Chapter 3. Configuration Parameters

DynaWeb configuration parameters are specified in the file /usr/lib/Insight/dweb/data/config/dynaweb.cfg.tmpl, which is called the DynaWeb configuration file. Some of these configuration parameters, such as the hostname and server port, are defined when the server is installed and are unlikely to need changing. Many of the other configuration parameters have default values that rarely or never need to be changed.

The major sections in this chapter are:


Note: Whenever you change the configuration file, the changes do not take effect until you restart the DynaWeb server. See the section “Running DynaWeb as a Process” in Chapter 2 for instructions.


Syntax of the Configuration File

Configuration parameters appear in the file dynaweb.cfg.tmpl in any order. They have this syntax:

parameter_name = value

parameter_name is a configuration parameter. The section “Summary of Configuration Parameters” in this chapter lists all configuration parameters. value is a constant, a string, a pathname, or a variable. Variables have the form %%name%%, where name is either BOOKSHELVES (which stands for InSight bookshelves) or LOCALHOST (which is the hostname of the server).

Lines in dynaweb.cfg.tmpl that begin with a pound sign (#) are comment lines. For example, you can comment out a configuration parameter by inserting a pound sign before it, for example:

#DWEB_OKBUTTON ...

To increase the readability of dynaweb.cfg.tmpl, parameters can be specified on multiple lines by ending each line except the last with a backslash (\), for example:

DWEB_COLLECTIONS = @%%BOOKSHELVES%%; \
                   @ebtbooks=All EBT books

Summary of Configuration Parameters

Table 3-1 is an alphabetical list of the DynaWeb configuration parameters. It includes the default value of each parameter and, for most parameters, the name of a section later in the chapter that provides more information about the parameter.

Table 3-1. Configuration Parameters

Configuration Parameter

Default Value and
Section in This Chapter That Contains More Information

DWEB_ACCESSLOG

ON
“Message Logging Parameters”

DWEB_ACCESSLOGPATH

/usr/lib/Insight/dweb/logs/access_log
“Message Logging Parameters”

DWEB_ADMINISTRATOR

webmaster
“Installation Parameters”

DWEB_ALTTEXTSTYLES

(commented out)

DWEB_ALTTOCSTYLES

(commented out)

DWEB_AUTH_SERVICE

/usr/lib/Insight/dweb/data/security/full.auth
“Installation Parameters”

DWEB_BODYATTRIBUTES

BGCOLOR=”efefef”
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_BOOKBUTTON

/icons/button_book.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_BOOKDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_book.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_BOOKICON

/icons/book.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_BOOKLABEL

Books

DWEB_BUTTONSPACER

/icons/button_spacer.gif
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_CGIBINDIR

/usr/lib/Insight/dweb/cgi-bin
“CGI Parameters”

DWEB_CGIMAGIC

/DWEB-CGI
“CGI Parameters”

DWEB_CLEARBUTTON

/icons/button_clear.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_CLEARDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_clear.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_CLEARLABEL

Clear Search

DWEB_CLRSRCHBUTTON

/icons/button_clear2.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_CLRSRCHLABEL

Clear Search

DWEB_COLLAPSEBUTTON

/icons/button_collapse.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_COLLAPSEDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_collapse.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_COLLAPSELABEL

Collapse

DWEB_COLLECTBUTTON

/icons/button_collect.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_COLLECTDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_collect.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_COLLECTIONICON

/icons/collection.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_COLLECTIONS

%%BOOKSHELVES%%
“Collection Parameters”

DWEB_COLLECTLABEL

Collections

DWEB_COLLECTMAGIC

/DWEB-COLLECTIONS
“Collection Parameters”

DWEB_CONFIRM

NONE
“Maximum Bytes Parameters”

DWEB_DATA_DIR

/tmp
“SIT-Related Parameters”

DWEB_DIRICON

/icons/dir.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_DYNAVERSEBUTTON

/icons/button_sgi.gif
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_DYNAVERSELABEL

SGI

DWEB_DYNAVERSELINK

http://www.sgi.com
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_ENGINE

/usr/lib/Insight/dweb/bin/dwsgml2html
“Installation Parameters”

DWEB_ERRORLOG

ON
“Message Logging Parameters”

DWEB_ERRORLOGPATH

/usr/lib/Insight/dweb/logs/error_log
“Message Logging Parameters”

DWEB_EXPANDBUTTON

/icons/button_expand.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_EXPANDDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_expand.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_EXPANDLABEL

Expand

DWEB_FILEICON

/icons/file.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_FORMSBUTTON

/icons/button_forms.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_FORMSDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_forms.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_FORMSLABEL

Queries

DWEB_FORMSMAGIC

/DWEB-FORMS
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_FORMSPECMAGIC

/DWEB-FORMSPEC
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_HELPBUTTON

/icons/button_help.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_HELPLABEL

Help

DWEB_HELPTEXT

/docs/dw_help.html

DWEB_HOMEBUTTON

/icons/button_home.gif
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_HOMELABEL

Home

DWEB_HOMEPAGE

/docs/homepage.html

DWEB_HOST

%%LOCALHOST%%
“Installation Parameters”

DWEB_HOST_ACL

(commented out)
“Authentication Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_INLINENEXTHITICON

/icons/inline_nexthit.gif
“Search-Hit Markers”

DWEB_INLINENEXTHITTEXT

>>
“Search-Hit Markers”

DWEB_INLINEPREVHITICON

/icons/inline_prevhit.gif
“Search-Hit Markers”

DWEB_INLINEPREVHITTEXT

<<
“Search-Hit Markers”

DWEB_LOCALE

C
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_MAXBYTES

30000
“Maximum Bytes Parameters”

DWEB_MAXCOLLECTIONS

256
“Collection Parameters”

DWEB_MINITOCS

BOTH
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_NEXTBUTTON

/icons/button_next.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_NEXTDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_next.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_NEXTHITBUTTON

/icons/button_nexthit.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_NEXTHITDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_nexthit.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_NEXTHITLABEL

>>

DWEB_NEXTLABEL

Next

DWEB_OKBUTTON

/icons/button_ok.gif
“OK Button”

DWEB_OKLABEL

OK

DWEB_PASSWD_FILE

(commented out)
“Authentication Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_PORT

88
“Installation Parameters”

DWEB_PREVBUTTON

/icons/button_prev.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_PREVDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_prev.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_PREVHITBUTTON

/icons/button_prevhit.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_PREVHITDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_prevhit.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_PREVHITLABEL

<<

DWEB_PREVLABEL

Prev

DWEB_PRIVATE_DIR

/tmp
“SIT-Related Parameters”

DWEB_PUBLIC_DIR

/tmp
“SIT-Related Parameters”

DWEB_PUBSBUTTON

(commented out)
“Passive Icons”

DWEB_PUBSBUTTONPAGE

(commented out)
“Icon, Button, and Marker Parameters”

DWEB_PUBSLABEL

(commented out)

DWEB_PUBSMAGIC

/DWEB-PUBS
“Icon, Button, and Marker Parameters”

DWEB_PUBVARS

(commented out)
“Icon, Button, and Marker Parameters”

DWEB_ROOTDIR

/usr/lib/Insight/dweb/servroot
“Installation Parameters”

DWEB_SEARCHFIELD

TRUE
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_SEARCHHITLINE_0

Search for text produced no hits

DWEB_SEARCHHITLINE_1

Search for text produced 1 hit

DWEB_SEARCHHITLINE_N

Search for text produced n hits

DWEB_SEARCHLABEL

Search
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_SEARCHMESSAGE

Search for text

DWEB_SHOWMISSES

FALSE
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_STYLESBUTTON

/icons/button_styles.gif

DWEB_STYLESDIMBTN

/icons/dimbtn_styles.gif

DWEB_STYLESLABEL

Styles

DWEB_STYLESMAGIC

(commented out)
“Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters”

DWEB_TEXTBBARMODE

ICON
“Forms of Button Bars and Search-Hit Markers”

DWEB_TOCBBARMODE

ICON
“Forms of Button Bars and Search-Hit Markers”

DWEB_TOCBUTTON

/icons/button_toc.gif
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_TOCLABEL

TOC

DWEB_TOCLINEBUTTONMODE

ICON
“Text-View Buttons”

DWEB_TOCLINEEMPTY

/icons/toclineempty.gif

DWEB_TOCLINEMINUS

/icons/toclineminus.gif

DWEB_TOCLINEPLUS

/icons/toclineplus.gif


Installation Parameters

The dynaweb.cfg.tmpl file contains the following installation parameters:

DWEB_ADMINISTRATOR 


The e-mail address of the person who is responsible for replying to questions and taking care of problems with the server. By convention, this is “webmaster.” The DynaWeb server uses the value of DWEB_ADMINISTRATOR as the address to contact when a client generates an error message.

DWEB_AUTH_SERVICE 


The pathname to the DynaWeb authentication file. The default is /usr/lib/Insight/dweb/data/security/full.auth.

For information about authentication on DynaWeb servers, see “Administering HTTP Authentication” in Chapter 2.

DWEB_ENGINE 


The pathname of the DynaWeb SGML-to-HTML converter, /usr/lib/Insight/dweb/bin/dwsgml2html. The DynaWeb converter handles data conversion and other specialized tasks for the DynaWeb server.

DWEB_HOST 


The fully-qualified hostname of the server, which can be the variable %%LOCALHOST%%, which is replaced automatically with the hostname. A fully qualified hostname must be an official Internet node name, for example www.sgi.com. DynaWeb uses the value of DWEB_HOST when generating the addresses for hypertext (HREF) links.

DWEB_PORT 


The default is 88. If you are setting up a multiple DynaWeb configurations, this port may be different (see the section “Running DynaWeb as a Process with Multiple Configurations” in Chapter 2). If you start dynaweb with the -p option, the port specified by the -p option overrides the DWEB_PORT value. Don't use port 80.

Any port below 1024 requires root permission, so the server must run as a superuser in order to access one of these ports.

DWEB_ROOTDIR 


The full pathname of the DynaWeb root directory. The DynaWeb root directory contains all of the browser-accessible files on the server. To be accessible to browsers, a file must either reside in the DynaWeb root directory or in a symbolically linked directory. By default, the DynaWeb root directory is /usr/lib/Insight/dweb/servroot.

Collection Parameters

The collections parameters identify and list collections.

DWEB_COLLECTIONS 


The collections parameter identifies accessible DynaWeb collections. Define DWEB_COLLECTIONS as a list of your collections and short titles that describe them, in the form:

coll_dir=coll_title[;coll_dir=coll_title] 

coll_dir is the pathname of the collection and coll_title is a brief description of the collection that is meaningful to client users. They are specified in one of these ways or as a combination of these ways:

  • As a full pathname, for example:

    DWEB_COLLECTIONS  = /usr/share/Insight\
    /library/SGI_bookshelves/SGI_EndUser=End User
    

  • As a pathname relative to /usr/lib/Insight/dweb/servroot, for example:

    DWEB_COLLECTIONS = @SGI_EndUser=End User
    

  • As a special string that is a shorthand for all InSight book collections in the standard locations:

    DWEB_COLLECTIONS = %%BOOKSHELVES%%
    

Multiple collection pathnames or symbolic links can be added by separating each collection from the others with a semicolon, for example:

DWEB_COLLECTIONS = %%BOOKSHELVES%%;\
/ftp/www/literature = Literature Collection;\
@mybooks=”My Books”

DWEB_COLLECTMAGIC 


On receiving a URL that matches the DWEB_COLLECTMAGIC value, a DynaWeb server lists its current collections. The client can select among these collections. You can change the DWEB_COLLECTMAGIC value to a proprietary string.


Note: If you change the home page, ensure that it contains a hypertext link to your new DWEB_COLLECTMAGIC value.


DWEB_MAXCOLLECTIONS 


Controls the maximum number of simultaneous connections. The value can be from 1 to 256.

Message Logging Parameters

DynaWeb supports an access log file and an error log file. By default, the server logs information to both files. The locations of the files are specified by the DWEB_ACCESSLOGPATH and DWEB_ERRORLOGPATH configuration parameters. However, you can turn off either or both kinds of logging, by setting DWEB_ACCESSLOG and/or DWEB_ERRRORLOG to OFF.

The access log file is fully compatible with the HTTPD convention. This allows you to use any of the available filtering tools for NCSA or CERN servers. Such tools can extract useful statistics such as the total number of accesses, the number of requests, and the type of information requested.

Publisher's Page Parameters

The publisher page parameters are

DWEB_PUBSMAGIC 


A code-activating parameter that triggers the server to load a list of optional HTML files that you use for whatever you want. For example, they might provide information to users or gather results from a survey.

This parameter is attached to the “Pubs” button.

DWEB_PUBSBUTTONPAGE 


Destination of publisher's page button, DWEB_PUBSBUTTON.

DWEB_PUBSVARS 


Takes a semicolon-separated list of publisher variable definitions, for example:

DWEB_PUBVARS = CITY=Mountain View; STATE=CA; ZIPCODE=94043

The template phrase $CITY, $STATE $ZIPCODE becomes Mountain View, CA 94043. See Chapter 4, “Templates for Server Pages,” for more information about templates.

CGI Parameters

The Common Gateway Interface parameters control the use of CGI scripts. They are

DWEB_CGIBINDIR 


Specifies the directory that holds all CGI scripts for the DynaWeb server. All DynaWeb CGI scripts must be in this directory.

DWEB_CGIMAGIC 


Defines the string that enables users to access CGI scripts in the directory defined by the DWEB_CGIBINDIR parameter. For example:

DWEB_CGIMAGIC = /DWEB-CGI

To execute a CGI script, the URL must contain /DWEB-CGI after the host and port, for example:

http://www.sgi.com:88/DWEB-CGI/test-cgi.pl

Maximum Bytes Parameters

The maximum bytes parameters control the number of bytes sent per transfer and the behavior of the server if this number is exceeded.

DWEB_MAXBYTES 


The value of this parameter determines the number of bytes of text, a graphics file, or both, that the server can automatically send per transfer. The purpose of this parameter is to protect clients from being overloaded. The sending of tables of contents is unaffected by the DWEB_MAXBYTES value.

The default value for DWEB_MAXBYTES is 30000 bytes. The minimum value is 5000 bytes.

DWEB_CONFIRM 


This parameter controls whether a server asks a client user whether to transmit a block of data that exceeds DWEB_MAXBYTES. The possible settings for DWEB_CONFIRM are

  • NONE (no confirmation message; blocks of data that exceed DWEB_MAXBYTES cannot be accessed by clicking on a hypertext link)

  • TEXT (confirmation occurs only for text)

  • GRAPHICS (confirmation occurs only for graphics)

  • ALL (confirmation occurs for both text and graphics)

Icon, Button, and Marker Parameters

DynaWeb icons are used in directory, collection, or book lists to indicate the type of information associated with a name. Some are used as inline markers. Most are used on control buttons, either on the TOC-View button bar or the Text-View button bar.

The icon, button, and marker parameters specify the location of the DynaWeb icons (the pathnames) relative to the servroot directory and include a leading slash (/).

Passive Icons

Several inactive, transparent-background icons are used to identify elements of directories and collections. The configuration parameters that specify these icons are

DWEB_BOOKICON 


In a collection list, displayed beside each book title.

DWEB_DIRICON 


In a directory list, displayed beside each directory name.

DWEB_FILEICON 


In a directory list, displayed beside each filename.

DWEB_COLLECTIONICON 


In a collection list, displayed beside each collection title.

DWEB_BOOKBUTTON and DWEB_BOOKDIMBTN 


Returns to the list of books in the current collection.

DWEB_CLEARBUTTON and DWEB_CLEARDIMBTN 


Clears search results.

DWEB_COLLAPSEBUTTON and DWEB_COLLAPSEDIMBTN 


Closes the deepest TOC level currently being viewed.

DWEB_COLLECTBUTTON and DWEB_COLLECTDIMBTN 


Links the viewer to the collection that contains the current book.

DWEB_EXPANDBUTTON and DWEB_EXPANDDIMBTN 


Reveals the first-generation children of the elements currently shown in the TOC.

DWEB_PUBSBUTTON 


Publisher's page (optional).

DWEB_HELPBUTTON 


Brings the user to a predefined page that contains a quick reference to the navigation tools specific to DynaWeb. This button shows only if DWEB_HELPTEXT is specified.

DWEB_HOMEBUTTON 


Returns the user to the home page specified by the publisher.

DWEB_FORMSBUTTON and DWEB_FORMSDIMBTN 


Allows the user to access any predefined search forms (.qrs files) available for the current book. This button can be removed by commenting out DWEB_FORMSBUTTON.

Text-View Buttons

The Text-View buttons are

DWEB_CLRSRCHBUTTON 


Clears the search results.

DWEB_NEXTHIT BUTTON and DWEB_NEXTHITDIMBTN 


Goes to the next search hit within the current section.

DWEB_NEXTBUTTON and DWEB_NEXTDIMBTN 


Goes to the next section of the current book.

DWEB_PREVHITBUTTON and DWEB_PREVHITDIMBTN 


Goes to the previous search hit within the current section.

DWEB_PREVBUTTON and DWEB_PREVDIMBTN 


Goes to the section of the book that immediately precedes the current one.

DWEB_TOCBUTTON 


Returns the user to the TOC of the current book.

Search-Hit Markers

The search-hit markers that appear around each search result are controlled by the server configuration file. However, the form of marker used depends on the value of DWEB_TEXTBBARMODE (see the section “Forms of Button Bars and Search-Hit Markers” in this chapter). Search-hit markers are either present and active, or absent. The search-hit markers are

DWEB_INLINEPREVHITICON 


Previous icon hit.

DWEB_INLINEPREVHITTEXT 


Previous text hit.

DWEB_INLINENEXTHITICON 


Next icon hit.

DWEB_INLINENEXTHITTEXT 


Next text hit.

OK Button

The OK button is displayed when user confirmation is required. The OK button configuration parameter is DWEB_OKBUTTON.

Forms of Button Bars and Search-Hit Markers

For the button bars and for the search-hit markers, you can choose to display buttons or markers as either icons or as labels within square brackets. The configuration parameters that control this are

DWEB_TOCBBARMODE 


The TOC button bar.

DWEB_TEXTBARMODE 


The Text-View button bar.

DWEB_TOCLINEBUTTONMODE 


The search-hit markers.

The possible values are

ICON 

The server generates the button bar containing iconified buttons and transmits the icons to the client, which caches them for the duration of the user's session.

TEXT 

The server generates the button bar containing textual buttons. Each button is represented by its label inside square brackets, for example [Home].

By default, most buttons are dimmed when inactive. The dimmed icons are specified by configuration parameters whose names end in DIMBTN. If you decide to use your own icons and do not have dimmed versions of them, you have two choices:

  • Comment out the DIMBTN version of the icon configuration parameter. For example, if you do not have a dimmed version of the DWEB_CLEARBUTTON icon, comment out DWEB_CLEARDIMBTN:

    #DWEB_CLEARDIMBTN
    

    When the DIMBTN configuration parameter is commented out, the corresponding button disappears when it is unavailable and reappears when it can be selected again.

  • Do nothing. The button isn't dimmed, but it is not active or “hot.”

Icon Management

An unavailable icon causes no problem for the server (though it may for the client users). If the .gif file of an icon is corrupt or nonexistent, most browsers display a broken-icon picture, but the button operates as usual. You can disable a button by commenting it out.

If an icon is disabled, but has a text value assigned to it as a label, the text string is supplied in place of the icon.


Note: You are never required to change the icons. However, you or a publisher can replace them with proprietary icons. Before replacing any icons, you or the publisher should copy the original icons into a backup directory, and document your icons for your users.


SIT-Related Parameters

DynaWeb is built with System Integration Toolkit (SIT) functions. These require a DynaText browser license and several DynaText directory parameters. To accommodate SIT, dynaweb.cfg.tmpl defines several directory parameters that represent data, public, and private directories that SIT expects to find. However, DynaWeb does not require these directories, so it uses the /tmp directory instead.

The configuration parameters are

DWEB_DATA_DIR 


The DynaText data directory.

DWEB_PUBLIC_DIR 


The DynaText public directory.

DWEB_PRIVATE_DIR 


The DynaText private directory.

Authentication Configuration Parameters

The HTTP authentication process used by DynaWeb is controlled through the use of two parameters located in dynaweb.cfg.tmpl. These two parameters are DWEB_PASSWD_FILE and DWEB_HOST_ACL. When DynaWeb is first installed, these parameters are commented out in the configuration file.

DWEB_PASSWD_FILE 


Points to the location of the password file that DynaWeb checks when it receives a request for authentication. The location and name of the password file can be anything you desire, as long as you specify an absolute pathname to the password file, for example:

DWEB_PASSWORD_FILE = \
/usr/lib/Insight/dweb/passwdfile


Note: Do not place your password file underneath the servroot directory, because this allows the document to be served out by the DynaWeb server.


DWEB_HOST_ACL 


Acts as an access control list for the DynaWeb server. It lists which hosts are allowed to access the information served by the DynaWeb server, and which hosts are denied access. Whenever the server receives a request for information and DWEB_HOST_ACL is present, it checks to see that the hostname of the requestor matches one of the values in DWEB_HOST_ACL. If either the name of the client can't be found in the list or the name is found, but marked for non-access, the request is denied. If the name is found as a value of DWEB_HOST_ACL, then the server fulfills the request. The next two subsections provide more information about DWEB_HOST_ACL.

Syntax of DWEB_HOST_ACL

The value of this parameter is a list of individual hostnames and regular expressions that make up a complete list of the clients that are able to access the server. Each value is separated by a blank space, and can contain both regular expressions and the boolean “not” expression, signified by a “!”. Table 3-2 lists modifiers used in DWEB_HOST_ACL.

Table 3-2. Modifiers in DWEB_HOST_ACL

Modifier

Meaning

*

Matches any character or set of characters until a space is encountered.

?

Matches any single character.

!

Hostnames with a ! in front of them are not allowed to access the server.

Since the wildcard * is equal to all hostnames, this means that all hosts are allowed access. This is necessary if you wish to allow full access to your server from the Internet, because you have no way to determine ahead of time who will access your server. To deny access to all hosts but the ones you specify, remove the * and replace it with the names of the hosts you want. Wildcards can be combined with partial hostnames to allow or disallow groups of clients. For example, DWEB_HOST_ACL = *.company.com allows any user from company.com to access your server.

You can also use the exclamation point (!) to name a specific host or group of hosts you do not want to access the server. If we add a ! to the example above, (DWEB_HOST_AUTH = !*.company.com), this has the effect of not allowing anyone from company.com to browse the server, for example:

DWEB_HOST_ACL = * 


Allows anyone to access the server.

DWEB_HOST_ACL = *.first.com *.second.com 


Allows only people from first.com or second.com access.

DWEB_HOST_ACL = !*.first.com * 


Allows everyone but the hosts at first.com to access the server.

The inclusion of wildcards makes the list very flexible as to who you can allow or disallow.

Parsing of DWEB_HOST_ACL

When DynaWeb checks the list for authentication, it starts at the front and parses the list until it finds a match. It then stops checking and grants or denies access. This means that if you deny a group access, and then decide to grant one member of that group access, you need to mention that this user has access before you deny access to the group. When listing values, work from the most specific to the most general.

For example, you currently allow everyone to access your server. The configuration file reads

DWEB_HOST_ACL = *

You wish to deny your competitor access to your server, so you add the competitor's domain to the control list and use the exclamation point to deny access:

DWEB_HOST_ACL = * !*.competitor.com

Unfortunately, this syntax does not deny the competitor access. As the parser checks the list from left to right, the first thing it encounters is the asterisk, which matches any hostname by definition. Since the parser has found an entry that it can match to the host requesting access, it stops looking and accepts the request. The parser never encounters the qualifying statement of !*.competitor.com, which would have denied access to this particular requestor. Since * is allowed access, verification takes place. A good rule of thumb when dealing with the HOST_ACL parameter is to start with the specific and end with the generic. If the qualifier was placed before the asterisk, the parser would have recognized the domain name of competitor.com and denied access.

Miscellaneous Configuration Parameters

DWEB_BODYATTRIBUTES 


Specifies a string that is added to the <BODY> tag for text pages.

DWEB_BUTTONSPACER 


A small, transparent .gif file.

DWEB_DYNAVERSEBUTTON 


Accesses the DynaVerse link.

DWEB_DYNAVERSELINK 


Defines the destination of the DynaVerse button.

DWEB_FORMSMAGIC 


Allows the client to select and use a query form.

DWEB_FORMSPECMAGIC 


Used internally.

DWEB_LOCALE 


Selects the directory for message localization.

DWEB_MINITOCS 


Controls the dynamic TOCs that are generated automatically when viewing the content of a document. DynaWeb generates a TOC structure at the top of the document pane showing the location of the section you are viewing in the hierarchy of the document. A listing at the bottom of the pane lists the subsections, if any, of the current selection.

The values of DWEB_MINITOCS are

  • BOTH (both the top and bottom TOCs are displayed)

  • TOP (show the top TOC only)

  • BOTTOM (show the subsections only)

  • NONE (no displays at all)

DWEB_SEARCHFIELD 


Controls which pages contain search field. Possible values are

  • TRUE (always appears)

  • COLLECTION_LEVEL (always appears)

  • BOOK_LEVEL (don't show the search field on the “List of Collections” page)

  • TOC_LEVEL (don't show the search field on the “List of Collections” or “List of books in the collection” pages)

  • FALSE (never show the search field)

DWEB_SEARCHLABEL 


Controls the text found on the Search button next to the search field underneath the TOC-View button bar and on the query forms, if any are supplied.

DWEB_SHOWMISSES 


Controls the showing of TOC lines with zero hits.

DWEB_STYLESMAGIC 


Controls what the server does when the Styles button (which accesses any additional stylesheets) is selected from the TOC button bar. If this parameter is commented out, the Styles button is removed from the TOC-View button bar.