Comparing Web Applications
Research 3: Comparing Web Applications Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is what enables an application to run on a web server and packages it into a website form that people can access. This is an older technology that has many flaws but served a purpose for a significant period of time. The major downside to CGI is that each individual person that logs on has a program ran just for them. This creates a lot of overhead and is not very efficient. The major security flaw is that you’re allowing anyone who tries to access your site permission to start running programs so you can imagine how this could get sticky. I would consider this a legacy technology due to the fact that it is outdated and not used in most instances. Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) is the second generation version of CGI. Developers wanted to move away from having to run individual programs for each user and ISAPI satisfied those needs. There are 2 types of ISAPI although only 1 is still being used, first is ISAPI extensions; which utilize information from a database or information supplied by a client using a form and enables in-process applications that are generated dynamically. (Zacker, 2008) The second and less commonly used form is ISAPI Filters which is a routine that operates between the HTTP server and the HTTP listener. It is used to provide authentication, encryption and data compression. This form of ISAPI is out of date due to ISAPI extensions which run more efficiently. (Zacker, 2008) Server Side Includes (SSI) is another web server program that will cause the server to scan outgoing files and execute any commands or directives in the file before it sends it to the recipient. SSI has been around for a while and is not really practical to run for every web page due to the fact that the server will be working very hard to complete all the commands but it is still recommended in a limited capacity due to its simplicity. Active
Bibliography: Zacker, C. (2008). Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration. Wiley.