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iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition Installation Guide



Chapter 1   Before You Install iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition


The following sections discuss the information you need to know before you install iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition.

This chapter contains the following sections:



iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition Overview

iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition is the perfect web server for developing and testing Java applications and deploying low traffic web sites.

iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition is easy to use, and comes with built-in support for Java, SSL, and LDAP. Because it shares a common code base with iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise Edition, applications developed for it can be run on the Enterprise Edition without requiring changes.


Differences Between FastTrack Edition and Enterprise Edition

iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack edition has many of the same features as Enterprise Edition; however, some features have been removed from FastTrack Edition. There were no previous versions of iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition 4.1. However, features were removed from the iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise Edition 4.1 to create the FastTrack Edition feature set. Some of the features removed are:

Scalability. FastTrack Edition has a limit of 5 concurrent threads, which limits use to low traffic environments or development.

Security. The FastTrack Edition SSL encryption level is only 56-bit, making it less functional for highly secure environments.

High Availability . FastTrack Edition's multiprocess mode has been disabled, so process failover on Unix is not an option, as it is in Enterprise Edition. The Intelligent Load Balancing Plug-in is also not available for FastTrack Edition.

Manageability. FastTrack Edition is limited to five virtual servers, as opposed to 256 in Enterprise Edition. FastTrack Edition does not support distributed administration, cluster management, and SNMP monitoring.

LDAP is still required for user authentication, and the FastTrack Edition includes license for use of Netscape Directory Server for development purposes.

Applications. FastTrack Edition servlets and JSPs do not run in multiprocess mode. Because FastTrack Edition does not include the JavaScript environment, there is no LiveWire native database access. Perl and NSAPI are still supported, as are CGIs.

Content Management. FastTrack Edition does not include Web Publishing and search have been removed.


More Information

For a full description of the iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise Edition, see:

http://www.iplanet.com/products/infrastructure/web_servers/index.html


Supported Platforms


iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition runs on these platforms:

Table 1-1 Supported Platforms

Operating System

Architecture

Required Memory

Required Disk Space

Compaq Tru64 UNIX 4.0d; 4.0e and 4.0f supported through binary compatibility.  

Alpha  

64 MB minimum  

110 MB minimum  

Hewlett-Packard HP-UX 11.0; 11.0 64 supported through binary compatibility.  

PA-RISC  

64 MB minimum  

110 MB minimum  

IBM AIX 4.3.3  

Power PC  

64 MB minimum  

110 MB minimum  

Sun Solaris 8; Solaris 2.6 and Solaris 7 supported through binary compatibility  

SPARC  

64 MB minimum  

110 MB minimum  

Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 with Service Pack 5 or greater.  

Intel Pentium  

64 MB minimum  

110 MB minimum  

Red Hat Linux 6.1, based on kernel 2.2.12 with glibc 2.1.2  

x86  

64 MB minimum  

110 MB minimum  



Required Patches


For the latest information on required patches and service packs, see the release notes at http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/enterprise.html.



Hardware and Software Requirements


In addition to the Unix, Linux, or Windows NT operation system. memory and disk space requirements listed above, your computer must have the following hardware and software:


Unix

  • Swap space at least as large as the amount of RAM on your system (twice the amount of RAM is recommended).

  • 10 MB of disk space for log files.

  • Netscape Communicator 4.61 or higher, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01.

  • Java, JavaScript, and cookies enabled in your browser.

  • If you are using Internet Explorer, you need to set your browser to check for a new version of a page every time you access it. To configure this setting, from the View menu, choose Internet Options. On the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click Settings. Click the radio button to check for newer versions of stored pages every visit to the page.

  • A Unix user and group that have the appropriate permissions for running iPlanet Web Server. This user is different from the user that runs the Administration Server. Often people use the user nobody and group nobody for this purpose, but you can also create a specific user and group.

  • A Java Development Kit (JDK) installed on your system if you plan to use Java Server Pages (JSPs). For more information on the required version and where to obtain it, see "Installing a Java Developer's Kit".


Windows NT

  • If you plan on running more than two separate instances of iPlanet Web Server on your system, an additional 16 MB RAM for each server instance.

  • Paging space at least as large as the amount of RAM on your system (twice the amount of RAM is recommended).

  • 10 MB of disk space for log files.

  • Netscape Communicator 4.61 or higher or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher

  • If you are using Internet Explorer, you need to set your browser to check for a new version of a page every time you access it. To configure this setting, from the View menu, choose Internet Options. On the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click Settings. Click the radio button to check for newer versions of stored pages every visit to the page.

  • Java, JavaScript, and cookies enabled in your browser.

  • If you intend to use hostnames during the iPlanet Web Server installation, DNS properly configured with an entry for your server in a DNS server.

  • A static IP address on your machine.

  • A Java Development Kit (JDK) installed on your system if you plan to use Java Server Pages (JSPs). iPlanet Web Server for Windows NT requires JDK 1.2.2 or higher. For more information, see "Installing a Java Developer's Kit."


Linux

  • 256 MB swap space.

  • 10 MB of disk space for log files.

  • Netscape Communicator 4.61 or higher or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01.

  • Java, JavaScript, and cookies enabled in your browser.

  • If you are using Internet Explorer, you need to set your browser to check for a new version of a page every time you access it. To configure this setting, from the View menu, choose Internet Options. On the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click Settings. Click the radio button to check for newer versions of stored pages every visit to the page.

  • A Linux user and group that have the appropriate permissions for running iPlanet Web Server. This user is different from the user that runs the Administration Server. Often people use the user nobody and group nobody for this purpose, but you can also create a specific user and group.

  • A Java Development Kit (JDK) installed on your system if you plan to use Java Server Pages (JSPs). For more information on the required version and where to obtain it, see "Installing a Java Developer's Kit."



Other Technical Requirements

Once you have the proper hardware and software necessary to install iPlanet Web Server, you should make sure that you meet the following requirements:


Creating a DNS Alias for the Server

If your server will run on one machine among many in a network, you or your system administrator should set up a DNS CNAME record or an alias that points to the actual server machine. Later, you can change the actual hostname or IP address of the server machine without having to change all URLs that point to the server machine.

For example, you might call the server my_server.my_company.com and then use an alias like www.my_company.com. So the URLs to documents on your server would always use the www alias instead of my_server.


Unix and Linux User Accounts for the Server

When the iPlanet Web Server starts, it runs with a Unix or Linux user account that you specify during installation. Any child processes of the server are created with this account as the owner. It is best to create a Unix or Linux account for the server that has restricted access to your system resources. The account needs read permissions for the configuration files and write permissions for the logs directory. For security reasons, the user account shouldn't have write permissions to some of the configuration files, though some, such as the access control files, should be group writable.

In addition, the user account you create for the server should belong to a group that contains the server users for all iPlanet servers so that multiple servers can have access to shared files.

If you don't create a dedicated user account for iPlanet Web Server, on many platforms you can use the account with the name nobody, but you might not want to give the user nobody permissions for running the iPlanet Web Server. In addition, the user nobody might not work on some systems. Some systems assign a user ID of -2 for the user nobody. A user ID of less than 0 generates an error during installation. Check the /etc/passwd file to see if the uid for nobody exists, and make sure it is greater than 0.


Note It's strongly recommended that you use a dedicated account for the server.


The Administration Server can also run with a user account that has write permissions to the configuration files for all installed servers. However, it's much easier to run the Administration Server as root because then the Administration Server user can start and stop servers with port numbers less than 1024. (Port numbers greater than 1024 can be started by any user).

The user you use to run the iPlanet Web Server (often nobody) must be in the same group as the user you use to run the Administration Server (often root).


Caution

If you plan to use SNMP, you must run both the iPlanet Web Server instance and the Administration Server as root.



Windows NT User Accounts for the Server

You should create a Windows NT user account for your iPlanet Web Server. It should have restricted access to your system resources and run under a nonprivileged system user account (one that has a limited set of system permissions to your system). When the server starts, it runs with this user account. Any server extension modules the server uses are created with this user account as the owner.

During installation, the server uses the LocalSystem account, not the user account you created. Once you start and run the server, you should use the user account you created. You can change the user account for the server after the installation process. You can configure that user account so that it has permissions to get files on another computer, so that your server can serve files that are mounted from another computer.

In addition, the user account you create for the server should belong to a group that contains the server users for all iPlanet servers so that multiple servers can have access to shared files.


Note It's strongly recommended that you use a dedicated account for the server.



Choosing Unique Port Numbers

You need multiple port numbers: one for the Administration Server and one for each instance of iPlanet Web Server. The Administration Server is a special instance of the iPlanet Web Server that you use to manage your iPlanet Web Server. This Administration Server is not the same as the Netscape Administration Server shipped with the Netscape Console.

The standard web server port number is 80 and the standard SSL-enabled web server port number is 443, but you can install iPlanet Web Server to use any port. If you use a port other than the default port (port 80), the URL used to gain access to your home page changes. For example, if your computer is called www.siroe.com and you choose port 9753, your server's URL will be http://www.siroe.com:9753/.

You should choose a random number for the Administration Server to make it harder for anyone to breach your server. When you configure your server, you use the Administration Server's port number. For example, for server mozilla.com, the server's URL could be
http://www.mozilla.com:2634/.

Make sure the port you choose isn't already in use. On Unix and Linux systems, you can check the file /etc/services on the server machine to make sure you don't assign a port number that is reserved for another service. If you choose a port that is currently being used by another service, the installation program prompts you for another port.


Note If you use Unix or Linux, and you choose a server port number lower than 1024, you must be logged in as root to start the server. After the server binds to the port, the server changes from the root user account to the user account you specify. If you choose a port number higher than 1024, you don't have to be the root user to start the server.




Installation Overview


You can install iPlanet Web Server by downloading it off the iPlanet web site.

When you install iPlanet Web Server, you follow these basic steps:

  1. If you have an existing iPlanet Web Server, Netscape Enterprise Server, or Netscape FastTrack Server already installed, shut it down and save a back up of all the files in the server root. On Windows NT you may also want to save copies of files added to Winnt/Sytem32 during server installation, and copies of the registry as well. For more information on saving copies of the registry, see your operating system documentation.

  2. If you do not already have either Communicator 4.61 or higher or Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher installed, install one.

  3. If you are planning to use users and groups for access control, and you do not have a Directory Server installed, install it. When you install Directory Server, you also install Netscape Console.

  4. Make a note of the LDAP URL associated with your Directory Server, because you will need it during the installation process.

  5. Install and configure iPlanet Web Server.



Installing Netscape Communicator

Because you need a web browser such as Netscape Communicator to administer your server, you must install Communicator or another browser onto your machine before installing iPlanet Web Server. You can download the software from http://home.netscape.com.



Installing Netscape Directory Server


If you are planning to use users and groups (for example, for access control) with your iPlanet Web Server, you need to install Netscape Directory Server before installing the iPlanet Web Server, or use an exiting LDAP server installation.

For information on Directory Server see http://www.iplanet.com/.


Note You can install Netscape Directory Server and iPlanet Web Server on the same Windows NT machine if you do the following:

  • If during installation you are asked which version of libraries to install, always select those which have the most recent release dates.

  • If you need to uninstall either product, you must first make a copy of the uninstall program (uninst.exe) since it will be removed during the uninstall process. Also, you must uninstall iPlanet Web Server before you uninstall Directory Server.




Installing Netscape Console


When you install the Directory Server, you also install Netscape Console. Use Netscape Console to manage your Directory Server. You can also access the iPlanet Web Server from Netscape Console if you run a script after you install the iPlanet Web Server. For more information, see "Accessing iPlanet Web Server from the Netscape Console".

If you are not planning to use Directory Server, you do not need to install Netscape Console.



Installing a Java Developer's Kit


If you are planning to use Java, you must install a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or a Java Developer's Kit (JDK). iPlanet Web Server includes a JRE that you can install during the installation process. However, you may prefer to install a JDK.

You need either a JRE or a JDK to use the following features:

  • Java servlets

  • server-side JavaScript database connectivity (LiveWire)


    Caution

    		If you are using HP-UX, you must install the JRE included with iPlanet Web Server or supply a JDK. Without one or the other, the HP-UX iPlanet Web Server won't run.


You need a JDK to run the following feature (it will not run with a JRE):

  • Java Server Pages (JSPs)

Because you need a JDK to use JSPs, JSPs are only turned on by default if you provide a path to a JDK during installation.

Different platforms require different versions of the JDK:

You can install the JDK before you install iPlanet Web Server, and provide the path to it during installation, or you can wait until after you've installed iPlanet Web Server to install it.

After installation you can change the JRE or JDK iPlanet Web Server uses. In the Administration Server, on the Global Settings tab, use the Configure JRE/JDK Paths page. You can also change the path to the JRE/JDK in this page.


Note Though you can use the JRE with servlets on Solaris, using the JDK instead improves performance.




Accessing iPlanet Web Server from the Netscape Console


If you want to be able to access the iPlanet Web Server from the Netscape Console, run the installMCC script after you install iPlanet Web Server and the Netscape Console. installMCC is a perl script found in server_root/bin/https/bin.

To run the script, follow these steps:

  1. Copy installMCC from the server_root/bin/https/bin directory to your Directory Server machine at Directory_Server_Root/shared/bin.

  2. At the command prompt, run the installMCC script using the following syntax:

    perl installMCC -root server_root -host hostname -port web_admin_port -ldaphost hostname -ldapport ldap_port -basedn basedn -binddn binddn -bindpwd bind_password

    For example:

    perl installMCC -root /usr/netscape/server4 -host austen.red.iplanet.com -port 8888 -ldaphost siroe.red.iplanet.com -ldapport 389 -basedn siroe.com -binddn "cn=Directory Manager" -bindpwd password

  3. Copy the files entserve41.jar and entserv41_en.jar from server_root/bin/https/jar to server_root/java/jars.

  4. If you are using Unix or Linux, go to the server root and run
    ./startconsole. If you are using Windows NT, start the Netscape Console from the Start menu.

Once you have run this script, your iPlanet Web Server appears in the Netscape Console window. When you double-click on the icon in the Netscape Console, the Console launches a web browser window and displays the iPlanet Web Server Administration Server page.


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

Last Updated July 13, 2000