Determining your requirements

Where to start

The protocols that NetCache provides in its e-Commerce technology suite provide a great deal of flexibility. You need to

Decide your monitoring, management, and control requirements
Determine which protocols that NetCache provides meet your requirements

Monitoring and control components

Organizations that deploy application servers are commonly interested in including one or more of the following components in their deployment schemes.

Component	Defined as...
Authentication	Who the user is
Authorization	What the user can do
Accounting	What the user did

Not all the protocols in the NetCache e-Commerce technology suite include all the components listed in the previous table, nor do all protocols provide the same level of functionality of a particular component. You can use one or more protocols to achieve the results that you need.

For example, is it sufficient for the appliance to push real-time data to your application server but provide no other controls (that is, provide only an accounting function)? Do you also need authentication?

The remainder of this chapter helps you understand the protocols in the e-Commerce technology suite that are available and the monitoring and control components that are associated with each protocol.