Sun Java System Web Server 6.1 SP11 Administrator's Guide

Running Multiple Servers

There are two ways you can have multiple web servers running on your system:

Use virtual servers
Install multiple instances of the server

Virtual Servers

Virtual servers allow you, with a single installed server, to offer companies or individuals domain names, IP addresses, and some server administration capabilities. For the users, it is almost as if they have their own web server, though you provide the hardware and basic web server maintenance.

The settings for virtual servers are stored in the server.xml file, found in the server_root/server_id/config directory. You must not edit this file to use virtual servers, but if you would like to learn more about this file, see the Sun Java System Web Server 6.1 SP11 Administrator’s Configuration File Reference.

For more information about virtual servers, see Chapter 14, Using Virtual Servers.

Installing Multiple Instances of the Server

Previous releases of Sun Java System Web Server, virtual servers did not have unique configuration information. The only way to have servers with separate configuration information was to create a new server instance. However, with Sun Java System Web Server 6.1, virtual servers have separate configuration information, so multiple server instances are no longer required. They are still supported, but virtual servers are the preferred way to have multiple servers.

If you choose to install multiple instances of the web server, you can use the Administration Server to:

Install multiple copies of the server on Windows as separate instances, each with a different IP address.
Configure a set of servers that all use the same IP address, but different port numbers.

If your system is configured to listen to multiple IP addresses enter one of the IP addresses that your system is hosting for each server you install.

If you installed your server before configuring your system to host multiple IP addresses, configure your system to respond to different IP addresses. Then you can either install hardware virtual servers or change the server’s bind address using the Server Manager and install separate instances of the server for each IP address.

To add another server instance

Access the Administration Server and choose the Servers tab.

Click Add Server.

Enter the desired information for the specified fields.

Note –
The server identifier cannot start with a digit and only Latin-1 characters should be used in instance names.

Click OK.

For more information, see the Add Server page in the online help.