| Sun ONE Web Server 6.1 Installation and Migration Guide |
Chapter 2
Before You Install Sun ONE Web ServerThe following sections provide the information you need to know before you install Sun ONE Web Server.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Supported PlatformsThe following table describes the platform support for Sun ONE Web Server:
*Supported via binary compatibility.
**As of iPlanet Web Server 6.0, older SPARC CPUs are not supported. Sun ONE Web Server 6.1 continues to support the UltraSPARC architecture.
Required PatchesYou are recommended to update your operating system with the latest applicable patches.
For the Solaris OE platform, Sun's recommended patch list can be found in the following location:
http://sunsolve.sun.com/pubpatch
Caution
Patch 108993-22 (SPARC) or 108994-22 (x86) is required on Solaris 8 when Solaris is configured to use LDAP for authentication.
Supported BrowsersSun ONE Web Server runs on the following browsers:
Hardware and Software RequirementsIn addition to the UNIX, Linux, or Windows operating system memory and disk space requirements listed above, your computer must have the following hardware and software:
All Platforms
- Java and cookies enabled in your browser.
- If you are using Internet Explorer, you need to set your browser to check for a new version of a page every time you access it. To configure this setting, from the View menu, choose Internet Options. On the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click Settings. Click the radio button to check for newer versions of stored pages every visit to the page.
UNIX/Linux
Windows
- If you plan on running more than two separate instances of Sun ONE Web Server on your system, an additional 16 MB RAM for each server instance.
- Paging space at least as large as the amount of RAM on your system (twice the amount of RAM is recommended).
- If you intend to use hostnames during the Sun ONE Web Server installation, DNS properly configured with an entry for your server in a DNS server.
- A static IP address on your machine.
Other Technical RequirementsOnce you have the proper hardware and software necessary to install Sun ONE Web Server, you should make sure that you meet the following requirements:
- You know the host name and IP address of your server computer.
- Your server has a DNS alias. For information on creating a DNS alias for your server, see Creating a DNS Alias for the Server.Your server has a user account on UNIX, Linux, or Windows. See UNIX and Linux User Accounts for the Server or Windows User Accounts for the Server for more information.You have two port numbers - one for the Administration Server and the other for the first Sun ONE Web Server server instance. For information on choosing port numbers for your server, see Choosing Unique Port Numbers.
Creating a DNS Alias for the Server
If your server will run on one machine among many in a network, you or your system administrator should set up a DNS CNAME record or an alias that points to the actual server machine. Later, you can change the actual hostname or IP address of the server machine without having to change all URLs that point to the server machine.
For example, you might call the server my_server.my_company.com and then use an alias like www.my_company.com. So the URLs to documents on your server would always use the www alias instead of my_server.
UNIX and Linux User Accounts for the Server
When the Sun ONE Web Server starts, it runs with a UNIX or Linux user account that you specify during installation. Any child processes of the server are created with this account as the owner. It is best to create a UNIX or Linux account for the server that has restricted access to your system resources. The account needs read permissions for the configuration files and write permissions for the logs directory.
On Solaris OE, by default, a user and group account named webservd is created for Sun ONE Web Server if it does not already exist.
On non-Solaris UNIX platforms (where the webservd user/group cannot be reserved outright), if you don’t create a dedicated user account for Sun ONE Web Server, you can use the account with the name nobody. You might not however want to give the user nobody permissions for running the Sun ONE Web Server. In addition, the user nobody might not work on some systems if a negative uid/gid is assigned during installation. Check the /etc/passwd file to see if the uid for nobody exists, and make sure it is greater than 0.
The Administration Server can also run with a user account that has write permissions to the configuration files for all installed servers. However, it’s much easier to run the Administration Server as root because then the Administration Server user can start and stop servers with port numbers less than 1024. (Port numbers greater than 1024 can be started by any user).
The user you use to run the Sun ONE Web Server (often nobody) should be in the same group as the user you use to run the Administration Server (often root).
Windows User Accounts for the Server
You should create a Windows user account for your Sun ONE Web Server. It should have restricted access to your system resources and run under a nonprivileged system user account (one that has a limited set of system permissions to your system). When the server starts, it runs with this user account. Any server extension modules the server uses are created with this user account as the owner.
During installation, the server uses the LocalSystem account, not the user account you created. Once you start and run the server, you should use the user account you created. You can change the user account for the server after the installation process. You can configure that user account so that it has permissions to get files on another computer, so that your server can serve files that are mounted from another computer.
In addition, the user account you create for the server should belong to a group that contains the server users for all Sun ONE servers so that multiple servers can have access to shared files.
Choosing Unique Port Numbers
You need multiple port numbers: one for the Administration Server and one for each instance of Sun ONE Web Server. The Administration Server is a special instance of the Sun ONE Web Server that you use to manage your Sun ONE Web Server.
The standard web server port number is 80 and the standard SSL-enabled web server port number is 443, but you can install Sun ONE Web Server to use any port. If you use a port other than the default port (port 80), the URL used to gain access to your home page changes. For example, if your computer is called www.siroe.com and you choose port 9753, your server’s URL will be http://www.siroe.com:9753/.
You should choose a random number for the Administration Server to make it harder for anyone to breach your server. When you configure your server, you use the Administration Server’s port number. For example, for server mozilla.com, the server’s URL could be http://www.mozilla.com:2634/.
Make sure the port you choose isn’t already in use. On UNIX and Linux systems, you can check the file /etc/services on the server machine to make sure you don’t assign a port number that is reserved for another service. If you choose a port that is currently being used by another service, the installation program prompts you for another port.
Installation OverviewYou can install Sun ONE Web Server by downloading it off the Sun Products download web site:
http://www.sun.com/software/download/
You can also install it from the Sun ONE Web Server CD. In addition, the Sun ONE Web Server software comes with the 5.2 version of Sun ONE Directory Server on a Companion CD.
When you install Sun ONE Web Server, you follow these basic steps:
- If you have iPlanet Web Server 4.1 already installed and plan to migrate that server to work with Sun ONE Web Server 6.1, shut down the 4.1 web server and save a back up of all its files in the server root.
You must install Sun ONE Web Server 6.1 in a separate directory. For instance, if a previous version of the web server is installed in C:\netscape\server4, install Sun ONE Web Server 6.1 in C:\Sun\WebServer6.1.
On Windows you may also want to save copies of files added to Winnt/System32 during server installation, and copies of the registry as well. For more information on saving copies of the registry, see your operating system documentation.
- If you do not already have a browser installed, install one. For a list of supported browsers, see Supported Browsers.
- If you are planning to use users and groups for access control, and you do not have an Sun ONE Directory Server installed, install it from the Companion CD included with your Sun ONE Web Server software.
- Install and configure Sun ONE Web Server.
