By Jose Vilches, TechSpot.com
Published: May 8, 2008, 7:52 PM EST

 Unlimited bandwidth is almost regarded as a universal right in the United States – and many other developed nations – but the growing demand for music, videos, and peer-to-peer traffic has left ISPs scrambling for ways to avoid excessive burdens on their networks. And unfortunately – for bandwidth hogs, at least – one idea that has been gaining traction among providers is implementing a monthly download cap and overage charges.

That’s exactly what Comcast is looking into, according to Broadband Reports. While still in the early stages of development, the plan would see users getting a 250GB per month cap. Users would not be penalized if they crossed that limit once during a 12-month period, but if they did it again, they could be charged $15 for every 10GB they go over.

Many will take issue with Comcast’s proposed download cap, but Internet billing based on usage is certainly nothing new. Broadband provider viagra overnight shipping Cox already places bandwidth caps on its customers, while Time Warner Cable is considering following suit as well. At least Comcast's proposed cap – though not official yet – seems high enough for most users.

Date: April 23rd, 2008

Author: Susan Harkins and Drew Wutka

An Access database often outgrows its original purpose. When that happens, you face applying band-aid technology or upgrading to a more powerful database system, such as SQL Server Express or even SQL Server. But before you toss Access out the window and start signing purchase orders for consultants, developers, licensing, and new hardware, consider one more option — turning your Access application into a Web-based application. Let’s look at some reasons why this might make sense.

Shameless disclaimer: If you truly need a more powerful database system and can afford its trappings, spend and grow!

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: Client versus server

A server-side database, such as MySQL, SQL Server, and Oracle, evaluates requests on the server side (sent in the form of a SQL statement) and then returns data to the client. Jet, on the other hand, lets the client do all the work. Jet is the database engine behind Access. Even if the database (.mdb) is on a network server, the client still does all the work. The server simply responds to client file requests.

This arrangement retrieves more then just the data across the network. As a result, indexes and unused data clog the network and slow things down. An alternative is to place the Access database on your Web server’s local drive and then build the interface on the Web server. Doing so creates an ad hoc server-side database that handles transactions on the server (using your code). Requests from the client are in Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) format instead of SQL.

Recommendation: Put the Access database (the .mdb file) in a folder that isn’t shared. That way, users won’t have direct access to the database. Their only access will be via the Web server. Your code will serve as the layer that allows users to interact with the actual data.

#2: No client installation

A Web-based front end minimizes installation issues. Users need only a browser. The database doesn’t care whether the user is sending requests via a Windows PC, a Mac, or a machine running Linux.

#3: Easy cross-platform usage

You’re free to use your language of choice to create the Web interface and the code that the server users to interact with the database. Users get clean and standard HTML that almost all browsers can use.

Recommendation: Keep the Web interface simple to ensure that everyone can use it. If you need the advantages of client-side tools, such as client side scripting, Flash media, and so on, go for it. Just keep in mind that not every HTML feature works in every browser. The back end can be as complex as necessary because the Web server is the only one using it.

#4: Simplified security

Storing the database in a non-shared folder (see #1) restricts access. Only the Web server’s administrator has access to the database file. That leaves security to the Web server. Now, you might argue either way as to whether this method is more or less secure than a server-side database. However, someone with direct access to a machine with a server-side database could probably also gain direct access to that database.

In addition, a server-side database requires a network connection. An Access database on a Web server isn’t directly available. You can access the Web server, but not the database. Only the Web server can access the database on the server’s local drive. On the other hand, Access has a security system known as Access User Level security (this isn’t available with Access 2007). Most server-side database security systems are more secure than Access User Level security.

Recommendation: Even though you impose an almost absolute-type form of security by placing a database on a Web server, it can’t hurt to apply Access User Level security. The database is still an .mdb that you can copy and open on any machine that has Access installed. As a developer, you will probably have local copies of that .mdb (and copies on backup tapes for your Web server). Be on the safe side and keep honest people honest by putting a little extra security in place. Users via the Web interface won’t even know the additional security is there.

#5: Easy use of NT authentication

Using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), you can determine the NT name of users logged into an Access database and thereby restrict which users can do what. However, this method isn’t foolproof, and it doesn’t truly authenticate users. Your Web interface (on an IIS Web server) can use Integrated Windows Security to authenticate user credentials to individual web pages.

#6: Goodbye to corruption!

Most developers complain that Access is susceptible to corruption. Used incorrectly, it certainly is. With an Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS) and redundant drives, your Web-based database (.mdb file) won’t suffer from corruption.

#7: No version problems

With the quick pace of upgrades, many of us have users spread across two and three versions of Access. Unfortunately, not all versions play well together. A Web interface eliminates version incompatibility issues because the Web server uses Jet. That means the Web server doesn’t even need Access — it doesn’t load Access. Your Web server doesn’t care what version of Access the client uses.

#8: Live, behind-the-scenes interface updates

To update an Access front end, you must copy or modify an .mdb file. Access won’t let you make changes while people are using it. (Beginning with Access 2000, you can make some changes, but a few still require exclusive access to the database.) In contrast, you can change the Web interface files (.asp, .aspx, and so on) whenever you like. The changes are almost immediate.

#9: Portability

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Every Windows OS since Windows 98 has had personal Web server capabilities. That means you can develop and test a Web site using a laptop running Windows 98 (or later). Using an Access database as the data source has a few benefits:

Recommendation: Jet allows many transaction type SQL statements. You can build and modify tables and views using SQL, along with the typical data reading and altering capabilities. Sometimes, if you put a system on a remote server where you no longer have the ability to get to the actual .mdb, it’s pretty simple to whip up an .asp page that lets you run SQL on the fly against the database.

#10: More users

By their very nature, Web interfaces are unbound. In other words, once a page is loaded, the interface is no longer connected to the database. But a bound Access front end maintains a connection to the source, and Jet limits you to 255 concurrent connections. Your Web application, unless you have 255 users hitting the database at the exact same moment (which would require approximately 30,000 users a minute at a transactions speed of .5 seconds) can have more concurrent users.

Susan Sales Harkins is an independent consultant and the author of several articles and books on database technologies. Her most recent book is Mastering Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express, with Mike Gunderloy, published by Sybex. Other collaborations with Gunderloy are Automating Microsoft Access 2003 with VBA, Upgrader’s Guide to Microsoft Office System 2003, ICDL Exam Cram 2, and Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Microsoft Access 2003, all published by Que. Currently, Susan volunteers as the Publications Director for Database Advisors. You can reach her at ssharkins@gmail.com.

Drew Wutka is a Microsoft Access/Visual Basic/Web developer for Marlow Industries, Inc. He also does independent contract development and has developed many free projects, such as the Microsoft Access MiniCalendar, the Dynamic FrontPage Navigation ASP Sitemap, and the Password Enabled Enigma Encryption VB program. You can reach Drew at dwutka@marlow.com .

17 Apr 2008 15:39

The company has warned of the need for urgent investment in the internet's infrastructure, deliberately avoiding the term 'net neutrality'

The US telecoms giant AT&T has claimed that, without investment, the internet's current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010.

Speaking at a Westminster eForum on Web 2.0 this week in London, Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs for AT&T, warned that the current systems that constitute the internet will not be able to cope with the increasing amounts of video and user-generated content being uploaded.

"The surge in online content is at the centre of the most dramatic changes affecting the internet today," he said. "In three years' time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire internet today."

Cicconi, who was speaking at the event as part of a wider series of meetings with UK government officials, said that at least $55bn (£27.5bn) worth of investment was needed in new infrastructure in the next three years in the US alone, with the viagra 50 mg figure rising to $130bn to improve the network worldwide. "We are going to be butting up against the physical capacity of the internet by 2010," he said.

He claimed that the "unprecedented new wave of broadband traffic" would increase fifty-fold by 2015 and that AT&T was investing $19bn to maintain its network and upgrade its backbone network.

Cicconi added that more demand for high-definition (HD) video will put increasing strain on the internet infrastructure. "Eight hours of video is loaded onto YouTube every minute. Everything will become HD very soon and HD is seven to 10 times more bandwidth-hungry than typical video today. Video will be 80 percent of all traffic by 2010, up from 30 percent today," he said.

The AT&T executive pointed out that the internet only exists thanks to the infrastructure provided by a group of mostly private companies. "There is nothing magic or ethereal about the internet — it is no more ethereal than the highway system. It is not created by an act of God but upgraded and maintained by private investors," he said.

Although Cicconi's speech did not explicitly refer to the term "net neutrality", some audience members tackled him on the issue in a question-and-answer session, asking whether the subtext of his speech was really around prioritising some kinds of traffic. Cicconi responded by saying he believed government intervention in the internet was fundamentally wrong.

"I think people agree why the internet is successful. My personal view is that government has widely chosen to… keep a light touch and let innovators develop it," he said. "The reason I resist using the term 'net neutrality' is that I don't think government intervention is the right way to do this kind of thing. I don't think government can anticipate these kinds of technical problems. Right now I think net neutrality is a solution in search of a problem."

Net neutrality refers to an ongoing campaign calling for governments to legislate to prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from charging content providers for prioritisation of their traffic. The debate is more heated in the US than in the UK because there is less competition between ISPs in the US.

Content creators argue that net neutrality should be legislated for in order to protect consumers and keep all internet traffic equal. Network operators and service providers argue that the internet is already unequal and certain types of traffic — VoIP, for example — require prioritisation by default.

"However well-intentioned, regulatory restraints can inefficiently skew investment, delay innovation and diminish consumer welfare, and there is reason to believe that the kinds of broad marketplace restrictions proposed in the name of 'neutrality' would do just that with respect to the internet," the US Department of Justice said in a statement last year.

The BBC has come under fire from service providers, such as Tiscali, which claim that its iPlayer online-TV service is becoming a major drain on network bandwidth. In a recent posting on his BBC blog, Ashley Highfield, the corporation's director of future media and technology, defended the iPlayer: "I would not suggest that ISPs start to try and charge content providers. They are already charging their customers for broadband to receive any content they want."

Another reader asks: I know you've mentioned before certain things that Web sites can see when we're online, but it was always mixed in with other information. Can you give us a basic list of them instead?

I sure can! It's very important to know what Web sites can see when you're visiting them, so I'm not going to waste any more time with an intro. Let's get right into it!

If you use your computer everyday (which I'm guessing you do if you're reading this newsletter), you probably visit several Web sites each time you get online, right? I know I do. I'm constantly going from site to site, just checking different things out, reading articles, etc. Now, when you're on those Web sites, have you ever wondered what kind of information you're revealing to them? If that question has you intrigued, keep reading!

I know we here at WorldStart have mentioned certain things to you before about this topic, but I thought it would be nice to give you a basic rundown of what all Web sites can obtain about you while you're logged in. To begin, they can see your IP address (192.186.1.1, for example), which is what allows computers to connect with each next day viagra other on the Internet. A Web site cannot see your identity through the IP address, but it can verify your ISP and the region or city you live in. Kind of creepy, huh?! Now, there are programs you can use to keep your IP information private. They do not make you completely anonymous, but they can help. A couple you may want to check out are Ghostsurf and Privoxy.

Another thing Web sites can pick up on is your cookies. Cookies are files that help sites save certain information in between your visits. For example, if you have a username and password for a certain site, the cookies remember that information for you so that you don't always have to log back in. They help make things faster, but they can be a little risky too. They basically allow a Web site to see the path you follow while you're logged in. However, you are able to see your cookies and even delete them if you want to. To do so in Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options and click on the Settings button. From there, click on the View Files button and you'll be able to see the cookies. If you want to delete them, just click the Delete Cookies button in the first window. In Firefox, go to Tools, Options and select the Privacy icon. Click on the Show Cookies button. If you want to delete them, hit the Remove Cookies button and you'll be all set.

Continuing on, Web sites are also able to see your network ports. Those ports are basically paths of communication for your computer and they're all numbered. For example, Web sites usually use port number 80. The ports can help Web sites obtain what programs you're using while you're on the Internet. Now, even though that doesn't seem so bad, they do tend to create some security holes in the actual program. To keep that from happening, make sure you have a good firewall on your computer. A firewall is able to close down any of the ports you don't need.

There's one more! Web sites are able to determine which Web browser and what version of Windows you're using. That information helps Web site owners update and improve their pages, but on the other hand, malicious sites can use that same information to attack you. To avoid any problems like that, make sure your computer is always up to date and be sure to run your antivirus, spyware, etc. scans regularly.

Now, I know this information probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but once you know what's going on each time you visit a Web site, you can help keep yourself safe. I'm definitely not telling you to stop surfing the Web. It's too much fun to do that! I'm telling you all of this so that you can work to keep yourself and your computer as safe as possible. Yes, the Internet can be a dangerous place, but if you do the right things to combat all the problems, you'll be good to go!