Steps in the Request-handling Process

When the server first starts up it performs some initialization and then waits for a request from a client (such as a browser).

The obj.conf file for the server specifies how the request is handled in the following steps:

1. Init

   The Init functions load and initialize server modules and plugins, and initialize log files.

2. AuthTrans (authorization translation)

   Verify any authorization information (such as name and password) sent in the request.

3. NameTrans (name translation)

   Translate the logical URI into a local file system path.

4. PathCheck (path checking)

   Check the local file system path for validity and check that the requestor has access privileges to the requested resource on the file system.

5. ObjectType (object typing)

   Determine the MIME-type (Multi-purpose Internet Mail Encoding) of the requested resource (for example, text/html, image/gif, and so on).

6. Input (prepare to read input)

   Select filters that will process incoming request data read by the Service step.

7. Output (prepare to send output)

   Select filters that will process outgoing response data generated by the Service step.

8. Service (generate the response)

   Generate and return the response to the client.

9. AddLog (adding log entries)

   Add entries to log file(s).

10. Error (service)

    This step is executed only if an error occurs in the previous steps. If an error occurs, the server logs an error message and aborts the process.

11. Connect

    Call the connect function you specify.

12. DNS

    Call either the dns-config built-in function or a DNS function that you specify.

13. Filter

    Run an external command and then pipe the data through the external command before processing that data in the proxy.

14. Route

    Specify information about where the proxy server should route requests.