CERN and NCSA server configuration

This section discusses the configuration of the CERN and NCSA servers. Configuration is split between the command line arguments used when starting the server and the configuration files that the server reads. Only a limited amount of information is conveyed via the command line. This section contains a detailed account of the configuration file directives, grouped according to function, followed by a description of the command line arguments for both of the servers.

Although the CERN and NCSA configuration files are very similar in layout and content, the CERN server includes all configuration information in one central file, while the NCSA server divides the information between four separate files: the server configuration file, the resource configuration file, the access configuration file and the types configuration file, each of which contains specific information.

Both the CERN and NCSA configuration files consist of comments and directives. Blank lines are also permitted to make the files more readable. Comments are identified by a hash sign (#) at the start of the line. Directives comprise a directive name followed by its argument or arguments separated by spaces, and are generally not case-sensitive, except where the argument value refers to a filename, or where otherwise specified. Any extra white space is ignored.

Default values for many directives are compiled into the server programs and are only overridden when a different value is specified by a directive in the configuration file. The format used in this chapter for each entry is:

directive-name arguments                     (default value)

Descriptive text.
    example ...

Optional arguments are enclosed in square brackets ([arg]), alternatives are enclosed in braces and separated by vertical bar characters ({ a | b }) and omitted optional, repeated arguments are indicated by ellipses (arg ...).

For NCSA server configuration directives, the appropriate configuration file is given in which they may appear.

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