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scohelphttp(X1M)


scohelphttp -- man and scohelp document server

Synopsis

scohelphttp [start | stop | restart | enable | disable | query | rotate ]

Description

The scohelp document server is the Netscape(TM) FastTrack(TM) server. The server has two parts: scohelphttp (a daemon start/stop script) and ns-httpd (the server daemon itself, scohelphttpd).

/usr/ns-home/bin/httpd/ns-httpd
If enabled, this X server daemon is started from a script in /etc/rc2.d when the system enters multiuser mode. When scohelphttpd is running, there might be more than one instance of this binary running. Once running, scohelphttpd can be stopped and restarted using scohelphttp. This client cannot be executed by users. For details on enabling and disabling scohelphttpd, see ``Options''.

/etc/scohelphttp
Script that allows system administrators to control the scohelphttpd process. The scohelphttp script must be run as root. For details on each script option, see ``Options''.
scohelphttpd is started by root and checks the configuration files (in /usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/config) for configuration information. scohelphttpd then begins listening on port 457 for incoming help requests from scohelp(X1) (the default help viewer), man(1) (the manual page viewer), or any other document browser using the HTTP protocol.

When it receives a request, scohelphttpd checks for the requested document in several localized DocumentRoot directories. If the requested document is found, scohelphttpd returns the document to scohelp or another document browser. If it cannot find the document, scohelphttpd delivers an error message.

Options

The /etc/scohelphttp startup script has seven options:

start
starts the scohelphttpd process and reads scohelphttpd's configuration files in /usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/config (obj.conf, magnus.conf, lang.conf, and mime.types)

stop
stops the scohelphttpd process and all processes managed by scohelphttpd

restart
restarts scohelphttpd without interrupting HTTP service (useful for immediately implementing changes to configuration files)

enable
ensures that scohelphttpd starts when the system reboots

disable
prevents scohelphttpd from starting when the system reboots

query
returns the current state of the scohelphttpd process

rotate
archives the log files (if they exist) in /usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/logs (errors, access, and startup_errors) to dated backup files without interrupting the server


NOTE: If the scohelphttpd process dies without warning (you see error messages when trying to access the SCOhelp online documentation), you might need to run scohelphttp stop before you can restart it (even if scohelphttp query claims that scohelphttpd is still running).

Configuring scohelphttpd

scohelphttpd uses configuration information in the /usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/config directory:

magnus.conf
Contains information the server uses to configure itself (such as the port to bind with, the server name, the ServerRoot directory, SSL, and DNS activation). See the Netscape FastTrack Server Administrator's Guide.

obj.conf
Contains information on if and how the server services requests from the browser (such as Netscape Navigator). See the Netscape FastTrack Server Administrator's Guide.

lang.conf
Specifies DocumentRoot, LocalizedDocRoot, LanguageAlias, and CompatibilityRoot. See ``Configuring document location''.

mime.types
Defines the default document (MIME -- Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions standard) types recognized by SCOhelp. See the Netscape FastTrack Server Administrator's Guide.


NOTE: Configuration parameters (except for pathnames) for all types of resource configuration are case-insensitive and all comment lines begin with a ``#''.

Configuring document location

By default, document locations are located in /usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/config/lang.conf. You can set the following variables in this file. Additional configuration information can be found in the file itself.

DocumentRoot
Specifies the directory from which to serve documents (/usr/lib/scohelp/en_US.ISO8859-1, by default). By default, all requests are taken from this directory.


NOTE: If you change DocumentRoot, you might make the help system unusable.


LocalizedDocRoot
Sets the language-specific directories out of which documents are served.

If LocalizedDocRoot is set, scohelp(X1) and man(1) send Accept-Language to the scohelphttpd server, which uses it to determine the language to use when serving help information. scohelphttpd searches the corresponding LocalizedDocRoot directories after passing through any LanguageAlias settings. If no language-specific location is specified, the server looks in DocumentRoot. See also UNRESOLVED XREF-0. Finally, if the document still has not been found, the server searches the directory specified by CompatibilityRoot.

For example, to serve out of the directory containing documents in French, use the following:

LocalizedDocRoot	fr_FR.ISO8859-1	/usr/lib/scohelp/fr_FR.ISO8859-1

LanguageAlias
Allows you to map one way of defining a locale to another. This allows you to configure the server to deliver a given set of localized documents to clients using differing locale strings.

The syntax is:

LanguageAlias aliased_locale  system_locale
In this example, the server is set to deliver documents from system_locale whenever requests are made for documents from aliased_locale.

For example, to redirect every request with the locale ``fr'' to the locale ``fr_FR.ISO8859-1'', set LanguageAlias to:

LanguageAlias	fr	fr_FR.ISO8859-1
(Only the first two lowercase characters are required to match.) See also UNRESOLVED XREF-0.

CompatibilityRoot
Provides access to documents from the SCO OpenServer directory structure by searching /usr/lib/scohelp after searching the appropriate LocalizedDocRoot and DocumentRoot directories.

Access control

You can control access to your entire server or any specified resources in two ways:

To manage the access control user database:

  1. Start the Netscape Administration Server:

    nsadmin start

  2. Start the Server Selector by running the SCOadmin Netscape Server Admin manager. See UNRESOLVED XREF-0.

  3. Select the Netscape FastTrack Server by clicking on scohelphttpd. This starts the Server Manager.

  4. Click on the Access Control button.
For more information, see the Netscape FastTrack online documentation, available by clicking on the Help button on any window in the Server Manager.


NOTE: For security reasons, it is a good idea to stop the Netscape Administration server when you are finished using it. To do this, run:

/etc/nsadmin stop


See also nsadmin(1M).

Internationalization and localization

scohelphttpd supports internationalization and localization; scohelphttpd can be adapted to present information in any language you want. See ``Configuring document location'' for information on Accept-Language and the lang.conf file.

scohelp gets the value of Accept-Language from the browser resource file; see UNRESOLVED XREF-0 in the scohelp(X1) manual page.

Files


/etc/scohelphttp
configuration script for scohelphttpd

/usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp
root of the scohelphttpd directory subtree

/usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/config/obj.conf
contains configuration information for how scohelphttpd services requests from scohelp

/usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/config/magnus.conf
defines default document MIME types recognized by SCOhelp

/usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/config/lang.conf
specifies *root resources

/usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/logs/access

/usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/logs/errors

/usr/ns-home/httpd-scohelphttp/logs/startup_errors
log files for scohelphttpd

/etc/rc2.d/S93scohelphttp
script that starts scohelphttpd automatically when the system enters multiuser mode

References

locale(1), man(1), nsadmin(1M), scohelp(X1)

UNRESOLVED XREF-0


© 2004 The SCO Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.4 - 25 April 2004