About This Book


This book was last updated 6/26/00.

This book discusses how to use Netscape Server Application Programmer's Interface (NSAPI) to build plugins that define Server Application Functions (SAFs) to extend and modify the Enterprise Server 3.x versions and iPlanet^TM Web Server, FastTrack Edition 4.x versions. The book also discusses the purpose and use of the configuration files obj.conf, magnus.conf, and mime.types, and provides comprehensive lists 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.

iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition Overview

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iPlanet Web Server, FastTrack Edition was designed for developing and testing Java applications and deploying low traffic web sites. 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 changes.

Enterprise Edition features that are absent or limited in the FastTrack Edition and relevant to this manual are as follows:

• Only five concurrent threads are supported.

• Only five virtual servers are supported (Enterprise Edition supports 256).

• SSL encryption level is only 56-bit.

• Multiprocess mode has been disabled. Therefore, process failover on Unix is not an option, and servlets and JSPs do not run in multiprocess mode.

• The JavaScript environment is not included, therefore there is no LiveWire native database access.

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

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


Book Summary

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This book has the following chapters and appendices:

• Chapter 1 "Basics of Server Operation"

  This chapter discusses how the iPlanet Web Server uses configuration files to perform initialization tasks and to process client requests.

• Chapter 2 "Syntax and Use of obj.conf"

  This chapter goes into detail on the configuration file obj.conf. The chapter discusses the syntax and use of directives in this file, which instruct the server how to process requests.

• Chapter 3 "Predefined SAFs and the Request Handling Process"

  This chapter discusses each of the stages in the request handling process, and provides an API reference of the Server Application Functions (SAFs) that can be invoked at each stage.

• Chapter 4 "Creating Custom SAFs"

  This chapter discusses how to create your own plugins that define new SAFs to modify or extend the way the server handles requests.

• Chapter 5 "NSAPI Function Reference"

  This chapter presents a reference of the functions in the Netscape Server Application Programming Interface (API). You use NSAPI functions to define SAFs.

• Chapter 6 "Examples of Custom SAFs"

  This chapter discusses examples of custom SAFs to use at each stage in the request handling process.

• Appendix A "Data Structure Reference"

  This appendix discusses some of the commonly used NSAPI data structures.

• Appendix B "Variables in magnus.conf"

  This appendix discusses the variables you can set in the configuration file magnus.conf to configure the iPlanet Web Server during initialization.

• Appendix C "MIME Types"

  This appendix discusses the MIME types file, which maps file extensions to file types.

• Appendix D "Wildcard Patterns"

  This appendix lists the wildcard patterns you can use when specifying values in obj.conf, various predefined SAFs, and in some NSAPI functions.

• Appendix E "Time Formats"

  This appendix lists time formats.

• Appendix F "Server-Parsed HTML Tags"

  This appendix discusses the syntax and use of server-parsed HTML tags.

• Appendix G "HyperText Transfer Protocol"

  This appendix gives an overview of HTTP.

• Appendix H "Alphabetical List of NSAPI Functions and Macros"
  Appendix I "Alphabetical List of Directives in magnus.conf"
  Appendix J "Alphabetical List of Pre-defined SAFs"

  These appendices provide alphabetical lists for easy lookup of NSAPI functions, predefined SAFs, and variables in magnus.conf.

  
  

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  Note	Throughout this manual, all Unix-specific descriptions apply to the Linux operating system as well, except where Linux is specifically mentioned.

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