SingleClick Downloader


There are many configuration directives to customize NCSA HTTPd to your liking. However, the seven directives included below are the only ones you need to specify initially to get the server running. From there, you can go through are further customize the daemon to your needs.

Initial: Operating System

First, you much choose which operating system version of the software you will download. If your particular system doesn't appear in the menu, then go with the default source, and you will have to compile it yourself.

If you don't know the platform you are on, go back to your command prompt, and type 
   machine%  uname -a
which will respond with a one-line description of your machine. Pay particular attention to the first word and the version number, and try to discern your operating system. For example, for one of the systems here at NCSA: 
   sangamon%  uname -a
   SunOS sangamon.ncsa.uiuc.edu 5.3 Generic_101318-64 sun4 sparc
   sangamon%

The result is "SunOS 5.3". Well, SunOS 5.3 is really Solaris 2.3, so you would select solaris2.3 from the menu. 
    Platform:

Directive 1/7: Process type

This specifies exactly how your machine will run your HTTPd server. The preferred method is standalone, which will cause the server to be an independent daemon process. As inetd, the server binary will be reloaded into memory for every request, which can slow your server down. 
  ServerType:

Directive 2/7: Binding Port

This specifies which port of your machine that the HTTPd daemon will bind to and listen for HTTP requests. The default port for HTTP requests is 80. If you wish to bind to a port below 1024, the daemon must be started as root for the proper permissions to do so. Otherwise, any port number above 1024 can be used by anyone. The maximum numbered port is 65535.

If your are the system administrator for the machine, and you are trying to set up a permanent HTTP daemon, then go with port 80. If you don't have root access to the machine, and just playing with HTTPd, use a port number that is easy to remember, like 8080. 
        Port:

Directive 3/7: Server user identity

This directive is only applicable if you are running the server as standalone, which you should. This is the user id the server will change to when answering requests and acting on files. As a result, all files to be served need to be readable by this user.

For minimal permissions, use the user "nobody". If you are system administrator, you might want to create a user "www" so you can more tightly control file permissions. If you are someone without root permissions, just use your own login name. 
        User:

Directive 4/7: Server group identity

Similarly, this directive is only applicable if you are running the server as standalone, which you should. This is the group id the server will change to when answering requests and acting on files. This allows for more flexibility in sharing files with the HTTPd daemon in a Unix filesystem environment.

For minimal permissions, use the group "nobody". If you are system administrator, you might want to create a group "www" so you can other users on your system have permission to edit the server's HTML files. If you are someone without root permissions, just use the name of your primary group, which will be the first one output by the groups command. 
       Group:

Directive 5/7: Server administrator email address

The ServerAdmin is the email address that the user should send an email message to when reporting a problem with the server. This address appears on the default error messages displayed when there is a problem. 
 ServerAdmin:

Directive 6/7: Location of server directory

This directory specified by ServerRoot is where the server distribution will reside on your system. The recommended location is /usr/local/etc/httpd, but you need to be root to install this directory. If you don't have root permissions, choose a subdirectory in your home path, and insert the full path in the box. You can find out the path of your home directory with the pwd command. 
  ServerRoot:

Directive 7/7: Location of HTML files

The DocumentRoot directive tells the server where the HTML files to be served are. The default location is a subdirectory htdocs underneath the ServerRoot, so that it is isolated from the rest of your system files. However, feel free to make the DocumentRoot the home directory of the "www" user you just created, or a subdirectory in your home directory if you don't have root permissions. 
DocumentRoot:
NCSA HTTPd Development Team / httpd@ncsa.uiuc.edu / Last Modified 11-7-95