Last Updated: April 29, 1996
This documentation is for release 1.0a6 (Alpha 6)
OmniHTTPd is a powerful all-purpose industry compliant WWW server for Windows 95. It is designed to use the Winsock TCP/IP interface to server web documents over any type of Internet connection. Best of all, OmniHTTPd is free. Why spend thousands of dollars on a Unix or NT system and web software when you can use OmniHTTPd with Windows 95?
The server complies with the industry standard HTTP/1.0 specification meaning maximum compatibility with all currently available browsers. Future versions of the server will also be compliant with the new HTTP/1.1 specifications, making it the most advanced server available for the Windows 95 platform. Some of the features of this new specification are already enabled in the current release.
For maximum performance, OmniHTTPd is both 32-bit and multi-threaded. OmniHTTPd is also designed with the computer hobbyist in mind. While powerful enough to serve over 10GB/day, the daemon is compact and easy to maintain, making it the ideal choice for the novice web master.
OmniHTTPd is currently under development; as a result, the alpha version being distributed is unfinished.
This software is Copyright © 1995, 1996 Omnicron Software Solutions. All rights reserved.
By using this test version of OmniHTTPd you are consenting to be bound by agreement to the following:
GRANT OF LICENSE
Omnicron Software Solutions (the "Company") has granted you,
the user, a limited license to test OmniHTTPd (the "Software")
This does NOT give you the license to modify, translate, reverse engineer,
decompile, disassemble (except to the extent applicable laws specifically
prohibit such restriction), or create derivative works based on the Software.
DISCLAIMER
Since the Software is provided free of charge, Omnicron Software Solutions (the "Company") shall not be held responsible for any damages arising from the use of the Software. The Software is provided on an AS IS basis, without warranty of any kind, including without limitation the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Software is borne by you. Should the Software prove defective, you and not the Company, assume the entire cost of any service and repair.
Security mechanisms implemented in the Software have its limitations and you, the user, must decide whether the Software sufficiently meets your requirements.
The alpha release does not have an installation program. To use, copy the distribution .ZIP file into a directory and unzip the files using the -d option so that PKUNZIP creates the proper directories for you. If you are using WinZip, make sure that you check the "Use Directory Names" option.
Installation is easiest if you use the directory C:\HTTPD as your root as all the default settings point to this directory.
Note that 'Primary' is the default configuration. To create and use other configurations, simply run the server with the configuration name as a command line parameter. Note that multiple copies of the server can run as long as each copy uses different network ports and log files.
To configure the server, run ADMIN.EXE. The default configuration is Primary. You can create additional configurations by pressing New.
Port Number
This is the port number that the server will use for HTTP. The default is 80.
Timeouts
These are the timeout values in milliseconds. If you are serving over a slow connection, you may want to increase these values. PPP users should use 60000. The CGI script time out is the time a CGI script is allowed to take before being shutdown. A value of 0 means to wait indefinitely.
Keep Alive
This option enables persistent HTTP support as outlined in HTTP/1.1. Note that Netscape's support for Keep-Alive connections is mildy retarded and will hang frequently on transparent .GIF files for reasons unknown.
Site Address
Set this to your site address. For example: glau.student.harvard.edu
Server Root
Set this to the root of your documents. This will be the virtual root directory.
Default Index
This is the name of the default file for the server to look for if a directory is specified.
Email Address
This is the email address that appears on things like error messages and statistics pages.
Server Priority
Use this option to tell the server how much CPU priority you want to give it. If you are using a Netscape browser to view your own pages on the same machine, the priority level must be at least High.
Enable DNS Reverse
Enable this option if you want the server to perform a DNS lookup for each request. Use this option with care if you are running a busy server. Many PPP users do not have resolvable addresses and may experience delays when accessing your site.
Send Version Information
Enabling this option will cause your server version number to be sent with each request. It is on by default.
Access Log
This is the main log and it is compatible with the Extended Common Log format.
Error Log
This log keeps track of all errors that occur with the server.
Trace Log
This log is for debugging purposes only.
Referrer Log
This log keeps track of referrals that are not from your own site.
Alias
Redirections
Standard CGI
Windows CGI
MIME
Auto-indexing
Auto-indexing generates an index if a directory is specificied and no default file can be found. If security is a concern, you may want to disable this option.
Table indexing
Table indexing is easier to read but requires that the user's browser support HTML 3.0
Just what the name implies. Don't touch these unless you know what you are doing.
To run the server, run OHTTPD.EXE. Running the program with no parameters will cause the default configuration to be loaded.
To use a different configuration, supply a name as a command line parameter. For example, the command line:
OHTTPD Port96
will force the server to use a previously set configuration called Port96.
The server will start in the background and an icon will be placed into the system tray. You can click on the icon to call up a status window. You can also right click on the icon to bring up a menu. Closing the status window does not shut down the server; it must be done from the menu.
Server side includes aren't working!
Make sure you rename the extension of the files that you want parsed to .shtml. Also make sure you have updated the MIME types in the administration program.
What are all those OMN?????.TMP files doing in my server directory?
These files are usually a result of unsuccessful CGI launches. It could be a problem with your CGI script. You can safely delete these files if the server is not running.
My setup is all messed up, how can delete it and go back to the defaults?
Using the administration program, select the offending configuration and press the Reset button.
Why does the server say it can't bind the socket?
Check to make sure that another copy of the server isn't running. Make sure your TCP settings are correct. Make sure that you are using a Winsock compliant TCP socket interface.
How come connections remain open even though the client has finished transferring information?
The connection is probably in Keep-Alive mode and will stay open for the Keep-Alive amount of time before closing. By reusing the connection for subsequent requests, the overhead of tearing down and building separate connections is eliminated. Microsoft's Internet Explorer supports Keep-Alive connections. Netscape's support for Keep-Alive connections is mildy retarded and will hang frequently on transparent .GIF files for reasons unknown.
My local redirections don't work. I can't use http://site.com/foo, I always need to type http://site.com/foo/ How do I fix this?
Make sure that the site address is set properly in the configuration. OmniHTTPd needs this to be set correctly so that it can tell the browser the correct place to look for the redirection.
I just mucked up the registry, what do I do?
Hopefully you didn't mess up the important parts (like Windows) If it is just the OmniHTTPd settings, you can remove the entire key and then run the configuration program again to create them with defaults. If you've messed up Windows, you'll have to rebuild it from the .DAT files in the root directory. Note that this shouldn't be a problem in the latest release, which comes with a setup program.
Back to the OmniHTTPd Page
Copyright © 1996 Omnicron Software Solutions