu.

 This tree of subdivisions may consist of 127 levels.

 Each label may contain up to 63 characters in maximum and 3 characters in
minimum. The full domain name may not exceed a total length of 253 characters.

2.3.3. Sub domains

It is possible to define the sub domains within a domain:

  sub-domaine.domaine.com
 karongi.westernprovince.gov.rw

2.3.4. Restrictions

There does not exist, until now, control concerning the generic domain names (.com, .org, .net,
and .info) and everyone can open a domain name of the type which he/she wishes. They are
thus not-restricted generic domains.

The restricted generic domain names, they must fulfill the rules in order to remain on line:
.biz, .name and .pro. They are the reserved domain names. What require evidence to be
granted.

The organizations wanting one of these domains have to prove their sector of activity.
Learning unit 2.Deploy website on local network

Hosting a Web site

2.1. Definition of a web site

The web site is a folder of information localized on the server linked to the World Wide Web
(www).

The www is a set of protocols and software which allows the global computer network called
the internet to display the documents of multimedia.

The web sites might include the text, the photographs, the figures, the video, the music, etc.
They often include links to other sites in the form of hyperlinks, underlined or colored that
user can click on with his/her mouse, asking his computer to jump to another web site.

Each web site has a specific address on the www, called Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
These addresses are ended by the extensions indicating the type of the organization financing
the web site, for example, .gov for the governmental organisms, .edu for the academic
institutions and .com for the commercial enterprises.

3.2. Significance of the Web site hosting

The creation of a web site is done in local, on a computer. In this case the web site is only
accessible by the machine on which it has been created.

A web site to be accessible on the internet (which means, on the www network), has to be
hosted on a server. That means, all the pages, images, and folders of the web site have to be
copied on the server.

3.3. Where to host your web site?

There are companies whose only goal is to host Web sites. We call them “Hosters”.

In reality, their work consists in having the correct operation, the good installed programs
(MySQL, PHP), for the correct operation of your web site.

They deal with the maintenance of the servers where the Web sites are located. They must
make sure that the servers are always in activity, so that your site is always accessible.

If a server shuts down, a client cannot access to his/her files and the site becomes inaccessible.

3.4. The various possibilities offered by the hoster

Why different offers?

A person, all alone, desiring to make the web site of the family pictures hosted, will not have
certainly the same requirements as the big company.

Thus, various factors, such as the disk space for the storage, the bandwidth, and the price are
to be taken into account while choosing the hoster.

1. Publicity

Above all, it should be made sure that the hoster will not impose banners of publicity on your
Web page.

Banners: Publicity of the online web site. The banner is a rectangular graphic through a web
page, used as publicity, heading or link.

The risk is to destroy the design of your web pages. Most of the free hosters impose the
publicity.

1. The servers

As we will have to intervene regularly on the servers, it is necessary to be sure of their speed
(processor, RAM) and of their reliability (UNIX or Windows).

2. HTTP Server

Generally, the LINUX servers which run with an Apache application are ideal (good examples).
Apache is also most widespread (70% of the HTTP servers).

It is free and available for all the operating systems (OS).

3. The disk-space

It is the quantity of disk space that the hoster reserves for web site, on the server.

For some pages and some images, 10 to 50 MB will be sufficient. But for a web site that is
more complex and comprising the multimedia (images, sounds and video), it will be needed to
search 400MB and more.

4. The bandwidth

The bandwidth is the quantity of information which can be sent through the connection
between two computers in an indicated quantity of time.

The bandwidth is therefore the quantity of data going out of your web site. It is significant
only if you await many visitors. It is allocated generally by month.

100 MB of bandwidth represent 10000 monthly visits of 10 KB each (on average). A

bandwidth from 2 to 5 GB is thus more than satisfactory.
5. The method of file transfer

There exist 2 methods of files transfer:

a) FTP

It is the most reliable method, faster and more practical in order to manage files of the web
site (meaning the uploaded files on the server).

We must for that, install the FTP client, meaning an application which manages the transfer
of files on the server of hosting.

Examples of the FTP clients include: Filezilla, CuteFTP, all are obtained for free.

b) Management by directory

This time, we will open a repertory on a distant server (after authentication) and copy-paste
the files at the good place.

6. Address of the web site

The most option is to create your own domain name (i.e. www.auberge.com). But it is
necessary to pay this domain name (generally around 50$ by year).

This gives a serious aspect to your site, that shows that you manage it yourselves, especially if
it is about a commercial web site.

But sometimes, they will propose you the addresses such as: www.name-of-the-
hoster.com/you

Or you.name-of-the-hoster.com, what is less expensive, but also less professional.

7. Software installed on the server

a) PHP

If you have a dynamic web site, it is important that the HTTP server installed PHP. Verify also
the version of PHP or if not some functionalities of your site will not be available.

b) MySQL

If your dynamic web site uses the database, verify that MySQL is installed. Verify also the size
of the database (in MB) and the number of tables.

c) Common Gateway Interface (CGI)

There are the programs written in C++, VB or Perl, which serve as interface between a web
server and a program (a web browser).

The CGI application will then manipulate the data and send them to the web server.

Web User Web Server CGI Application

d) Active Server Page (ASP)

It is the equivalent of PHP by Microsoft. The code written in JavaScript or in VB is integrated

in HTML.

The HTML page processed on the server. The ASP is thus a page in hypertext markup
language with the scripts which are treated on the server before being sent to the user.

If you have such scripts, the extension is .asp

e) Front Page

Front page is HTML editor of Microsoft (MS). It allows to build a whole site graphically, in
WYSIWYG mode (What You See Is What You Get). It allows using the specific functions
provided that FrontPage is installed on the server.

There is other software that is used to build web sites, such as: Dreamweaver, Namo Web
Editor, Toweb, NVU, Web developer and A4Desk.

8. Catching the sub-domains

Also check that you can create the sub-domains. Generally, from 5 to 10 sub-domains are
authorized.

10. E-mail

a) Address

If you want to use e-mail addresses in the name of your site (i.e. sifan@esab.net,
pafeza@scut.edu), verify that your hoster proposes you this possibility. This address will be an
actual address to consult by webmail.

b) Webmail
A webmail is a web application allowing reading his/her e-mails online (as yahoo, hotmail or
Gmail). Generally, one reaches in his/her inbox after having entered a login and a password
which are valid.

c) Protocols

Check that several protocols of reception are implemented (POP, IMAP (Internet Message
Access Protocol) and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), for the sending).

d) Security

In order for your e-mails not to be pirated, a protocol of safety SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or
TLS (Transport Layer Security) must be present.

11) Price

Finally, compare the price of the different offers. It can vary largely, thus do not directly
accept the first offer.

2.5. The different types of hosting

2.5.1. The free hosting

a) What is it?

Your web site is hosted for free on the server. There are two kinds:

 Independent hosting: to offer to you a site, they introduce on it the publicity.

 ISP: in addition to your subscription, they offer you the hosting of your web site.

If you cancel the subscription the site is deactivated (that justifies remaining faithful to the
Internet Service Provider (ISP)).

Examples of websites that provide free hosting:

 www.blogger.com
 www.squarespace.com
 www.8m.com
 www.mysite.com

Example of a web site hosted for free since 2006:

www.ngiruwonsangaalbert.blogspot.com

b) Advantages

Free of charge and the simplicity of putting in place the web site, it is ideal for a first web site.
c) Disadvantages

 Average performances (in general, low flow, little of the bandwidth and the disk
space).
 Presence of publicity which are obligatory as the reason to subscribe to an ISP.
 Name of the web site not very intuitive.

i.e. www.isp.net/odette/

2.5.2. Shared hosting (or mutual)

a) What is it?

Here, several Web sites divide the resources of a server, meaning, the disk space, the flow and
the bandwidth.

This type of hosting is most common and is enough in the majority of the cases.

The sharing between the various sites must be equitable. A site which consumes too many
resources (i.e. all the flow) penalizes the other hosted web sites.

If one exceeds the limits, the hoster can:

 Launch a warning (in the case. It is necessary to take measures, as for example,
propose less multimedia to visitors).
 Deactivate your web site.

Read always the contract, with the limitations and what occurs in the event of going beyond.

b) Advantages

 The cost is moderate

 The hoster takes care of the maintenance
 Many services are proposed
 No need for large knowledge of administration.

c) Disadvantages

 Average performances
 Limitations, which can penalize you if you do not know them well.

2.5.3. Dedicated hosting

a) What is it?
Here, a server is especially reserved for your web site. It is you who manage the
administration of the machine: software, Database, etc.

This solution is reserved for important web sites, with much of visits and the strong dynamic
contents (because we will have need of the CPU to execute instructions).

b) Advantages

 Very good performances

 Total autonomy
 Good technical service

c) Disadvantages

 It is very expensive
 Knowledge of administration is necessary
 Paying technical interventions
 Sensitive to the attacks of the pirates and the viruses.

2.5.4. To host a web site oneself

a) Why?

One can decide to host a web site at home, on a server. The principal reason is to be able to
totally control his/her site.

Indeed, people connect themselves on files stored on your disk, which you can modify easily
and quickly.

b) Advantages

 Total control of the web site: if you modify a file, the web site changes immediately for
the users who will connect themselves (no need to upload the files).
 It is free
 You can gain money if you host the web sites of other clients.
 Control of the programs: You can install immediately a new program, if your web site
needs it.

c) Disadvantages
  The server must remain on 24h/24h, it costs much in terms of the electricity, the CPU is
damaged and it is necessary to have the batteries (for example: UPS) in case of the
power failure.
 It is necessary to spend much time to configure the server and to make the preventive
maintenance.
 It is necessary to request a static address from the ISP.
 Generally, a server which hosts a web site is dedicated to this. You cannot do anything
others with it, if not you risk to block it or to turn it off (if it is the case, the web site is
no more accessible during this time).

CHAP 4: Registration of a domain name

4.1 Why register a domain name?

If you have a web site, then the domain name (DN) is the internet identity of your web site.

The DN is a mean of communication allowing an enterprise, or organization to make known

effectively its activities, its products or its services, by emphasizing its name.

A DN allows a simple, effective and intuitive memorization of the address of the web site.

For example, I hear about talking New Artel on the Television, in the street, or over the radio,
the first web site that I will search, if I want more information; it will be www.newartel.com or
again www.newartel.rw

Thus I am going to find detailed information about New Artel and the services and the place
of work (contacts).

4.2 How to choose a Domain name?

4.2.1 The name

As the DN is the name of your company, it is necessary to choose the name

which resembles you. For example, for the web site of Ecole des Sciences de Musanze, we
would choose: www.esm.com, or www.esm.edu, etc.

4.2.2 The syntax

The syntax has to respect some rules: the letters from a to z, the numbers 0 to
9 and the dash are authorized.

4.3 The registration

4.3.1 The registrars

The DN is rent per period of one year, from a registrar (company entitled with

the management of the DNs) or from your hoster.

A complete list of registrars is available on the web site www.internic.net

Example: www.receptnet.net

4.3.2 Verify if the Domain Name exists

Before being able to register a DN, it is necessary to verify/check that no person has already
bought it.
The registrar thus enables you to verify if the DN is taken or not: you have to write in an input
box, the name that you wish, followed by the extension that you like (.com, .net, .org, etc) click
then on “Verify”.

If the DN does not yet exist, you can buy it. If not, you have to try with another name, or
another extension.

Use several ways to write the DN that you wish (for example: esmusnze, es-musanze, e-m-
musanze) until the DN works).

Unfortunately, almost all the generic DN in .com have been bought. Thus, more you wait, less
you will have choice. If the DN is not free, the registrar can suggest you other DN which
resemble to your DN but which have not been taken.

4.3.3 Buy the Domain Name

If the DN that you wish is available, it will then be necessary to buy it. Generally, it is necessary
to pay by using the credit card number (master card, visa, …). The price is generally 15 to
20$/year.

If you do not pay at the end of the year, the DN is free and another person can then buy it.

4.3.4 The link with the web server

In order the DN to direct the clients towards your web site, it will also be necessary to specify,
at the time of registration, towards which IP address redirect the requests. Your hoster has
given you the IP address of the server at the time of hosting.
If you have not yet hosted the web site, it does not matter; you can however make the link
between the DN and the IP address later.

This correspondence is then sent to the DNS server.

4.3.5 Package offers

Most of the hosters are also the registrars, what makes the procedure easier.
 Connect to an FTP Server

1. The FTP clients

.1.1 What is it?

An FTP client is a program allowing to connect yourself to a distant FTP server, and to send it
the files.

It is a good mean to upload the files of a web site on the server where it is hosted, in order to
make this web site available on the web.

The files are exchanged using the FTP protocol, which ensures the good transfer speed, and
the minimal transmission errors.

2 Some known clients

There exist many FTP clients, paying and free and in many languages. The most used clients
are free (freeware) and which offer the very good performances: CuteFTP and Filezilla.

1.3 The interface (i.e. Filezilla)

We can separate the window of the program in 5 big parts, as follows:

4
3

5
1. It is the toolbar, which contains usual menus, but especially, the fields to enter the

information of connection to the distant server:

 Address (URL or IP)

 Username
 Password
 Port
2. History of the received and sent messages by your client. If there are problems of
connection, they are in red.

3. They are the folders of the hard disk (part of the top). The files and subfolders contained in
the actual folders are displayed in bottom part.

4. Here are the folders and files of the distant server.

5. Here, we see a list of files which wait to be sent or which are being sent.

1.4 The connection parameters

a) Where to find them?

There are the necessary information to connect yourself to every FTP server. These
information or connection parameters are sent to you by your hoster, either by e-mail, or to
the welcome page of the administration of your web site.

b) Address

This is the address of the server where your web site is hosted. You can write the IP address or
the DN.

For example: www.example.com or ftp.example.com or (148.164.27.14).

c) The login

It is your identifier, your username, it can be:

 Either your name or a name give by the hoster

 Webmaster@name_of_the_website.extension
 A random string of characters: q1cnw4.

d) The password

As it is the role for the passwords to control accesses to the server. It is generally made up by
random characters: hf7q5n8r.

e) The port
It is the communication port that is used by the server to send/receive the files by FTP. By
default, it is the port 80 (if the hoster has not given you another). If you leave the port input
box empty, it is the port 80 which is used.

2 To connect to the server

1 The connection

Once, all the data have been entered in the client, you can click on Quickconnect in the
address bar.

The FTP client will try to connect itself to the distant server. If the connection is established,
you should receive the greeting of the server.

If you receive, instead the red messages, that means that the connection has failed.

Verify the content of the message in order to know all about the error. Maybe the internet
connection is not functioning (network cable problem, router, Wi-Fi, etc). It can be possible
that the parameters have errors.

2.2 Transfer the file

Once the connection is established, it is possible to copy the files on the distant server or on the
local machine.

a) Choose the source files

The first step is to select the source files to be moved. Use for that the windows of the local site
part (part 3 of the interface diagram).

 Choose a directory
 In this directory, choose the files which interest you (source files).

b) Choose the distant folder

You can, once the connection is established, see the structure of folders of the distant site (part
4).

It is thus enough for you to select the directory where you wish copy the files (target
directory).

c) Copy the files

It is thus necessary to click on the source files and to move them using the mouse towards the
target directory (drag and drop).

The files will then start being transferred.

Learning unit 3.Deploy website online

3.1 Structure a web site

3.1.1 What is it?

a) Folders and files

It is very important, when you create a web site to give it a good structure. A good structure is
the fact of organizing files in folders and to have a folder to each file type. i.e. a folder
containing all the images, another containing sound, another containing the HTML and PHP
pages in French, another containing the HTML and PHP pages in English, etc.

b) Name of the file (filename)

Another thing of which care should be taken: the file names.

Before starting creating the html pages, it is necessary to decide:

 The language of the file names (FR or ENG)

 The case (all uppercase, 1st letter uppercase).

If you have images serving as buttons for example, it can be practical to make their name
preceded by “btn_”.i.e. btn_home, btn_photos, btn_news, etc.

c) The index.html file

It is a file which is to be stored on the root of the web site. Normally, on the root we should
only have the folders, but the index.html will be there because it is the file which is opened
automatically after requesting a web site.i.e. if we write in the web browser www.name.fr,
the browser will open the page www.name.fr/index.html.

c) Schematically:The structure of your web site should resemble to this:

Root

index.html
images
buttons (bnt_welcome.gif)
Various (students.jpg)

html

english (start.html)
3.1.2 Why structure

3.1.2.1 In order to do not loose the time (time management)

When you develop a web site, you might have many files, so it is not easy to search a file which
you want to modify.

As for the HDD, the practice of correctly classifying the files by folders allows to gain the time
when we search a particular file to modify it.

If we want to modify the graphics of a button in particular, we know that we can find it in the:
images\buttons\btn_home.jpep

3.1.2.2 For a more readable code

In HTML, we can copy-paste code to display an image or to make a link towards a document,
if all the images are in the same folder and the documents in another same folder.

i.e.

<img src=”images\buttons\btn_students.png”>

<img src=”images\buttons\btn_teachers.png”>

<a href=”images\various\esab.jpg”>

3.1.2.3 For facilitating the web site maintenance

As for the point a) which was speaking not to waste the time of development, it is important
that file be ordered because, if we have to modify a file located on the server by using the FTP
client, we must know in advance where search.

The language, in which files are named, plays also a role. If you look for a file student.html, it
can take you a long time to realize that it is eleve.html.

If some of your files have english names, on the other hand, you immediately notice that it is
necessary to rename all the files in French. It is not good to mix English and French.
3.2 Copy of the structure on the server

3.2.1 During the 1st copy of the website

a. Copying the files

If it is the first time that you copy your files on the server, it is necessary, in the FTP client, to
select the files and folders of the web site.

It is then necessary to move them towards the “site” folder of the server, in order that the
index.html file is just below of “site” in the hierarchy /site/index.html

It is finally necessary to wait files to be copied completely. The structure of the file son the
server is to be the same as on the local.

C:\

my_web_site Files of the web site on the

local site.

index.htm images html sound

l
The structure on the server should be identical:

my_web_site Files of the web site on the

distant site.

index.htm images html sound

l

b. Verification of the working of the web site

Just after the copy of the files on the server, you can read the uploaded html pages.

For that, open a web browser and write the URL of your web site (i.e. www.esabirambo.net).

Normally, the welcome page of the web site should be displayed. Now try:

 To browse in all the web site pages by using the link.

  And to click on the downloadable links such as sound, images, videos, etc.

If you have correctly made your web site, that should work. However, the html pages have
sometimes errors which they did not have before in local, on your computer.

c. Classic errors to be avoided

i. Case

If by passing on the server, a link to a page or a file does not work, that can be caused by the
case.

In fact, in local, the browser is not sensitive to the case. If you open in the browser and in
local, a file “HOME.HTML” and that it is called “home.html” on the hard disk. But on the server,
that will not work.

It is the same for folders, of which name are to be in a good case.

That is why it is preferable to have all the files with the names either in lowercase or in
uppercase.

ii. Hard link

Most of the times, the hyperlinks make reference to the local machine files.

i.e. <img src=”C:\mywebsite\images\home.jpeg”>

That is called a hard link, and that can only work on your computer, another client not having
the file =”C:\mywebsite\images\home.jpeg” will not see the image.

That is why it is necessary to use the links that are called “soft links (relative links)”.

i.e.1 =” \images\home.jpeg”

If the actual html file is on the root of the web site.

i.e.2 =” …\images\home.jpeg”

If the actual html file is on the sub directory, in the html sub directory for example.

i.e.3 =” home.jpeg”

If the actual html file is on the directory images.

iii. Other syntax errors

 Replace the spaces in the filename by underscore

  The backslash “\” used in Windows has to be replaced by forward slash “/” to respect
the syntax of the URL.

3.2.2 Update the files of the web site

a. Why update?

Once that a web site functions correctly, it is the maintenance which begins.

We do not need to modify all the web site at the same time, but certain pages will have to be
updated, for one of the following reasons:

 Error on a page
 Information to be removed
 Information to be added
 New functionality (new PHP version).

b. When to update?

The pages should not be updated very often, if not the users feel lost. It is however good to
change the information from time to time, if not, the web site becomes uninteresting.

In general, it is normal to change the content on the pages all the 2 to 4 weeks. It is also
advised to change graphic aspect all the 2 years.

c. How to update?

It is sufficient to copy the new local file towards its directory on the distant server and to
overwrite it.