The Apache Web server, a rich Java Web site continue…

Posted by arlene

• Enabling the Web server to deliver dynamic content. The Apache Web server can be configured to handle a number of these so-called dynamic page technologies, including PHP and JSP.
• Loading and storing any programs (or scripts) which need to be executed when a Web page is processed. Typically these programs are associated with Web forms and reside in a directory known as cgi-bin. When a form is processed by a browser the script is executed and processing associated with the form carried out, for example retrieving stored data from a relational database.
• Improving the performance of the server, for example by specifying cache sizes and what pages should be loaded into a cache. The cache in a Web server is fast memory into which popular HTML pages are loaded. When a user requests such a cached page it is returned immediately without the attendant delay of retrieving it from file-based memory.
• Configuring the various log files used by Apache which store data about its running, for example data that specify which pages were retrieved.
• Carrying out a security configuration. This involves a host of modifications to the server; the more secure that the server and its contents are required to be, the more modifications that are needed. These include ensuring that users and other Web sites are authenticated and that transfer of data to and from the server is secure.

This, then, is a brief introduction to the Apache Web server. If you are interested in looking at this software product in more detail, the Web links provide information from simple tutorials to complex articles on how to use the more esoteric features of Apache.

An example of a rich type of Web site

Many of the technologies described can be found in Web sites which host electronic magazines or e-zines. E-zine sites will contain:

• Large amounts of content: articles, tutorials, product reviews etc. Animations, usually associated with banner advertisements, but also video clips associated with the topic of the e-zine, for example a video clip of one of the highlights of a sporting game featured in a sports e-zine.
• Chat rooms or bulletin boards whose participants discuss some aspect of the topics covered by the e-zine. For example, I regularly visit an e-zine devoted to rugby where a chat room often discusses the rugby games played over the previous weekend.
• An alerting service to which the e-zine users subscribe and which sends the subscribers e-mails when some breaking news occurs. For example, a Java e-zine may provide facilities where you can subscribe to e-mail alerts about topics such as Java and XML, JavaBeans, the JDBC or object-oriented databases and Java.
• A searchable archive of back issues. Such an archive would be searched in the same way that a search engine’s database would be searched.
• Mailing lists on a particular topic to which the e-zine readers can subscribe.
• A bulletin board or series of bulletin boards that users can participate in, for example a bulletin board devoted to a particular operating system associated with an e-zine devoted to operating systems.
• Dynamic content, for example a quiz game on topics covered by the e-zine for which prizes are awarded or a page which allows visitors to vote on a particular topic.

Slashdot and Java World

Two of the most popular computing e-zines are Slashdot and Java World; both contain many of the elements detailed above. Slashdot is devoted to computing issues and features news, product reviews and content which has both a hardware and software focus. Java World is the premier Java site on the Web and contains company news, product news, excellent tutorials and book reviews. Slashdot is a hugely popular site and has given rise to the term ‘Slashdot effect’. This is where the Web server of a software or hardware company becomes overwhelmed with visitors from the Slashdot site or a similar site because a particular product has been mentioned favourably.

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