Web Services and SCD

Greg McArthurDIG/SCD

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Talking Points

• Site Philosophy

• Site Hardware

• SCD web services– a user-centric site

• Management Issues

• Future plans

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Site Philosophy

• Our web site is “window into SCD”• Provides access to:

– resource information • MSS, computers, data holdings, visualization

– documentation, training & technical consulting

– internal divisional/admin. information

• Overarching Goal: A User-centric site

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Server HitsOct ‘98 - Sept ‘99

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

Oct-98 Nov-98 Dec-98 Jan-99 Feb-99 Mar-99 Apr-99 May-99 Jun-99 Jul-99 Aug-99 Sep-99

Month

No

. of

Hit

s

NCAR

SCD

Average

SCD=63.6K/mo

NCAR=12.5K/mo

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Server Hits

• Servers are busy! These 2 web site(s) are being visited at the rate of nearly 1x10+E6 hits for the past 12 months.

• Expect growth in hits due to expanded use of web in general

• Time to augment and expand server hardware

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New Site Architecture

WebX

SUN250

WebY

SUN250

External Servers(webx.ucar.edu)

Internal Servers(web.ucar.edu)

Web

SUN250

Web

SUN450

90+Gbytesshared

cache

“high availability” solution

H

A

S

[Search Engine, Stats Engine]

[HTTPD, interactive Logons]

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Enhanced Web Services• User-centric focus for site:

– Improved user access to information, help, and contact with division personnel.

– Emphasis on being able to quickly locate what they need to get their work done.

– New, multi-level navigational tools & better search engine capabilities.

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New SCD

Home Page

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Enhanced Web Services

• Interactive job submission/retrieval• Data set access (MSS, DSS)• User-driven FAQs• Chat rooms• MySCD • Interactive Visualizations• Web-based education & training

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Enhanced Web Services

• Intranet (SCD) features – administrative support (travel, purchasing,

etc.)

– staff-only items/sites

• Access to DBS databases– resource accounting, allocations, etc

• Search engine • Statistics engine

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Management Issues

• Site management/content -- DIG• Hardware Admin -- DSG• Server Software -- Vislab • New ITC WEG FTE -- Vislab• DIG FTE replacement -- DIG

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Current Plans• Using Dreamweaver -- visual editing/management

• Greater emphasis on usability– search paths simplified (at sub-directories)– keyword guidelines for search engine– common sense URL naming schemes – placement of cookies in browser

• Total in-house control over site content, images, formatting, etc.

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Near Future Plans (con’t)

• An integrated approach to building Teraweb-like interfaces

• Collaboration UCAR/WEG -- SCD/DIG/Vislab = enhance user support and satisfaction

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Futures

• Continue to track web-based technologies as they mature

• Use feedback to improve site for our users

Questions?Answers!