services offered by the LIC
introduction
The LIC (Larg's Internet Cluster) is an Internet goodie box choc full of Internet services such as the web, e-mail and DNS. WWW services are provided by Internet, extranet and intranet web sites running in the LIC.
The LIC is a cluster so it can offer just about any type of service.
what it is
When I talk about servers I'm not talking about computers. I'm talking about services like
- the WWW (World Wide Web)
- DNS (Domain Name System)
- SSH (Secure SHell)
- LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)
| LIC topology: Internet clients use LIC servers |
|---|
The LIC provides these services to clients from both the Internet and the enterprise. The people who use the LIC are not its clients, oh my word no, they are its customers. Confused?
An Internet client is a thing that uses Internet services. An Internet client is used by a customer. A customer is a person or a group of people with a business relationship with an organisation. Since the Internet is full of computers, transactions between customers and organisations can be automated so people don't have to be present when the transactions happen.
The LIC exchanges resources using clients and servers.
- A web client (such as a web browser) talks to a web server.
- A DNS client talks to a DNS server.
- An e-mail client talks to an e-mail server.
- An SSH client talks to an SSH server.
- An LDAP client talks to an LDAP server.
You may notice a pattern forming here.
what it isn't
An ISP. It provides services to the Internet. It does not help people to use the Internet.
A data warehouse. Its primary role is data transactions, not data storage.
A server farm. There is plenty of processing power in the LIC, but is all committed to Internet services.
