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: Administering iPlanet Web Servers
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Chapter 2 Administering iPlanet Web Servers

This chapter describes how to administer your iPlanet Web Servers with the iPlanet Web Server Administration Server. Using the Administration Server, you can manage servers, add and remove servers, and migrate servers from a previous release.

This chapter includes the following sections:


Accessing the Administration Server
This section describes how to access the Administration Server for Unix/Linux and Windows NT platforms.

Unix/Linux Platforms
To access the Administration Server in Unix or Linux platforms, go to the server_root/https-admserv/ directory (for example,
/usr/netscape/server4/https-admserv/) and type ./start. This command starts the Administration Server using the port number you specified during installation.

Windows NT Platforms
The iPlanet Web Server installation program creates a program group with several icons for Windows NT platforms. The program group includes the following icons:

Note that the Administration Server runs as a services applet; thus, you can also use the Control Panel to start this service directly.

To access the Administration Server in Windows NT 4.0, perform the following steps:

  1. Double-click the "Start Administration Server" icon, or type the following URL in your browser:
  2. Type the administration username and password you specified during installation.
For more information, see Administration Server.

Note. You must enable cookies in your browser to run the CGI programs necessary for configuring your server.

You can also access the Administration Server from a remote location as long as you have access to client software such as Netscape Navigator. Since the Administrator Server is accessed through a browser, you can access it from any machine that can reach the server over the network. For more information, see Netscape Console.


Adding a Server: Running Multiple Servers
There are three ways you can have multiple web servers running on your system:

Hardware Virtual Servers
Hardware virtual servers allow you to map multiple IP addresses to multiple document roots. For example, if you have two IP addresses, you could map the first IP address to one document root and the second IP address to a second document root. While hardware virtual servers take fewer system resources than multiple instances of the server, they must share the same configuration information. For example, if one hardware virtual server has enabled security features or web publishing, they all must have it enabled.

Configuring Multiple Hardware Virtual Servers on the Same IP Address with Different Ports
You can configure multiple hardware virtual servers on the same IP address by assigning a uinque port number for each hardware virtual server. Note that you can not use the Administration Server to accomplish this task, you must manually edit the obj.conf file.

For example, to configure four hardware virtual servers on the same IP address with port numbers 80-83, add the following lines to the obj.conf file:

For more information on hardware virtual servers, see Setting Up Hardware Virtual Servers.

Software Virtual Servers
Software virtual servers give you the ability to map a single IP address to multiple server names. Each software virtual server can have its own home page. One use for this is to host multiple web sites from one IP address. However, in order for software virtual servers to work correctly, the users accessing the server must be using client software that supports the HTTP Host header. Like hardware virtual servers, software virtual servers all must have the same configuration. For more information on software virtual servers, see Setting up Software Virtual Servers.

Multiple Server Instances
Multiple server instances enables you to define separate types of configuration information for each server. For example, one instance of the server could have security features or web publishing enabled while another server could have them disabled. However, each instance of the server takes substantial resources of RAM, disk space, and swap space. For more information, see the following section, Installing Multiple Instances of the Server.


Installing Multiple Instances of the Server
You can use the Administration Server to configure multiple servers via the following options:

If you have installed iPlanet Web Server on multiple servers, the installation process places all the files under the server root directory that you specified during installation, as specified in Single-Server Configuration. However, note that iPlanet Web Server also creates an additional https-identifier directory for each additional server you specify.

You can install another instance of the web server on your current computer. Your web server software license allows you to have as many web server instances as you want on one system. Each web server you have installed can run on any TCP/IP port on your system, but you cannot run two web servers on the same port at the same time unless they are configured to respond to different IP addresses. Contact your system's vendor for information on how to configure your system to respond to different IP addresses.

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

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. For more information, see Configuring Network Settings.

To add another server instance, perform the following steps:

  1. Access the Administration Server and choose the Servers tab.
  2. Click the Add Server link.
  3. Enter the desired information for the specified fields.
For more information, see The Add Server Page.


Removing a Server
You can remove a server from your system using the Administration Server. Be sure that you don't need the server anymore before you remove it, since this process cannot be undone.

Note. Some NT servers have an uninstall program that you can use to remove a server and its associated administration server. For details, check with your product documentation.

To remove a server from your machine, perform the following steps:

  1. Access the Administration Server and choose the Servers tab.
  2. Click Remove Server.
The Administration Server subsequently deletes the server's configuration files, Server Manager forms, and the following directory (and any subdirectories):

For more information, see The Remove Server Page.


Migrating a Server From a Previous Version
You can migrate an Enterprise Server from 3.6 to 4.1. Your 3.6 server is preserved, and a new 4.1 server using the same settings is created.

You should stop running the 3.6 server before migrating settings. Make sure you have Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later installed on your computer before migrating settings.

For a complete description of how to migrate a server from a previous version to Enterprise Server 4.1, see the Installation and Migration Guide.

For more information, see The Migrate Server Page.

 

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