Complete Contents
About This Guide
Chapter 1 Introduction to iPlanet Web Server
Chapter 2 Administrating iPlanet Web Servers
Chapter 3 Setting Administration Preferences
Chapter 4 Managing Users and Groups
Chapter 5 Working with Server Security
Chapter 6 Managing Server Clusters
Chapter 7 Configuring Server Preferences
Chapter 8 Understanding Log Files
Chapter 9 Using SNMP to Monitor Servers
Chapter 10 Configuring the Server for Performance
Chapter 11 Extending Your Server with Programs
Chapter 12 Working with Configuration Styles
Chapter 13 Managing Server Content
Chapter 14 Controlling Access to Your Server
Chapter 15 Configuring Web Publishing
Chapter 16 Using Search
Appendix A HyperText Transfer Protocol
Appendix B ACL File Syntax
Appendix C Internationalized iPlanet Web Server
Appendix D Server Extensions for Microsoft FrontPage
Appendix E iPlanet Web Server User Interface
Glossary
Index
Administrator's Guide: About This Guide
Next Contents Index Bookshelf


About This Guide

This guide describes how to configure and administer iPlanet Web Server. 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?
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 in the server root at manual/https/ag in your server root directory.


How This Guide Is Organized
This guide is divided into five sections. If you are new to iPlanet Web Server, begin with Server Basics for an overview of the iPlanet WebServer. If you are already familiar with 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 and Monitoring, which includes examples of how to configure and monitor your iPlanet Web Servers. Using Programs and Objects provides information for using programs and configuration styles. Managing Content and Access provides information for managing your iPlanet Web Server content, controlling access to your iPlanet Web Servers, how to use Web Publisher to collaborate on projects, and how to search the contents and attributes of documents on your servers.

Finally, the appendices address 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:

Using the Administration Server
This section provides conceptual and procedural details 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.

  • Working with Server Security 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. For more information regarding these topics, see Managing Servers with Netscape Console.

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

  • Understanding 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.

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

  • Configuring the Server for Performance describes how to define your server workload and sizing your system to meet your performance needs. This chapter addresses miscellaneous configuration and Unix/Linux platform-specific issues, CGI-related performance tuning problems, and other common performance issues.
Using Programs and Objects
This section provides information for using the Server Manager to programs and configuration styles. The following chapters are included:

Managing Content and Access
This section provides information for using the Server Manager to manage your iPlanet Web Server content, control access to your iPlanet Web Servers, how to use Web Publisher to collaborate on projects, and how to search the contents and attributes of documents on your servers. The following chapters are included:

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

  • Controlling Access to Your Server describes the methods you can use to determine who has access to what files or directories on your web site.

  • Configuring Web Publishing describes how you can configure iPlanet Web Server for web publishing.

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

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
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.

bold
Bold style is used for new terminology and specific dialog box and drop down menu options. All new bold terms are also in the glossary.


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

Note that the printed manuals (Installation and Migration Guide, Administrator's Guide, and the Programmer's Guide to Servlets) are also available as online files in PDF and HTML format.

Table 0.1 iPlanet Web Server Documentation
For information about
See the following
Late-breaking information about the software and the documentation.
http://www.iplanet.com/docs
Installing iPlanet Web Server and migrating your data to the new iPlanet Web Server.
iPlanet Web Server Installation & Migration Guide
Administering one or more iPlanet Web Servers using the Administrator Server to manage and configure your servers and to perform the following tasks:

Administrator's Guide
The administration server and global information on topics such as encryption, access control, and performance monitoring. BR> 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.
Netscape Directory Server Deployment Manual
Using the web publishing system. This manual is included with your server in HTML format.
Netshare and Web Publisher User's Guide
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. This book also contains information about API changes from Enterprise 3.x to iPlanet Web Server 4.x. Use this book as the starting place for developer-level information for iPlanet Web Server 4.x.
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. The book also discusses the purpose and use of the configuration files obj.conf, magnus.conf, and mime.types, and provides a comprehensive list of the directives and functions that can be used in these configuration files. It also provides a reference of the NSAPI functions you can use to define new plugins.
NSAPI Programmer's Guide for iPlanet Web Server
How to create Server-Side JavaScript (SSJS) applications. JavaScript is Netscape’s cross-platform, object-based scripting language for client and server applications.
Server-Side JavaScript Guide


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

To access these documents, use the following URL:


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

 

© Copyright © 2000 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Some preexisting portions Copyright © 2000 Netscape Communications Corp. All rights reserved.