LTER DataBits Newsletter Article- Fall 2001


Moving Toward Network Identity
Karen Baker and James Brunt

A research site's internet address includes its domain name and
establishes a site's online identity.  An appropriate web site address
provides a measure of recognition and understanding as well as improved
access when the path name is easily remembered.  Two technologies 
used together create alternate identities for a web server - DNS aliases
and virtual servers.  If you have only one web server and manage it
yourself then any number of DNS aliases can be added to that server.
Virtual servers today can be name-based instead of IP-based so provide a 
method to create alternate web identities for a web server for sites that 
don't host their own web sites or that build their website as a sub-site 
of another organization. Although a Web site's success depends
on a variety of elements including content, design, functionality and
server power, issues of identity and memorability are equally important.

Currently, with the many Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, there are
a variety of internet address forms reflecting each site's local context. For
instance,
        PAL:  http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/lter
        SEV:  http://sevilleta.unm.edu
        SBC:  http://mistral.lscf.ucsb.edu
Since the LTER sites are partnered together into a research network supported
by the LTER Network Office (lternet.edu) and early on established the
tradition of identifying each site with a 3 letter code, there exists a
natural naming schema for a set of virtual servers:
         http://pal.lternet.edu
         http://sev.lternet.edu
         http://sbc.lternet.edu
These three are examples of sites that have already established their
complementary identities.  As a result, either of their above addresses 
brings up the site's web home page.

The LTER Network Office is ready to help each interested LTER site
to establish their 'LTER network' identity.  To establish name-based virtual
servers where sites are managed as sub-site or by someone else,
there are two sides to configure: the network server-side and the site 
host-side configuration.  On the network server-side an entry is made 
to the DNS table with an alias for the virtual server in the form 
site.rootname.edu (ie pal.lternet.edu) pointing to the host-side server
(guardian.icess.ucsb.edu).  Each alias (ie pal.lternet.edu) can have a 
virtual server entry associated with it in the host-side web server 
configuration file.  Thus, site implementation is a straightforward 
procedure requiring an individual with system privileges to place a few 
lines of code in their site's web server configuration file.

When someone asks 'What's in a name?', the answer may be 'network identity'.
When a site is part of several differing contextual domains, it
need not be limited to a single web identity represented by a single
domain name.  The ability to establish virtual servers and hosts provides
flexibility today in terms of network identity that can benefit loosely
federated partnerships.