vqServer Web site management


This page outlines procedures for customising the sample web site provided with vqServer, adding other files and directories anywhere on your system to your web site and restricting access to portions of your web site.

You can customise vqServer's sample web site using your operating system's commands or using a file management utility. For example:

  1. Rename your home page index.html and copy it to your website/public/ directory, overwriting the sample index.html. Anyone visiting your web site without specifying a file will see your home page.
  2. Any files placed in the website/public/ directory (or subdirectories of website/public/) will become available to visitors to your web site.
  3. Any files placed in the website/private/ directory will become available on the network but access to them will be restricted to people who know the appropriate ID and password (see the security page for further information).
  4. Any servlet .class files placed in the website/servlets/ directory (or subdirectories of website/servlets/) can be invoked by visitors your web site.
  5. Any CGI scripts copied to the website/cgi/ directory (or subdirectories of website/cgi/) can be invoked by visitors to your web site.
vqServer
FAQs
Register (free!)
Support

Contents

Startup
Shutdown

Adding files
Restricting access

Adding files and directories to your web site

This section describes how to add a file or directory which is not in your website/public/, website/private/ or website/registered/ directories to your web site. For example, you might want to make a file named specialinfo.html located in a directory called website/special/ available to web users when they type http://yourcomputersname/specialinfo in their web browser's address box.

  1. Read the introduction to the files and aliases page of this documentation.
  2. Use your web browser to start the vqServer control centre.
  3. Click on Files under Main web server in the menu at the right-hand side of the control centre welcome page. A list of the files and directories in your website/ directory will be displayed.
  4. Locate the file or directory you want to add to your web site in the list, using the links to the parent directory or subdirectories if necessary. In the example above, you would click on specialinfo/ to display a list of the files in your website/specialinfo/ directory.
  5. Click on the ellipsis (...) next to the name of the file or directory you want to add to your web site. A settings form for a new alias will be displayed.
  6. Type the name by which you want the file or directory to be known in the Alias box at the top of the form. In the example above, you would type /specialinfo in the Alias box.
  7. Click on the Ok button. An amended directory listing will be displayed showing the new alias next to the file you selected.. In the example above, the file specialinfo.html is now accessible to all visitors to your site.
vqServer
Contents
Management


Startup
Shutdown

Restricting access

This section describes how you can easily restrict access to any file or directory in your web site. To continue with the example above, you might want to restrict access to specialinfo.html to a group of friends. In the following, the protected file is the file or directory to which you want to restrict access (in the example above, the protected file is specialinfo.html).

  1. Read the introduction to the security page of this documentation.
  2. Use your web browser to start the vqServer control centre.
  3. Create an access control list:
    1. Click on Access control lists in the menu on the right-hand side of the control centre welcome page. The access control lists page will be displayed.
    2. Click on New ACL in the menu on the right-hand side of the page. The settings page for a new access control list will be displayed.
    3. Enter a suitable name in the Name box. In the example above, you might call the new access control list Friends.
    4. Click on the Ok button.
  4. Add the protected file to vqServer's list of aliases if necessary. Instructions for doing this are given above.
  5. Make sure that there are no other aliases by which the protected file can be accessed. In the example, an alias /backdoor/ associated with the path specialinfo/specialinfo.html could be used to circumvent password protection. You can check this very easily from the appropriate files page of the control centre which lists all the aliases that can be used to refer to a file.
  6. Link the new access control list to the alias. To do this:
    1. Click on Aliases under Main web server in the control centre menu. The aliases page will be displayed.
    2. Find the alias associated with the protected file (in the example the alias is /specialinfo). Click on the icon in the Settings column adjacent to the alias. The settings page for the alias will be displayed.
    3. Select the new access control list (Friends in our example) from the Access control list pull-down menu.
    4. Click on the Ok button.
  7. Add users to the vqServer user database and to the new access control list.
    1. Click on Users in the control centre menu. The users page will be displayed.
    2. Click on New user in the menu on the right-hand side of the page. The settings form for a new user will be displayed.
    3. Enter a suitable user ID in the ID box. This is the name by which the user will identify himself/herself to vqServer.
    4. Enter a password in the Password box.
    5. Make sure the Show ACLs box at the bottom of the form is checked.
    6. Click on the Ok button. A list of access control lists and check boxes is displayed.
    7. Check the boxes corresponding to the access control lists you want to add the new user to. In the example, click on the check box next to Friends.
    8. Click the Ok button. The amended users page will be displayed.
    9. Inform the person you have just added to the vqServer user database of their user ID and password.
    10. Repeat steps 2-9 for each person you want to be able to access the protected file or directory.


vqServer version 1.9. Copyright © 1997-2000 Steve Shering and vqSoft. Last updated 14 March 1999.

vqServer
Contents
Management


Startup
Shutdown