1. What Is the IPL? A database-driven website that generates dynamic content Actually, we currently maintain 5 sites and are developing 2 more (in Arabic and Spanish) 4 Sun servers and 2 Intel servers Custom-built applications to handle content generation, database administration, and reference questions

2. www.ipl.org (What visitors see)

3. hypatia.ipl.org IPL Database Administration Application

4. Arabic Version (Under Development)

5. Biblioteca Pública por Internet (Under Development)

6. Virtual Library of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium

7. The Argus Clearinghouse

8. The Server Machines Database server machine (also holds webservers for AIHEC, hypatia, and clearinghouse.net) Two production application/web server machines Two test/development servers One statistics/test server Online Text Collection (the Reading Room) is hosted on a server belonging to the U of M Digital Library Production Service

9. Servers From a Hardware Perspective thales.si.umich.edu Application Server (Browse) URLs served: www.ipl.org www1.ipl.org ipl.org:2000 Software: Apache web server mod_perl LDB Perl modules (Browse) Mason components damon.si.umich.edu Application Server (Test) URLs served: Secret Software: Apache web server mod_perl Devel LDB Perl modules Devel Mason components Database Server (Test) Software: Test MySQL database aristotle.si.umich.edu Application Server (Browse) URLs served: www.ipl.org www2.ipl.org ipl.org:2000 Software: Apache web server mod_perl LDB Perl modules (Browse) Mason components DNS Server Associates name www.ipl.org with hosts aristotle and thales Database Server Software: 2 MySQL databases: Master database Working database hypatia.si.umich.edu Application Server (Admin) URLs served: hypatia.ipl.org Software: Apache web server mod_perl LDB Perl modules (Admin) Mason components QRC Server URLs served: qrc.ipl.org:7700 Software: Apache web server QRC Perl modules qrcadmin utility

10. The Database I Many tables Many relationships

11. The Database II Some important tables are: Item Textfield Collection Item_cat

12. Apache and mod_perl Apache is the industry standard. Mod_perl is better than CGI for creating dynamic content. Allows us to use Mason

13. Hypatia: the LDB Perl Modules Store information in the database with all the correct relationships between tables Return Full Information Records for processing by Mason components Maintain the cache to speed up performance

14. Mason Allows us to intersperse HTML and Perl code (HTML for display, Perl for processing) Allows us to create components for headers, footers, etc., throughout site. (1-step updating of whole site) Allows us to have a default page layout (don’t have to have an index.html file for every page) Filter allows last-minute translation of interface to desired language

15. The QRC Server Receives reference questions and routes them to QRC administrator Tracks the question throughout its lifetime, including archive Role-base access determines who sees what qrcadmin utility allows administrator to manage access Older, more primitive Perl code

16. Servers from a Software Perspective Database Server Software: 2 MySQL databases: Master database Working database Host machine: hypatia.si.umich.edu DNS Server Associates www.ipl.org with aristotle and thales Application Server (Browse) URLs served: www.ipl.org www2.ipl.org ipl.org:2000 Host machine: thales.si.umich.edu Software: Apache web server mod_perl LDB Perl modules (Browse) Mason components Application Server (Test) URLs served: Secret Host machine: damon.si.umich.edu Software: Devel MySQL database Apache web server mod_perl Devel LDB Perl modules Devel Mason components Application Server (Admin) URLs served: hypatia.ipl.org Host machine: hypatia.si.umich.edu Software: Apache web server mod_perl LDB Perl modules (Admin) Mason components Application Server (Browse) URLs served: www.ipl.org www1.ipl.org ipl.org:2000 Host machine: aristotle.si.umich.edu Software: Apache web server mod_perl LDB Perl modules (Browse) Mason components QRC Server URLs served: qrc.ipl.org:7700 Host machine: hypatia.si.umich.edu Software: Apache web server QRC Perl modules qrcadmin utility