Commercial Web Servers for Windows NT

Windows NT is fast becoming the platform of choice for Websites on the Internet. Superb connectivity, formidable security, andtrue multiplatform compatibility make it a favorite of Webprofessionals. To join the mad dash to the Internet and start your ownWorld Wide Web site, the easiest and most feature-rich way is topurchase one of the growing number of commercial Web servers. Be awarethat they are not all the same.

Different Web servers have different strengths and weaknesses.Most provide the basics: They speak Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML); and they support the CommonGateway Interface (CGI) and some sort of user authentication. (To expandyour Web capabilities and connect custom applications, CGI lets youexecute programs external to the Web server and return the data to yourbrowser.) Otherwise, Web servers are as varied as the Internet itself.

Remote administration is important if you plan to updateinformation remotely. If you plan to charge a fee for using your Website, you'll need a mechanism to differentiate between paying andnon-paying customers. And so on.

To help you choose among the options available, the Windows NTMagazine Lab reviewed available commercial Web server packages forWindows NT. All offered excellent performance and reliability. We lookforward to future versions of each. Our recommendations, however, arebased on our own experiences of the needs of a typical Web site. If youhave more specific needs, your choice may differ from ours.

Infobase Web Server
If you use Folio Views, theInfobase Web Server will be irresistible. Folio Views lets you collect,index, and store data in files called infobases. You can retrieve,annotate, and customize that data with various clients. Many commercialCD-ROM reference libraries use this engine.

The Infobase Web Server from Folio Corp. is an extension to itsflagship product. Based on the European Microsoft Windows NT AcademicCenter (EMWAC) server, the Infobase Web Server has many Folioenhancements. It is a full-featured Web server that lets you serveinfobases over the Internet.

Installation
We tested a beta version of this product,and installation was routine. You run NTSETUP.EXE to copy several filesto the hard disk. It installs three system files into the SYSTEM32directory; other files go into the data directory you specify, defaultfiles in C:win32appwebserve. A program group is created and severalicons installed.

Getting On-Line
Since the Infobase Web Server primarilysupports Folio infobases, you use the Data Source Manager to add anyinfobases to be available on the Internet. You will want a home page aswell. The Web server creates a default home page, but it's just to testyour infobases.

Once you add the infobases and create your home page, you canchange default options. The Control Panel contains the Professional WebServer. It is used to set access control, virtual paths, proxy-serverinformation, etc.

You can access the Infobase Web Server with any Web browser onany platform. It converts discrete portions of infobases to HTML inreal-time, then passes the translated information to the Web browser.Real-time conversions of the infobase reduce your bandwidthrequirements. Instead of an entire infobase, you only receive portionsof it in HTML pages. Since it remains in native format, it retains thedynamic capabilities of Folio Views. Local users update the infobases inreal-time, and the new information is available immediately to anyone,local or on the Web. If you use Folio Views to publish information, theInfobase Web Server is an inexpensive way to connect your remotelocations.

What you see on your Web browser is familiar to Folio Viewsveterans and simple enough for the uninitiated user. An expandable andcollapsible Table of Contents, hypertext links, and a querying facilityallow you to find information quickly and accurately.

The Infobase Web Server supports HTTP 1.0, CGI 1.1, and HTML 2.0protocols. It can act as a proxy server for HTTP, Gopher, and FTPrequests-a nice bonus for the security-conscious. Support for virtualpaths and directory browsing make it a full-featured server. Itsdrawbacks? It lacks both remote-administration capabilities and anyextended statistical information. However, if you publish informationwith Folio Views and want to make it available on the Internet, theInfobase Web Server is really the only package to consider.

NetPublisher
If you want to publish information on theWeb but you don't have HTML expertise-or the inclination to learn-relax.NetPublisher from Ameritech Library Service enables you to publishWordPerfect, ASCII text, or HTML documents on the Web using drag anddrop.

Installation
The setup program asks for the standarditems, such as IP addresses, domain names, target directories. You alsoneed to know how many Z39.50 (a client/server search/retrieval protocol)connections you want and what port numbers you want to assign to theWeb, Gopher, and Z39.50 .

Flat Learning Curve
NetPublisher includes toolbarbuttons, graphical menus, drag-and-drop assembly, and a template wizardin its bag of tricks. These tools virtually eliminate the need to knowHTML. To publish a WordPerfect document, you drag it from File Managerinto the Publication window, and voilà, you're on-line.

NetPublisher supports both HTTP and Gopher so you can provideinformation to both simultaneously. You need not maintain two sets ofdata; NetPublisher uses the same data for both.

This Web server is best suited to displaying large amounts ofindexed information. It lets you catalog items in your publication soyou can search through them with your own forms or with standardInternet search engines, such as Jughead. Catalogued items appear asabstract information and are displayed differently depending on the typeof client requesting the information. This makes NetPublisher a naturalchoice for publishing course catalogs, speeches, books, or magazinecollections.

Tools
NetPublisher organizes information intoPublications (i.e., files containing all the information to be publishedon the Internet). Publications also store catalog information andcontent type. The editor creates and manages them and displaysPublication information in a window in either item view or tree view.Item view displays each Publication item; tree view shows its actualstructure or flow. NetPublisher doesn't create content; it organizes itinto items: files, image maps, menus, directories, foreign links, andform items.

NetPublisher works particularly well with forms and searches.Ordinarily, you need an external program to index and search your Website. NetPublisher provides a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) that lets yousearch the indexes stored with each item. You can associate forms withDLLs that Ameritech provides to search the entire Publication or logform data to a file. Quick, easy, and no CGI!

An excellent image map editor complements NetPublisher'stoolset. With it you can easily create the point-and-click images yousee on the Internet. Select your .GIF file, drag the mouse to create ahot spot, associate an item with that hot spot, and you're done.

NetPublisher administration is performed with Monitor; its toolsstart and stop the server, view log files, and set security for useraccess. Monitor lets you do reverse DNS lookup on each individualtransaction. While it may save some processor time, I found itcumbersome.

The lack of remote administration bothers me on this product.But to get up on the Web fast without learning CGI or HTML, NetPublisherfills the bill.

Netscape Commerce Server Netscape Communications Server

If you're on the Internet, you've heard of Netscape. These Webwunderkind made the Netscape Web browser, arguably the most usedprogram on the Internet. Netscape has offered servers for otheroperating systems for some time. The NT servers are basically the sameas the UNIX server. Designed to handle heavy loads, NetscapeCommunications/Commerce Servers perform well even at busy sites. Thedifference? The Commerce Server offers enhanced security.

Installation
Netscape has made a name for itself by pushing the envelope of conventional Web standards. Theinstallation program is no exception. To install either server, run thesetup program to initiate the browser which then loads a set of forms.All setup and configuration is handled via HTML forms. Installation isstraightforward and routine; help is offered at every step of the way.

You need to know a few things before installing the server: Areyou running DNS? Where is your home page located? What user account doyou want the service to run under? What TCP/IP ports do you want toassign to it and to the Administration Server? By using forms to manageNetscape's installation and configuration, View Source lets you see howtrue HTML magicians construct their forms. They do things in the installprogram that I never knew were possible with HTML.

Administration
Netscape provides the best serveradministration of any NT Web server available. The approach to serveradministration is unique: It's done on an Administration Server, aseparate HTTP server that runs as a service and must be started beforeconfiguration. You can access the Administration Server in various ways:You can allow access to only certain users and assign them passwords;you can also deny access based on IP address or host name (see"Is the Internet a Safe Place to Live?" on page 29). You canuse wildcard patterns to specify who can access the AdministrationServer (e.g., *.winntmag.com allows access only to those machines in thewinntmag.com domain). With HTML forms, you can administer the systemremotely exactly as you do locally. Any machine with an HTML browser canbe used for system administration.

Netscape offers a rich set of commands to help you manage yourWeb site. You can control user access, change the location of your HTMLdocuments, modify the number of threads available for the serverprocess, rotate the log files, index directories, and more.

Managing a large Web site is not a task for one person. Manycompanies make each department responsible for its own little piece.However, it's not realistic to allow every departmental Web master toaccess all administrative functions; so, Netscape uses dynamicconfiguration. You can control home-page access and customize errormessages without CGI or parsed HTML if you use individual configurationfiles.

Many of a Web master's tasks involve adding new pages to the Website and applying a standard set of options, such as access control orfile logging. Netscape lets you configure templates with accessrestrictions and access logging once and then apply them to as manypages or directories as needed. HTML forms are used so you can performthese tasks locally or remotely.

Netscape seems to have applied the knowledge gained frommanaging one of the Internet's largest and busiest Web sites to itsservers. Here are a few of my favorite administration features:

A Web server isn't complete without CGI. The Netscape serverssupport CGI 1.1, but the Netscape API (NSAPI) lets you integrateprograms at the server level. The Netscape servers come with aprogrammer's reference. You can write and integrate custom applicationsto extend the functionality of your server without CGI's risks andlimitations.

The Commerce Server also offers secure transactions, somethingno other server currently has. SSL transmits private data across thepublic Internet to and from SSL-enabled browsers. This server comes witha list of certificate authorities for the digital signatures necessaryto implement SSL.

If you are planning a commercial venture on the Internet or planto have a large Web site, then Netscape is for you. Its superioradministration capabilities coupled with the powerful server engine makea potent combination. If rock-solid stability and cutting-edgeperformance from the state of the art company in Web development appealto you, these servers are a "must see."

Purveyor
The first commercial Web server available forNT, Purveyor from Process Software, is based on the EMWAC freeware.Purveyor adds many features that are conspicuously absent from the EMWACserver but maintains compatibility with it, ensuring an easy migrationpath.

Installation
Installing Purveyor was simpler than anyof the other installations. It comes on one floppy disk. Run the setupprogram, enter some company information and product serial numbers, andyou're halfway there. Enter Purveyor's directory, click on Continue, andyou're done.

To configure various server options, run the Purveyor applet onthe target machine's Control Panel. To access server-control features,configure the user database. Be aware that installation modifies FileManager. It adds server-administration features to the screen.

Configuration
Purveyor runs as an NT service. Itsupports CGI 1.1 and HTML 2.0. It also acts as a proxy server for HTTP,Gopher, and FTP. If you plan to set up a firewall (see the sidebar"Up Against the Wall" on page 31), this capability is important. Purveyor filters all incoming and outgoing traffic, so youcan control which users get in and where they can go. No morebandwidth-hogging trips to the Louvre or network-clogging SportsIllustrated Swimsuit Issue downloads!

Configuring Purveyor as a proxy server is easy. Click on theenable proxy server button on the Control Panel applet and add theclient information. Purveyor's proxy server is very complete. You havemany options that you can configure, such as caching and security forinbound or outbound client requests.

When you define your Web site's root directory, all the otherfiles must exist in that directory. Users can't usually stray outsidethis directory structure. Occasionally, you may want to provide accessto external information. Purveyor provides virtual paths to realdirectory paths. For example, if a virtual path of marketingstuff weremapped to g:marketinginfo, you could access the file,g:marketinginfopricing.htm, by usinghttp://www.servername.com/marketingstuff/pricing.htm.

Purveyor supports basic authentication data (username/password)as well as access control by username, group membership, and IP addressfiltering. You can set these options from the File Manager. Justhighlight the directory or file you want to set security on and click onthe corresponding toolbar icon.

Because Purveyor is based on the EMWAC server, you can migratemost of your CGI scripts to Purveyor with little modification. Thisfeature is nice if you want to establish a Web presence.

Process Software has a variety of customer-support options. Ithas a Web site and phone support and for a fee you can get support 24hours a day, 7 days a week. The company also offers engineering andconsulting services ranging from minor assistance to full-blown Web sitedesign and implementation.

Purveyor is a good choice for existing EMWAC Web sites lookingto upgrade. I like the easy migration from EMWAC, the built-in proxyservers, and the commitment to customer support. However, I would liketo see remote administration and more statistics.

WebSite
Among theWeb server packages available for NT systems, WebSite has the mostfanfare. It takes an approach different from the others: It integratesall the tools you need to create, maintain, and serve data on theInternet. You still need your own graphics editor and HTML editor, butWebSite provides the rest of the tools you are likely to need.

Installation
The install program asksfor the standard directory type information, but it also asks you foryour fully qualified domain name (e.g., www.winntmag.com) and the emailaddress for your Web master (e.g., [email protected]). And you need theserver root path (the directory of your home page). That's all there isto it! You're ready to run WebSite! Total installation time: 5 minutes.

Features
WebSite is a true 32-bit application that runseither as a service or as an application. The server is adequate forsmall, medium, and large Web sites, and complies with HTML and CGIstandards.

What sets WebSite apart from most other server packages isWebView, which provides a hierarchical tree view of the documents,scripts, and links that make up your Web site. WebView also allows youto create user groups, apply security, validate HTML documents, checkand fix internal and external links, index all the text on your server,view logging and activity statistics, create image maps, and previewyour handiwork. WebView really flattens the learning curve for thoseinexperienced in the ways of the Web.

On the Web, it seems that the importance of the information youneed is inversely proportioned to the number of menus you must traverseto get to it. WebSite provides two programs for full-text search andretrieval. We were amazed at how well it works. Our test Web site (90HTML documents) was indexed in about 3 minutes. Using the tutorial, wecreated an HTML form to search our index and retrieve any document onour server. Total time to complete: 10 minutes!

WebSite supports three modes of CGI: Windows CGI allows you torun Windows programs written in Visual Basic, Visual C++, or otherWindows programming environments; Standard CGI provides support for thestandard UNIX scripting languages such as PERL and the Korn shell-handyif you are moving from a UNIX server to WebSite; DOS CGI supports yourlegacy applications. WEBFIND.EXE, a DOS CGI program, comes with WebSite.If there's an application you want to run, chances are WebSite canaccommodate you.

WebSite is not just a server application; it is also a suite ofutilities blended into one killer application. If you need to get on theInternet now, WebSite is for you. Its full-featured management tools andextensive CGI support ensure you the ability to easily and effectivelyprovide and manage data on the Web.