Slides for GCF Supercomputing 95 (12/2/95)
	Integration of Database Server and Web Technology
		Gang Cheng and Barbara Mihalas
		NPAC
		111 College Place
		Syracuse NY 13244-4100
	Abstract of Web Relational Database Integration
		This short summary is expanded in an earlier longer presntation by Gang Cheng describing Mail example and technology in more detail
		The complementary advantages and disadvantages of relational and web information models is described
		This motivates their integration which is overviewed in several applications developed at NPAC
		Their general importance for Education, Research and Industry is described
	Web Oracle Integration 
		Combines strengths of Web and Database Information models to eliminate many weaknesses of each
		Uses Oracle's WOW Web-Oracle-Web Interface
		Many capabilities demonstrated in NPAC's implementations with mh mail, newsgroups, education databases, remote data entry
		Important for research, education and industry
	Key points in Web Technology
		Characteristics
			Current main components: HTTP; HTML; CGI; Fillout Form
			Client-server communication model
			(Flat hierarchical UNIX) File system as the major file (data) management system
		Strengths
			Established Internet as the major vehicle in networking industry
			Universal, hyperlinked information access and dissemination 
			Transparent networking navigation and GUI with multimedia information access for information dissemination--- a killer networking application
		Weaknesses
			Static, browser-oriented client
			Document update done manually, hard to automate
			Flat UNIX file system supports only primitive information system functions such as open,read/write and close. 
	Key points in database technology
		Characteristics
			Relational tables in RDBMS as the major data model for tightly controlled information management, retrieval and processing
			Client-server as the major communication model
			Main components: search engine; SQL; procedure languages with embedded SQL; GUI application interfaces to DBMS;  
		Strengths
			Database server stores, manipulates and manages data in a powerful, high functionality information system
			Supports design of data system with complex relationships
			Supports  complex, precise, customized access requests
			Easy to automate most data update processes
			Information retrieved is as current as the database
		Weaknesses
			Network access not universal or portable: employs proprietary network protocols & requires client license for each end user 
			Plain-text -- no links to, support for multimedia 
			Isolated from links to information outside database system
			Nonstandard browsers (most are line-based) or proprietary forms
	Web-Database Synergy   
		Database techniques used in Web technology: data storage; data caching; index searching; data processing
		Networking techniques used in distributed database technology: distributed database; two-phase commit; data replication; client/server model
		Web server integrated with database is enhanced with:
			Powerful backend text searching engine for complex queries 
			Representation and organization of (often complex) logical relationships among many information entities
			Optimizable search performance in large information systems
			Real time creation of up-to-date HTML documents
		Database server linked to web server is enhanced with:
			Ability to share data globally for maximum information dissemination
			Ability to add data globally for remote collaborations
			Transparent Web browser interface for remote database server access
			Universal Web interface supports hypertext-added data retrieval
			Integrated multi-media information system
	NPAC Web-Database Applications
		Mail databases: internal corporate utility
			Input from mh mail handler; access password protected
			Query single folder or all folders simultaneously
				by date, subject keywords, sender, mail header: 
		Usenet Newsgroups: http://asknpac.npac.syr.edu/
			Input from Usenet feed; public access
			Query single group or multiple newsgroups simultaneously
				by keywords, date, URL, sender, others
		Education databases
			Living Schoolbook NY State Image database
			Travel Venture database
			Whalenet  and Environmental K12 databases (under development)
		Health care: demo patient record database
		Oracle SQL*TextRetrieval full text search of 3 online books
		Corporate product databases (under development)
	Importance for Key Communities
		Education
			Supports school access to organized data in many disciplines
			Supports multi-school projects doing data collection and sharing
			Multimedia links provide organization of visual, audio material
		Research
			Provides universal access to major research databases
				Examples, protein & other biomolecular database (data + applications)
			Provides universal interfaces for data entry with data validation done by database procedures
			Can link research databases with online publications or abstracts
		Industry
			Can enhance marketing websites
			Improves support for distributed dealerships and/or customer helplines
			Provides framework for internal enterprise systems, groupware