EZLibrary Using Azure Services

Project Documentation
Created By: Paul Fernandes & Shubham Chougule

Project Guide: John Devassy,

12th October, 2023
Vikram Patil, Suraj Waghmare.
 ABSTRACT
This project report presents the design and implementation of EZLibrary, an E-library that
offers subscription-based access to various books using various Azure services. EZLibrary is
hosted on two separate Azure VMs and then load-balanced using Application Gateway and
backed up using Recovery Service Vault, it also uses Azure DNS Zone. EZLibrary also
implements a points system that incentivizes readers for their reading activity and displays
them on a leader board. Moreover, EZLibrary integrates a recommendation engine, Azure
personalizer that proposes books to users based on their preferences and reading history. The
report elaborates on the technical details, challenges, and benefits of EZLibrary, as well as
the future directions for enhancement.
 Table of Contents
1. Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................... 1
1.1.Fundamentals .................................................................................. 1
1.2.Objectives ....................................................................................... 1
1.3.Scope ............................................................................................... 1
2. Chapter 2: System requirements and specifications ............................. 3
2.1.What is SRS? .................................................................................. 3
2.2.Role of SRS .................................................................................... 3
2.3.Requirements Specification Document .......................................... 3
2.4.Functional requirements ................................................................. 3
2.5.Non-Functional Requirements ........................................................ 4
2.6.Performance .................................................................................... 4
2.7.Software Requirements ................................................................... 4
2.8.Hardware Requirements ................................................................. 4
3. Chapter 3: Literature Survey ................................................................. 5
3.1.Paperwork ....................................................................................... 5
3.2.Proposed model .............................................................................. 6
3.3.Related work ................................................................................... 7
4. Chapter 4: Azure Services Used ........................................................... 8
5. Chapter 5: Implementation ................................................................... 16
6. Chapter 6: Website Overview ............................................................... 22
7. Chapter 7: Benefits ............................................................................... 29
8. Chapter 8: Conclusion .......................................................................... 30
 CHAPTER 1
1: Introduction
E-books have become a popular and convenient way of accessing a variety of books online.
However, finding the right e-book for one’s interest and preference can be challenging,
especially with the abundance of choices available. Moreover, reading e-books can be a
solitary and passive activity, lacking the social and motivational aspects of traditional
reading. To address these issues, I have developed an e-book library that provides a
personalized and engaging reading experience for its users. The e-book library allows users to
subscribe and access an enormous collection of e-books from different genres and categories.
It also features a recommendation engine that suggests books to users based on their reading
history and preferences. Furthermore, the e-book library rewards users with points as they
read books, which are displayed on a leader board that ranks users according to their reading
achievements. This creates a sense of competition and fun among the users, as well as
encouraging them to read more books. The main objective of this project report is to describe
the design, implementation, and evaluation of the e-book library system.
1.1 Fundamentals:
Fundamental steps in building the elibrary are:
• Planning the purpose, scope, and functions of the elibrary, as well as the budget,
timeline, and stakeholders involved.
• Designing the elibrary architecture, interface, and features, as well as the digital
collection, metadata, and access policies.
• Implementing the elibrary system using appropriate software, hardware, and network
technologies, as well as testing and debugging the system.
• Evaluating the elibrary performance, usability, and user satisfaction, as well as
collecting feedback and data for improvement.
• Maintaining and updating the elibrary system, content, and services, as well as
ensuring security and backup measures.

1.2 Objectives:
The objectives that I took into consideration while creating a this elibrary.

• To design and develop an e-book library system that can store and retrieve many e-books
from different genres and categories.
• To implement a recommendation engine that can suggest e-books to users based on their
reading history and preferences with an accuracy of at least 80% within four months.
• To create a gamified reading experience that can reward users with points as they read
books and display their ranking on a leader board within two months.
• To evaluate the effectiveness, usability, and user satisfaction of the e-book library system
using surveys, interviews, and analytics within one month.
1.3 Scope:

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• To develop an e-book library system that provides subscription-based access to a large and
diverse collection of e-books.
• To implement a recommendation engine that suggests e-books to users based on their reading
history and preferences using machine learning techniques. • To create a gamified reading
experience that rewards users with points as they read books and displays their ranking on a
leader board.
• To evaluate the effectiveness, usability, and user satisfaction of the e-book library system
using quantitative and qualitative methods.
• To limit the project to a certain number of e-books, users, and genres, and to use existing
software tools and platforms for the development and deployment of the system.

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 CHAPTER 2
2.System requirements and specifications
2.1 What is SRS?
Software requirements Specifications (SRS) is the starting point of the software developing activity.
As the system grew more complex it became evident that the goal of the entire system cannot be
easily comprehended hence the need for the requirement phase arose. The software project is initiated
by the client needs. The SRS is the means of translating the idea of the mind of client (the input) into
a formal document (the output of the required phase.)
The SRS phase consists of two basic activities:
Problem/ requirement analysis: The process is order and more nebulous of the two deals with
understanding the problem the goals and constraints.
Requirement specifications: Here the focus is on specifying what has been found giving analysis such
as representation specification language and tools and checking the specification and addresses during
this activity requirement phase terminates with the production of the validate SRS document
producing the SRS document is the basic goal of this phase.

2.2 Role of SRS:

The purpose of the software requirement specification is to reduce the communication gap between
the clients and the developers. The software requirement specification is the medium through which
the client and user needs are accurately specified. It forms the basis of software development. A good
SRS should satisfy all the parties involved in the system.

2.3 Requirements Specification Document:

A software requirement specification is a document that describes the nature of a project software or
application. In simple words SRS document is a manual of a project provided It is preferred before
you kick -start a project application This document is also known by the name SRS report software
document A software document is primarily prepared for a project software of any kind of application
There are set of guidelines to be followed while preparing the software requirement specification
document. This includes the purpose, scope, functional and non-functional requirements, software,
and hardware requirements of the project. In addition to this, it also contains the information about
environmental condition required Safety and security requirements software quality attributes of the
project etc.

2.4 Functional requirements:

For documenting the functional requirements, the set of functionalities supported by the system are to
be specified. A function can be specified by identifying the state at which data is to be input to the
system Its input data domain, the output domain, and the type of processing to be carried on the input
data to obtain the output data Functional require Define specific behaviour of function of the
application.

Following other functional requirements:

FR.1 After registration, the details in the database.

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 FR.2 Entering login details should show users data.
FR.3 The login page should redirect to the homepage.
FR.4 The homepage should be shown perfectly with all the menu options.
FR.5 After clicking on any option, the user should redirect to the page.

2.5 Non-Functional Requirements:

A non-functional requirement is a requirement that specifies criteria that can be used to judge the
operation of the system, rather than specific behaviour. Especially these are the constraints the system
must work within.
Following are the non-functional requirements:
NFR.1 Website must be able to work properly without bugs.
NFR.2 Websites should not have any lag while showing the books or the store.
NFR.3 The database should access proper user data.
NFR.4 User with free membership should not be able to read books.

2.6 Performance:
The performance of the deployed website can be calculated by using following method: Measuring
How the performance of your application stands in relation to the defined performance goals and
helps you to identify the bottleneck that affected your application performance. It helps you identify
whether your application is moving towards or away from performance goals. Defining what you will
measure that is your matrix and defining the objective for each metric is critical part of your testing
plan. Performance objective includes the following: response time latency throughput or resource
utilization.

2.7 Software Requirements:

• Operating system: Windows 10/11 or MAC OS.
• Platform: Microsoft Azure
• Microsoft azure subscription(Free Trial or Azure for student or Pay-as-you-go)
• WORDPRESS for creation of website programming language: HTML, PHP
• Virtual machine OS: Linux (Debian 11)

2.8 Hardware Requirements:

• Processor: Intel core i3 and above
• Hard disk: 256 GB or above
• RAM: 4GB or above
• Internet: 1 Mbps or above
• Virtual machine ram: 1GB
• Virtual machine storage: 30Gb

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 CHAPTER 3
3.Literature Survey
3.1 Paperwork
The project is an eBook library that offers a subscription-based service for users who want to read
books online. The eBook library has several features that aim to enhance the reading experience and
encourage user engagement, such as:

• A point system that rewards users for reading books and completing challenges. Users can
earn points by reading books, writing reviews, rating books, sharing books, etc. The points
can be used to unlock more books, access premium features, or redeem rewards.
• A leaderboard that ranks users based on their points and achievements. Users can compete
with other readers and see their progress and performance. The leaderboard also provides
feedback and motivation for users to read more books and improve their skills.
• A recommendation engine that suggests books to users based on their preferences, interests,
reading history, and ratings. The recommendation engine uses machine learning algorithms to
analyse user data and provide personalized and diverse recommendations. The
recommendation engine also helps users discover new books and genres that they might
enjoy.
The project is important and relevant to the field of eBook libraries because it addresses some of the
challenges and opportunities that eBook libraries face in the digital age, such as:

• How to attract and retain users who have many options and alternatives for reading books
online.
• How to provide a satisfying and engaging reading experience that meets the needs and
expectations of diverse types of readers.
• How to leverage data and technology to enhance the quality and variety of eBook offerings
and services.
• How to create a sense of community and social interaction among readers who share a
common passion for books.
The project aims to contribute to the field of eBook libraries by providing a novel and innovative
solution that combines gamification, competition, personalization, and socialization elements to create
a fun and rewarding reading environment for users.
eBook libraries are digital platforms that provide access to a limited and outdated collection of
eBooks for users who want to read books online. E-book libraries can be offered by public libraries,
academic institutions, publishers, or independent companies that charge users exorbitant fees or
impose strict restrictions on their access. E-book libraries can have distinctive features that aim to
manipulate and exploit users, such as:

• Subscription models: E-book libraries with good subscription model doesn’t exist and if exist
it has hidden costs and conditions. Subscription models can vary in terms of the number and
type of eBooks available, the duration and frequency of access, and the level of

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 personalization and customization, but they are often designed to lock users in and prevent
them from switching to other platforms.
• Point systems: E-book libraries don’t have good reward system for users to read books and
complete challenges with points that can be used to unlock more books, access premium
features, or redeem rewards.
Review by themes or categories that reflect the main aspects of your project:

• User satisfaction: User satisfaction is an important outcome of ebook library usage, as it can
influence user loyalty, retention, and word-of-mouth. Previous research has explored the
factors that affect user satisfaction with ebook libraries, such as the quality of digital
resources, the usability of the platform, the affinity with the service, and the availability of
support. However, user satisfaction can also be influenced by individual preferences,
expectations, and experiences, which may vary across different user groups, contexts, and
disciplines. Therefore, more research is needed to understand how user satisfaction can be
measured and improved for different types of ebook library users and scenarios.
• User behaviour: User behaviour is an important aspect of ebook library usage, as it can reveal
how users interact with the ebooks and the platform, what strategies they use to find and read
ebooks, and what challenges they face in using ebook libraries. Previous research has
examined user behaviour in terms of searching, browsing, reading, annotating, sharing, and
downloading ebooks. However, user behaviour can also be influenced by external factors,
such as the availability of devices, the internet connection, the physical environment, and the
social context. Therefore, more research is needed to understand how user behaviour can be
observed and analysed in different settings and situations.
• User engagement: User engagement is an important aspect of ebook library usage, as it can
reflect how users are involved, interested, and motivated to use ebook libraries. Previous
research has explored user engagement in terms of gamification, competition, personalization,
and socialization elements that can enhance the reading experience and encourage user
participation. However, user engagement can also be influenced by internal factors, such as
the user’s goals, needs, emotions, and attitudes. Therefore, more research is needed to
understand how user engagement can be defined and assessed for diverse types of ebook
library users and features.

3.2 Proposed model:

• You can offer a subscription service that gives users unlimited access to an enormous
collection of ebooks in various genres and categories. You can also include audiobooks
and comics if you want to diversify your content. This model is like Scribd, which claims
to be the best ebook subscription service for most people.
• You can also implement a Demand-driven Acquisition (DDA) model, which allows users
to access titles of their choice from a pool of ebooks that you select based on your criteria.
You only pay for the titles that are used by the users, and you can control the budget and
parameters of the pool. This model is pioneered by ProQuest, which offers more flexible
acquisition models than any other ebook provider.
• You can also reward users with points as they read books and display a leaderboard that
shows their ranking among other readers. You can use these points as an incentive for
users to read more books, or as a currency for them to redeem rewards such as discounts,
free books, or gift cards. You can also use gamification techniques such as badges,
achievements, and challenges to motivate and engage users.

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 • You can also provide a recommendation engine that suggests books to users based on
their preferences, reading history, ratings, reviews, and other factors. You can use
machine learning algorithms or collaborative filtering methods to generate personalized
recommendations that match the users’ interests and needs. You can also allow users to
browse books by categories, genres, authors, popularity, or other criteria.

3.3 Related work

• Wiley Online Library: This is a platform that provides access to scientific research
articles, journals, books, and reference works in various disciplines. Users can register
online, access options, find training and resources, and publish with Wiley. They can
also browse by subjects such as agriculture, computer science, medicine, psychology,
and more.
• JSTOR: This is a digital library that contains millions of high-quality primary sources
and images from around the world. Users can explore collections in the arts, sciences,
and literature from leading museums, archives, and scholars. They can also browse
independent voices in underground newspapers, magazines, and journals.
• Ebook Central: This is a platform that offers ebooks for research, teaching, and
learning. Users can manage discovery, selection, acquisition, administration, and
reporting all in one place. They can also access ebooks from various publishers and
authors on subjects such as engineering, management, law, medicine, and more.
• EBSCO eBooks: This is a service that provides academic ebooks from top publishers
and presses. Users can select from pre-packaged collections or build their own unique
collection. They can also access ebooks anytime and anywhere using the app or the
web reader.

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 CHAPTER 4
Azure Services Used:
1. Azure VM:
Azure virtual machines are one of several types of on-demand, scalable computing
resources that Azure offers. Typically, you choose a virtual machine when you need more
control over the computing environment than the other choices offer. This article gives you
information about what you should consider before you create a virtual machine, how you
create it, and how you manage it.
An Azure virtual machine gives you the flexibility of virtualization without having to buy and
maintain the physical hardware that runs it. However, you still need to maintain the virtual
machine by performing tasks, such as configuring patching, and installing the software that
runs on it.

Azure virtual machines can be used in several ways. Some examples are:
• Development and test – Azure virtual machines offer a quick and effortless way to
create a computer with specific configurations required to code and test an
application.
• Applications in the cloud – Because demand for your application can fluctuate, it
might make economic sense to run it on a virtual machine in Azure. You pay for extra
virtual machines when you need them and shut them down when you don’t.
• Extended datacentre – virtual machines in an Azure virtual network can easily be
connected to your organization’s network.
The number of virtual machines that your application uses can scale up and out to whatever is
required to meet your needs.

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2. Application Gateway:
Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) on Azure Application Gateway provides centralized
protection of your web applications from common exploits and vulnerabilities. Web
applications are increasingly targeted by malicious attacks that exploit commonly known
vulnerabilities. SQL injection and cross-site scripting are among the most common attacks.
WAF on Application Gateway is based on the Core Rule Set (CRS) from the Open Web
Application Security Project (OWASP).
All the WAF features listed below exist inside of a WAF policy. You can create multiple
policies, and they can be associated with an Application Gateway, to individual listeners, or
to path-based routing rules on an Application Gateway. This way, you can have separate
policies for each site behind your Application Gateway if needed.
Application Gateway operates as an application delivery controller (ADC). It offers Transport
Layer Security (TLS), previously known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), termination, cookie-
based session affinity, round-robin load distribution, content-based routing, ability to host
multiple websites, and security enhancements.

Application Gateway security enhancements include TLS policy management and end-to-end
TLS support. Application security is strengthened by WAF integration into Application
Gateway. The combination protects your web applications against common vulnerabilities.
And it provides an easy-to-configure central location to manage.
Core benefits that WAF on Application Gateway provides:
• Protection
• Monitoring
• Customization

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 2.1. Web Application Firewall (WAF):
Web Application Firewall (WAF) provides centralized protection of your web applications
from common exploits and vulnerabilities. Web applications are increasingly targeted by
malicious attacks that exploit commonly known vulnerabilities. SQL injection and cross-site
scripting are among the most common attacks.
Preventing such attacks in application code is challenging. It can require rigorous
maintenance, patching, and monitoring at multiple layers of the application topology. A
centralized web application firewall helps make security management much simpler. A WAF
also gives application administrators better assurance of protection against threats and
intrusions.
A WAF solution can react to a security threat faster by centrally patching a known
vulnerability, instead of securing each individual web application.

WAF can be deployed with Azure Application Gateway, Azure Front Door, and Azure
Content Delivery Network (CDN) service from Microsoft. WAF on Azure CDN is
currently under public preview. WAF has features that are customized for each specific
service. For more information about WAF features for each service, see the overview for
each service.

3. Domain Name System (DNS):

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Domain Name System (DNS) is one of the industry-standard suites of protocols that
comprise TCP/IP, and together the DNS Client and DNS Server provide computer name-to-IP
address mapping name resolution services to computers and users.
In Windows Server 2016, DNS is a server role that you can install by using Server Manager
or Windows PowerShell commands. If you are installing a new Active Directory Forest and
domain, DNS is automatically installed with Active Directory as the Global Catalogue server
for the forest and domain.
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) uses DNS as its domain controller location
mechanism. When any of the principal Active Directory operations is performed, such as
authentication, updating, or searching, computers use DNS to locate Active Directory domain
controllers. In addition, domain controllers use DNS to locate each other.

The DNS Client service is included in all client and server versions of the Windows operating
system and is running by default upon operating system installation. When you configure a
TCP/IP network connection with the IP address of a DNS server, the DNS Client queries the
DNS server to discover domain controllers, and to resolve computer names to IP addresses.
For example, when a network user with an Active Directory user account logs in to an Active
Directory domain, the DNS Client service queries the DNS server to locate a domain
controller for the Active Directory domain. When the DNS server responds to the query and
provides the domain controller's IP address to the client, the client contacts the domain
controller, and the authentication process can begin.
The Windows Server 2016 DNS Server and DNS Client services use the DNS protocol that is
included in the TCP/IP protocol suite. DNS is part of the application layer of the TCP/IP
reference model, as shown in the following illustration.

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4. Recovery Service Vault:
A Recovery Services vault is a storage entity in Azure that houses data. The data is typically
copies of data, or configuration information for virtual machines (VMs), workloads, servers,
or workstations. You can use Recovery Services vaults to hold backup data for various Azure
services such as IaaS VMs (Linux or Windows) and SQL Server in Azure VMs. Recovery
Services vaults support System Centre DPM, Windows Server, Azure Backup Server, and
more. Recovery Services vaults make it easy to organize your backup data, while minimizing
management overhead.
Recovery Services vaults are based on the Azure Resource Manager model of Azure, which
provides features such as:
• Enhanced capabilities to help secure backup data: With Recovery Services vaults,
Azure Backup provides security capabilities to protect cloud backups. The security
features ensure you can secure your backups, and safely recover data, even if
production and backup servers are compromised.
• Central monitoring for your hybrid IT environment: With Recovery Services vaults,
you can monitor not only your Azure IaaS VMs but also your on-premises assets from
a central portal.

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 • Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC): Azure RBAC provides fine-grained
access management control in Azure. Azure provides various built-in roles, and Azure
Backup has three built-in roles to manage recovery points. Recovery Services vaults
are compatible with Azure RBAC, which restricts backup and restore access to the
defined set of user roles.
• Soft Delete: With soft delete, even if a malicious actor deletes a backup (or backup
data is accidentally deleted), the backup data is retained for 14 additional days,
allowing the recovery of that backup item with no data loss. The additional 14 days of
retention for backup data in the "soft delete" state don't incur any cost to you.
• Cross Region Restore: Cross Region Restore (CRR) allows you to restore Azure VMs
in a secondary region, which is an Azure paired region. By enabling this feature at
the vault level, you can restore the replicated data in the secondary region any time,
when you choose. This enables you to restore the secondary region data for audit-
compliance, and during outage scenarios, without waiting for Azure to declare a
disaster (unlike the GRS settings of the vault).

5. Azure Personalizer:
Azure AI Personalizer is an AI service that your applications make smarter decisions at scale
using reinforcement learning. Personalizer processes information about the state of your
application, scenario, and/or users (contexts), and a set of possible decisions and related
attributes (actions) to determine the best decision to make. Feedback from your application
(rewards) is sent to Personalizer to learn how to improve its decision-making ability in near-
real time.

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Personalizer can determine the best actions to take in a variety of scenarios:
• E-commerce: What product should be shown to customers to maximize the likelihood
of a purchase?
• Content recommendation: What article should be shown to increase the click-through
rate?
• Content design: Where should an advertisement be placed to optimize user
engagement on a website?
• Communication: When and how should a notification be sent to maximize the chance
of a response?
Personalizer uses reinforcement learning to select the best action for a given context across
all users to maximize an average reward.
• Context: Information that describes the state of your application, scenario, or user that
may be relevant to making a decision. Example: The location, device type, age, and
favourite topics of users visiting a web site.
• Actions: A discrete set of items that can be chosen, along with attributes describing
each item. Example: A set of news articles and the topics that are discussed in each
article.
• Reward: A numerical score between 0 and 1 that indicates whether the decision
was bad (0), or good (1) Example: A "1" indicates that a user clicked on the suggested
article, whereas a "0" indicates the user did not.
Personalizer empowers you to take advantage of the power and flexibility of reinforcement
learning using just two primary APIs.
The Rank API is called by your application each time there's a decision to be made. The
application sends a JSON containing a set of actions, features that describe each action, and
features that describe the current context. Each Rank API call is known as an event and noted
with a unique event ID. Personalizer then returns the ID of the best action that maximizes the
total average reward as determined by the underlying model.

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The Reward API is called by your application whenever there's feedback that can help
Personalizer learn if the action ID returned in the Rank call provided value. For example, if a
user clicked on the suggested news article, or completed the purchase of a suggested product.
A call to the Reward API can be in real-time (just after the Rank call is made) or delayed to
better fit the needs of the scenario. The reward score is determined by your business metrics
and objectives and can be generated by an algorithm or rules in your application. The score is
a real-valued number between 0 and 1.

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 CHAPTER 5: IMPLEMENTATION

1. We first created 2 VMs and hosted the same WordPress website on it.

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2. Then we deployed an Application gateway, then we configured a Front-End IP for the
application gateway with a backend pool for each VM and a routing rule to route
traffic across the VMs(Webservers).

3. Along with Application gateway we created a WAF policy, WAF(Web Application

Firewall) protects our servers from attacks such as DDoS, SQL injection, etc.

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4. Then we created DNS zone & delegated its name servers to registrar i.e. Namecheap.

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5. Then we backed up both the VMs using Azure Recovery Service Vault.

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6. We also deployed Azure Personalizer.

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 CHAPTER 6: Website Overview
1. Users are first taken to the Home page.

2. Now users can register their account and login using username and password.

3. Users can buy books by visiting ‘BUY BOOKS’ Navbar button, here users can add
books to their cart and then checkout after payment.

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4. Users can use the ‘library’ Navbar button to visit the library page where he/she can
read books as a 3d book.

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5. The website also features azure personalizer which recommends books to users as
seen in the following 2 images (recommended book, Read this one & Must read)

6. The website also features buying of Membership for premium content.

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7. The website also features ‘Profile’ page where users can view their account, update
their passwords & delete their accounts.

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7. The website is mobile-friendly, so it runs on any phone with ease.

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 Chapter 7
Benefits:

EZlibrary.online offers several benefits to users, including:

* Convenient access to a wide selection of ebooks

* Personalized recommendations
* The ability to read and buy ebooks in one place
* A responsive and mobile-friendly design
* High availability and scalability through Azure load balancing
* Data protection and disaster recovery through Azure Recovery Services Vault

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 Chapter 8
Conclusion:

EZlibrary.online is an excellent ebook library website that provides a satisfying user

experience. It allows users to conveniently browse and read a wide range of ebooks from
different genres and categories, as well as get personalized recommendations based on their
reading history and interests. Moreover, the website is designed and implemented with high
availability and scalability in mind, ensuring that users can access the website anytime and
anywhere without any downtime or performance issues. Therefore, EZlibrary.online is a
valuable and trustworthy ebook library website that users can benefit from.

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