Web Server

What is a Web Server?

A Web Server handles delivery of HTML documents from one host on a network to a client. The Protocol used is HTTP and it defines how that HTML file should be delivered to the client over the network.


Configuring Your Web Server

Configuration for the Web Server is maintained in four settings: Domains, General, File Types, and CGI Handling. These can be accessed through the Net Servers application by selecting Web from the Configure menu.

Domains

The Domains setting allows you to set up the Domain Name, Default Page, and Error Page.

Domain Name - the name of your server; for example: www.pictorius.com.

You can specify multiple Domain Names, provided you have registered these domain names with a Domain Name Server AND each registered Domain Name resolves to the IP address of your web server machine (contact your Internet Service Provider for more details).

Each domain should be located in a different folder, but they should all use the same file names for the Default Page and the Error Page. For example, dom1 and dom2 are the two domains in the figure above. dom1 points to the "domain1" folder and dom2 points to the "domain2" folder. Each of these folders has a distinct "index.html" file that is the Default Page for that site. The name of this file may be changed, but must be the same for any and all domains you have configured.

The Domain Name that you've entered in this configuration window (for example, www.pictorius.com) is exactly what should be registered with your internet provider to resolve to the IP address of your web server machine, AND is also what should be entered into a web browser to visit your site. If Pictorius Net Servers cannot locate a specific domain once your machine has been contacted, it will serve up the Default Page of the "- default -" site.

Default Page - an HTML file which is the initial page the Browser displays when first opening your location.

Error Page - an HTML file which would produce an error message when a location that no longer exists is accessed.

General

The General selection allows you to specify the Port Number, Number of Listens, Maximum Connections, and Logging.

Port Number - refers to the port number your server is running on. Some ports are predefined as with the Web Server. Its default port is 80.

Number of Listens - refers to the number of pending requests your Web server will allow at the exact same time before a busy message is displayed.

Maximum Connections - refers to the number of maximum connections to your Web site at any given time.

Logging - specify here the detail level of logged events: None, Critical, Important, and All. Criteria and level examples of these are as follows:

Level 1:

Errors only - usually that file asked for doesn't exist. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
9/20/96 1:29:13 PM	1	IP HTTP Daemon Errorprocessing request for local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote 192.168.25.2:1271
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Level 2:

The agent being resolved. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
9/20/96 1:29:13 PM	2	IP HTTP Daemon Resolving Agent: "Medusa:Desktop Folder:index.html" for local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote 192.168.25.2:1271
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Level 3:

Everything else - Opening Daemon, Daemon Open, Closing Daemon, Daemon Closed, Finding file, Received request, Sending data, Transaction Initiated, Transaction Closed 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
9/20/96 1:25:33 PM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Opening HTTPDaemon
9/23/96 10:55:09 AM	3	IP HTTP Daemon HTTP Daemon Opened
9/23/96 11:29:28 AM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Closing HTTP Daemon
9/20/96 1:25:43 PM	3	IP HTTP Daemon HTTP Daemon Closed
9/20/96 1:32:46 PM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Finding file NS Server:Desktop Folder:NS Website:bg.jpg for local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote192.168.25.2:1273
9/20/96 2:52:16 PM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Received GET from local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote 192.168.25.2:1371 
9/23/96 11:26:56 AM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Sending 214 bytes to local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote 192.168.25.2:1241 
9/20/96 2:52:15 PM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Transaction initiated from local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote 192.168.25.2:1371 
9/20/96 2:52:15 PM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Transaction initiated from local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote 192.168.25.2:1371 
9/23/96 11:26:56 AM	3	IP HTTP Daemon Transaction closed from local 192.168.25.8:80 / remote 192.168.25.2:1241
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Parse HTML files for Net Servers agents - When this option is enabled, the server will preprocess any HTML files before sending them out. The server scans for "metatags" in the format <NSAGENT="agentname">. The server then replaces these metatags with the result of the agent named in the metatag. For example, the following metatag: <NSAGENT="TheDate"> would get replaced at runtime by: Monday, September 30, 1996.

Note: With this feature disabled, pages with Agent metatags will not be displayed properly.

File Types

The file types listed are the types which your Web Server accepts. You can Add or Remove from the list as required.

CGI Handling

Always use the same CGI - When enabled you are requested to select a specific CGI. After a CGI has been selected all future requests to reference other CGIs (in the HTML file), will be handled directly through this single CGI application.

Filter all files through a CGI - When enabled you are requested to locate and select a CGI. With this CGI referenced all files will be processed first through this CGI prior to any processing done by the agents.


Default Files

Supplied with the Net Servers is an index.html file. Since Web pages are usually formatted using HTML, we have supplied these files to use as a template from which you may start building your own HTML files.


Using ACGI and CGI Scripts

The Net Servers supports WebStar ACGI and CGI applications. For more information on writing CGIs refer to http://snowwhite.it.brighton.ac.uk/~mas/mas/courses/html/html.html or http://www.stars.com/Authoring/CGI/.


Using Agents

All agents shipped with this release of the Net Servers can be used with the Web Server. Refer to the Agents section for specific details on their usage.


An Example

It is sometimes easier to learn how to build your own Web site from viewing others examples. Therefore, we have supplied some example HTML source and its resulting Web page to assist you in developing your future Web pages.

Note: Your actual index.html file and default page may differ from these screenshots. As well, due to screenshot constraints we've had to use three different images to display the source and four different images to display the browser result.

An example of most agents:

General Configuration | Security