Designing an NT-based Intranet

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Designing an NT-based Intranet

David Strom

david@strom.com

SD’98 2/13/98

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Summary

• Focus on publishing process

• Examine what is available from Microsoft

• Review other NT-based products

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What exactly do you want to do with your intranet?

• Web-enable something(s)

• Share stuff internally

• Improve communications

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Going beyond single-person web publishing

• Coordinate multiple HTML authors

• Web front ends to databases

• Updating specifications, project documents

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Why use NT?

• It is cheap and easy to setup

• Has a decent built-in web server: IIS

• Tons of applications from Microsoft, others

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What comes standard with NT Server v4?

• DHCP server

• File, print for Macintosh clients

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What else you’ll need

• NT Server Resource Kit (4 books, the “real” documentation)

• NT Options Pack (upgrades and Internet software)

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NT Options Pack

• IIS v4

• Service Pack 3

• Transaction Server v2

• Internet Connection for RAS

• Site Server Express

• Web Publishing Wizard

• IE v4.01 (needed to install all of the above)

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IIS v4

• Better content management with MS Management Console

• Flexible log files and analysis tools

• More stable

• Not as CPU-intensive

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Which Site Server?

• V3 Commerce, in beta, storefront enhancements

• V2 Standard, has push publishing features– Active Channel Server– Direct emailer– Rules manager– SQL Server maintains membership data

• www.microsoft.com/siteserver

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Web Publishing Wizard

• Quick and easy way to upload files

• Works on non-MS web servers

• Operates both with FTP and HTTP protocols

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Non-Microsoft products

• Netscape NetShare (free with Suite Spot)

• Intranetics ($7500)

• Open Text LiveLink ($75,000 for 100 users)

• Paradesa ($20,000 and up)

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Evaluation issues

• Mixture of web and non-web clients

• Makes use of existing database, web server

• Do you want to add software to every client?

• Are you current with versions of your database, web servers?

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NetShare

• Enables document sharing, multiple authors

• Java based, works with Suite Spot Enterprise Server3.5

• Updates links, tracks revisions

• www.netscape.com (hard to find info on it!)

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Intranetics

• Comes with 17 different applications – organization charts, expense reports– employee directories, job postings, others

• Completely web-based• Fussy, fat, and fragile

– No bulk import of existing data– Difficult installation

• marketing.intranetics.com jdylan/jdylan

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LiveLink

• More workflow management than web publishing

• Supports both web and non-web clients• Need both clients for installing entire software

– web for document repository– non-web for workflows

• www.opentext.com/livelink/otm_ll_test.html

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Paradesa

• Entirely web-based

• Comes with several applications

• www.paradesa.com/intranet/index1.cfm• admin: guest/guest