Configuring and managing your server

This chapter describes how to configure and manage your Netscape web server. During installation, you specified a port number for the administration server, which is a daemon (a background process responsible for a particular system task) that allows you to manage your Netscape server (or multiple servers) from a single interface--the Server Selector. The administration server must be running before you can configure a specific server using the Server Manager.

Note: Use the Netscape Server Manager to start the Server Selector.

This chapter contains the following sections:

 

Using the Server Selector
The Server Selector is the interface that allows you to select a server to configure. Using the Server Selector, you can manage one web server, multiple web servers that are installed on different ports on one machine, and multiple servers that answer to different domains.

You can perform the following tasks from the Server Selector:

 

Accessing the Server Selector

 To access the Server Selector, do the following:

  1. Using a browser that supports frames and JavaScript, enter the URL for the administration server:
    http://[servername].[your_domain].[domain]:[port_number]/
    Use the port number for the administration server that you specified during installation; this is not the port number for the web server.

  2. You'll be prompted for a username and password.

    Enter the administration username and password you specified during the installation. The Server Selector appears, as shown in the following figure.

    If you stopped the administration server after installation, you must start the administration server before you can configure your server. Go to the /usr/internet/ns_httpd directory and type ./start-admin. This starts the administration server using the port number you specified during installation. When you are finished configuring your servers, you should stop the administration server by typing ./stop-admin in the /usr/internet/ns_httpd directory.

 

Choosing a server to configure

 The Server Selector lists all the servers you've installed on this system. Click on the name of the server you want to configure.

 

Shutting down the administration server

To minimize chances of a breakin, you should shut down the administration server when you are finished configuring it unless you are using the Server Manager to rotate your log files with the timing utility. In this case, leave your administration server running. You can shut down the administration server by doing one of the following:

 

Installing multiple web servers

NOTE Use the Netscape Server Manager to start the Server Selector to add and remove web servers.

You can install another web server on your current machine without going through the installation program. Your new web server can share its configuration with an existing web server on your system, or it can use its own separate configuration files.

Each web server you have installed can run on any TCP/IP port on your system, but you cannot run two web servers on the same port at the same time. If your system is configured to listen to more than one IP address, two or more web servers can share the same port as long as they use different IP addresses. (You should contact your system's vendor for information on how to configure your system to respond to different IP addresses.) Your web server software license allows you to have as many web server instances as you want on one system. If your system is configured to listen to multiple IP addresses, enter one of the IP addresses your system is hosting for each server you're installing. You must have a separate server process running for each of your IP addresses. You now have several subdirectories in your ns-home directory; each of these servers can be managed from the Server Selector.

To set up a new web server on your system and have it share its configuration with an existing web server on your system, see "Setting up software virtual servers" in Chapter 4. When web servers share the same configuration files, they will either all be unsecure or secure. (For more information about security and servers, see Chapter 7.) They will also all use the same port number, so sharing configuration files is only useful if you are setting up web servers to handle several domains on your system.

To set up multiple servers that respond to different IP addresses, install separate instances of the server into the same directory by clicking Install a new Netscape FastTrack Server from the Server Selector.

If you installed your server before configuring your system to host multiple IP addresses, configure your system to respond to different IP addresses, change the server's bind address using the Server Manager (see "Configuring network settings" in Chapter 5), and install separate instances of the server for each IP address.

To install another web server with its own separate configuration files,

  1. Click Install another server to this machine from the Server Selector.
  2. Enter values for the following:
  3. Click OK.
 

Removing a server from your system

NOTE Use the Netscape Server Manager to start the Server Selector to remove web servers.

You can remove a server from your system using the Server Selector. Be sure that you will not need the server anymore. You should shut down the server before removing it; do this by clicking the on/off icon to the left of the server name in the Server Selector.

To remove a server from your machine,

  1. Click on the Remove a server from the list button from the Server Selector.
  2. Select the server you want to remove.
  3. Select whether you want to remove the administration binaries, which includes the server's configuration files and the server's binaries.
    Note Do not remove the administration binaries if there is more than one server installed.

  4. Verify that you want to remove the server and the administration binaries.
  5. Click OK.
 

Configuring your administration server

 You can configure the following administration server items from the Server Selector:

 

Starting and stopping a web server

 You can start and stop any of servers listed in the Server Selector by clicking the On icon located left of the server's name. If the server is on, you'll see a green light under the icon. Click on the icon to turn the server off. To turn the server back on, click on the icon again.

 

Using the Server Manager

After you install the server files, the server should run smoothly. However, you'll need to perform periodic maintenance, which includes infrequent tasks (such as changing the server's name and port number) and daily tasks (such as adding, changing, and removing users in user database files).

The Server Manager is the collection of forms you use to change options and control your server. From the Server Selector, which lists all the servers installed on your machine according to identifier, select the server to be configured. The Server Manager will appear. You can use the Server Manager from any remote machine as long as the system you're working on is one of the hosts that can access the administration server; you don't need to use the machine the server is installed on.

Note You must save and apply your changes in order for your changes to take place. After you submit a form, you get a pointer to a script that allows you to save and apply your changes.

You can return to the Server Selector by clicking Choose in the upper left corner of the Server Manager. The Server Manager is shown in the following figure.

Use the server configuration buttons to configure the server. After clicking on a button, you'll see a list of items on the left. Click one of these links; the corresponding form comes up in the main frame. Most of the Server Manager forms configure the entire server. Some forms can configure the entire server or files or directories the server maintains. These forms have the Resource Picker, shown in the following figure, at the top. The Resource Picker lets you specify what resource to configure.

Resource Picker

Pick a resource from the drop-down list for configuration. Click Browse to browse your primary document directory; clicking on Options allows you to choose other directories. Click Wildcard to configure files with a specific extension.

The following forms use the Resource Picker: