Gettting started with the Internet Connection Server

Welcome to the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT!

The Internet Connection Server is a World Wide Web server that runs on Windows NT.  The server enables you to share graphical, interactive information on the Internet or within a local network.

This online help will assist you with:

•	Starting the server

•	Creating the server home page

•	Configuring the server

•	Protecting the server

•	Changing server performance settings

•	Stopping the server

•	Viewing an online copy of the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book

It also describes the server  main window, and provides a glossary of terms and concepts.


Starting the server

To start the server, do either of the following:

•	Open the Internet Connection Server folder on your NT desktop and double-click the Internet Connection Server icon

•	Enter the following command from an MS-DOS command prompt:

    whttpg

The server starts with the current configuration settings.  If you have not changed the server configuration since installation, the current configuration is based on the information you entered during installation along with the default configuration settings.

To change configuration settings for the server at startup, you can specify options on the whttpg command.  For details, see the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book.  You can also view this book online in HTML using a browser.

To restart the server at any time, select Exit from the File pull-down menu on the server main window, and then start the server again by double-clicking the Internet Connection Server icon or issuing the whttpg command.


Using the Internet Connection Server Front Page

When you first start the server using the default configuration file, the Internet Connection Server Front Page appears as your server’s home page.  The Internet Connection Server Front Page gives you an assortment of tools and information to help you configure and administer your server and design your own home page.  The Front Page is a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)  document.  It is stored in a file named Frntpage.html in your HTML directory.  (You specified the location of this directory when you installed the server.)

To view the Front Page, open the Frntpage.html file using IBM WebExplorer or any other Web browser.  The Front Page Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is:

http://your.server.name/Frntpage.html

where your.server.name is the fully-qualified host name of your server.  For example, www.ibm.com.

From the Front Page, you can link to:

•	Configuration and Administration forms  - Interactive forms that help you easily configure your server to meet your particular needs.

•	Sample Home Page - A sample document that demonstrates how to use many of the HTML tags.  You can use this sample to create your own home page.

•	Webmaster Resource List - A Web page that contains links to many World Wide Web sites you might find interesting and useful as you work with your server.  To use the links, your browser must have the capability to connect to the Internet.

•	Documentation - An online, HTML version of the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book.


Creating your server home page

You can use any HTML document for your server’s home page.  By default, the server uses the Internet Connection Server Front Page as your home page when you first start the server and use the default configuration file.  To use an existing HTML document as your home page, just copy it to your document root directory and rename it to Welcome.html, welcome.html, or index.html.  (The document root directory is the directory you specified as your HTML directory during installation.)

To create a new home page for your server, use the following procedure:

1	Using IBM WebExplorer or another browser, go to the Internet Connection Server Front Page.

2	Click Sample Home Page.

3	From IBM WebExplorer, select Save as from the File pull-down menu on the menu bar.  (Most other browsers provide a similar function.)

4	Save the file with a name of Welcome.html and put it on the document root directory.  (The document root directory is the directory you specified as your HTML directory during installation.)

5	Use your choice of editors to edit the new Welcome.html file and turn it into your own home page masterpiece.

For tips on creating fun and useful home pages, using HTML tags, and advertising the presence of your home page on the Internet, see the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book.  You can also view this book online using a browser.


Configuring the server

The Internet Connection Server is operational when you install it.  However, you will probably want to change some parts of the default configuration file to make the server meet your own particular needs.

To change the server configuration, do either of the following:

•	Use the interactive Configuration and Administration forms

•	Edit the server’s configuration file

It is safer to use the configuration and administration forms rather than editing the configuration file yourself because it is easy to add directives incorrectly or in the wrong order.


Using the Configuration and Administration forms

One way to configure the Internet Connection Server is to use the interactive Configuration and Administration forms.  The Configuration and Administration forms combine CGI programs  and HTML forms  When the server is running, you can access the Configuration and Administration forms by using IBM WebExplorer (or any other Web browser).  The browser can be on the same machine as the server or on any remote client that has access to the server.

To access the forms, do the following:

1.	Disable caching on your browser while using the configuration forms.  In addition, if you are configuring your server remotely from a browser that uses that specific server as its proxy server, you should disable the proxy server setting on your browser.

2.	Using your browser, go to the Internet Connection Server Front Page.  The URL is http://your.server.name/Frntpage.html where where your.server.name is the fully-qualified host name of your server, for example, www.ibm.com.

3.	Click Configuration and Administration forms.

4.	Enter the user name and password you specified in the Administrator ID and Password fields during installation.  If you did not change the installation defaults, the authorized user name is webadmin and the authorized password is webibm.  Note:  To control access to the Configuration and Administration forms, you should change the default user name and password as soon as possible.  This will protect your server configuration from unauthorized access.  After you enter an authorized user name and password, the tool starts and displays the Configuration and Administration forms page.

5.	From the Configuration and Administration forms page, you can link to each of the input forms by clicking the form name.  When you go to a form, it is displayed with the current configuration values in its input fields.  (If you have not changed your configuration since installation, these are the default values.)

6.	From any form, enter information about how you want to configure that particular part of your server.  Each form provides instructions to assist you in deciding what changes to make.  For further information, you can click the help icon at the bottom of each form.  The help icon links you to a help page that provides detailed steps for using the form to perform particular tasks.

7.	After you fill in the form, you must click Apply to indicate you want to update the server configuration with the changes you made.  The Apply button is located below the input fields on each form.  If you decide you do not want to use the changes you made to the form, click Reset.  This returns the fields on the form to the values they had when you first displayed the form.  Note: Some form pages have more than one set of Apply and Reset buttons, which are associated with different sections of the page.

8.	When you click Apply, the server shows you a message indicating whether your input is accepted.  If your input is accepted, you see a Confirmation page that tells you which configuration directives  have been updated.  If your input is not accepted, you see a Configuration Error page that explains the problem with the information you entered.  Go back to the form and try to correct the information.  You may also want to click the ehlp icon on the form.

9.	If the Confirmation page contains a Restart Server button, you can click it to have the server restart and begin using the configuration changes you just made.  If the Confirmation page does not contain a Restart Server button, then you need to stop your server and start it again for the configuration changes you made to take effect.


Controlling access to the forms

The Configuration and Administration forms are protected with a user name and password.  After installation, your server has one authorized user name and one password that can be used to access the Configuration and Administration forms.  The user name and password are stored in the ADMIN.PWD password file, which is located by default in the \WWW\BIN directory.  To change this password and to control which remote users will be able to update the server configuration, enter the htadm command as follows at a MS-DOS command prompt:

htadm -passwd d:\WWW\BIN\ADMIN.PWD user-name password

where:

•	user-name is the name you entered for Administrator ID at installation

•	password is the new password you want to use

See the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book for complete instructions on how to use this command.  You can also view this book online using a browser.


Editing the server configuration file

One way to configure your Internet Connection Server is to edit the server’s configuration file.  By default, this file is named httpd.cnf and is in the \WWW\BIN directory.  The configuration file is made up of statements called directives.

To edit this file, open httpd.cnf using your choice of editor, update the directives, and save your changes.  For a description of each of the configuration file directives, see the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book.  You can also view this book online using a browser.


Protecting the server

To control access to your server, use any or all of the following files:

•	Server password files that define user names and passwords

•	Server group files that specify groups of users

•	Access Control List (ACL) files that set access protection for individual files in a directory

•	Protection setup files that restrict access to a set of documents or an entire file directory structure

•	A server configuration file that restricts access to a set of documents or an entire file directory structure

These protection schemes are described in detail in the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book.  You can also view this book online using a browser.


Changing server performance settings

To control the performance of your server, do any or all of the following:

•	Adjust the number of threads the server has available to perform tasks

•	Specify the priority the operating system gives to the server

•	Keep your most frequently requested files loaded in the server’s memory

The Internet Connection Server provides a set of performance directives to help you tune your server’s performance.  You can change the default settings for these directives either by using the Internet Connection Server Configuration and Administration forms or by editing the server’s configuration file.  The directives include:

•	The MinActiveThreads, MaxActiveThreads, and IdleThreadTimeout directives, which define your server’s pool of available threads.  By having a pool of threads available to your server, you can reduce the number of times your server needs to start and close new threads.

•	The ServerPriority directive, which specifies the priority the operating system gives to server processes.

•	The CacheLocalFile directive, which you can use to load your most popular files into the server’s memory at start-up time.  Storing frequently requested files in the server’s memory improves the response time for those files.

For information on defining these directives, see the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! book.  You can also view this book online using a browser.


How the server uses threads

Each time your server receives a request from a client, it uses one or two threads to perform the requested action.  (One thread is used if the server is not performing DNS lookup.  Two threads are used if the server is performing DNS lookup.)

To process a request, the server first checks to see if any threads are available.  If so, the server uses available threads in the thread pool to process the request.  If no threads are available, and the limit on active threads has not been reached, the server can start new threads to process the request.  When the limit on active threads is reached, however, and no threads are available to process a request, the server holds the request until threads become available.  After a request finishes, the threads it was using become idle.  As long as idle threads do not expire, they are available for the server to use again.


DNS-Lookup directive

This directive specifies whether you want your server to use a domain name server to look up the host name of each requesting client.  The setting of this directive (On/Off) affects the number of threads your server uses to process a request:

•	When On, two threads are used for each request

•	When Off, one thread is used for each request

Using fewer threads improves the performance of the server.


Stopping the server

To stop the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT, do either of the following:

•	Select Exit from the File pull-down menu

•	Press F3

The server main window closes when you stop the server.


Viewing the server documentation online

To view an online version of the Internet Connection Server for Windows NT: Up and Running! Book, open the Internet Connection Server Front Page using IBM WebExplorer or any other Web browser and click the hypertext link to an HTML version of the book.


Understanding the server main window

The Internet Connection Server main window is divided into parts:

•	Menu bar

•	Server activity statistics

•	Access log

•	Error log

•	Trace log

•	Status area

You can also use shortcut keys from this window to stop the server, display the product version information, and scroll through the main window.


Using the menu bar

The menu bar choices on the main window include:

File

•	Save As - Save the current log

•	Restart - Restart the server

•	Exit - Stop the server

View

•	Activity - Displays the activity statistics window

•	Access Log - Displays the access log

•	Error Log - Displays the error log

•	Trace Log - Displays the trace log

Help

•	Contents - Displays a list of help topics

•	Search for Help On - Displays an index of tasks for which help is available

•	How to Use Help - Explains how to use online help

•	About Internet Connection Server - Displays copyright information for the current program


Understanding the activity statistics

Server activity statistics are displayed below the menu bar on the main window.  The information displayed includes:

•	Request served - The number of transactions that have occurred since the server was last started.  (A transaction occurs  when the server responds to a request from a client.)

•	Kbytes sent - The number of kilobytes (Kbytes) of data the server has sent since it was last started.

•	Active connections - The number of currently active connections the server has with clients.  This value is represented graphically by a green bar displayed at the top of the status area.

•	Peak connections - The highest number of connections active at any one time since the server was last started.  This value is represented graphically by a gray bar displayed at the top of the status area.

•	Threads in thread pool - The size of the server’s thread pool.  This value is defined in the server configuration file.


Understanding your log files

If the server is running, it generates new log files each day at midnight.  Otherwise, the server generates new log files as soon as you start it on a given day.  A date extension is appended to the log file to identify it.  The date extension is in the format Mmmddyy, where Mmm is the first three letters of the month, dd is the day of the month, and yy is the last two digits of the year.

Note:  It is a good idea to occasionally check the path that contains your log files.  If your server has a large amount of activity, your log files could grow and cause you to run out of disk space.  Make sure the files are not taking up too much space and delete any log files you no longer need.


Understanding the access log

The access log is a list of requests made to the server.  Each time a user requests a file from your server, the request is displayed in this window.  If any status messages issued by the server are also displayed.  The most current requests and messages are located at the bottom of the display area.

To scroll up or down through the list, use the vertical scroll bar to the right of the display area.  (You can also move up and down in the list using your PageUp and PageDown keys, respectively.)  To scroll left or right to read the text of a request or message, use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the display area.

By default, the server stores an entry for each client request it receives in the access log.  (If you do not want to log requests from certain clients, you can use a NoLog directive in the server configuration file.)  The default name for this log is httpd-log, and it is located in the Logs directory for your server, which you defined at installation.


Client requests

When a client requests a file from your server, the request is shown in the server display area.  Each request contains the following general information:

Client address

The IP address or host name of the client sending the request.  If you set the DNS-Lookup directive to On in the server configuration file, the server uses a domain name server to look up the host name of each client, and displays the client’s host name in the request.  If a client uses a proxy server to send its request, the address or host name of the proxy server is displayed instead of the client’s address or host name.

Date and time

The date and time the request was received by the server.   Depending on your server configuration, the time is logged using local time or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Request string

The request sent to the server from the client.


Understanding the error log

Server error messages are stored in an error log.  The default name for this log is httpd-error, and it is located in the Logs directory.

The server writes standard error output (stderr) from CGI programs to the cgi_error log.


Understanding the trace log

This log is reserved for use by IBM Service and Support.


Saving your logs

You can save the current log as a file name instead of the default file name and directory.  You can also append the current log to an existing file.


Understanding the status area

The status area at the bottom of the main window displays the following information:

•	The current status of the server:  Server Ready or Server Stopped

•	The current mode of operation:

Proxy Server - When the server is operating as a proxy server.

HTTP Server - When the server is not operating as a proxy server.

Standalone Proxy - When the server is operating as a proxy server in standalone cache mode.  This means that the server can return only files already stored in its cache.  (The CacheNoConnect directive in the server configuration file is set to On.)

•	The port number the server is using to receive HTTP requests.  If the port is turned off, the port number does not appear.  The default port number is 80.


Using shortcut keys

Internet Connection Server key definitions:

Key	Description

F3	Exits the program and stops the server

Ctrl+X	Exits the program and stops the server

Ctrl+Alt+A	Displays information about the product and version level

PageUp	Moves up one screen in the main window display area

PageDown	Moves down one screen in the main window display area


Glossary

This glossary provides additional information on terms and concepts used in this online help.

•	Browser

•	Cache

•	Caching proxy server

•	Common gateway interface (CGI)

•	CGI script or program

•	Client

•	Configuration file

•	Default

•	Directive

•	Domain name

•	Domain name server

•	Firewall

•	Home page

•	Host

•	Host name

•	HTML

•	HTTP

•	HTTP method

•	Icon

•	Internet

•	IP Address

•	Path

•	Proxy gateway

•	Proxy server

•	Server

•	Thread

•	Thread pool

•	Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

•	World Wide Web

•	Welcome page

•	Wildcard character


Browser

A client program that initiates requests to a server and displays the returned information.


Cache

A special-purpose buffer storage, smaller and faster than main storage, used to hold a copy of data that may be frequently accessed.  Use of a cache reduces access time, but may increase memory requirements.


Caching proxy server

A proxy server that can store the documents it retrieves from other servers in a local cache.  The server can then respond to subsequent requests for the same documents without having to retrieve them from other servers.  This can improve response time.


Common gateway interface (CGI)

A standard interface between Web servers and external programs.  CGI scripts are programs that use this interface to perform tasks not usually done by the server, such as form processing.


CGI program

A program that uses the common gateway interface (CGI) to perform tasks not usually done by the server, such as form processing.  CGI programs can be written in any language supported by the operating system on which the server is run.  The language can be a scripting language or a programming language.


Client

A computer system or process that requests a service of another computer system or process.  For example, a workstation or personal computer requesting HTML documents from an IBM Internet Connection Server is a client of the IBM Internet Connection Server it connects to.


Configuration file

A file that describes the devices, optional features, communications parameters, and programs installed on a workstation.  For the Internet Connection Server, the configuration file is named httpd.cnf and by default is put in the \WWW\BIN directory.  The configuration file contains directives that define the various settings for the server.


Default

A value, attribute, or option that is assumed when none is explicitly specified.


Directive

A statement used in the Internet Connection Server configuration file to define a particular setting for the server.


Domain name

A name of a host system in a network.  A domain name consists of a sequence of names (labels) separated by periods (dots).  An example is: www.ibm.com


Domain Name Server

A server program that supplies name-to-address translation by mapping Internet addresses to 30415.domain names.  Use of a domain name server allows users to request services of another computer using a symbolic name, which is easier to remember than an Internet address.


Firewall

A computer that connects a private network, such as a business, to a public network, such as the Internet.  It contains programs that limit the access between two networks.  You can use a firewall with a proxy server to create a proxy gateway.


Home page

The welcome page on the document root directory of a Web server.  Commonly used as the entry point for the contents of the server.


Host

A computer, connected to a network, which provides an access point to that network.  A host can be a client, a server, or a client and server simultaneously.


Host name

A name, such as tcpipidd.raleigh.ibm.com, that is defined for an IP address, such as 9.67.97.103.


HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

A language used to create hypertext documents.  Hypertext documents can include links to other related documents.  HTML controls the format of text and position of form input areas, for example, as well as the navigable links.

A document written in HTML that may contain links to other documents that contain additional information about related terms or subjects.


HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

The protocol used to transfer and display hypertext documents.


HTTP method

An action used by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol.  For example, HTTP methods include GET, POST, and PUT.


Icon

A graphical representation of an object (a file or program), consisting of an image, image background, and a label.


Internet

A wide area network connecting thousands of disparate networks in industry, education, government, and research.  The Internet network uses TCP/IP as the standard for transmitting information.


IP address

The unique 32-bit address that specifies the actual location of each device or workstation in the Internet.  For example, 9.67.97.103 is an IP address.


Path

A statement that indicates where a file is stored on a particular drive.  The path consists of all the directories that must be opened to get to a particular file.  The directory names are separated by the backslash (\).


Proxy gateway

A type of firewall that protects computers in a business network from access by users outside that network.


Proxy server

A server that can retrieve documents from other servers for its clients.


Server

A computer that provides shared services to other computers over a network; for example, a file server, a print server, or a mail server.


Thread

The smallest unit of operation performed within a process.


Thread pool

The threads that are either being used or available to the Internet Connection Server.


URL

The address convention that indicates the location of an item on the World Wide Web.  It includes the protocol followed by the fully-qualified host name, and the request.  The server typically maps the request portion of the URL to a path and file name.  For example:

http://www.raleigh.ibm.com/ics/icsprod.html.


World Wide Web

The World Wide Web:  the network of HTTP servers that contain programs and files, such as hypertext documents that contain links to other documents on HTTP servers.


Welcome page

A document that is returned by the Web server in response to a request that points to a directory but does not contain a file name.  Each accessible directory on the server can have a welcome page.


Wildcard character

An asterisk (*) used in a template.  For the template to be matched, an asterisk can be replaced by any character string or single character.  A question mark must be replaced by one single character.