Using Apache HTTP Server With Novell NetWare

Requirements ¶

httpd 2.0 is designed to run on NetWare 6.0 service pack 3 and above. If you are running a service pack less than SP3, you must install the latest NetWare Libraries for C (LibC).

NetWare service packs are available here.

httpd 2.0 for NetWare can also be run in a NetWare 5.1 environment as long as the latest service pack or the latest version of the NetWare Libraries for C (LibC) has been installed . WARNING: httpd 2.0 for NetWare has not been targeted for or tested in this environment.

Downloading Apache httpd for NetWare ¶

Information on the latest version of httpd can be found on the httpd web server at http://www.apache.org/. This will list the current release, any more recent alpha or beta-test releases, together with details of mirror web and anonymous ftp sites. Binary builds of the latest releases of httpd 2.0 for NetWare can be downloaded from here.

Installing Apache httpd for NetWare ¶

There is no httpd install program for NetWare currently. If you are building httpd 2.0 for NetWare from source, you will need to copy the files over to the server manually.

Follow these steps to install httpd on NetWare from the binary download (assuming you will install to sys:/apache2):

• Unzip the binary download file to the root of the SYS: volume (may be installed to any volume)
• Edit the httpd.conf file setting ServerRoot and ServerName along with any file path values to reflect your correct server settings
• Add SYS:/APACHE2 to the search path, for example:

  SEARCH ADD SYS:\APACHE2

Follow these steps to install httpd on NetWare manually from your own build source (assuming you will install to sys:/apache2):

• Create a directory called Apache2 on a NetWare volume
• Copy APACHE2.NLM, APRLIB.NLM to SYS:/APACHE2
• Create a directory under SYS:/APACHE2 called BIN
• Copy HTDIGEST.NLM, HTPASSWD.NLM, HTDBM.NLM, LOGRES.NLM, ROTLOGS.NLM to SYS:/APACHE2/BIN
• Create a directory under SYS:/APACHE2 called CONF
• Copy the HTTPD-STD.CONF file to the SYS:/APACHE2/CONF directory and rename to HTTPD.CONF
• Copy the MIME.TYPES, CHARSET.CONV and MAGIC files to SYS:/APACHE2/CONF directory
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\ICONS to SYS:/APACHE2/ICONS
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\MANUAL to SYS:/APACHE2/MANUAL
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\ERROR to SYS:/APACHE2/ERROR
• Copy all files and subdirectories in \HTTPD-2.0\DOCS\DOCROOT to SYS:/APACHE2/HTDOCS
• Create the directory SYS:/APACHE2/LOGS on the server
• Create the directory SYS:/APACHE2/CGI-BIN on the server
• Create the directory SYS:/APACHE2/MODULES and copy all nlm modules into the modules directory
• Edit the HTTPD.CONF file searching for all @@Value@@ markers and replacing them with the appropriate setting
• Add SYS:/APACHE2 to the search path, for example:

  SEARCH ADD SYS:\APACHE2

httpd may be installed to other volumes besides the default SYS volume.

During the build process, adding the keyword "install" to the makefile command line will automatically produce a complete distribution package under the subdirectory DIST. Install httpd by simply copying the distribution that was produced by the makfiles to the root of a NetWare volume (see: Compiling Apache httpd for NetWare below).

Running Apache httpd for NetWare ¶

To start httpd just type apache at the console. This will load apache in the OS address space. If you prefer to load httpd in a protected address space you may specify the address space with the load statement as follows:

This will load httpd into an address space called apache2. Running multiple instances of httpd concurrently on NetWare is possible by loading each instance into its own protected address space.

After starting httpd, it will be listening to port 80 (unless you changed the Listen directive in the configuration files). To connect to the server and access the default page, launch a browser and enter the server's name or address. This should respond with a welcome page, and a link to the httpd manual. If nothing happens or you get an error, look in the error_log file in the logs directory.

Once your basic installation is working, you should configure it properly by editing the files in the conf directory.

To unload httpd running in the OS address space just type the following at the console:

or

If apache is running in a protected address space specify the address space in the unload statement:

When working with httpd it is important to know how it will find the configuration files. You can specify a configuration file on the command line in two ways:

• -f specifies a path to a particular configuration file

In these cases, the proper ServerRoot should be set in the configuration file.

If you don't specify a configuration file name with -f, httpd will use the file name compiled into the server, usually conf/httpd.conf. Invoking httpd with the -V switch will display this value labeled as SERVER_CONFIG_FILE. httpd will then determine its ServerRoot by trying the following, in this order:

• A ServerRoot directive via a -C switch.
• The -d switch on the command line.
• Current working directory
• The server root compiled into the server.

The server root compiled into the server is usually sys:/apache2. invoking apache with the -V switch will display this value labeled as HTTPD_ROOT.

httpd 2.0 for NetWare includes a set of command line directives that can be used to modify or display information about the running instance of the web server. These directives are only available while httpd is running. Each of these directives must be preceded by the keyword APACHE2.

RESTART

Instructs httpd to terminate all running worker threads as they become idle, reread the configuration file and restart each worker thread based on the new configuration.

VERSION

Displays version information about the currently running instance of httpd.

MODULES

Displays a list of loaded modules both built-in and external.

DIRECTIVES

Displays a list of all available directives.

SETTINGS

Enables or disables the thread status display on the console. When enabled, the state of each running threads is displayed on the httpd console screen.

SHUTDOWN

Terminates the running instance of the httpd web server.

HELP

Describes each of the runtime directives.

By default these directives are issued against the instance of httpd running in the OS address space. To issue a directive against a specific instance running in a protected address space, include the -p parameter along with the name of the address space. For more information type "apache2 Help" on the command line.

Configuring Apache httpd for NetWare ¶

httpd is configured by reading configuration files usually stored in the conf directory. These are the same as files used to configure the Unix version, but there are a few different directives for httpd on NetWare. See the httpd module documentation for all the available directives.

The main differences in httpd for NetWare are:

• Because httpd for NetWare is multithreaded, it does not use a separate process for each request, as httpd does on some Unix implementations. Instead there are only threads running: a parent thread, and multiple child or worker threads which handle the requests.

  Therefore the "process"-management directives are different:

  MaxConnectionsPerChild - Like the Unix directive, this controls how many connections a worker thread will serve before exiting. The recommended default, MaxConnectionsPerChild 0, causes the thread to continue servicing request indefinitely. It is recommended on NetWare, unless there is some specific reason, that this directive always remain set to 0.

  StartThreads - This directive tells the server how many threads it should start initially. The recommended default is StartThreads 50.

  MinSpareThreads - This directive instructs the server to spawn additional worker threads if the number of idle threads ever falls below this value. The recommended default is MinSpareThreads 10.

  MaxSpareThreads - This directive instructs the server to begin terminating worker threads if the number of idle threads ever exceeds this value. The recommended default is MaxSpareThreads 100.

  MaxThreads - This directive limits the total number of work threads to a maximum value. The recommended default is ThreadsPerChild 250.

  ThreadStackSize - This directive tells the server what size of stack to use for the individual worker thread. The recommended default is ThreadStackSize 65536.

• The directives that accept filenames as arguments must use NetWare filenames instead of Unix names. However, because httpd uses Unix-style names internally, forward slashes must be used rather than backslashes. It is recommended that all rooted file paths begin with a volume name. If omitted, httpd will assume the SYS: volume which may not be correct.

• httpd for NetWare has the ability to load modules at runtime, without recompiling the server. If httpd is compiled normally, it will install a number of optional modules in the \Apache2\modules directory. To activate these, or other modules, the LoadModule directive must be used. For example, to active the status module, use the following:

  LoadModule status_module modules/status.nlm

  Information on creating loadable modules is also available.

Additional NetWare specific directives:

• CGIMapExtension - This directive maps a CGI file extension to a script interpreter.

• SecureListen - Enables SSL encryption for a specified port.

• NWSSLTrustedCerts - Adds trusted certificates that are used to create secure connections to proxied servers.

• NWSSLUpgradeable - Allow a connection created on the specified address/port to be upgraded to an SSL connection.

Compiling Apache httpd for NetWare ¶

Compiling httpd requires MetroWerks CodeWarrior 6.x or higher. Once httpd has been built, it can be installed to the root of any NetWare volume. The default is the sys:/Apache2 directory.

Before running the server you must fill out the conf directory. Copy the file HTTPD-STD.CONF from the distribution conf directory and rename it to HTTPD.CONF. Edit the HTTPD.CONF file searching for all @@Value@@ markers and replacing them with the appropriate setting. Copy over the conf/magic and conf/mime.types files as well. Alternatively, a complete distribution can be built by including the keyword install when invoking the makefiles.

Requirements:

The following development tools are required to build httpd 2.0 for NetWare:

• Metrowerks CodeWarrior 6.0 or higher with the NetWare PDK 3.0 or higher.
• NetWare Libraries for C (LibC)
• LDAP Libraries for C
• ZLIB Compression Library source code
• AWK utility (awk, gawk or similar). AWK can be downloaded from http://developer.novell.com/ndk/apache.htm. The utility must be found in your windows path and must be named awk.exe.
• To build using the makefiles, you will need GNU make version 3.78.1 (GMake) available at http://developer.novell.com/ndk/apache.htm.

Building Apache httpd using the NetWare makefiles:

• Set the environment variable NOVELLLIBC to the location of the NetWare Libraries for C SDK, for example:

  Set NOVELLLIBC=c:\novell\ndk\libc

• Set the environment variable METROWERKS to the location where you installed the Metrowerks CodeWarrior compiler, for example:

  Set METROWERKS=C:\Program Files\Metrowerks\CodeWarrior

  If you installed to the default location C:\Program Files\Metrowerks\CodeWarrior, you don't need to set this.
• Set the environment variable LDAPSDK to the location where you installed the LDAP Libraries for C, for example:

  Set LDAPSDK=c:\Novell\NDK\cldapsdk\NetWare\libc

• Set the environment variable ZLIBSDK to the location where you installed the source code for the ZLib Library, for example:

  Set ZLIBSDK=D:\NOVELL\zlib

• Set the environment variable PCRESDK to the location where you installed the source code for the PCRE Library, for example:

  Set PCRESDK=D:\NOVELL\pcre

• Set the environment variable AP_WORK to the full path of the httpd source code directory.

  Set AP_WORK=D:\httpd-2.0.x

• Set the environment variable APR_WORK to the full path of the apr source code directory. Typically \httpd\srclib\apr but the APR project can be outside of the httpd directory structure.

  Set APR_WORK=D:\apr-1.x.x

• Set the environment variable APU_WORK to the full path of the apr-util source code directory. Typically \httpd\srclib\apr-util but the APR-UTIL project can be outside of the httpd directory structure.

  Set APU_WORK=D:\apr-util-1.x.x

• Make sure that the path to the AWK utility and the GNU make utility (gmake.exe) have been included in the system's PATH environment variable.
• Download the source code and unzip to an appropriate directory on your workstation.
• Change directory to \httpd-2.0 and build the prebuild utilities by running "gmake -f nwgnumakefile prebuild". This target will create the directory \httpd-2.0\nwprebuild and copy each of the utilities to this location that are necessary to complete the following build steps.
• Copy the files \httpd-2.0\nwprebuild\GENCHARS.nlm and \httpd-2.0\nwprebuild\DFTABLES.nlm to the SYS: volume of a NetWare server and run them using the following commands:

  SYS:\genchars > sys:\test_char.h
SYS:\dftables sys:\chartables.c


• Copy the files test_char.h and chartables.c to the directory \httpd-2.0\os\netware on the build machine.
• Change directory to \httpd-2.0 and build httpd by running "gmake -f nwgnumakefile". You can create a distribution directory by adding an install parameter to the command, for example:

  gmake -f nwgnumakefile install

Additional make options

• gmake -f nwgnumakefile

  Builds release versions of all of the binaries and copies them to a \release destination directory.

• gmake -f nwgnumakefile DEBUG=1

  Builds debug versions of all of the binaries and copies them to a \debug destination directory.

• gmake -f nwgnumakefile install

  Creates a complete httpd distribution with binaries, docs and additional support files in a \dist\Apache2 directory.

• gmake -f nwgnumakefile prebuild

  Builds all of the prebuild utilities and copies them to the \nwprebuild directory.

• gmake -f nwgnumakefile installdev

  Same as install but also creates a \lib and \include directory in the destination directory and copies headers and import files.

• gmake -f nwgnumakefile clean

  Cleans all object files and binaries from the \release.o or \debug.o build areas depending on whether DEBUG has been defined.

• gmake -f nwgnumakefile clobber_all

  Same as clean and also deletes the distribution directory if it exists.

Additional environment variable options

• To build all of the experimental modules, set the environment variable EXPERIMENTAL:

  Set EXPERIMENTAL=1

• To build httpd using standard BSD style sockets rather than Winsock, set the environment variable USE_STDSOCKETS:

  Set USE_STDSOCKETS=1

Building mod_ssl for the NetWare platform

By default httpd for NetWare uses the built-in module mod_nw_ssl to provide SSL services. This module simply enables the native SSL services implemented in NetWare OS to handle all encryption for a given port. Alternatively, mod_ssl can also be used in the same manner as on other platforms.

Before mod_ssl can be built for the NetWare platform, the OpenSSL libraries must be provided. This can be done through the following steps:

• Download the recent OpenSSL 0.9.8 release source code from the OpenSSL Source page (older 0.9.7 versions need to be patched and are therefore not recommended).
• Edit the file NetWare/set_env.bat and modify any tools and utilities paths so that they correspond to your build environment.
• From the root of the OpenSSL source directory, run the following scripts:

  Netware\set_env netware-libc
Netware\build netware-libc

  For performance reasons you should enable to build with ASM code. Download NASM from the SF site. Then configure OpenSSL to use ASM code:

  Netware\build netware-libc nw-nasm enable-mdc2 enable-md5

  Warning: don't use the CodeWarrior Assembler - it produces broken code!
• Before building httpd, set the environment variable OSSLSDK to the full path to the root of the openssl source code directory, and set WITH_MOD_SSL to 1.

  Set OSSLSDK=d:\openssl-0.9.8x
Set WITH_MOD_SSL=1