The Normandy Invasion

Microsoft prepares to hit the beach

Microsoft's choice of product code names has always fascinated me. I believethat they give insight into Microsoft's vision and strategies for the productsthey represent, so the code name Normandy makes perfect sense to me.

Historically, Normandy was a key offensive action of World War II, givingthe Allies the morale boost of a huge success and gaining them key ground tobattle the Axis Powers. Some historians believe that if the Allies had lost thebattle of Normandy, they would have lost the war. I think Microsoft has thissame feeling about its Normandy platform: It is poised to invade the Internetwith a set of new technologies designed to give UNIX a run for its money,loosening its dominance in providing Internet services. To Microsoft, the enemyis UNIX, the battlefield is the Internet, and the most important addition toMicrosoft's vast arsenal is the Normandy platform.

Normandy was the code name for Microsoft's Commercial Internet System (CIS),a new collection of Internet services--founded on Windows NT and other parts ofBackOffice--that offer businesses a highly scalable option for providingInternet services. The CIS suite addresses the intricacies of Web contentpublishing and site management and offers services that help companies conductbusiness online. The suite contains an array of services that all work with eachother to form a tightly integrated platform for corporate intranets and theInternet. With CIS, an Internet site can employ live conferencing, news, email,secure Web transactions, content personalization, customer tracking and billing,information retrieval, and easy data replication across multiple servers--andthat list just scratches the surface of basic functionality. Most of the CISsuite is customizable, which leaves the boundaries of functionality limited onlyby your own imagination. The entire product line is integrated with the InternetService Manager (ISM) just as Internet Information Server (IIS), FTP, Gopher,and Proxy services are.

The CIS platform runs on top of NT and other parts of BackOffice. Figure 1presents the BackOffice family, including CIS systems and services. Each CISservice or system has specific requirements and prerequisites. Using the entireCIS platform requires the use of NT Server, SQL Server, IIS, and the ActiveXServer (Denali), although you can run some components without SQL and ActiveServer.

At first you may think these requirements are a way for Microsoft to forceyou to adopt (and purchase) other Microsoft products to use CIS. In fact, thestrategy also makes scaling-up your setup and optimizing your softwareinvestments easier, instead of inventing redundant systems for each product'sneeds: Why create a new database model for user management and mail routing in amail server when SQL Server can handle the job? And why develop a new standalonemerchant Web server when you can easily add that functionality to IIS withadditional software components? You get the picture.

Let's take a quick look at the components of CIS and then examine each partto get an idea of how to deploy these products. The Release Candidate 1 (RC1)version of CIS includes nine systems and services:

Membership System
The Microsoft Membership System (MMS) is the core product that all other CISservers and services rely on to work together within an online community. MMSprovides the mechanisms to accept new users, collect information about them, andmanage what the customer can and cannot access. MMS maintains a database ofusers and associated information, such as membership plans and access to privateor restricted areas of content.

Together, MMS and the Microsoft Membership Broker (MMB) handle useridentification and authentication. This capability lets the administratorcontrol access to services according to individual membership plans. Membershipplans allow the creation of several tiers of service, including a freemembership level and various paid tiers. Because security tokens are integratedinto NT's built-in access control systems, MMS uses a single user ID andpassword combination to identify a user to each CIS service you offer.

MMS encapsulates the key components you'll need to build distributed onlineservice offerings for the Internet. MMS lets you deploy servers anywhere on theInternet, where it can link the systems for centralized authentication,authorization, and billing.

MMB is the part of the MMS that lets a server identify users on connection,control their access to content, and bill them for server activities (if youcharge for access). MMB even lets users request access to restricted contentareas.

Other CIS components, such as the News Server or Chat Server, can identifyand authenticate a user with MMB and determine what content a user is allowed toaccess. (For more information about Chat Server, see "Conversing on theInternet.")

With MMB, a content provider can establish paid online services and trackusage statistics to bill the user accordingly. Suppose your company sellssoftware or consulting information. You can easily establish a live online areaon your Web site to sell product updates and other valuable information tovisiting customers, eliminating the need for sales staff members or phone orderworkers.

Internet Address Book Server
Microsoft's Internet Address Book Server (ABS) is commonly referred to aswhite pages. This online directory service provides information about people andbusinesses.

What? More privacy-invasion mechanics? No, no, no. The ABS white pagessystem helps users share information about themselves. Such information caninclude email addresses, personal Web pages, chat groups they use, news groupsthey monitor, personal interests, hobbies, and almost anything else thatidentifies the characteristics of a person or business.

Wouldn't you like to be able to locate everyone on a network who had aninterest in something as rare as nuclear particle physics or something as simpleas growing petunias? Or maybe you just want to locate a business that can helpyou write that new NT application. That's what ABS is designed to do--help youlocate users based on the informational characteristics they provide aboutthemselves.

ABS provides two standard interfaces for the service: a Web interface thatuses HTML pages and a standards-based Lightweight Directory Access Protocol(LDAP) interface for accessing ABS through custom LDAP clients. ABS can supportmore than 5 million user profiles per server, handle millions of queries perday, and support multiple-server query chaining.

I want to mention one important feature for the privacy conscious: ABSincludes an anti-mining feature. It reduces the possibility that onlinemarketers will misuse confidential information.

The anti-mining feature prevents someone from dumping out an entire ABSdatabase and using it to fill your mailbox with silly offers to buy a bridge inBrooklyn. Someone querying the ABS must specify categories of information(general, personal, and organizational) they want to display. This requirementlimits the information they can extract.

Internet Personalization System
The script-language-based Internet Personalization System (IPS) personalizesthe content of Web pages based on a user's preferences. Maybe you've alreadyseen Web sites that you can personalize, such as Microsoft's Network (MSN) athttp://www.msn.com, where you can tailor the look and content of the home page to your preferences.

IPS uses a server-based user profile database to store a user's personalpreferences and gives you all the support programs you need to take advantage ofthe latest Web craze--personalization. You can store the user's personalinformation properties on either the client or the server, where the client-sideinformation is always kept in synch with the server-side information.

Many Internet sites now employ cookies (a small string of identifying datastored on the client's Web browser) to help store personalization properties.But cookies have one obvious limitation: They are restricted to only a fewhundred bytes. IPS's user database system removes this limitation.

Perhaps your firm produces dozens of products or product lines or offersseveral service suites, and your home Web page lists all those categories. WithIPS, users can tailor the Web site to include only the items that interest themand eliminate the rest, which they might perceive as clutter. Personalizationincreases the likelihood that users will return to your Web site.

When a visitor pulls up your home page, the system attempts to authenticatethe user with an ID and password combination, or by extracting a cookie from theclient's Web browser. If the user is successfully authenticated, thepersonalization system determines whether the user has defined a customized viewof your Web site. If so, the system uses those customization options todynamically build and present further Web pages from your site. If not, the usercan click a link (which you insert) on your site. This link contains thecustomization options. Once the user has selected the specific content toinclude, the user submits the form back to the server, which stores the choicesin the user preference database or on the client's browser in the form of acookie. From that point on, each time the user visits your site, thepersonalization system authenticates the user and presents the personalized viewof your site.

Conference Server
The Microsoft Conference Server (MCS) consists of two parts: an InternetRelay Chat (IRC)-compatible Internet Chat Server (ICS) component that lets userscarry on conversations in realtime using text-based messages typed into a chatclient; and the Internet Locator Server (ILS), which lets users easily locateother users online and assists in connecting users of realtime collaborativeconferencing applications. (For more on MCS, see "Cartoons Come to Life.")

The ICS is compatible with most of the numerous IRC clients for mostplatforms. IRC is incredibly popular and is a main attraction of the Internetfor many users. In addition to the ordinary IRC functionality, ICS can provide aplatform for custom chat clients, groupware, and even gaming applications.

In a typical chat server setting, users meet in chat rooms (often calledchat channels) where they can chat privately among a few users or openlyparticipate in large-group conversations. A user, the channel host, controls thechat room. The chat rooms can have specific topics of discussion or becompletely open, allowing discussion of any subject. The ICS administrator cancontrol user rights, including a user's ability to act as a channel host, createnew channels, control data flow, and access specific chat rooms. You can alsointegrate live, realtime chat rooms directly into a Web page, which is a nicefeature not found in an average IRC server. No reloading of the Web page isnecessary to view new messages because the Web-based chat client is a realtimeActiveX chat client control that acts and performs like an ordinary IRC client,except that it's embedded in a Web page.

You can use the ICS for a variety of events: You can host a groupconversation pertaining to your line of business, an online seminar,question-and-answer sessions, or collaborative efforts, for example. Microsoftprovides a software development kit (SDK), the Chatsock API, that lets adeveloper customize chat functions, such as live data tickers. The Chatsock APIis compatible with the standard IRC protocol.

The ILS provides a locator directory for Microsoft's NetMeeting (a realtimeInternet communications client--http://www.microsoft.com/netmeeting),which supports Internet telephony and data conferencing. (For more informationabout NetMeeting, see "Microsoft Enables Collaborative Conferencing,"December 1996.) NetMeeting lets users share applications, collaborate ondocuments, enter into electronic whiteboard sessions, perform file transfers,and launch text-based chats. To start a NetMeeting conferencing session on theInternet, you first have to know whether the other participants are online andwhat their current IP address is.

ILS facilitates obtaining this information. ILS maintains a dynamic databaseof users currently online and their associated IP address. ILS is based on theLDAP Real Timer (RT) person object. ILS differs from ABS in that ILS storespersistent user information in a dynamic database stored in RAM, and ABSmaintains a static database on disk. ILS is constantly updated with transientinformation as users connect and disconnect from the site or service.

NetMeeting has a configuration dialog box that lets users enter personal andorganizational information about themselves. The user can choose (with acheck-box setting) whether to make this information available to an ILS serveron the network. NetMeeting examines this check-box setting each time the userstarts the program. If the box is checked, the user's information is sent to thespecified ILS server. Now when other users query the ILS, they'll see everyonewho's currently online running NetMeeting. When users close NetMeeting, theirinformation is removed from the ILS automatically, so others will know the useris now unavailable.

Internet News Server
The Internet News Server (INS) is a Network News Transfer Protocol(NNTP)-compliant service that can feed USENET newsgroups from the Internet orestablish private newsgroups for limited or restricted use. People have beenusing news servers on the Internet for awhile, and news servers are a popularcommunication method.

Newsgroups are a public messaging system, unlike email, which is a privatemessaging system. You can think of newsgroups as the bulletin board at yourlocal grocery store: You can write a message and pin it up for everyone to readand respond to.

Newsgroups are structured around topics. The more than 20,000 Internetnewsgroups cover a wide range of topics.

I've used several NNTP news servers designed for NT and found that they areall intimidating for the administrator, even if the administrator is a UNIX guruwith a background in running news services. But Microsoft's configurationinterface lets you very easily understand what you are doing, unlike UNIX-basednews servers. All the configuration options and settings are in one centralizedadministrative interface, which you can launch easily through the ISM. My hat isoff to Microsoft for creating this easy-to-use interface.

Internet Mail Server
The Internet Mail Server (IMS) is a distributed Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP) and Post Office Protocol (POP3) mail server that works with SQLServer. SMTP and POP3 are the standard Internet mail transports. IMS offersbusinesses a scalable, Internet-ready mail solution.

Doesn't Exchange Server also offer this capability? Yes and no.

IMS and Exchange Server's scalability let a network operator host millionsof mail users. But, Microsoft designed IMS to facilitate simple mail servicesonly, and corporations that require sophisticated groupware, scheduling, andpublic folder capabilities need Exchange Server instead.

SQL Server builds and maintains IMS's mail-routing database, which movesmail to the correct recipients. SQL Server requires a lot of overhead for asmall shop, but you can run all four of the pieces (NT, IIS, SQL, and IMS) thatare necessary if you want to build a small-scale mail system on one server witha Pentium and 32MB of RAM.

IMS can host mail for numerous Internet domains, a useful capability inlarge organizations, and MIME lets users attach files to mail messages.IMS is client-independent and compatible with all SMTP/POP3 client software.

Merchant Server
Microsoft's Merchant Server is an expansion on the ever-popular IIS and letsyou conduct commerce on the Internet, as opposed to just publishing content. Youcan host multiple online malls and other online point-of-sale systems on oneserver, maximizing the use of your current investments and simplifyingmanagement and maintenance.

The Merchant Server is Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)-compliant, so youcan use any current relational database management systems (RDBMSs) you have inplace. The software also generates Web pages dynamically, so you can includeinformation extracted from a database on your Web pages.

Merchant Server sports a built-in search engine that allows quick authoringof SQL database queries. This capability can be handy for interacting withproduct catalog databases. Additionally, a Web client can use Microsoft's Walletand Shopping Basket ActiveX controls, which allow cross-merchant shopping andeven let a user review a product offline before making a purchase. (For moreinformation on Merchant Server, see Ronald K. Arden's "Safe InternetShopping with Microsoft Merchant System," November 1996.)

Information Retrieval System
We all know how frustrated we can get when we can't locate what we'relooking for quickly and easily. The Information Retrieval System (IRS) solvesthis problem, offering an information-gathering, indexing, searching, andpresentation system that helps users find relevant information based on theirexpressed needs.

The Internet is great for gathering information. Today, many firms acquireinformation from a variety of sources. As luck would have it, this informationappears in a variety of different formats. The information can be stock quotehistories, news items, periodical extracts, white papers, documentation, pressreleases, product announcements, and just about anything else you can think of.Users need to search across various servers and different formats. And thesearch engines must handle the heavy search loads of growing user communities.

IRS meets these needs. It offers cross-platform searching, cross-file-formatsearching, content update notifications, and full-text indexing. Transparentlyto the user, IRS can search over several servers, giving users a much betterchance of finding the information they need. The Internet encompasses an oceanof information, and casting your net strategically so that you can find what youwant, can really be a chore. IRS helps users sort through all that bounty.

Content Replication System
The new direction in networking is using Web technology to publish usefulcontent. But creating content is only part of the big picture. After you createcontent, you must publish it to your Web server, or in most cases, multiple Webservers. Often, publication can be as simple as copying files from one system toanother, but this simple task can quickly become quite complex in large-scale orheavy-traffic operations. Users who publish large amounts of content, or evensmall amounts of heavily used content, need reliable ways to replicate theirfiles. Microsoft's Content Replication System (CRS) answers this need.

The CRS is a handy tool that updates and moves any file system content tomultiple content servers across a network, even servers in physically separatelocations. This ability comes in handy when a firm uses multiple servers tobalance and reduce system loads; CRS is an easy way to mirror information amongthe servers. Replication also creates a nice little by-product called faulttolerance. If one of your servers fails, one of your replication sites can takeover instantly.

The CRS is easy to install and manage. Once the software is installed, itruns without administration. CRS automatically checks for inconsistencies duringdata transfer to ensure reliable replication. And, if a replication sessiondisconnects in midstream, CRS reconnects the session and re-authenticates andre-exchanges the information. In addition, CRS can replicate data in parallel.It can update several sites simultaneously, thereby reducing overall replicationtime. You can configure CRS to replicate data at regular intervals andimmediately after data has changed. You can manage and administer the wholesystem remotely with a standard Web browser.

Any business that runs more than one informational server can benefit fromCRS. The software is well suited for wide-area publishing needs. For example,Microsoft used CRS to continuously update MSN's Super Bowl site with newpictures and information during the 1996 game. CRS greatly eases administrativeduties in multiserver environments, no matter where the servers are.

Be Ready for the Future
CIS covers a lot of ground, doesn't it? Each product has its place andpurpose, and each provides much-needed capabilities in today's rapidly explodingintranet/Internet world. Microsoft is positioning CIS as a suite for majorcommercial network operators, but that fact doesn't mean you can't use CIS on aprivate network. For that matter, it doesn't mean you must have a big networkbefore you'll benefit from CIS.

You can use the entire suite, or any of the parts you prefer, in any sizednetwork environment as long as you need the service. For example, a smallcorporate LAN can benefit from IMS or find functionality in IRS. The platform isscalable; a small network can benefit from the suite, but large networkinggiants such as CompuServe can use the suite without reaching softwarelimitations.

Before you try to hunt down this new software, be aware that the productshave only recently entered wide-area beta testing. (Development of this suite ismoving fast, and the first release might be available by the time you readthis.) Microsoft is releasing the components for testing one by one. They areavailable to the public only through Microsoft's CIS Web site (http://www.ms-normandy.com).

You can download the CRS, the Personalization System, the News Server, andthe Conference Server from the CIS Web site now. If you're running UNIX-basedchat or news servers, I highly recommend you look closely at the CIS solutionsin these areas. I can tell you from firsthand experience that CIS solutions areeasier to use and configure than the typical UNIX services. The Microsoftproducts can directly save you time and money--not to mention the headaches andattitudes!

Microsoft will systematically release other components of CIS for testing.Most of the betas expire on March 31, 1997, so you'll have plenty of time totest them. As I mentioned earlier, to test the entire CIS suite of services,you'll need to have at least NT Server, SQL Server 6.5, and IIS 2.0.