3
Specifying Server and File Locations

This chapter explains how to set Oracle HTTP Server and server administrator options, and specifies file locations.

Topics discussed are:

• Setting Server and Administrator Functions

• Specifying File Locations

Documentation from the Apache Software Foundation is referenced when applicable.

Note: Readers using this guide in PDF or hard copy formats will be unable to access third-party documentation, which Oracle provides in HTML format only. To access the third-party documentation referenced in this guide, use the HTML version of this guide and click on the hyperlinks.

Setting Server and Administrator Functions

The following set basic Oracle HTTP Server and administrator functions. They are located in the "Main Server Configuration" portion of the httpd.conf file.

See Also: "httpd.conf File Structure"

• ServerName

• UseCanonicalName

• ServerAdmin

• ServerSignature

• ServerTokens

• ServerAlias

ServerName

Enables the server to set a hostname that can be used to create redirection URLs, through which you can access directories without having to use a "/" at the end.

Modifying ServerName for Oracle Application Server Web Cache

This section provides information about modifying ServerName directive for deployment if Oracle Application Server Web Cache is on a different host than Oracle HTTP Server.

At installation time, Oracle HTTP Server sets the httpd.conf file with the following directives that impact Oracle Application Server Web Cache:

• Port=web_cache_port: Specifies the Oracle Application Server Web Cache listening ports

• Listen=Oracle_HTTP_Server_port: Specifies the HTTP and HTTPS ports obtained by Oracle HTTP Server.

• ServerName: Specifies the host name of Oracle HTTP Server.

• UseCanonicalName On: Instructs Oracle HTTP Server to use the host names and port values set in the ServerName and Port directives when redirecting a URL. If it is set to "off", then the host and port provided by the client is used.

For example,

##
## httpd.conf -- Apache HTTP Server configuration file
##
...
Port 7777
Listen 7778
...
ServerName http_server.company.com
...
UseCanonicalName On
....

If Oracle Application Server Web Cache is deployed on a separate machine from Oracle HTTP Server, then the Oracle HTTP Server administrator must modify the ServerName directive in httpd.conf for each site hosted by Oracle Application Server Web Cache. This enables Oracle HTTP Server to redirect URLs to Oracle Application Server Web Cache. The following example shows httpd.conf modified to set requests for www.company.com to Oracle Application Server Web Cache with a listening port of 7777.

Port 7777
Listen 7778
...
ServerName www.company.com
...
UseCanonicalName On
....

See Also: "ServerName directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

UseCanonicalName

Determines which hostname and port to use when redirecting the URL to the same server.

• on: This is the default setting. Server uses the hostname and port values set in ServerName and Port.

• off: Server uses the hostname and port that you specify in the request.

  See Also: "UseCanonicalName directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

ServerAdmin

Creates an email address that is included with every default error message that clients encounter. It is useful to create a separate email address for this.

See Also: "ServerAdmin directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

ServerSignature

Enables the server to recognize which server, amongst the various proxies, created the returned response, such as an error message.

• on: Server creates a footer to the returned document that includes information such as ServerName and server version number. This is the default.

• email: Server creates an additional "mailto:" reference to the ServerAdmin of the document.

• off: Footer and "mailto:" reference are not created.

  See Also: "ServerSignature directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

ServerTokens

Controls server information which is returned to clients, such as in error messages. This information includes a description of the generic operating system-type of the server, and compiled-in modules.

• min(imal): provides information such as server name and version.

• OS: provides information such as server name, version and operating system.

• full: provides information such as server name, version, operating system, and complied modules.

  See Also: "ServerTokens directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

ServerAlias

Sets alternate names for the current virtual host.

See Also: "ServerAlias directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

Specifying File Locations

The following directives to control the location of various server files. They are located in the "Global Environment" of the httpd.conf file.

See Also: "httpd.conf File Structure"

• CoreDumpDirectory

• DocumentRoot

• ErrorLog

• LockFile

• PidFile

• ScoreBoardFile

• ServerRoot

CoreDumpDirectory

Specifies the directory in which the server dumps core. The default is the ServerRoot directory. This directive is applicable to UNIX only.

See Also: "CoreDumpDirectory directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

DocumentRoot

Sets the directory from which httpd serves files. Unless matched by a directive like Alias, the server appends the path from the requested URL to the document root to make the path to the document for static content.

See Also: "DocumentRoot directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

ErrorLog

Sets the name of the file to which the server notes any errors it encounters. If the name of the file does not begin with a slash (/), then it is assumed to be relative to the ServerRoot. If the name of the file begins with a pipe (|), then it is assumed to be a command to spawn to handle the error log.

See Also: "ErrorLog directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

LockFile

Sets the path to the lockfile used when Oracle HTTP Server is compiled with either USE_FCNTL_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT or USE_FLOCK_SERIALIZED_ACCEPT. It is recommended that default value be used. The main reason for changing it is if the logs directory is NFS mounted, since the lockfile must be stored on a local disk.

See Also: "LockFile directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

PidFile

Enables you to set and change the location of the PID file to which the server records the process identification number. If the filename does not begin with a slash (/), then it is assumed to be relative to the ServerRoot.

See Also: "PidFile directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

ScoreBoardFile

Required in some architectures to set a file that the server uses to communicate between the parent and children processes. To verify if your architecture requires a scoreboard file, run Oracle HTTP Server and see if it creates the file named by the directive. If your architecture requires it then you must ensure that this file is not used at the same time by more than one invocation of the server.

See Also: "ScoreBoardFile directive" in the Apache Server documentation.

ServerRoot

Specifies the directory that contains the conf and logs subdirectories. If the server is started with the -f option, then you will have to specify ServerRoot.

See Also: "ServerRoot directive" in the Apache Server documentation.