Configuring and Managing MPE/iX Internet Services (July 2001)

174 Chapter9
Apache for MPE/iX
Major Components
home group of USER.ACCOUNT. File
/ACCOUNT/GROUP/public_html/foo.html would be accessed by
http://yourserver.com/~USER.ACCOUNT/foo.html.
All files and directories must be readable by WWW.APACHE, the runtime
user for the Apache web server on MPE/iX. Directories must also have
traverse directory permission (TD) for all the directories in the path to
the file Apache is accessing. In the POSIX shell, traverse directory
permission is shown as execute (X) permission for the directory. For
example, to add a new directory call “newdir” under DocumentRoot:
shell/iX> cd /APACHE/PUB/htdocs
shell/iX> mkdir newdir
shell/iX> chown MGR.APACHE:APACHE newdir
shell/iX> chmod 750 newdir
To check if a file is accessible to the Apache web server, logon as the
Apache runtime user, WWW.APACHE and try to access the file.
Working with Dynamic Shared Objects (DSOs)
DSOs are add-on modules that extend the functionality of Apache.
These modules are self-contained code that can provide a wide-range of
additional Apache capabilities such as custom authentication and
authorization, custom logging, or creating new configuration directives.
Users can create their own Apache modules or use those written by
others. For instance, the Apache Module Registry
(http://modules.apache.org/) is a web site with downloadable
Apache modules. Some of these modules are freely available while
others have various license restrictions.
DSOs on MPE/iX can utilize Apache’s full Application Programming
Interface (API) as well as Apache’s full Extended Application
Programming Interface (EAPI).
A DSO is an Apache module with the same structure as the modules
compiled into the Apache binary. But instead of being statically linked
into the Apache program, the DSO module is created as a shared
library (NMXL). DSOs are loaded at Apache startup into Apache’s
process space.
No recompilation of Apache is necessary to use DSOs. However, DSOs
require a DSO-enabled Apache. Apache for MPE/iX is enabled for DSOs
starting with Apache 1.3.9 (A.01.00).
Using DSO modules keeps Apache memory usage low by running an
Apache binary with core features only and adding additional features
with DSOs. DSOs also provide flexibility. An installation can pick and
choose which features to include in their web server.