If you are already familiar with the Apache Web server running on other platforms, you will find almost no differences on the NetWare platform. All of the same modules available on other platforms are available on NetWare, with a few additional modules such as mod_edir and mod_auth_ldap. The mod_edir module enables Web pages to be served up from a user's home directory and provides remote file system access and authentication services. The mod_auth_ldap module enables LDAP authentication to LDAP directories including Novell eDirectory.
The key differences are:
IMPORTANT:One thing that is not different about Apache on NetWare is the need for good security. The same security measures should be taken with Apache on NetWare as you would take on any other platform, as described in Apache Security Tips.
Running Apache on NetWare provides one of the industry's most secure Web servers. This is because of NetWare's tight integration with eDirectory through the mod_edir module and the built-in services of SSL that run at the core of the NetWare operating system.
Together, eDirectory and SSL keep your business information safe from intruders yet accessible from anywhere by people who have the proper access rights.
Because Apache on NetWare is multi-threaded, it does not use a separate process for each request, as Apache does in some Linux and UNIX implementations. Instead, multiple threads run simultaneously: a single parent thread, plus multiple worker threads that handle the requests.
Because of this, the directives used for managing processes are used differently on NetWare, as described in the following table:
Table 1-1 Process Directives
The information in the this table overrides the corresponding information provided in the Apache Directive Index when the directives are used on NetWare.
Directives that accept filenames as arguments must use fully qualified NetWare pathnames, including the volume name. For example, sys:/apache2/htdocs. If the volume name is not specified, Apache defaults to the sys: volume.
Also, because Apache uses Linux/UNIX style pathnames internally, you must use forward slashes (/) in directive arguments rather than the backslashes (\) typically used in NetWare pathnames.
Apache on NetWare has the ability to load modules at runtime, without recompiling the server.
A number of external modules can be loaded from the \apache2\modules directory. To activate these, or other modules, the LoadModule directive must be used. For example, to activate the status module, use the following (in addition to the status-activating directives in access.conf):
LoadModule status_module modules/status.nlm
See Apache Module mod_so for more information about creating loadable modules.
When configuring Apache manually, refer to the Apache 2.2 documentation.