What is a Web Server?

A Web Server is software application that uses the HyperText Transfer Protocol. A Web Server is usually run on a computer that is connected to the Internet. There are many Web Server software applications, including public domain software from Apache, and commercial applications from Microsoft, Oracle, Netscape and others. A Web Server may host or provide access to Content and responds to requests received from Web browsers. Every Web Server has an IP address and usually a domain name, eg. www.uml.edu or a sub-domain, eg. www.it.uml.edu.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names: matisse.net, mail.matisse.net, workshop.matisse.net can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.

How to Register a Domain Name?

You can create your own domain name for your site instead of having your site be a page on an ISP's server. For example, instead of:

http://mysite.verizon.net/DRKelly/index.htm

you could have:

www.DianneRoseKelly.com

To register you own domain name, one of the more popular sites is Network Solutions. Just browse to www.networksolutions.com and follow the directions.

Publishing

To publish you web site or web page, you first need to have a service provider that offers web hosting. Verizon information is listed below. If you search on the internet for free web hosting, you will see a long list of information, but be careful with choosing a service as some may include their advertising on you site for their "free" service.

Once you have a hosting service, you need to verify your web site's directory structure. You should create a folder on a workstation - laptop or desktop - called " My Web" or something easily identifiable. in this directory you will have your web page or your web "home" page and this MUST be called index.html (or index.htm). It MUST be all lowercase. This is a limitation of web server design.

You should create another folder called images and store all your images in this file. This is a general good practice way of doing things. The other pages you will create and link to will be in this directory. As you edit, create, build your site, you will be able to reference each page exactly as it will reside on the server, therefore limiting link errors.

A typical directory may look like this:

Publishing on Verizon

To publish to Verizon, you must following the directions on the Verizon web site:

http://www2.verizon.net/myaccount/manage/sitebuilder/ftp_info.asp

Basically, you have to go into the Site Builder to create an account. Once an account is created, you can ftp you web page(s) to Verizon using an ftp client like SmartFTP. The connection criteria is as follows:

HOST NAME: ftpmysite.verizon.net
User Name: your user ID (e.g. - jsmith)
PASSWORD: your password

Verizon subscribers have their own server, mysite.verizon.net, each user's site will be in a directory that bears the user's name and each user's home page will be named index.htm

Putting it all together, the Internet address of your home page will be:

http://mysite.verizon.net/username/index.htm

For a discussion on Broadband and DSL Vs. Cable, click here.

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