Aaron Weiss

the “if … else” statement A programming classic — the if … else statement is u sed to execute a block of code when a given condition is true. Optionally, you can execute an alternative block of code if the condi tion is false, or test additional conditions. if (conditional expression) { …code to execute […]

Proxy Servers But a proxy server can do more than just cache frequently accessed data. Because the proxy server “hears” and services requests from its clients, the clients themselves do not necessarily need any direct Internet access at all. Consequently, the proxy server became a very popular way to bridge a local network, also known […]

Appliance ‘Servers’ “Appliance” in marketing lingo doesn’t really refer to a type of server, per se, but a type of packaging or bundling. In fact, the term “appliance server” simply refers to any type of server that is sold already set up and configured, and ready to be added into a network. So, when IBM […]

While configuring Apache to deliver wireless data is relatively simple, as we will discuss shortly, it is helpful to understand the context of the issues surrounding wireless content delivery. Land-based Internet communications move data around the world using the TCP/IP protocol. This protocol helps “packets” of data navigate the complex routes across networks, changing paths […]

“And so as wireless begat WAP, WAP in turn begat WML …”, as they might have said in Biblical times had they been writing about content delivery over wireless networks. The Wireless Markup Language, WML, will strike a familiar chord to anyone who has ever worked with the HTML behind most Web pages. In fact, […]

By and large, the Web server doesn’t need much tweaking to deliver WML pages to a wireless device. As far as Apache is concerned, it needs only to know how to recognize the MIME type of the file, based on the file’s file name extension. Apache will pass this MIME type to the receiving browser […]

You might be thinking, configuring Apache to deliver WML sounds nice in theory, but how can we see it in action? Without a wireless phone, aren’t we flying blind? Fortunately, no. If you’re doing any development at all in WML, and also want to test drive your Apache configuration in delivering WML pages, check out […]

Groupware and Collaboration Given the necessary heavy emphasis on security, “Collaboration is a nice-to-have, but it is not critical. Corporations are not able to dedicate the budget to collaboration that they are able to reserve for security,” explains Radicati’s Takahashi. Most organizations that do employ collaboration tools like calendaring, task scheduling, and instant messaging rely […]

Skills & Knowledge With or without certification, being a Web or application server admin requires a good working knowledge of several areas. By definition, the server is the nexus for information flow. This means knowledge of basic networking, Internet and intranet security, Web development, and operating system administration is critical. An effective Web server admin […]

Support Support for both commercial and open source software comes in two varieties: formal and informal. Formal support is usually paid and provided by the vendor or a third party. For some popular commercial software packages, like the Oracle database and Microsoft Exchange, both vendor and paid third-party support is readily available. The same even […]

Open Source Choices Because open source solutions can be packaged in many different ways, the options may at first seem overwhelming. Your major decision will be whether to embark on a “roll your own” open source solution using in-house expertise or an outside consultant, or invest in a turnkey open source solution from a major […]

How much is this going to cost me? The question may be the lifeblood of business, but the answer is all too often an alchemy of knowns and unknowns, hard figures, and soft projections. Occupying the gap is a cottage industry of studies, surveys, analysts, and pundits weighing in on the big, bad, broad comparison […]