Erwin Craps
Erwin.Craps at ithelps.be
Wed Aug 27 09:06:34 CDT 2003
Please not for #3 that you have intelligent proxy too (MS proxy 2 and ISA server, but also bordermanager) that keep statistics of often visited websites and pro-activly (at low user access times like at night) downloads parts of the website. This means the data is already present when the user wants it. This is ofcourse only the case for static websites (not database driven). -----Original Message----- From: Drew Wutka [mailto:dbatech at wolfwares.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 7:38 AM To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Modems Just a few answers about your proxy questions. Proxies serve 3 purposes. #1. Security. Using a proxy server removes your users from being physically connected to the internet. This means that the users can see the internet, but the internet cannot see your users. #2. Monitoring. If all web activity goes through your proxy, you can monitor all web activity very easy from a centralized location. #3. Accellaration. When a hundred users access the same page, the proxy only needs to download the information once, and then it can send the data to the users from it's cache. In an environment, where there are a lot of computers, a proxy makes sense simply for #3. In a small office, or home environment, #3 provides little help, since repetitive site hits would be minimalized or non-existant. #2 would probably be unnecessary too. As far as #1 is concerned, if you are behind a router, that is assigning a private IP such as 192.168.0.2, then you have #1 covered. Drew ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steven W. Erbach" <serbach at new.rr.com> To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com> Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 8:00 PM Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Modems > Erwin, > > I appreciate your response. > > >> Did you checked that the pc has no firewall activated. Sometimes > >> people > forget to disable the firewall on a pc when that pc was first > connected directly to the internet and connecting it afterwards to a > local area network that has it's on router/firewall. << > > Well, our Novell network is about as simple as can be: file server, 2 > Windows 2000 Pro workstations, a Windows XP Home workstation (my > sons'), and > once in a while there's a Windows 98 workstation logged in...and very > occasionally a Windows 95 laptop. There is no router nor hardware > firewall on the LAN. > > There are a number of things confusing me about this problem. I had > installed the Sygate personal firewall on the XP Home w/s a couple of weeks > ago, before the problems began with not getting an Internet > connection. I had also installed the 15 day eval edition of Norton > AntiVirus in case Blaster wanted to get on board. Then my oldest son > restored the XP w/s to a > point a few weeks ago to see if maybe a game installation had munged things > up. That restore got rid of Sygate...but left the Norton AV eval intact!?!? > > Also, that Windows 98 workstation has had problems logging onto the > Internet, too. I don't mind that so much since it's not a w/s that we > use a > lot. But yesterday it started to connect just fine to the Internet! > Right now it's connected to the Microsoft web site and is checking for > Windows 98 > updates! > > >> I also would advice you to use the proxy server from your server. > I cant recall the name of it (its included in Netware). However, this > will make your environment more complex, but more secure and somewhat > faster (due to active and intelligent proxy). << > > Is that really necessary? And when you say "faster", I'm already > connected by a cable modem that consistently gives me 1200 kbps > download speed. I don't want to sound like I'm whining. I have a good > horseback knowledge of Novell, but I've never dinked with anything > relating to proxies. I haven't read about them, I don't know what to > do to configure it on my server. This doesn't seem to me to be a > reasonable option...especially considering that everything was working > fine 3-4 weeks ago and had been working fine for over a year. Why > should I now consider setting up a proxy server? > > >> Please also note that your cable modem/router (built in DHCP > >> server) can > be limited to a certain number of clients. You can avoid this by using > the proxy in your server. << > > That seems like a positive thing, but I talked to my cable modem > supplier sometime back and the tech support guy indicated that there > wasn't any limit > on the number of workstations I could hook up on our home office > network. > > It looks to me like I'll have to devote some hard study to these > issues. Nothing I've read here or found in my searches has given me > any hints about > what is happening. I know that there are several things happening here > but my usual laying-on-of-hands hasn't worked. Time for more skull > sweat, I guess. > > Thanks again for your reply. > > Steve Erbach > Scientific Marketing > Neenah, WI > > "Eventually, socialists run out of other people's money." > -- Lady Margaret Thatcher > > > _______________________________________________ > dba-Tech mailing list > dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com