Configuring the Web Connector Plug-In

This chapter describes the web connector plug-in which sends users' requests to applications residing on Netscape Application Server.

• About the Web Connector Plug-In
• Configuring the Web Connector for Web Server Logging
• Configuring Cookie and Hidden Field Usage
• Configuring a CGI Flag for CGI Requests
• Changing the Web Connector Port Number
• Specifying HTTP Variables for Input to Application Components

1. Enable CGI, if it is not already enabled:

1. Go to the Netscape program group and click Administer Netscape Servers.
2. Enter the administrator ID and password, and click OK.
3. On the Netscape Server Selector screen, click on the web server instance you want to configure.
4. On the main menu bar across the top of the page, click Programs.
5. On the CGI directory screen under URL prefix, type cgi-bin.
6. Under CGI directory, enter the cgi-bin path.

For Netscape Enterprise Server 3.x and higher, Windows NT:

drive letter:/Netscape/SuiteSpot/docs/cgi-bin 

Now you are ready to configure the web connector plug-in.

2. Edit the obj.conf file in the web server configuration directory.

For Netscape Enterprise Server 3.x, Windows NT:

drive letter:\Netscape\SuiteSpot\https-machinename\config

For Netscape Enterprise Server 3.x, Unix:

NAS install directory/https-machinename/config

Make a copy of the file before modifying it. At the end of the Init section of the obj.conf file, add the following as two lines:

• Windows NT:

Init fn="load-modules" 
funcs=nas_name_trans,gxrequest,gxlog,gxinit,gxredirect,gxhtmlrequest 
shlib="path to NAS bin dir/example: gxnsapi351.dll" 

Init fn="gxinit" 

• Unix:

Init fn="load-modules" 
funcs=nas_name_trans,gxrequest,gxlog,gxinit,gxredirect,gxhtmlrequest 
shlib="gxnsapi30.so" 

Init fn="gxinit" 

Specify the following for shlib, Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6:

• Windows NT:

NAS install directory\bin\gxnsapi351.dll 

• Unix:

NAS install directory/gxlib/libgxnsapi30.so

3. In the Object name=default section, just after type=text/plain section, add the following line:

Service fn="gxredirect" fnname="imagemap" method="(GET|HEAD)" 

4. In the Object name=cgi section(s), insert the following line immediately before the line Service fn="send-cgi":

Service fn="gxrequest" 

And then insert the following line immediately after the line Service fn="send-cgi":

AddLog fn="gxlog" 

5. Make a copy of the current version of the file obj.conf and copy it to the back up version (so that the backup is consistent with the current version) in the following directory:

For Windows NT:

drive letter:\Netscape\SuiteSpot\https-machinename\conf_bk

For Unix:

Netscape install directory/https-machinename/conf_bk

6. Unix only: Modify the web server's start and stop scripts as follows:

In the start script:

Set GX_ROOTDIR to the directory in which NAS is installed. For example:

GX_ROOTDIR=NAS install directory; export GX_ROOTDIR

7. Restart the web server.

• Rename the gxisapi.dll library to gx.dll and leave it in the cgi-bin directory of the IIS wwwroot (inetput/wwwroot/cgi-bin/).
• Configure the ISAPI filter file, gx.dll, in the following registry entry:

My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ 
W3SVC\Parameters\

A string key, Filter DLLs, should be added under Parameters, with the following value:

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cgi-bin\gx.dll

1. Open the Netscape Registry Editor by typing kregedit at the command line.

The editor tool opens and displays the keys and values that apply to NAS. If the web server and NAS are installed on separate machines, the editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to the web connector plug-in.

2. Open the following key:

Software\Netscape\Application Server\4.0\CCS0\HTTPLOG\INPUTVARS

Each value under this key represents an HTTP variable and the database field to which the variable is mapped.

The ID of the value is the HTTP variable. The string value is the database field.

The HTTP variable is in ALL CAPS, such as HTTP_REFERER, and the database field is exactly as it appears in the database table.

3. Double-click the HTTP variable you want to map to a database field.

The String editor dialog box appears.

4. Enter the database field name as the value data and click OK.
5. Leave any HTTP variables you do not want to log blank.
6. Close the editor.

1. Open the Netscape Registry Editor by typing kregedit at the command line.

The editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to NAS. If the web server and NAS are installed on separate machines, the editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to the web connector plug-in.

2. Open the following key:

Software\Netscape\Application Server\4.0\CCS0\HTTPLOG\INPUTVARS

Each value under this key represents an HTTP variable and the database field to which the variable is mapped.

The ID of the value is the HTTP variable. The string value is the database field.

The HTTP variable is in ALL CAPS, such as HTTP_REFERER, and the database field is exactly how it appears in the database table.

3. Add a new String value with the new HTTP variable name.
4. Double-click the new HTTP variable and enter the database field name as the value data.
5. Click OK.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each new HTTP variable.
7. Close the editor.

1. Open the Netscape Registry Editor by typing kregedit at the command line.

The editor tool opens and displays the keys and values that apply to NAS. If the web server and NAS are installed on separate machines, the registry editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to the web connector plug-in.

2. Open the following key:

Software\Netscape\Application Server\4.0\CCSO\HTTPAPI

3. Double-click the NoCookie DWORD value.

The DWORD editor dialog box appears.

4. To disable cookies being passed to the web browser, change the value data to 1.
5. To disable hidden fields being passed to the web browser, change the value data to 2.
6. To enable both cookie and hidden fields, change the value data to 0.
7. When finished, close the editor.

1. Open the Netscape Registry Editor by typing kregedit at the command line.

The editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to Netscape Application Server (NAS). If the web server and NAS are installed on separate machines, the editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to the web connector plug-in.

2. Open the following key:

Software\Netscape\Application Server\4.0\CCSO\HTTPAPI 

3. Double-click the AgentToken String value.

The String Editor dialog box appears.

4. For the value data, enter the flag that marks requests for CGI mode processing.
5. Click OK.
6. Close the editor.

1. Open the Netscape Registry Editor. by typing kregedit at the command line.

The editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to Netscape Application Server (NAS). If the web server and NAS are installed on separate machines, the editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to the web connector plug-in.

2. Open the following key:

Software\Netscape\Application Server\4.0\CCSO\HTTPAPI

3. Double-click the ListenPort DWORD value and change the value data to an available port number.
4. Click OK.
5. Close the editor.

1. Open the Netscape Registry Editor by typing kregedit at the command line.

The editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to Netscape Application Server (NAS). If the web server and NAS are installed on separate machines, the editor opens and displays the keys and values that apply to the web connector plug-in.

2. Open the appropriate key:

• For Netscape web servers, open the following key:

Software\Netscape\Application Server\4.0\CCSO\HTTPAPI\INPUTNSAPI

• For Microsoft web servers, open the following key:

Software\Netscape\Application Server\4.0\CCSO\HTTPAPI\INPUTISAPI 

Each value shown represents an HTTP variable. The value also indicates the HTTP variable is passed to NAS with the application request. If the value is non-zero, the HTTP variable is passed to the NAS machine with the application request.

The HTTP variable is in ALL CAPS, such as HTTP_REFERER.

3. Add a new String value with the new HTTP variable name.
4. Double-click the new HTTP variable and enter the one of the following as the value data:

• For Netscape web servers, enter a string value, such as that used for database mapping.
• For Microsoft web servers, enter a 1.
5. Click OK.
6. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for each new HTTP variable.
7. Close the editor.