i.CanDoIt® Web Client
and Web Server
The i.CanDoIt® package includes both a web server and a web client. This discussion will attempt to summarize what that means.
First, let's get the terms straight. If you are on your PC browsing Google, you are the client, and Google is the server. The person or thing doing the browsing is the client, and the thing "serving" or providing the web pages is the server.
i.CanDoIt® as a Web Server
Viewing i.CanDoIt® as a server is relatively easy to comprehend. If you connect your PC and an AddMe III to an Ethernet hub - assuming you have the IP address stuff figured out - you would use your standard PC based browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc) to view the pages served by i.CanDoIt.
The web pages served by i.CanDoIt are used to configure the system, view data, set thresholds, upload files, etc. A demo copy of the web site contained in a typical AddMe III is linked in to the left.
i.CanDoIt® as a Web Client
Client means the i.CanDoIt device is now going to effectively browse some other web site. What's really happening here is that the URL used to access the remote server contains parameters that constitute data which i.CanDoIt wants to send to that server. That server then responds by serving up an HTML page which contains data the server wants to send back to the i.CanDoIt.
One example of where this is used is in maintaining the DynDNS dynamic IP address entry in the DNS data base. The i.CanDoIt knows exactly what the DynDNS server expects, and what that server will respond with.
The other example where i.CanDoIt's client capability is powerful is in data logging to a central server. The i.CanDoIt device will periodically use an HTTP Get to log data, and optionally take back configuration parameters. This requires a specially configured server. Any developers interested in exploiting this capability need to contact support@csimn.com to obtain information about the API for using this interface.
Why go to all that trouble?
One reason is to centralize the collection and redistribution of data. By collecting all the data on a central server, a central web site providing an overview of many remote sites becomes possible.
Another reason is to simplify installation at each remote site. By limiting Internet access to browser connections as used by the web client, DSL and cable routers will function as shipped with no further router configuration or requirements for port routing. If you can plug in your laptop and find Google, you can plug in i.CanDoIt and expect it to find its server. No other network configuration is needed.
