Using Apache With Novell NetWare
This document explains how to install, configure and run
Apache 2.0 under Novell NetWare 5.1 and above. If you find any bugs,
or wish to contribute in other ways, please use our
bug reporting
page.
The bug reporting page and dev-httpd mailing list are not
provided to answer questions about configuration or running Apache.
Before you submit a bug report or request, first consult this document, the
Frequently Asked Questions page and the other
relevant documentation topics. If you still have a question or problem,
post it to the
novell.devsup.webserver newsgroup, where many Apache users are more than
willing to answer new and obscure questions about using Apache on NetWare.
Most of this document assumes that you are installing Apache
from a binary distribution. If you want to compile Apache
yourself (possibly to help with development, or to track down
bugs), see the section on Compiling Apache for
NetWare below.

Apache 2.0 is designed to run on NetWare 5.1 and above.
If running on NetWare 5.1 you must install Service
Pack 4 or above.
If running on NetWare 6 you must install Service
Pack 1 or above.
NetWare service packs are available here.
Information on the latest version of Apache can be found on
the Apache 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.

There is no Apache install program for NetWare currently. You
will need to compile apache and copy the files over to the
server manually. An install program will be posted at a later
date.
Follow these steps to install Apache 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 to reflect your correct server
settings
- Add
SYS:/APACHE2 to the search path, for example:
Follow these steps to install Apache on NetWare manually
from your own build source (assuming you will install to
sys:/apache):
- Create a directory called
Apache2 on a
NetWare volume
- Copy
APACHE2.NLM, APRLIB.NLM,
HTDIGEST.NLM, HTPASSWD.NLM
to SYS:/APACHE2
- 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 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:
Apache may be installed to other volumes besides the default SYS volume.

To start Apache just type apache at the
console. This will load apache in the OS address space. If you
prefer to load Apache in a protected address space you may
specify the address space with the load statement as follows:
load address space = apache2 apache2
This will load Apache into an address space called apache.
Running multiple instances of Apache concurrently on NetWare is
possible by loading each instance into its own protected
address space.
After starting Apache, 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 Apache
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 Apache 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:
unload address space = apache2 apache2
When working with Apache 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
apache2 -f "vol:/my server/conf/my.conf"
In these cases, the proper ServerRoot
should be set in the configuration file.
If you don't specify a configuration file name with -f,
Apache will use the file name compiled into the server, usually
conf/httpd.conf. Invoking Apache with the -V
switch will display this value labeled as SERVER_CONFIG_FILE.
Apache 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.
Apache 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. Each of these directives must be preceded by the keyword
APACHE2:
- RESTART
- Instructs Apache 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 Apache.
- 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, a status of the number of running threads
is displayed along with their status.
- SHUTDOWN
- Terminates the running instance of the Apache
web server.

Apache is configured by files in the conf
directory. These are the same as files used to configure the
Unix version, but there are a few different directives for
Apache on NetWare. See the Apache
documentation for all the available directives.
The main differences in Apache for NetWare are:
-
Because Apache for NetWare is multithreaded, it does not
use a separate process for each request, as Apache does in some Unix
implementations. Instead there are only threads running: a parent
thread, and a multiple child threads which handle the requests.
So the "process"-management directives are different:
MaxRequestsPerChild -
Like the Unix directive, this controls how many requests
a worker thread will serve before exiting. The recommended default,
MaxRequestsPerChild 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 now
must use NetWare filenames instead of Unix ones. However,
because Apache uses Unix-style names internally, you must
use forward slashes, not backslashes. It is recommended that all rooted
file paths begin with a volume name. If omitted, Apache will
assume the SYS: volume.
-
Apache for NetWare has the ability to load modules at
runtime, without recompiling the server. If Apache 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 (in addition to the status-activating
directives in access.conf):
LoadModule status_module modules/status.nlm
Information on creating loadable
modules is also available.
CGIMapExtension -
This directive maps a CGI file extension to a script interpreter.
NWSSLTrustedCerts -
Adds trusted certificates that are used to create secure connections to proxied servers.

Compiling Apache requires MetroWerks CodeWarrior 6.x or higher to
be properly installed. Once Apache has been built, it needs to be
installed on a NetWare volume's root directory. 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.
The following development tools are required to build
Apache 2.0 for NetWare:
All major pieces of Apache and APR are built using the
ApacheNW.mcp and LibAprNW.mcp project files.
This includes modules such as status, info, proxy, etc.
- Set the environment variable
NovellLibC to the
location of the NetWare Libraries for C SDK, for example:
Set NovellLibC=c:\novell\ndk\libc
- Make sure that the path to the CodeWarrior command line tools
(
MWCCNLM.exe, MWLDNLM.exe) has been
included in the system's PATH environment variable.
- Make sure that the path to the AWK utility has 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\srclib\apr\build and run the
batch file prebuildnw.bat. The batch file will setup the build
environment for building the APR libraries. It will also run 2 AWK scripts
that will generate the export files for APR.
- Change directory to
\httpd\srclib\apr and extract the project
file LIBAPRNW.mcp from the LIBAPRNW.mcp.zip file.
- Open the
LIBAPRNW.mcp project file in the Metrowerks IDE.
- Select the target "Build Util - Gen URL Delim" and build the target.
This target will produce the NLM
GENURI.nlm
- Copy the file
GENURI.nlm to the SYS: volume
of a NetWare server and run using the following command:
SYS:\genuri > sys:\uri_delims.h
- Copy the file
uri_delims.h to the directory
\httpd\srclib\apr-util\uri on the build machine.
- Select the target "APR Debug NLM" or "APR Release NLM" in the IDE and build.
This will produce the file
APRLIB.nlm.
- [Optional] Select any of the LIB targets to produce a
statically linkable libraries.
- Change directory to
\httpd\build and run the batch file
prebuildnw.bat. This batch file will setup the build environment
for building the APACHE.nlm. It will also run several AWK scripts
that will generate the export files for APACHE.
- Change directory to
\http and extract the project file
ApacheNW.mcp from the ApacheNW.mcp.zip file.
- Open the
ApacheNW.mcp project file in the Metrowerks IDE.
- Select the target "Build Utility - DFTables" and build the target.
- Select the target "Build Util - Gen Test Chars" and build the target.
- Copy the files
GENCHARS.nlm and DFTABLES.nlm
to the SYS: volume of a NetWare server and run 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\os\netware on the build machine.
- Select the target "Apache Full Debug" or "Apache Full Release" in
the IDE and build. This will produce the file
APACHE2.nlm
along with all of the external module NLMs.
- 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
AP_WORK to the full path of
the \httpd directory.
- Set the environment variable
APR_WORK to the full path of
the \httpd\srclib\apr directory.
- 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\srclib\apr-util\uri and build
GENURI.nlm by running "gmake -f nwgnumakefile".
- Copy the file
GENURI.nlm to the SYS: volume
of a NetWare server and run using the following command:
SYS:\genuri > sys:\uri_delims.h
- Copy the file
uri_delims.h to the directory
\httpd\srclib\apr-util\uri on the build machine.
- Change directory to
\httpd\srclib\apr and build APR
by running "gmake -f nwgnumakefile"
- Change directory to
\httpd\srclib\pcre and build
DFTABLES.nlm by running "gmake -f nwgnumakefile"
- Change directory to
\httpd\server and build
GENCHARS.nlm by running "gmake -f nwgnumakefile"
- Copy the files
GENCHARS.nlm and DFTABLES.nlm
from their respective directories 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\os\netware on the build machine.
- Change directory to
\httpd and build Apache 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
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 Apache
distribution with binaries, docs and additional support files in a
\dist\Apache2 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 or \debug 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.