Communicator e3000 MPE/iX Release 6.5 (Non-Platform Software Release C.65.00 (30216-90291)

138 Chapter5
Internet and Interoperability
Apache for MPE/iX 6.5
Apache for MPE/iX 6.5
by Barbara Dubbert
Commercial Systems Division
Overview
Apache for MPE/iX is server software which turns your HP 3000 into a full-featured web
server. With the Apache web server, HP 3000 users can now do business over the Internet.
As a web server, your HP 3000 can provide users with direct access to documents and
applications residing on your system. These applications can include both internet and
intranet dynamic database connectivity using a browser as a common, easily-maintained
interface. The client browser can be any one of a variety of browsers including those from
Microsoft and Netscape.
The Apache Web Server is currently the most popular web server on the market with over
50% of the web server market share. Apache on the HP 3000 joins a growing number of
computer platforms which support Apache including HP-UX and other UNIX derivatives,
Linux, Win32 and various other server and desktop platforms.
Feature Set
Apache for MPE/iX supports a rich set of features including:
• The latest HTTP protocol, HTTP/1.1
• Advanced Logging
• Access Control
• Common Gateway Interface applications (CGI)
• Server Side Includes (SSI)
• Cookies
• Imagemaps
For details on installing and using Apache for MPE/iX, refer to the Technical Overview
section.
Technical Overview
As a web server, your HP 3000 can provide users with direct access to documents and
applications residing on your system. Users make requests to the web server via a client
browser using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The sole purpose of a web server is
to translate a request (URL) into either a filename, and then send that file back over the
network, or into a program name, and then run that program and send its output back.
Once you start the executable, HTTPD, Apache runs silently in the background, waiting for
a client’s request to arrive on a port to which it is listening. Apache listens on the port
specified in its configuration file.
When a request arrives, Apache hands the request to one of its child processes to service
and returns to listen again on the port.