Key Features of Web Server/400
Integrated File System Support
I/Net's Web server can take advantage of the features of the new
Integrated File System. These advantages include speed, long file name
support, code page conversions, and compatibility with Unix and OS/2
Web pages. The compatibility advantage means that pages from existing
Web sites can be directly copied to the AS/400 without changing
hyperlinks to other pages or changing the page's contents.
Scripts
A script is any executable program that can be launched by the server
at the request of a Web browser. Normally when a browser sends a
request to a server, the server satisfies the request by sending back
an already created file that contains the data the browser should
display to the user. When a script is requested by a browser, instead
of sending that script to the browser, the Web server launches the
script and sends back the output of the script. This allows for the
dynamic creation of HTML documents, images, audios, videos, etc.
I/Net's server supports scripts written in any language supported by
the AS/400 including, CL, REXX/400, ILE C, RPG/400, and COBOL/400. The
server also follows the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), which is a
standard for launching server run scripts. I/NET's Web server makes
porting existing CGI scripts trivial and writing new scripts
straightforward by providing script helper APIs.
Database Support
One of the AS/400's most prominent uses is handling large, strategic
databases. I/Net's Web server provides an easy way of presenting the
contents of these databases to a remote user. The presentation is
appealing and easily accessible by any user with a Web browser.
Shared Folders Support
Another location available for the storage of Web documents is in
Shared Folders. This allows access to existing documents or to new
documents created with tools that only support shared folders.
Spooled Files Support
A Web browser is also able to access the contents of AS/400 spooled
files. These are served as plain text HTML documents.
Ultimedia System Facilities Support
Web pages typically consist of a large amount of multimedia content
including images, audio clips and video clips. An AS/400 customer is
able to manage and create this multimedia content using the services
of Ultimedia System Facilities (USF). Then, by using a special
hyperlink, a Web server can deliver that multimedia content directly
out of USF's multimedia repository to a Web browser.
OS/400 V3R1's TCP/IP
I/Net's Web server takes full advantage of OS/400 V3R1's rich TCP/IP
stack.
User Directories
User Directories allow Web browsers to access Web pages stored in
areas controlled by users rather than in a centralized location that
is managed by an administrator. This makes it easy for individuals to
provide Web documents.
User Authentication
Password authentication can be done to protect documents. Each
directory can require a user to authenticate themselves by supplying a
user ID and password before the server will send the requested
page. Group IDs are also supported. The "Basic" authentication scheme
is used.
Multi-Home Server Support
A multi-home server allows a single machine to serve Web content for
multiple host names, each with their own setup and configuration. This
would allow two or more host names to be routed to the same machine
and have different home pages brought up for each.
Server-Side Includes
Server-side includes provide an easy-to-use method for providing
dynamic content within an HTML document. Server-side includes can
include another document within the current document, include the
output of a CGI script in the middle of an HTML document, include
useful values in a document such as the current number of requests or
the current time and date, plus many more options.
Logging
The server maintains various logs that makes it easy for customers to
determine usage, track down problems, tune a server's performance, and
perform many other tasks. Support is provided for access logs, error
logs, service logs, and tracing.
Cycling of Log Files
Log files can also be setup to automatically start logging to a new
file at specified periods. For instance, every Sunday night at
midnight, the access log can save off the current log file and start
logging to a new file.
Dynamic Performance Statistics
At anytime, an administrator can get current performance statistics
for a running Web server. Statistics such as bytes sent, number of
requests, and requests per second are available.
Administration Mode
The Web server can be put into a mode that allows an administrator to
see current configuration values, dynamic statistics, and content
through a Web browser.
National Language Support
The typical Web servers available today leave it up to the person
creating a Web document to make sure that document's contents can be
properly displayed when viewed by a Web browser. Therefore, a US
English user viewing a French document might have some problems. Also,
almost all Web browsers work with ASCII encoded characters and an
AS/400 works mostly with EBCDIC encoded characters.
I/Net's Web server ensures that the data served to Web browsers is
encoded in the codepage that is expected by that browser. This means
that any EBCDIC encoded Web document can be converted to ASCII prior
to sending it to the browser. Also, a Web document can be created in a
French, EBCDIC codepage and delivered to a US English, ASCII browser
to be successfully viewed.
Automatic Index Creation
The normal organization of Web documents is hierarchical. Indexes, or
directories of these documents, can be created by someone maintaining
them or automatically by the server based on the hierarchy.
|