Microsoft .NET Server Solutions for the Enterprise

To implement a retail Web site using the Microsoft technology described in this chapter, the following .NET Enterprise Server products are required:

• Microsoft Commerce Server
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

If the Web site is to be integrated with Microsoft Content Management Server in order to provide more user-friendly content authoring and content management workflow, the Content Connector for Commerce Server add-on to Content Management Server and Content Management Server is required. For more information about this integration possibility, see Chapter 16 for information about solutions using Content Management Server.

Note the lack of version/year numbers in the list above. As this book is going to press, new versions of several of these products are soon to be released. By the time you are reading this, Commerce Server 2002 should already be available, or will be shortly. Content Management Server 2002 is scheduled for release shortly thereafter. If and when Content Connector will be revised to support these new versions is not known at this time. Interested suppliers should refer directly to the Microsoft Web site for more precise information about release dates, software requirements, and version compatibility.

Companies that want to develop a Web site that incorporates the functionality of both Commerce Server and Content Management Server might want to consider acquiring the Microsoft Solution for Internet Business (MSIB), and especially if they are considering making use of Microsoft or one of its certified partners to help with the implementation. The MSIB bundles the required servers and implementation assistance into a single package.

Site programmers working with Commerce Server, either in conjunction with Content Management Server or by itself, are likely to want Microsoft Visual Studio. This is especially true if the 2002 version of Commerce Server is being used. As with all of the .NET architecture, Visual Studio.NET is not required to create Web applications that use the .NET Framework. On the other hand, it is hard to envision why a site programmer would prefer to use any other tool. If the .NET features of Commerce Server 2002 are going to be used, also using Visual Studio.NET will almost certainly provide a significant productivity boost.

Finally, depending on the deployment scenario and the firewall requirements of the Web site, Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA) could have a role to play.