E-Commerce Infrastructure Planning and Management

E-Commerce is the magic word in the era of web enablement. In this era of internet
driven innovations, a rising number of professionals are engaging in innovative
business models and services within their own. There are further numerous
professionals employed within the domain as experts.  This article provides an
overview of E-Commerce Infrastructure Planning and Management.

So why do we need to focus on e-commerce infrastructure and how should we plan it?
To define its Mission: It would be to design, develop and maintenance of e-commerce
business venture and enable three critical objectives:

1. First objective (what we are building): An open, distributed and safe

infrastructure which is scalable and thus has provisions for future needs
2. Second objective (how we can use): Using internet based technologies to
demonstrate the value creation for the users, and facilitate the delivery
3. Third objective (who will pay repeatedly): Define the right business model
to sustain in the future, in tandem with the IT infrastructure
E-Commerce Infrastructure identifies the functionalities of the Hardware and
Software components, specifies the corresponding service level requirements, and
describes the management and operations of the whole system. It may comprise
briefly of the following components at a very abstract level.

 Software components used: Content management systems, Web analytics,

Text analytics, Application Programming Interface (API), Database server,
Middlewares etc. Object oriented (e.g. CORBA), Transaction processing,
communication (https, messaging), data base (e.g. ODBC), application
middleware (CGI)
 Hardware components used: Servers, proxy servers, load balancing systems.
Firewalls, encryption devices and interactive voice response units etc.

Some of the major components, which a techno-functional professional in the domain

is expected to know are as follows:

 Middleware: Systems that resides between the client (user) and the server
(database and application resources). These could be data access components,
communication protocols, specialized servers, or a mix of all.
  Directory services: Email Directory Services enables users to locate other
users for sending emails. LAN Directory Services facilitates functions like
connecting to the web, sharing printers, LAN chats, LAN based KMS
 Lookup Database: This is the database that stores information about network
resources and user profiles. Enables usage of network resources based on
entitlements.
 Meta-Directories: Facilitates the flow of data between one or more directory
services and databases. Enables synchronization of data across databases or
data warehouses
 Groupware: Facilitate the automation and streamlining of business processes
not implemented in legacy/ERP systems. Group communications and
information sharing enabling collaboration between teams and individuals
 Internet Domain Name Service (DNS): DNS facilitates the unique
identification of an organization or entity on the Internet. DNS maps the
domain name of an organization to its IP address

Further, as a systems or a business analyst, typical criteria for evaluating

infrastructure for e-commerce setup could comprise of the following:

 Flexibility: The ability to respond quickly to changing requirements, and scale

up based on the need of the customer. Resource virtualization can be an
important factor in such a scenario.
 Costs: The CapEx & WorkEx, like acquisition and maintenance costs for
servers, licenses and other hardware and software. License cost and its
renewal policy would also play a significant part of the evaluation.
 Scope & performance: Factors include degree of fulfillment of specific
requirement, knowledge about service and performance quality. Service
uptime could be another sub-criteria.
 IT security & compliance:  Factors like government, industry and firm
specific needs in the areas of security, compliance and privacy are covered.
How the information assets are protected could be a regulatory issue.
 Reliability & trustworthiness: Factors like service availability, consistency
of delivery and fulfillment of the Service Level Agreements. Whether the
 consumer can get the same uniformity of service every time, is the evaluation
parameter.
 Service & cloud management:  Factors like offered support and functions for
controlling, monitoring and individualization of the web interface.

Beyond this, another important dimension to deliberate upon, is to focus on the key
metrics of an e-commerce infrastructure policy. These could be noted and
elaborated as follows:
Further, professionals need to understand the Performance Models associated with
E-Commerce Infrastructure, which may be useful during audits. A model is a
representation of an information system. It could be physical, logical or functional.
The model should be as simple as possible. It should be capable of capturing the most
relevant characteristics of the system under evaluation or audit.

The performance of e-Commerce site depends on the pattern of services requested by

customers, as described by customer model. It also depends on the demands that each
service places on the site’s resources and the intensity at which customers arrive at the
site.

In view of this, it would be pertinent to focus on the following aspects of E-

Commerce Infrastructure:

 Monitoring and Reporting on Web and other e-Business Applications, and the
Response Times for Web transactions
  TCP/IP Performance focusing on End-to-End network response times and the
Effects of operational performance control
 Network Routes and Equipment focusing on the End-to-End route response
times, Identify route patterns and defects and Identify and minimize loss of
data in the network
 Other important dimensions include adequate site capacity, Scalability
and Fault-tolerance.

Basic Question for the evaluation would attempt to address the key question: What
portions of my “service-product” are popular? This would need renewed focus on the
Capacity Issue and the Method of Analysis

Capacity Issue:

 Which files are being requested frequently?

 Which content configurations are requested frequently?
 Which processes deliver that content?
 Am I paying too much for my ISP service contract?
 Can I get by on a lower-bandwidth contract?

Method of Analysis:

 Site log file analysis

 Add up all http: transactions made to your web site during some time period
 Visitor on site trend analysis
 Purchase trend analysis

Capacity planning would address these requirements through a cycle of workflows of

analysis in a multi-stage approach.
During the Business & Functional Planning, focus would be on the following
components:

WHAT IS A NETWORK ?

A network is a collection of computers, servers, mainframes, network devices,

peripherals, or other devices connected to one another to allow the sharing of data. An
excellent example of a network is the Internet, which connects millions of people all
over the world. To the right is an example image of a home network with multiple
computers and other network devices all connected to each other and the Internet.

Network topologies and types of networks

The term network topology describes the relationship of connected devices in terms of
a geometric graph. Devices are represented as vertices, and their connections are
represented as edges on the graph. It describes how many connections each device
has, in what order, and it what sort of hierarchy.
What was the first computer network?

One of the first computer networks to use packet switching, ARPANET was
developed in the mid-1960s and is considered to be the direct predecessor of the
modern Internet. The first ARPANET message was sent on October 29, 1969.

Internet Protocol

The Internet Protocol (IP) is the principal communications protocol in the Internet
protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function
enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.

IP has the task of delivering packets from the source host to the destination host solely
based on the IP addresses in the packet headers. For this purpose, IP defines packet
structures that encapsulate the data to be delivered. It also defines addressing methods
that are used to label the datagram with source and destination information.

Historically, IP was the connectionless datagram service in the original Transmission

Control Program introduced by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in 1974, which was
complemented by a connection-oriented service that became the basis for the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The Internet protocol suite is therefore often
referred to as TCP/IP.

The first major version of IP, Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), is the dominant
protocol of the Internet. Its successor is Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), which has
been in increasing deployment on the public Internet since c. 2006

FUNCTIONS

The Internet Protocol is responsible for addressing host interfaces, encapsulating data
into datagrams (including fragmentation and reassembly) and routing datagrams from
a source host interface to a destination host interface across one or more IP networks.
For these purposes, the Internet Protocol defines the format of packets and provides
an addressing system.

Each datagram has two components: a header and a payload. The IP header includes
source IP address, destination IP address, and other metadata needed to route and
deliver the datagram. The payload is the data that is transported. This method of
nesting the data payload in a packet with a header is called encapsulation.

IP addressing entails the assignment of IP addresses and associated parameters to host

interfaces. The address space is divided into subnetworks, involving the designation
of network prefixes. IP routing is performed by all hosts, as well as routers, whose
main function is to transport packets across network boundaries. Routers
communicate with one another via specially designed routing protocols, either interior
gateway protocols or exterior gateway protocols, as needed for the topology of the
network.

TYPES

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

TCP is a connection oriented protocol and offers end-to-end packet delivery. It acts as
back bone for connection.It exhibits the following key features:

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) corresponds to the Transport Layer of

OSI Model.

TCP is a reliable and connection oriented protocol.

TCP offers

Stream Data Transfer.

Reliability.
 Efficient Flow Control

Full-duplex operation.

Multiplexing.

TCP offers connection oriented end-to-end packet delivery.

TCP ensures reliability by sequencing bytes with a forwarding

acknowledgement number that indicates to the destination the next byte the
source expect to receive.

It retransmits the bytes not acknowledged with in specified time period.

TCP Services

TCP offers following services to the processes at the application layer:

Stream Delivery Service

Sending and Receiving Buffers

Bytes and Segments

Full Duplex Service

Connection Oriented Service

Reliable Service

Stream Deliver Service

TCP protocol is stream oriented because it allows the sending process to send data as
stream of bytes and the receiving process to obtain data as stream of bytes.

Sending and Receiving Buffers

It may not be possible for sending and receiving process to produce and obtain data at
same speed, therefore, TCP needs buffers for storage at sending and receiving ends.

Bytes and Segments

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), at transport layer groups the bytes into a
packet. This packet is called segment. Before transmission of these packets, these
segments are encapsulated into an IP datagram.

Full Duplex Service

Transmitting the data in duplex mode means flow of data in both the directions at the
same time.

Connection Oriented Service

TCP offers connection oriented service in the following manner:

TCP of process-1 informs TCP of process – 2 and gets its approval.

TCP of process – 1 and TCP of process – 2 and exchange data in both the two
directions.

After completing the data exchange, when buffers on both sides are empty, the two
TCP’s destroy their buffers.

Reliable Service

For sake of reliability, TCP uses acknowledgement mechanism.

• TCP/IP
• Short for transmission control
protocol/Internet protocol, TCP/IP is a
set of rules (protocols) governing
communications among all computers on
the Internet. More specifically, TCP/IP
dictates how information should be
 packaged (turned into bundles of
information called packets), sent, and
received, and how to get to its destination.
• TCP/IP was developed in 1978 and driven
by Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf.

Example of a TCP/IP packet

Below is a visual example of a TCP/IP

packet and the information contained within
that packet. Each of the sections of packet
are filled with information that help route the
packet to its proper destination.
How does TCP/IP work?

As the name implies, TCP/IP is a

combination of two separate protocols: TCP
(transmission control protocol) and IP
(Internet protocol). The Internet Protocol
standard dictates the logistics of packets sent
out over networks; it tells packets where to
go and how to get there. IP allows any
computer on the Internet to forward a packet
to another computer that's one or more
intervals closer to the packet's recipient. You
can think of it like workers in a line passing
boulders from a quarry to a mining cart.

The Transmission Control Protocol is

responsible for ensuring the reliable
transmission of data across Internet-
connected networks. TCP checks packets for
errors and submits requests for re-
transmissions if any are found.

Three of the most common TCP/IP protocols

 HTTP - Used between a web client and a

web server, for non-secure data
transmissions. A web client (i.e., Internet
browser on a computer) sends a request to
a web server to view a web page. The web
server receives that request and sends the
web page information back to the web
client.
 HTTPS - Used between a web client and a
web server, for secure data transmissions.
 Often used for sending credit card
transaction data or private data from a
web client (i.e., Internet browser on a
computer) to a web server.
 FTP - Used between two or more
computers. One computer sends data to or
receives data from another computer
directly.

Domain names and TCP/IP addresses

The TCP/IP address for a website or web

server is not easy to remember. To remedy
this issue, a domain name is used instead.
For example, 216.58.216.164 is one of the IP
address for Google and google.com is the
domain name. Using this method, instead of
a set of numbers, makes it easier for users to
remember Computer Hope's web address.

What are the different layers of TCP/IP?

There are four total layers of TCP/IP

protocol, listed below with a brief
description.

 Network Access Layer - This layer is

concerned with building packets.
 Internet Layer - This layer uses IP
(Internet Protocol) to describe how
packets are to be delivered.
 Transport Layer - This layer utilizes UDP
(User Datagram Protocol) and TCP
 (Transmission Control Protocol) to ensure
the proper transmission of data.
 Application Layer - This layer deals with
application network processes. These
processes include FTP (File Transfer
Protocol), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer
Protocol), and SMTP (Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol).

Internet Protocol (IP)

Internet Protocol is connectionless and unreliable protocol. It ensures no guarantee

of successfully transmission of data.

In order to make it reliable, it must be paired with reliable protocol such as TCP at the
transport layer.

Internet protocol transmits the data in form of a datagram as shown in the following
diagram:
Points to remember:

The length of datagram is variable.

The Datagram is divided into two parts: header and data.

The length of header is 20 to 60 bytes.

The header contains information for routing and delivery of the packet.

User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

Like IP, UDP is connectionless and unreliable protocol. It doesn’t require making a
connection with the host to exchange data. Since UDP is unreliable protocol, there is
no mechanism for ensuring that data sent is received.

UDP transmits the data in form of a datagram. The UDP datagram consists of five
parts as shown in the following diagram:
Points to remember:

UDP is used by the application that typically transmit small amount of data at
one time.

UDP provides protocol port used i.e. UDP message contains both source and
destination port number, that makes it possible for UDP software at the
destination to deliver the message to correct application program.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

FTP is used to copy files from one host to another. FTP offers the mechanism for the
same in following manner:

FTP creates two processes such as Control Process and Data Transfer Process
at both ends i.e. at client as well as at server.

FTP establishes two different connections: one is for data transfer and other is
for control information.

Control connection is made between control processes while Data

Connection is made between <="" b="">

FTP uses port 21 for the control connection and Port 20 for the data
connection.
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)

Trivial File Transfer Protocol is also used to transfer the files but it transfers the
files without authentication. Unlike FTP, TFTP does not separate control and data
information. Since there is no authentication exists, TFTP lacks in security features
therefore it is not recommended to use TFTP.

Key points

TFTP makes use of UDP for data transport. Each TFTP message is carried in
separate UDP datagram

The first two bytes of a TFTP message specify the type of message.

The TFTP session is initiated when a TFTP client sends a request to upload or
download a file.

The request is sent from an ephemeral UDP port to the UDP port 69 of an
TFTP server.

Difference between FTP and TFTP

S.N. Parameter FTP TFTP

1 Operation Transferring Files Transferring Files
2 Authentication Yes No
3 Protocol TCP UDP
4 Ports 21 – Control, 20 – Data Port 3214, 69, 4012
5 Control and Data Separated Separated
6 Data Transfer Reliable Unreliable

Telnet

Telnet is a protocol used to log in to remote computer on the internet. There are a
number of Telnet clients having user friendly user interface. The following diagram
shows a person is logged in to computer A, and from there, he remote logged into
computer B.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

HTTP is a communication protocol. It defines mechanism for communication

between browser and the web server. It is also called request and response protocol
because the communication between browser and server takes place in request and
response pairs.

HTTP Request

HTTP request comprises of lines which contains:

Request line

Header Fields

Message body

Key Points

The first line i.e. the Request line specifies the request method i.e. Get or
Post.

The second line specifies the header which indicates the domain name of the
server from where index.htm is retrieved.

HTTP Response

Like HTTP request, HTTP response also has certain structure. HTTP response
contains:
 Status line

Headers

Message body

NETWORK OF NETWORKS

The Internet is often described as a network of networks. Bridging devices are the
connectors that join one part of the larger network to another. Bridging devices differ
in sophistication of the connection they provide, but they all contribute to the rapid
movement of data that is the key to the Information Age.