I met John via E-mail about my Web Space provider, Clearlight and subsequently learned that he had been responsible for creating a real-live INTRANET at one of his community middle schools, all for free because of his professional focus that students should and must learn to use current technology. When I heard what he had done, I asked him if he’d be willing to teach others how to do it and, consistent with the spirit that made him work 60 hour volunteer weeks for what he believed in, he agreed. The following is largely applicable to both Macs and PCs as it concerns configuring any network. The detail with which John has explained some of the concepts makes this piece a working manual for anyone setting up an I.P.(Internet Protocol) network for the first time. Highly recommended. [Ed.]

TIPS: I understand that you created an intranet at a junior high/ middle school in the States. I’d like to start by asking you to give a short description of exactly what you did.

John Love: I designed and implemented a complete Macintosh INTRAnet. This network is based on AppleTalk®/LocalTalk® and consists of a combined World-Wide-Web, FTP, Gopher and password-protected E-mail Server. The Server computer is a Macintosh PowerPC 7100/90 and the 55 Clients are a combination of Macintosh 550s, LCIIs and LCs.

With this INTRAnet, the kids are designing their own HTML Home Pages, including graphics, and uploading them to a special folder that is reserved on the PowerPC Server. This folder is reserved for student use. In addition, the kids can download files placed in another special folder that we placed on the PowerPC. Also, the kids can send E-mail to one another. The student who receives the E-mail can read it assuming they correctly enter their own Password.

It should be noted here that the HTML source that governs the Web Pages for the Server itself (e.g., “www.yourschool.edu”) is protected via password-control and, therefore, cannot be changed by the students.

The governing Server software resides on the Server computer, naturally. A very popular piece of Server software is WebSTAR®. I used Intercon’s “InterServer Publisher for the Macintosh” for the Web, FTP and Gopher Server ... VERY user-friendly and very, very good! It is this Server software, for example, that provides the password-control I just talked about. For the E-mail Server, I used Apple’s “Apple Internet Mail Server” (AIMS) which also provides password protection so a student can read only his/her mail.

One other comment -- this is NOT an INTERnet, that is, it is self-contained within the computer lab/school building. It does NOT communicate with the INTERnet that resides outside the school. Remember ... “INTRA” means “within”.

TIPS:For those who don’t know about AppleTalk® can you say what you think they need to know to follow what you did?

John Love: The Server Mac and each of the Client (student) Macs are connected via a AppleTalk® or LocalTalk® network. The supporting hardware consists of lots and lots of standard telephone cable and a standard PhoneNet®-type connector for each computer. Typically, this connector goes into the Mac’s Printer Port, and the telephone cable goes from one of the telephone jacks in this connector to another connector adjacent to another Mac ... this second connector goes into this second Mac’s Printer Port ... and so forth and so on ... ultimately ending at the Server Mac.

This AppleTalk® or LocalTalk® network already existed when I first started. This pre-existing array was and still is used to enable the many Macs to share just a few printers.

In short, this hardware array of cable and connectors now does double duty: printer-sharing and networking.

Before I proceed further, one insert ... the technology of AppleTalk® or LocalTalk® is limited to about 30 computers ... so what do you do when you have a computer lab full of 56 Macs as we did. Simple ... add a software ROUTER which allows the Lab Supervisor to bounce back-and-forth between multiple computer SETS, for example, “LAB A” and “LAB B”. With the software ROUTER in place, only one computer set can be hooked up to the Server at one time. This ROUTER software can exist on the same Server Mac or on another Mac specifically designated for this purpose ... buyer’s choice!

This printer-sharing and router-set designation are both accomplished via the standard Chooser Desk Accessory so familiar to all Mac afficionados.

The networking is accomplished via the Server software I’ve already mentioned and the MacTCP Control Panel. Each Mac’s MacTCP Control Panel is set for “Manual Addressing” with a unique IP (Internet Protocol) Address. This address is a 32-bit long number that is unique to one-and-only-one computer and is placed on the “front side” of each Mac’s MacTCP Control Panel. Another number, entered on the “back side” of each Mac’s MacTCP Control Panel, is the Server name and the Server’s IP Address. So this last entry is identical from Mac-to-Mac. However, the individual Mac’s IP Address changes from Mac-to-Mac. Analogously, this “hodge-podge” can be viewed as many “sources” and one “destination”.

In the scenario I just painted, “Manual Addressing” simply means that each Mac’s IP Address never changes. This is okay for a relatively small number of computers ... however, when the number of computers grows exponentially as it will when connected to the outside world, this would be changed to “Server” which means that the Server changes the address of the Client depending on the total traffic demand.

I selected “Manual Addressing” because I only had to deal with 56 computers. If this network encompassed many more computers, say in multiple buildings, then I would select “Server Addressing” on the “back side” of each Mac’s MacTCP Control Panel.

TIPS:One of the things that got me excited about your accomplishment was hearing that you didn’t need to install Ethernet cards if you already had an Apple Talk network going. That would save time and money.

What would you say the benefits of going with TCP/IP on AppleTalk® are?

John:You just answered your own question ... “time and money” (disregarding the age-old economic equation “time IS money”).

TIPS:Would you recommend that schools with no network now, start with AppleTalk (if they’re working at Mac-oriented schools)?

John:Absolutely ... the impetus of “time and money” works every time ... especially if you wish to set up a fully functional prototype that can effectively demonstrate the technology. Perhaps you’d like to set-up a mini-network on just a few computers to demonstrate the doability for the entire building; or perhaps you’d set up an entire computer lab as we did in order to demonstrate the doability of connecting to the INTERnet outside the building.

Is any energy lost by setting up something that momentarily appears to be temporary? ABSOLUTELY NOT ... worst case is that you’d have to change all those individual MacTCP IP Addresses when you convert over to an INTERnet ... TRUST ME, it’s really no big deal at all.

Before I lose my train-of-thought on this Address issue ... okay, you’ve got your INTRAnet humming and purring ... you show your boss and he/she is convinced, so convinced that $$$ [dollars?] suddenly appear ... you call your local phone company or other Internet Service Provider ... they come into your school and provide you with a hardware ROUTER ... set up a pool of IP Addresses specifically for your Site ... you then divy up that pool among your school’s Macs.

Note that this is a hardware ROUTER. This “beast” routes the communication from your school’s Macs to the actual INTERnet outside the school. Typically this hardware houses an internal high-speed Network modem, even two or three Network modems.

The key to effective back-and-forth communication with the INTERnet is speed and continuous flow of requests for information AND the associated “served” information. These Network modems do their part in conjunction with a special high speed telephone line drop to your school, typically 64 kbs or even higher. The continuous-flow parameter is solved by the presence of multiple modems ... while one is busy serving information, the other kicks in.

The key here is that the Internet Service Provider TELLS you what addresses you MUST use because, after all, this Provider must “coordinate” this pool of addresses with their other customers and this group of customers is the WORLD.

Let’s face it folks ... I got the BIGGEST HIGH at 9 P.M. in the school’s computer lab when I had every blasted Mac up, jumping from Mac-to-Mac setting up individual MacTCP settings.

Go on ... twist my arm anytime, folks!

What were the problems you faced because of choosing this approach?

John:There were absolutely no problems that I recall ... all the TCP/IP design work, all the HTML code crunching, the CGI code crunching et cetera, et cetera, et cetera HAS TO BE DONE ANYWAY [in order to run TCP/IP on any type of network].

Except for the changing of MacTCP Addresses, IT’S ALL DONE, DONE, DONE!!!

Ethernet can run at 10mbs. How fast can AppleTalk run TCP/IP? What are the downsides of AppleTalk wiring for TCP/IP?

John: AppleTalk® practically runs at 210 kbs and can support up to about 30 computers. Ethernet® practically runs at 3-4 mbs and can support up to about 256 computers. The 10 mbs figure you mentioned is the theoretical maximum.

No question about it, such enhancements are worth it ... BUT ... AppleTalk® does work ... I’ve proven it ... AND it is clearly more than adequate for substantively proving the technology, and then some!!!

I remember in an earlier letter that you said you took a couple of days to figure out the IP numbering scheme for your network? Can you explain why that was important?

John:I’ve already stated that EACH computer must have a unique IP Address, but I’ve not told you WHY. Now is the time because the necessity for each computer having its own IP Address is the focus of the importance you ask for.

When an individual Client (student) Mac is using a World-Wide-Web Browser or when the student is trying to send E-mail to a friend, the student’s Mac is doing the Browsing or the E-mailing. The student’s Mac is the source of the information request and the provider of the requested information is the computer Server. In short, the Client requests information and the Server provides the information.

When the Client is browsing, for example, the Client Mac sends out the request “Find such and such Web Site!” BEFORE this request actually leaves the Client computer, the Client’s MacTCP prefixes all sorts of arithmetic to the actual request. Part of this prefix, or HEADER, is the actual address of the Client Mac. Get real ... the Server HAS to know where in the blazes to send the requested information ... RIGHT?!? Otherwise, we’d be equivalently mailing a letter with no return address on the envelope!

So the HEADER, followed by the body of the information request, leaves the Client, looking and looking for a Server, the provider of the info. What the Client is actually looking for is the Server’s name or the Server’s IP Address which you planted on the “back side” of each Client’s MacTCP Control Panel. ”Ah-Ah!” Found it about 20 yards of cabling away! Okay ... the Server software, my InterServer Publisher for the Macintosh sees the request and sends back the “poop”.

Okay ... the school in which I was working is part of a group of ten schools and this group is called a District. So ... I started with the BIG PICTURE, the School District ... designed a pool of IP Addresses for the entire District ... divided that District pool into 11 parts, one part for the District Offices themselves, and one part for each of the 10 schools in our District. Now ... I had a pool of addresses for JUST our school ... then I was near the finish line, because all I had to do was divide this 1/11th size pool into 56 parts.

Remember, miles above when I said each IP address was a 32-bit long number ... well, the last 8-bits has a maximum decimal value of 255 ... so I could have lived with up to 255 computers in our school ... well, actually the real maximum is 254, and that techese literally gives me a headache, so I’ll pass for the moment.

Let’s get real here with a concrete example ... note that each set of 8-bits (called an “octet”) is separated by a period and that each octet is represented here as a decimal number. Counting from left-to-right, the 3rd octet depicts the district school -- actually only part of the 3rd octet because this entire octet could house 254 schools, right? The last or 4th octet represents a specific computer, called a “node”.

District-wide: 188.155.110.1 thru 188.155.120.254
(count ’em ... that’s 11 sites, with 254 computers each)

District offices: 188.155.110.1 thru 188.155.110.254
School number 1 : 188.155.111.1 thru 188.155.111.254
School number 2 : 188.155.112.1 thru 188.155.112.254

etc.

So, our school, naturally School #1, has a Server and bunches of Clients.

Server Mac : 188.155.111.1
Client Macs : 188.155.111.2 thru 188.155.112.254

TIPS: Do you know of good on-line resources to help people trying to follow in your footsteps?

John Love: I don’t know of any World-Wide-Web addresses just “off the top of my head”, but I assure you there are a couple of good books to start with:

• Dr. Lincoln Stein’s How to Set Up and Maintain a World Wide Web Site is at the top of my list.
• Any one of several books that teach HTML coding.
• A document published by Rutgers University entitled Introduction to Internet Protocols ... shouldn’t be too difficult searching the Web for this beauty.
• If you’re really hep, learn PERL so you can develop CGI Scripts or at least modify the many good ones already in the Public Domain. By, by the way CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface and basically is a program that helps YOUR network communicate, Client-to-Client, Client-to-Server and ultimately YOUR Server and the WORLD-Wide-Web.

TIPS: How do you recommend people sell the idea of an intranet to their schools?

Not necessarily in the order of importance ...

• Logic ... which focuses on the true customer of ANY school, namely kids ... the technology is HERE, the curiosity of kids is always HERE ... so go for it.

• Bucks for an INTRAnet... the PowerPC and all the AppleTalk® cabling was in place ... so the hardware already existed. I then made an abundant amount of personal long distance calls to software vendors and acquired about $1,600’s worth of free software. I also personally purchased another $400’s worth. Bottom line for hardware and software is about $6,300 if purchased new. Assuming you’ve set up a network before, then bump the ante by 3 months of intense work and it’s DONE!

• Bucks for an INTERnet... it is relatively inexpensive IF you take advantage of the many fine companies which cost-share worthwhile projects such as Internet Connectivity with K-12 schools.

  For example, Ameritech, the local telephone carrier throughout the state of Michigan has such a program which they call “AmeriTech TEAMDATA.” I have personally spoken with several school districts and Michigan counties for that matter ... they all praise AmeriTech’s program.

  Via this TEAMDATA program, the entire School District could have been hooked to the INTERnet for about $48,600 for three total years. On ‘ first blush’ this may seem to be alot, but the amount is ‘ whittled down’ considerably via voluntary support from local congressional representatives. As a matter of fact, one of our representatives offered to “pass the hat” to local CEOs on our behalf!!!

TIPS: If you had the chance, wouldn’t you go with Ethernet? Who should follow your way?

John Love: Absolutely ... just the speed enhancement (210 kbs versus 3-4 mbs) is phenomenal ... but Ethernet cabling and Ethernet connectors are pricey.

Such use will eventually have to be done when you convert to an INTERnet, but I solemnly assure you AppleTalk®/LocalTalk® works super! for an INTRAnet.

One last set of comments ...

1. BACK UP the blasted Server software ... and keep a paper copy of all your MacTCP/IP design arithmetic ... I have enough of a difficulty remembering today’s date, much less 56 32-bit long numbers.
2. Put an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) on your Server computer ... no electrons ... no Server ... hey, this logic works for me!
3. Put “FoolProof®” or comparable software on each student computer so that he/she canNOT mess with the settings on the MacTCP Control Panel.

Visit John’s Award-winning Web Site

... or visit the Teacher’s Internet Pages Site

TIPS is Copyrighted by David M. Bucknell ©,1996-97

TIPS’ authors retain all rights to their work.

Contact John Love for permission to use this article at jolove@up.net .

Send comments about TIPS to David Bucknell, dbuckcas@iteachnet.com

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