Question1:- What is the need of develop an Intranet based system when internet based system is possible?

Explain with an Example. Answer 1: An Intranet is the use of Internet technologies within an organization
(or company) to achieve better result than the conventional means of data access and transfer. The Intranet helps in cutting cost and easy and fast accessibility of day -to-day information. It could refer to a collection of networks at different locations but catering to the requirements of the same organization. It is certainly possible that both Intranet and the Internet can coexist. As spelt theoretically, the entire Intranet could be located at a remote site and users who are spread over a number of geographical locations can be permitted to access the data using secure links. Though cutting of the Intranet from outside world physically would make it function like a local area network has its own advantage. The main advantage being uses of intranet , is higher level of security. The most noticeable difference between an Intranet server and an Internet server such as Lotus notes is their design philosophy. The Lotus notes provide a collaborative computing solution and have been designed as a proprietary system for areas lacking proper connectivity. It uses a proprietary data structure, which replicates data and does not provide quick access to remote database. The real world benefits and applications of intranet can be many in number: One major benefit of Intranets is that it could be used to enhance communication, which in turn could lead to improved linkage within the organization. This communication could happen between various workgroups, department or even within entire organization, simply by hosting the contents on the Intranet server. Intranet can largely eliminate paper-based documents, which otherwise become outdated over passage of time. Increase communication will also lead to tremendous reduction in expenditure for numerous publishing services such as creating, printing and distributing information for internal use.

Example of Intranet Application

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a major oil company of India (http://www. Bharatpetroleum.com\) , uses an Intranet to provide their employees with an efficient way to share the internal company information and let a number of workgroups to share and work on various project. However, using the Intranet, they also distribute financial data and news announcements to customers, shareholders, and others outside the company. The BPCL Web site also offer prospective customers an opportunity to conveniently apply for its petrol credit cards and to purchase merchandise offered in their Web-based catalogue.

Question2: What is an Extranet? How does it differ from Intranet and Internet? Answer: Extranet:- An extranet is an extended intranet. In addition to allowing
access to members of an organization, an extranet uses firewalls, access profiles, and privacy protocols to allow access to users from outside the organization. In essence, an extranet is a private network that uses Internet protocols and public networks to securely share resources with customers, suppliers, vendors, partners, or other businesses. Both intranets and extranets are owned, operated and controlled by one organization. However, the difference between intranets and extranets is defined in terms of who has access to the private network and the geographical reach of that network. Intranets allow only members of the organization to access the network, while an extranet allows persons from outside the organization (i.e. business partners and customers) to access the network. Usually, network access is managed through the administration of usernames and passwords, which are also used to determine which parts of the extranet a particular user can access. The Internet, extranets, and intranets all rely on the same TCP/IP technologies. However, they are different in terms of the levels of access they allow to various users inside and outside the organization and the size of the network. An intranet allows for restricted access to only members of an organization; an extranet expands that access by allowing non-members such as suppliers and customers to use company resources. The difference between the Internet and extranets is that while the extranet allows limited access to nonmembers of an organization, the Internet generally allows everyone to access all network resources.

Question3:-What are the hardware and software requirements to set up an Intranet? Are there any better alternatives to Intranet? Justify your answer. Answer:- To develop an Intranet the first we design a client /server model for our network. As you clients are the computers those are connected with the cables , are any other medium like microwave ,satellite to the server(which is a high speed computer with large capacity and hard disk).The operating system must be installed properly on both server and client. This server can be your web server also, if it contents required web software. Also, it that case we need to have firewall and browser software on this server.

Softaware Requirement For An Intranet:

Operating System For Client Operating System Server Web Server FireWalls Browsers Internet Access Search Tools Authoring & Publishing Collaboration Confrencing Database Database Access Document Management Web Site Management Integration to Legacy System Project Management Windows 98, or Windows ME, or Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows XP, Novell NetWare, Red Hat LINUX , UNIXWARE Windows 2000 Server, or Windows 2000-Advance Server, or Windows 2003 Server or Linux Apache, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Netscape Enterprise Server, Fast Track Server, Website StrongHold,JumpGate,Centri,Webtrends Netscape Navigator,Internet Explorer ,HotJava Views Compuserve , America Online EXCITE, Open text, Free WAIS, Harvest, Websnake FrontPage Express, MS Publisher,Fusion, WORD, WordPerfect TeamFusion Folio,DynaWeb,WebBoard Oracle,Sybase,DB2 Informix,ColdFusion,LiveWire,Saphire Web Basis,Saros,DynaBase FrontPage,COAST,WebMaster,SiteMill,NetObjects NetDyanmics,Business Web SureTrak,MS Project 98,Project Manager

Hardware Configuration For An Intranet:

Components
Processer Memeory Monitor CD-ROM Drive Free Disk Space

System Requirements Client

866 MHz Pentium 256 MB SVGA with 256 or more colors minimum 800*600 Resolution 48X or 52X 300 MB for Application Files

Server
2.0 GHz Pentium For a 5-User System:512 MB SVGA with 256 or more colors minimum 800*600 Resolution 48X or 52X 1 GB