The document provides an overview of key internet technologies including how the internet works via packet switching, e-commerce models, file transfer protocol (FTP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), hypertext markup language (HTML), really simple syndication (RSS), PHP, Apache web server, MySQL database, database servers, stored procedures, authentication, roles of e-commerce like e-mail and electronic shopping, advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce, virtual servers, a brief history and functions of PHP, dynamic content, domain names, web hosting servers, and how hosting provides the infrastructure for a website.

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OVERVIEW NOTE FOR E-COMMERCE
(COMP323/DCM127)
INTERNET TECHNOLOGY
The internet in simple terms is a network of the interlinked computer networking worldwide,
which is accessible to the general public. These interconnected computers work by transmitting
data through a special type of packet switching which is known as the IP internet protocol.
ELECTRONICS-BUSINESS:
Ecommerce comes in many forms. Online shops can sell virtually anything. There are regularly
bought and sold over the Internet to an increasing worldwide market who is needed for your
products. Business can offer their services and skills over the Internet. Everyone, from the local
plumber to your lawyer, can find the Internet useful for attracting new clients and customers.
Having an online presence gives your customers the convenience of finding you anytime. It is
also one of the cheapest forms of advertising for your business. Having a website can give you
an advantage, an advantage that can mean the difference between failure and success.
FTP: (FILE TRASFORM PROTOCOL)
FTP was developed long before the internet as a way to share files between computers in closed
networks. The very first version of FTP was released in 1971, and was called RFC 114.
Many improvements have been made to FTP since its beginnings to keep up with technology
advancements. One of the major steps in its development was in 1980 when version RFC 765
was redesigned and released to function through modems. Now files could be uploaded and
downloaded from computers over vast distances using the telephone networks.

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HTTP:
It is full form Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide
Web. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers
and browsers should take in response to various commands. When you enter a URL in your
browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and
transmit the requested web page. The other main standard that controls how the World Wide
Web works is HTML, which covers how Web pages are formatted and displayed.
USES OF HTML
HTML is a set of codes that a website author inserts into a plain text file to format the content.
The author inserts HTML tags, commands, before and after words and phrases to indicate their
format and location on the page. HTML tags are also used to add tables, lists, images, music, and
other elements to a webpage.
RSS:
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication also known as Rich Site Summery. An RSS
feed will stream information directly to your RSS reader. This information will include site
updates from your favorite web sites informing you of new pages, weekly/monthly newsletters,
news articles on subjects that interest you and much more.
This allows you to stay up to date with what is happening on your most visited web sites and
also, have the information that most interests you beamed directly to your reader. Web sites are
slowly taking this new technology on board as it increases in popularity amongst their viewers.

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PHP
Hypertext Preprocessor, is a server-side open source scripting language that is used to help
improve and facilitate web development. Currently, Most of websites use PHP as their server-
side scripting language.
PHP is adopted among web developers because it is easy to read and understand. PHP syntax is
based off of both C and Perl and can be easily parsed, so having experience with those two
languages should make development even easier. It is also easy to use and understand for
newcomers. Compared to other complex programming languages, PHP is very clean, eloquent,
and organized.
APACHE:
Apache is a public-domain open source Web server developed by a loosely-knit group of
programmers. The first version of Apache, based on the NCSA http Web server was developed
in 1995. Core development of the Apache Web server is performed by a group of about 20
volunteer programmers, called the Apache Group. However, because the source code is freely
available, anyone can adapt the server for specific needs and there is a large public library of
Apache add-ons. In many respects, development of Apache is similar to development of the
Linux operating system.
MYSQL:
MYSQL is currently the world’s most popular and widely used open source database technology
and data storage system. MYSQL offers great reliability and ease of use. It is free and comes
with free documentation as well as thousands of programmers that share their code that relates to
communicating with a MYSQL database.
DATABASE:
A database is a collection of information organized to provide efficient retrieval. The collected
information could be in any number of formats. There are physical and electronic databases.

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A database could be as simple as an alphabetical arrangement of names in an address book as
complex as a database that provides information in a combination of formats. It stores the
information which supply using application at the same time dynamically display for application
as well.
AUTHENTICATION
Authentication is any process by which a system verifies the identity of a User who wishes to
access it. Since Access Control is normally based on the identity of the User who requests access
to a resource, Authentication is essential to effective Security.
Authentication may be implemented using Credentials each of which is composed of a User
ID and Password. Alternately, Authentication may be implemented with Smart Cards,
an Authentication Server and even a Public Key Infrastructure.
ROLES OF E-COMMERCE:
The main services provided by e-commerce are as follows:
E-Mail: It is the most popular service through which we can electronically send and receive
messages anywhere in the world. The spoken messages can be sent and received through voice
email.
Video Conferencing: It is a meeting between two or more people located at different places. It
is conducted through computer network. It provides an environment of normal meeting.
Electronic Shopping: The shopping conducted through Internet is known as electronic
shopping or e-shopping. Many business organizations have their websites on the Internet. These
websites are use to sell goods and services.
Electronic Banking: A service that allows an account holder to obtain account information and
manage certain banking transactions through computer network is called electronic banking or e-
banking.
ADVANTGES OF E-COMMERCE APPLICATION:

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Modern Ecommerce, known as online business, has been around since the mid 1990s, ever since
the advent of the World Wide Web. Now anyone can become a global seller of goods, services,
and information online. No longer do you need huge distribution networks and management
teams to run a successful business. These are the real Ecommerce advantages Ecommerce is the
perfect example of globalization.
Now anyone can become a player in the world wide market. Obviously this too is one of the
major advantages of Ecommerce. In the U.S alone over 60% of people have purchased goods
online and that figure is steadily growing. Online business gives you access to the largest market
available.
DATABASE SERVER:
A database server can typically be seen in a client-server environment where it provides
information sought by the client systems. Apart from offering the benefits of a dedicated server,
a database server offers several roles and functions.
1. With a database server, all the data of your organization is stored in one location.
2. A database server allows you to take measures to increase the security of your data.
3. A database server offers you database management services. The data is arranged in a
way that speeds up searches and retrievals.
4. It is easier to search and retrieve data on a database server. The client-server interactions
are fast and smooth with a database server.
5. Several clients can access the data stored in the database server at one time, without any
confusion.
STORED PROCEDURE:
It is a subroutine available to applications that access a relational database system. A stored
procedure is actually stored in the database dictionary. Typical, it is used for stored procedures
include data validation and access control mechanisms. Store procedures can consolidate and

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centralize logic that was originally implemented in applications. Extensive or complex
processing that requires execution of several SQL statements is moved into stored procedures,
and all applications call the procedures. One can use nested stored procedures by executing one
stored procedure from within another.
DISADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE:
The disadvantages of Ecommerce are far and few between plus most can be overcome. The
technology can be alien to someone new to Ecommerce therefore all the normal fears and self
doubts of engaging in something new.
The single biggest disadvantage of ecommerce is the loss of the personal touch. That is friendly
human interaction that you have with the store owner that keeps you going back time and time
again.
Build your site with this in mind. Keep it personal and follow up sales with a thank you email.
This is easily done with an auto responder.
Send out monthly or quarterly email news letters about updates to your site and offer your
customers specials.
Tell them about new products, tell them about your holiday, and include pictures of you and your
family.
VIRTUAL SERVR
Virtual server is a server at someone else's location that is shared by multiple Web site owners so
that, each owner can use and administer it as though they had complete control of the server.
Some Internet service providers offer a virtual server service instead of virtual hosting. Using a
virtual server, a company or individual with a Web site can not only have their own domain
name and IP address, but can administer their own file directories, add e-mail accounts and
address assignments, assign multiple domain names that resolve to a basic domain name without
involvement from the ISP, manage their own logs and statistics analysis, and maintain

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passwords. Users of a virtual server, however, do not have to manage the hardware aspects of
running a server and effectively share the cost of expensive line connections to the Internet.
AUTHENTICATION AND AUTHENTICATED
Authentication verifies the identity of a user and authorization is a process where you can check
whether or not the identity has access rights to the system. In other words, you can say that
authentication is a procedure of getting some credentials from the users and verify the user's
identity against those credentials. Authorization is a procedure of granting access of particular
resources to an authenticated user. You should note that authentication always takes place before
authorization.
BRIEF HISTORY OF PHP
PHP was conceived sometime in the fall of 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf. Early non-released
versions were used on his home page to keep track of who was looking at his online resume. The
first version used by others was available sometime in early 1995 and was known as the Personal
Home Page Tools. It consisted of a very simplistic parser engine that only understood a few
special macros and a number of utilities that were in common use on home pages
Today PHP ships with a number of commercial products such as C2's Strong Hold web server
and Red Hat Linux.
FUCTION OF PHP
PHP is a general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to server-side web
development, in which case PHP generally runs on a web server. Any PHP code in a requested
file is executed by the PHP runtime, usually to create dynamic web page content and dynamic
images used on application

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MYSQL
MYSQL is a popular choice of database for use in web applications and is a central component
of the widely used LAMP open source web application software stack. LAMP is an acronym for
Linux, Apache, MYSQL and Perl/PHP/Python.
DYNAMIC CONTENT
Dynamic content is content that displays in a content box according to the rules that you define
based on the subscriber's attributes and data extension column values. By using dynamic content,
you can ensure that a more-tailored message is reaching your targeted audience.
DOMAIN NAMES
Computers communicate by using numbers, called IP addresses, to contact each other, much like
you use a phone number to dial a specific person's phone. Domain names on the internet are
much like entries in a phone book. The phone book tells people looking for a business what the
entries are just as a domain tells people that a domain is hosted on the server.
Without a domain, you would have to tell your customers that your site is located at a temporary
URL such as 123.456.789.123/ my site instead of using a domain name such as mysite.com,
making your site appear unprofessional and impractical.
WEB-HOSTING SERVERS
The web-hosting or server is much like the space that you rent out to have your business in. It's
merely the space itself. It does not include furnishings like shelves for your products, just as the
web-hosting account doesn't include a site for you to sell your products.
Luckily, in the web-hosting world, it's very easy to furnish the space provided by your host,
because you can install many framework applications through the Quick Install icon within
your cPanel.

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Without the hosting services, you won't have a place for your files to reside, so your domain
would then become like a disconnected phone number in the phone directory, and your site files
would have nowhere to stay.