About This Guide


This guide describes how to configure and administer iPlanet^TM Web Server, Enterprise Edition 6.0. It is intended for information technology administrators in the corporate enterprise who want to extend client-server applications to a broader audience through the World Wide Web.

This preface includes the following sections:

• What's In This Guide?

• How This Guide Is Organized

• Conventions Used In This Guide

• Using the iPlanet Web Server Documentation

• Further Reading

• Contacting Technical Support

What's In This Guide?

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This guide explains how to configure and administer the iPlanet Web Server. After configuring your server, use this guide to help maintain your server.

After you install the server, this guide is available in HTML format at manual/https/ag in your server root directory. By default, the server root directory is C:\iPlanet\Servers\ or /usr/iplanet/servers.

How This Guide Is Organized

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This guide is divided into five sections. If you are new to iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise Edition 6.0, begin with Server Basics for an overview of the product. If you are already familiar with this version of iPlanet Web Server, skim the material in Server Basics before going on to Using the Administration Server.

Once you are familiar with the fundamentals of using the Administration Server, you can refer to Configuring, Monitoring, and Performance Tuning, which includes examples of how to configure and monitor your iPlanet Web Servers. Managing Virtual Servers and Services provides information for using programs and configuration styles.

Finally, Appendixes addresses specific reference topics that describe the various topics, including: HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), server configuration files, ACL files, internationalization issues, server extensions, and the iPlanet Web Server user interface reference, which you may want to review. Note that the user interface appendix is available in the online version only.

Server Basics

This section provides an overview of the iPlanet Web Server. The following chapters are included:

• Introduction to iPlanet Web Server provides an overview of iPlanet Web Server.

• Administering iPlanet Web Servers describes how to manage your iPlanet Web Servers with the Administration Server.

Using the Administration Server

This section provides conceptual and procedural details about using the Administration Server to administer your iPlanet Web Servers. The following chapters are included:

• Setting Administration Preferences describes how to use the Administration Server Preferences and Global Settings forms to configure your iPlanet Web Servers.

• Managing Users and Groups describes how to how to use the Administration Server Users and Groups forms to configure your iPlanet Web Servers.

• Securing Your Web Server describes how to configure your iPlanet Web Server security. Note that before reading this chapter you should be familiar with the basic concepts of public-key cryptography and the SSL protocol. These concepts include encryption and decryption; keys; digital certificates and signatures; and SSL encryption, ciphers, and the major steps of the SSL handshake.

• Managing Server Clusters describes the concept of clustering servers and explains how you can use them to share configurations among servers.

Configuring, Monitoring, and Performance Tuning

This section includes examples of how to use the Server Manager to configure and monitor your iPlanet Web Servers. The following chapters are included:

• Configuring Server Preferences describes how to configure server preferences for your iPlanet Web Server.

• Controlling Access to Your Server describes how to specify who can access parts of your server.

• Using Log Files describes how to monitor your iPlanet Web Server using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), by recording and viewing log files, or by using the performance monitoring tools provided with your operating system.

• Monitoring Servers describes how to monitor your iPlanet Web Server using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol).

• Tuning Your Server for Performance refers you to the online document, Performance Tuning and Sizing Guide found in the following location: http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/enterprise.html.

• Using Search describes how to search the contents and attributes of documents on the server. In addition, this chapter describes how to create a customized text search interface that's tailored to your user community.

Managing Virtual Servers and Services

This section provides information for using the Server Manager to programs and configuration styles. The following chapters are included:

• Using Virtual Servers describes how to set up and administer virtual servers using your iPlanet Web Server.

• Creating and Configuring Virtual Servers describes how you can create and configure individual virtual servers.

• Extending Your Server With Programs describes how to install Java applets, CGI programs, JavaScript applications, and other plug-ins onto your server.

• Content Management describes how you can configure and manage your server's content.

• Applying Configuration Styles describes how to use configuration styles with iPlanet Web Server.

Appendixes

This section includes various appendixes with reference material that you may wish to review. This section includes the following appendixes:

• Command Line Utilities provides instructions for using command line utilities in place of the user interface screens.

• HyperText Transfer Protocol provides a short introduction to a few HTTP basic concepts.

• ACL File Syntax describes the access-control list (ACL) files and their syntax.

• Internationalized iPlanet Web Server describes the internationalized version of the iPlanet Web Server.

• Server Extensions for Microsoft FrontPage describes using server extensions on your iPlanet Web Server that provide support for Microsoft FrontPage.

• iPlanet Web Server User Interface describes the elements in the user interface of the Administration Server and Server Manager of iPlanet Web Server. This appendix is available in the online version only.

In addition, a glossary is included to define frequently used terms that may be unfamiliar to iPlanet Web Server administrators.

Conventions Used In This Guide

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The conventions used in this guide are as follows:

Italic

This typeface is used for book titles, emphasis, and any text that is a placeholder for text you need to replace for your system. For example, in a URL that contains a reference to your server's port number, the URL might contain portnumber in italics. Replace the words in italics with the actual value for your server.

Monospaced font

This typeface is used for any text that you should type. It's also used for functions, examples, URLs, filenames, and directory paths.

Using the iPlanet Web Server Documentation

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The following table lists the tasks and concepts that are described in the iPlanet Web Server printed manuals and online README file. If you are trying to accomplish a specific task or learn more about a specific concept, refer to the appropriate manual.

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Note	Printed manuals are also available as online files in PDF and HTML format.

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Table 1    iPlanet Web Server Documentation 

For information about	See the following
Late-breaking information about the software and the documentation.	http://docs.iplanet.com
Installing iPlanet Web Server.	iPlanet Web Server Installation & Migration Guide
Administering one or more iPlanet Web Servers using the Administration Server to manage and configure your servers and to perform the following tasks: Setting up server security. Monitoring your servers using HTTP, via log files, SNMP, or via the tools provided with your OS. Defining your server workload and sizing your system to meet your performance needs. Installing Java applets, CGI programs, JavaScript applications, and other plug-ins onto your server. Searching the contents and attributes of server documents; creating a text search interface.	iPlanet Web Server Administrator's Guide
The administration server and global information on topics such as encryption, access control, and performance monitoring.	Managing Servers with Netscape Console
Planning your directory service. How you can use the directory server to support simple usage that involves only a few hundred users and some key server applications, as well as how you can scale the directory server to support millions of users. You are also introduced to the basic directory service concepts and specific guidelines that you will need to deploy a production-grade directory service.	iPlanet Directory Server Deployment Manual
An overview of the programming technologies and APIs you can use to extend and modify iPlanet Web Server, to dynamically generate content in response to client requests, and to modify the content of the server. Links are provided to the individual books that discuss each API. Use this book as the starting place for developer-level information for iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise Edition 6.0. The book also discusses the purpose and use of the configuration files, and provides a comprehensive list of the directives and functions that can be used in these configuration files.	Programmer's Guide to iPlanet Web Server
How to enable and implement servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP) in iPlanet Web Server.	Programmer's Guide to Servlets in iPlanet Web Server
How to use Netscape Server Application Programmer's Interface (NSAPI) to build plugins to extend and modify the iPlanet Web Server. It also provides a reference of the NSAPI functions you can use to define new plugins.	NSAPI Programmer's Guide

Further Reading

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The iPlanet documentation site contains documentation for administrators, users, and developers, including:

• iPlanet Web Server Release Notes

• Netscape Internet Service Broker programmer's guides and reference guides for Java and C++

To access these documents, use the following URL:

http://docs.iplanet.com

Contacting Technical Support

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For Technical Support assistance, please see the Technical Support Page for the iPlanet Web Server at:

http://www.iplanet.com/support/