Setting up NCSA httpd for Windows


The server kit comes as a (large) ZIP file. To set up the software, perform the following steps:


  1. Create a directory C:\HTTPD. Please don't be creative at this point. If you use this location, the server will run without the need to edit configuration files. Also, all of the documentation, script examples, form examples, etc. will just run (assuming you do steps 3, 4 and 5!).

  2. Unzip the kit into the new directory. Be sure to use the -D (use directories) option of pkunzip! Directories must be preserved. Use pkunzip (2.04g or later), or equivalent, to uncompress the kit.

  3. The Common Log Format requires that times be recorded in GMT. Therefore, httpd must know what timezone your computer's local clock is set for. The TZ environment variable is used for this purpose.

    Add a line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT to set the TZ variable. Within the US, the syntax is as follows:

    SET TZ=sssnddd
    where sss is the 3-letter abbreviation for your standard timezone (e.g. EST), n is the standard time offset of your timezone from GMT (e.g. for Eastern, 4), and ddd is the 3-letter abbreviation for your daylight time (if your state has daylight time, e.g., for Eastern, EDT). For example:
    SET TZ=EST4EDT
    SET TZ=MST7    <== for Arizona, no daylight time
  4. The demo page and many examples in the documentation require the server to run back-end scripts in a DOS window. They will fail if you don't have enough environment space. Add a line
    CommandEnvSize=8192
    to the [NonWindowsApp] section of SYSTEM.INI.

  5. For busy servers running multi-threaded, you should increase the size of application message queue available to programs. Add a line
    DefaultQueueSize=32
    to the [Windows] section of WIN.INI.


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Robert B. Denny <rdenny@netcom.com>