Installing Shell CGI Programs for Windows

This section discusses how to install Shell CGI Programs for Windows. The following topics are included in this section:

• Overview of Shell CGI Programs for Windows

• Specifying a Shell CGI Directory (Windows)

• Specifying Shell CGI as a File Type (Windows)

Overview of Shell CGI Programs for Windows

Shell CGI is a server configuration that lets you run CGI applications using the file associations set in Windows.

For example, if the server gets a request for a shell CGI file called hello.pl, the server uses the Windows file associations to run the file using the program associated with the .pl extension. If the .pl extension is associated with the program C:\bin\perl.exe, the server attempts to execute the hello.pl file as follows:

c:\bin\perl.exe hello.pl

The easiest way to configure shell CGI is to create a directory in your server’s document root that contains only shell CGI files. However, you can also configure the server to associate specific file extensions with shell CGI by editing MIME types from the Sun Java System Web Server.

For information on setting Windows file extensions, see your Windows documentation.

Specifying a Shell CGI Directory (Windows)

To create a directory for your shell CGI files, perform the following steps

To create a directory for your shell CGI files

1. Create the shell directory on your computer. This directory doesn’t have to be a subdirectory of your document root directory.

2. From the Server Manager, choose the Class Manager link.

3. Next, choose Class Manager.

   The shell CGI Directory link is highlighted and the CGI window appears.

4. In the URL Prefix field, enter the URL prefix you want to associate with your shell CGI directory.

   For example, suppose you store all shell CGI files in a directory called C:\docs\programs\cgi\shell-cgi, but you want users to see the directory as http://www.yourserver.com/shell/. In this case, you would type shell as the URL prefix.

5. In the Shell CGI Directory field, enter the absolute path to the directory you created.

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   Caution –

   The server must have read and execute permissions to this directory. For Windows, the user account the server runs as (for example, LocalSystem) must have rights to read and execute programs in the shell CGI directory.

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6. Make sure that any files in the shell CGI directory also have file associations set in Windows. The server returns an error if it attempts to run a file that has no file-extension association.

Specifying Shell CGI as a File Type (Windows)

You can use the Sun Java System Web Server’s MIME Types window to associate a file extension with the shell CGI feature. This is different from creating an association in Windows.

To associate a file extension with the shell CGI feature in the server. For example, you can create an association for files with the .pl extension. When the server gets a request for a file with that extension, the server knows to treat the file as a shell CGI file by calling the executable associated in Windows with that file extension.

To associate a file extension as a shell CGI file, perform the following steps.

To associate a file extension as a shell CGI file

1. Create the shell directory on your computer. This directory doesn’t have to be a subdirectory of your document root directory.

2. From the Server Manager, choose Server Preferences.

3. Click the MIME Types link.

   The Global MIME Types window appears. For more information on the Global MIME Types, see Choosing MIME Types.

4. Add a new MIME type with these settings:

   • Type: type

   • Content type: magnus-internal/shellcgi.

   • File Suffix: Enter the file suffixes that you want the server to associate with shell CGI. If you activated CGI, WinCGI, and shell CGI file types, you must specify a different suffix for each type of CGI. For example, you can’t use the suffix .exe for both a CGI program and a shell CGI program. If you need to, you can edit the other MIME type fields on the page so that the suffixes are unique.

5. Click the New Type button.

6. Save and apply your changes.