Using Apache With Novell NetWare

Requirements

Apache 2.0 is designed to run on NetWare 6.0 service pack 3 and above. If you are running a service pack less than SP3, you must install the latest NetWare Libraries for C (LibC).

NetWare service packs are available here.

Apache 2.0 for NetWare can also be run in a NetWare 5.1 environment as long as the latest service pack or the latest version of the NetWare Libraries for C (LibC) has been installed . WARNING: Apache 2.0 for NetWare has not been targeted for or tested in this environment.

Downloading Apache for NetWare

Information on the latest version of Apache can be found on the Apache web server at http://www.apache.org/. This will list the current release, any more recent alpha or beta-test releases, together with details of mirror web and anonymous ftp sites. Binary builds of the latest releases of Apache 2.0 for NetWare can be downloaded from here.

Installing Apache for NetWare

There is no Apache install program for NetWare currently. If you are building Apache 2.0 for NetWare from source, you will need to copy the files over to the server manually.

Follow these steps to install Apache on NetWare from the binary download (assuming you will install to sys:/apache2):

• Unzip the binary download file to the root of the SYS: volume (may be installed to any volume)
• Edit the apache2.conf file setting ServerRoot and ServerName along with any file path values to reflect your correct server settings
• Add SYS:/APACHE2 to the search path, for example:

  SEARCH ADD SYS:\APACHE2

Follow these steps to install Apache on NetWare manually from your own build source (assuming you will install to sys:/apache2):

• Create a directory called Apache2 on a NetWare volume
• Copy APACHE2.NLM, APRLIB.NLM to SYS:/APACHE2
• Create a directory under SYS:/APACHE2 called BIN
• Copy HTDIGEST.NLM, HTPASSWD.NLM, HTDBM.NLM, LOGRES.NLM, ROTLOGS.NLM to SYS:/APACHE2/BIN
• Create a directory under SYS:/APACHE2 called CONF
• Copy the HTTPD-STD.CONF file to the SYS:/APACHE2/CONF directory and rename to HTTPD.CONF
• Copy the MIME.TYPES, CHARSET.CONV and MAGIC files to SYS:/APACHE2/CONF directory
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\ICONS to SYS:/APACHE2/ICONS
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\MANUAL to SYS:/APACHE2/MANUAL
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\ERROR to SYS:/APACHE2/ERROR
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\DOCROOT to SYS:/APACHE2/HTDOCS
• Create the directory SYS:/APACHE2/LOGS on the server
• Create the directory SYS:/APACHE2/CGI-BIN on the server
• Create the directory SYS:/APACHE2/MODULES and copy all nlm modules into the modules directory
• Edit the HTTPD.CONF file searching for all @@Value@@ markers and replacing them with the appropriate setting
• Add SYS:/APACHE2 to the search path, for example:

  SEARCH ADD SYS:\APACHE2

Apache may be installed to other volumes besides the default SYS volume.

During the build process, adding the keyword "install" to the makefile command line will automatically produce a complete distribution package under the subdirectory DIST. Install Apache by simply copying the distribution that was produced by the makfiles to the root of a NetWare volume (see: Compiling Apache for NetWare below).

Running Apache for NetWare

To start Apache just type apache at the console. This will load apache in the OS address space. If you prefer to load Apache in a protected address space you may specify the address space with the load statement as follows:

This will load Apache into an address space called apache2. Running multiple instances of Apache concurrently on NetWare is possible by loading each instance into its own protected address space.

After starting Apache, it will be listening to port 80 (unless you changed the Listen directive in the configuration files). To connect to the server and access the default page, launch a browser and enter the server's name or address. This should respond with a welcome page, and a link to the Apache manual. If nothing happens or you get an error, look in the error_log file in the logs directory.

Once your basic installation is working, you should configure it properly by editing the files in the conf directory.

To unload Apache running in the OS address space just type the following at the console:

or

If apache is running in a protected address space specify the address space in the unload statement:

When working with Apache it is important to know how it will find the configuration files. You can specify a configuration file on the command line in two ways:

• -f specifies a path to a particular configuration file

In these cases, the proper ServerRoot should be set in the configuration file.

If you don't specify a configuration file name with -f, Apache will use the file name compiled into the server, usually conf/apache2.conf. Invoking Apache with the -V switch will display this value labeled as SERVER_CONFIG_FILE. Apache will then determine its ServerRoot by trying the following, in this order:

• A ServerRoot directive via a -C switch.
• The -d switch on the command line.
• Current working directory
• The server root compiled into the server.

The server root compiled into the server is usually sys:/apache2. invoking apache with the -V switch will display this value labeled as HTTPD_ROOT.

Apache 2.0 for NetWare includes a set of command line directives that can be used to modify or display information about the running instance of the web server. These directives are only available while Apache is running. Each of these directives must be preceded by the keyword APACHE2.

RESTART

Instructs Apache to terminate all running worker threads as they become idle, reread the configuration file and restart each worker thread based on the new configuration.

VERSION

Displays version information about the currently running instance of Apache.

MODULES

Displays a list of loaded modules both built-in and external.

DIRECTIVES

Displays a list of all available directives.

SETTINGS

Enables or disables the thread status display on the console. When enabled, the state of each running threads is displayed on the Apache console screen.

SHUTDOWN

Terminates the running instance of the Apache web server.

HELP

Describes each of the runtime directives.

By default these directives are issued against the instance of Apache running in the OS address space. To issue a directive against a specific instance running in a protected address space, include the -p parameter along with the name of the address space. For more information type "apache2 Help" on the command line.

Configuring Apache for NetWare

Apache is configured by reading configuration files usually stored in the conf directory. These are the same as files used to configure the Unix version, but there are a few different directives for Apache on NetWare. See the Apache module documentation for all the available directives.

The main differences in Apache for NetWare are:

• Because Apache for NetWare is multithreaded, it does not use a separate process for each request, as Apache does on some Unix implementations. Instead there are only threads running: a parent thread, and multiple child or worker threads which handle the requests.

  Therefore the "process"-management directives are different:

  MaxConnectionsPerChild - Like the Unix directive, this controls how many connections a worker thread will serve before exiting. The recommended default, MaxConnectionsPerChild 0, causes the thread to continue servicing request indefinitely. It is recommended on NetWare, unless there is some specific reason, that this directive always remain set to 0.

  StartThreads - This directive tells the server how many threads it should start initially. The recommended default is StartThreads 50.

  MinSpareThreads - This directive instructs the server to spawn additional worker threads if the number of idle threads ever falls below this value. The recommended default is MinSpareThreads 10.

  MaxSpareThreads - This directive instructs the server to begin terminating worker threads if the number of idle threads ever exceeds this value. The recommended default is MaxSpareThreads 100.

  MaxThreads - This directive limits the total number of work threads to a maximum value. The recommended default is ThreadsPerChild 250.

  ThreadStackSize - This directive tells the server what size of stack to use for the individual worker thread. The recommended default is ThreadStackSize 65536.

• The directives that accept filenames as arguments must use NetWare filenames instead of Unix names. However, because Apache uses Unix-style names internally, forward slashes must be used rather than backslashes. It is recommended that all rooted f