MIS-Assignment # 0

Before joining to Vgsom , IIT KGP as a MBA student, I decided to take a good long break from the hectic schedule of my office life to be prepared for more exhaustive life in a good B-school. So, I started to my native place for being amidst in peace for few days.

Eventually, I met some my good old friends there. One day, one of my friends called me and asked me to come to his home. He told that he wanted to show me something.

I marked my foot on his doorstep…

Mriganka: 

                Hi, please come in.

Me:            

                Hello, you are looking so excited. What happened?

Mriganka:

I have applied for an internet connection for months back.

But you know the vendors here…it seems to be their liability…anyway finally they have provided the connection, gave me some username and password…and told me not to share these information with anybody else…now you tell me what kind of secret is that??

Me:        

Actually, they are absolutely right. Internet enables you to connect to people anywhere around the world, make you aware of innumerable incidents that are happening right now around any corner of the globe. But, while the world become shorter and shorter, the theft of privacy is becoming more and more obvious.

Mriganka:

Sorry, but truly speaking I can’t understand any single word you just spoke…

Me:          

Ok, let me make you understand in a very simple way. You must have understood that when you browse through certain websites at your local machine it must send the request to somewhere else. Your request will hit on “Web Server” which in turn accesses the business application.

Mriganka:

Ok.Got some idea. But where are the information are actually kept??

Me:

Very good question. That business application will forward the request to its database client program which in turn sends to database server. Now it is there where all the information has been kept. Now you can visualize the structure to some extent I guess.

Mriganka:

Yes. But why cannot we have the data and application in the same machine? What is the need of these clients and servers?

Me:

Actually this is the evolved type of architecture. This is known as “Three tier architecture”. What you are talking about is the simpler type of arrangement which pre-exists it.

Mriganka:

Can you please elaborate on this? I am finding myself interested.

Me: 

You must understand that the building blocks of all these are: data and applications those will access the data.

So, at first data and applications should be distinct.

Mriganka:

Can’t they reside in the same machine?

Me:

Obviously they can reside. But they should be logically different. But what if your friend wants to access the same data?

Mriganka:

So, data are used to keep in separate location and those applications on respective machines. But how all of them can access the data??There must be some wires which joins all these machines?

Me:

 I must appreciate your comprehension. Those wires what are you just referred is known as network, “Local area network” to be specific.

Mriganka:

That seems to be fairly simple. Then why complicate the situation??

Me:

 Now suppose, thousands of users like you trying to reach for the data, so just think of the traffic within those wires. So, performance will slow down. That is why application has been cut into two: the user interface which you are going to use and the actual way how they will perform your request has been kept somewhere else.

Mriganka:

So that’s why internet came into picture??

Me:

You are absolutely right .Actually, prior to internet there are something called WAN i.e. wide area network etc…

But all those are for private use...means they can be accessed by very few people who are in a network. It’s the internet which is public.

Mriganka:

Can you elaborate it with an example??

Me:

Sure. Suppose you have gone to a bank to deposit some money. They just typed your details in some systems and your account will be credited. Now, this bank’s people are connected to a secure and private network which we can’t be able to see. That is intranet. But, you can check your account balance through internet. So, it became public. Simple.

Mriganka:

 Now I got some holistic idea about these systems or architecture what you may say. Thank you for such lucid explanation which gives me the whole picture.

Me:

 You are welcome. Don’t forget to keep your username and password secret.

Mriganka:

No. I’ll remember that. I will consult you anything I want to know and best of luck for your MBA. May we will meet again for a party after 2 years. Please don’t take more time than that. All the best. Bye.

Me:

Bye. See you after 3…oops 2 years….