Web Server Administration
Chapter 7
Installing and Testing a
Programming Environment
Overview
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Understand the need for programming
languages
Understand database management
systems (DBMSs)
Install and test DBMSs
Understand the Web-based
programming environment
Program with databases
The Need for Programming
Languages


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Web pages with just HTML statements
are static pages
Pages that contain programming
statements allow changes and they are
called dynamic pages
Programming languages can also be
used to update databases and
communicate with other systems
Database Management
Systems (DBMSs)
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The purpose of a DBMS is to store data
in an organized manner for further
processing
Structured Query Language (SQL) is the
language used to define and manipulate
the data
Most databases are relational and
organize data into tables
Database Tables
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A primary key uniquely defines a row of data
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SSN in the Employee table and Department number in the Department table
A foreign key is a column in a table that is related to a primary key
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Department number in the Employee table
Three Categories of SQL
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Data Manipulation Language (DML)
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Data Definition Language (DDL)
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Used for programming and to insert,
update, delete, and retrieve data
Used to create tables and other related
structures in a database
Data Control Language (DCL)
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Allows you to control access to tables
Installing and Testing SQL
Server
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As with other applications, a wizard guides
you through the installation
By default, it uses the user name you logged
on as (typically administrator) to gain access
to the system
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This should be changed to "Use the Local System
account" for single server systems
If SQL Server needs to communicate with other
servers, create a special domain account
Installing and Testing SQL ServerAuthentication Mode


The Windows Authentication Mode controls
access to the database based on Windows
users
The Mixed Mode allows for SQL Server
Authentication

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This is more appropriate for Web-based systems
The sa (systems administrator) account is a SQL
Server user that has complete control over the
databases
Installing and Testing SQL ServerCreating Tables
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The GUI interface is similar to Access in creating a table
Installing and Testing SQL ServerFilling Tables with Data
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Although SQL statements are often used to manipulate data,
you can use something similar to a spreadsheet
Installing and Testing MySQL
for Red Hat Linux
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
As with other applications, you run an RPM
file
Start MySQL with
/etc/rc.d/init.d/mysqld start
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The command-line interface is accessed with
mysql
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Create a password for mysql root account
with
SET PASSWORD FOR root=PASSWORD('password');
Login to mysql and Create a
Database
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To login from the shell prompt use
mysql –uroot –ppassword
To create a database called hr
create database hr;
In order to do any operations on the
database such as create tables, you
have to "use" it
use hr;
Create Tables and Insert Data

The following script creates the employee table
and adds three employees
create table employee (
ssn char(9) primary key,
firstname varchar(20),
lastname varchar(30),
deptno char(2),
salary numeric(6));
insert into employee
values('553879098','Lynn','Gweeny',10,55000);
insert into employee
values('623827368','Elark','Kaboom',10,60000);
insert into employee
values('756838998','John','Doh',20,45000);
Web-based Programming
Environment
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Cookie
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Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
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A protocol that allows the operating system to
interact with the Web server
Practical extraction and reporting language
(Perl)
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Text that a Web site stores on your disk
First popular language for Web servers
Java Server Pages (JSP)
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Language similar to Java
Web-based Programming
Environment
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Active Server Pages (ASP)
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ASP.NET
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Compiled programs operate under .NET Framework
.NET Framework is an integral part of Windows
Server 2003 and can be installed on Windows
2000
PHP Hypertext Protocol (PHP)
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Script-based environment available on all IIS Web
servers
Popular language available on most platforms
The structure of JSP, ASP, and PHP are similar
Using Forms
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The following HTML produces a form
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When the submit button is pressed, the data in the form
is sent to the file designated as filename
Using ASP to Process a Form
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The following file displays the information from the form
Notice how the items such as "first" match the text names
on the form
ASP uses <% and %> for opening and closing tags
<%=request()%> is one way to retrieve data from the
form
ASP.NET
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ASP.NET is one of the many languages
available under the .NET Framework
that can be used for the Web
The programming model of ASP.NET is
superior to that of ASP
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Has modules for data validation that
differentiates between browsers
Producing sophisticated reports is much
easier
ASP.NET Program that
Combines Form and Output
Shell Script in Linux
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Uses CGI
First line states that the shell is being used
Not common because of lack of security
Perl Script to Display Contents
of a Form
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Notice how $cgi->param("first") is similar to
ASP’s request("first")
Programming with Databases
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Microsoft uses two methods to bridge the gap
between programming languages and
databases
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Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
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Object Linking and Embedding Database (OLEDB)
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The original standard
Current standard which is faster and more flexible
Linux often uses Java Database Connectivity
(JDBC)
You can also have a direct connection between
the language (such as PHP) and the database
(such as MySQL)
Producing a Report
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Connect to the database
Execute a SQL select statement to
retrieve data from a table
Put the data in a recordset
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Also known as a resultset, depending on
the environment
Loop through the recordset and display
the contents
A Report in ASP
Using Data Source Names
(DSNs)
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DNSs are connections to databases that an
administrator creates on the server
They encapsulate the information on the
previous slide concerning the connection
information
The Data Sources (ODBC) wizard is in the
Control Panel
Once it is created, you can create a
connection with
Conn.open "DSN=humanresources;uid=sa"
Programming with ASP.NET

Although
there is a
connection
and you
send it a
SQL select
statement,
the DataGrid
component
creates the
report
Programming with PHP

Note the
similarity
between
ASP and
PHP, and
how
different
they are
from
ASP.NET
Summary
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Programming languages process data,
allow you to create dynamic Web
pages, and can produce other features
Database management systems
organize data for processing