Personal Web Server 1.0 for Macintosh Read Me (MSPWS 1.0) File

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Personal Web Server version 1.0 for Macintosh

SUMMARY

This article contains a copy of the information in the Read Me (MSPWS 1.0) file included with Microsoft Personal Web Server 1.0 for Macintosh. Setup copies this file to the folder in which you install Personal Web Server.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft(r) Personal Web Server for Macintosh(r)

Welcome!

Microsoft Personal Web Server is a full-featured Web server designed to run in the background on your desktop Macintosh. Best of all, it's easy to use! Everything you need to monitor your Web site and personalize your home page is available from the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel. In addition, as owner of the Web server, you can use the site administration tools available when you view your home page from Internet Explorer. These tools let you do things such as read messages, and browse and retrieve files from your disk. If you don't know HTML, don't worry. Microsoft Personal Web Server will automatically convert SimpleText documents.

Requirements

- Macintosh (68030 or 68040), Power Macintosh, or comparable MacOS compatible computer with at least 8 megabytes of memory (RAM) installed. - 1.2 MB of available memory (RAM). - MacOS System 7.1 or later. - 2 MB of hard disk space.

If you have a 68k Macintosh:

- If you are running less than System 7.5 on a 68k machine, you'll need Thread Manager 2.0 (the installer will automatically place this in the Extensions folder in your System folder)

Access to the Internet:

You must have access to the Internet through an Internet service provider or the network to which your computer is connected. To take full advantage of Personal Web Server, you must also have a static IP address or domain name.

Internet Software:

- MacTCP (Control Panel) If you are a dial-up user, Config PPP connection software (Control Panel) with PPP (Extension) or - OpenTransport 1.08 (we strongly recommend OpenTransport 1.1.1) (Extension) If you are a dial-up user, OT/PPP

Reporting Problems

To report bugs, send mail to PWSMBugs@microsoft.com.

Include - System configuration information (on the Apple menu, choose About Personal Web Server, and then click Support) - Version of operating system - Type of Macintosh - Type of connection to the Internet

- Steps that lead to the bug. For example:

  1. Open the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel.
  2. Click the Links button.
  3. Add links to your home page.
  4. View your home page and no links appear.

Although you will not receive a response via e-mail, all bug reports will be read and evaluated by a Quality Assurance Engineer. Thank you for your help.

Help

For help with Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh, open the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel and choose Personal Web Server Help... from the "?" menu. (To see the "?" menu, click the "?" icon in the menu bar at the top of the Macintosh screen.)

Technical Support

Microsoft offers 90 days of product support at (425) 635-7123 in the US and (905) 568-4494 in Canada. This support is free of charge, except for the cost of the telephone call.

Registering Microsoft Personal Web Server 1.0 for Macintosh

Register Microsoft Personal Web Server 1.0 free of charge at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie_reg.htm. If you still have beta copies of Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh, discontinue using them at this time.

For more information, see the License Agreement document in the Personal Web Server folder.

Using Internet Explorer to Access Microsoft Personal Web Server Locally

Even when your Macintosh is not actively connected to a network, you can use Internet Explorer to access Personal Web Server. To do this, make sure Web publishing is turned on in the Personal Web Server control panel and use Internet Explorer to access your site using the same URLs you use when you are actively connected to the network.

Note: Personal Web Server is designed for use with Internet Explorer. Accessing Personal Web Server locally has not been tested with other browsers.

Active Server Pages

Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh supports a subset of the Active Server Pages functionality available with Internet Information Server. Personal Web Server treats all files with ".asp", ".html", and ".htm" extensions as Active Server Pages. In most cases, this will not have any effect on documents that do not contain Active Server Pages tags. However, you can prevent Personal Web Server from processing an HTML document by using the ".np" ("not processed") file extension instead of ".html". For more information on using Active Server Pages with Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh, open the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel and then choose Microsoft Personal Web Server Help from the "?" menu. (To see the "?" menu, click the "?" icon in the menu bar at the top of the Macintosh screen.)

Note: The ASP syntax has been modified and finalized since the beta release of PWS. Some of the tags used in the default documents in the beta version of the My Personal Web Site folder may continue to work with Personal Web Server 1.0. However, this syntax may not be supported in future versions.

Internet Config

If Internet Config is available, Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh will use Internet Config MIME mappings. To ensure that PWS serves documents properly, a few basic mappings do not rely on the settings in Internet Config.

W*API(tm) Support

Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh includes a beta version of the W*API(tm) Adapter Plug-in. With this plug-in installed, PWS will support W*API(tm) plug-ins, as well as MOSAPI plug-ins. The W*API(tm) Adapter Plug- in supports W*API(tm) 1.1.

To use the W*API(tm) Adapter Plug-in: 1. Drag the W*API(tm) Adapter Plug-in icon into the Server Plug-ins folder. (Server Plug-ins is located in the PWS folder in MS Internet inside your System Folder. There should also be an alias to Server Plug-ins in the Personal Web Server folder.) 2. Drag any W*API(tm) plug-in icon into the Server Plug-ins folder. 3. Stop and restart publishing in the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel. 4. To configure a W*API(tm) plug-in, follow the instructions accompanying it.

Note: Because of differences between Microsoft Personal Web Server and WebStar(r), some W*API(tm) plug-ins may not work properly with Microsoft Personal Web Server.

My Personal Web Site

The documents that Personal Web Server Installer places in the My Personal Web Site folder make it easy to get your first Web site up and running. These documents use Active Server Pages to create a dynamic home page, including a simple message area and guestbook. To learn more about Active Server Pages, refer to Personal Web Server Help.

Note: If you already have a beta version of the My Personal Web Site folder when you run the 1.0 version of Personal Web Server Installer, the installer places updated versions of these documents in a Personal Web Site Files 1.0 folder in the Personal Web Server subfolder in the Microsoft Internet Applications folder.

CGI and AppleEvent Support

Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh 1.0 has improved support for AppleEvents and CGIs. - PWS now supports AppleEvents to control the server from a remote application. - CGIs can now register themselves as action CGIs. The supported actions are Preprocessor, Postprocessor, and Normal. - Remote applications can now register themselves with the server to receive request logging information and server status information.

Common Questions and Answers about URLs

Why is my URL a number rather than a name? Domain names are provided by special servers known as Domain Name Servers (DNS). When Personal Web Server starts up, it checks a DNS server to see if your computer has a name. If the DNS server provides a valid name for your computer, the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel displays this name in your URL. Otherwise, your URL contains your computer's IP address. Personal Web Server may also show your IP address if your domain name is too long to be displayed in its control panel.

Note: Sometimes a DNS will provide inaccurate information, preventing Personal Web Server from displaying your computer's domain name, even though one exists. In these cases, typing the domain name into a browser will still work, even though the control panel shows only the IP address.

Why does my URL change every time I start Personal Web Server? Some networks are configured to give your Macintosh a new IP address every time you connect to the network. Since your URL is based on your computer's address, your URL changes too. Your Internet provider may be able to provide you with a static IP address or domain name to remedy this problem.

Controlling Access to Your Web Site

Personal Web Server only allows users to access the folder selected in the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel. (Unless you select a different folder, this is My Personal Web Site.)

Owner privileges: As the owner of the Macintosh, you can access files outside of the selected folder, by checking "Allow owner to browse disks" in the control panel. With this option on, the owner name and password in the Sharing Setup control panel will allow you to access all the files on your computer. The owner name and password also give you access to the "Site Administration" link in the default home page.

Restricting access: To restrict access to your Web site, you must assign MacOS Personal File Sharing privileges to your Web site folder, turn file sharing on, and check the "Use Access Control" option in the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel. Once access control is enabled, you can restrict access to any folder on your site using the See Files checkboxes in the file sharing privileges window for that folder.

Notes: - To open the sharing privileges window for a given folder, select the folder in the Finder and choose Sharing... from the File menu. - To change the privileges in the sharing privileges window, you have to check the "Share this item and its contents" option near the top of that window. Once you have set the privileges you may turn this option off. This option does not affect access to your Web site. - The See Folders and Make Changes checkboxes in the sharing privileges window do not affect access to your Web site.

Guest access: Even if you restrict access to your site, you may still allow guests to access specific folders on your site. To allow guests access to a folder, check the See Files checkbox for Everyone in the folder's sharing privileges window.

Known Problems with Microsoft Personal Web Server 1.0

Slash ("/") not permitted in hard disk, file, or folder names: The slash character is used in URLs to separate folders in a path. If this character is included within a published disk, file, or folder name, Personal Web Server will misinterpret the name and will be unable to serve up the item or any files or folders it contains.

Under MacTCP, dial-up PPP connections may not be initiated: With some PPP programs under MacTCP, Personal Web Server may fail to initiate a dial-up connection. If you experience this problem, manually establish the dial-up PPP connection before turning Web publishing on. Once the connection is established, Personal Web Server should function properly.

JIS encoding in HTML documents: HTML documents encoded with the JIS character set may not display properly when served up by Personal Web Server because Personal Web Server removes all occurrences of "<%" when processing HTML for Active Server Pages tags. To prevent Personal Web Server from processing JIS encoded HTML documents, use the ".jis" file extension instead of ".html".

FTP Plug-in may be slow on 68K computers: On 68K computers, the FTP Plug-in may be slow to respond when the client does not have permission to access the requested item. When this happens the 68K computer running Personal Web Server may not respond to user input for up to 15 seconds.

Personal Web Server may not have enough memory for certain plug-ins: Because Personal Web Server uses very little memory (RAM), it may not have enough memory available to run certain plug-ins. Every plug-in you place in the Server Plug-ins folder uses some of the memory available to Personal Web Server.

My Personal Web Site from Microsoft Personal Web Server 1.0b1: Due to changes in the Active Server Pages syntax, the message and guestbook links on the home page included with Personal Web Server 1.0b1 no longer work with Personal Web Server 1.0 and the home page may display extra content.

Personal Web Server supports fewer connections on a 68K Macintosh: Because of memory limitations, Personal Web Server supports fewer connections on 68K computers.

Upgrading from Microsoft Personal Web Server 1.0b1

The documents in the My Personal Web Site folder have been updated. If you have the beta version of this folder, the Personal Web Server Installer does not automatically update it, but it places the updated versions in a Personal Web Site Files 1.0 folder in the Personal Web Server subfolder in the Microsoft Internet Applications folder. You can either replace or manually update the older versions of these documents. Note that the Active Server Pages tags are significantly different in the new version. Note that the names of several of these documents have been modified by replacing the ".htm" extension with ".asp".

Major Changes since 1.0b1

FTP Plug-in fixes: The FTP Plug-in now works on 68K and PPC Macintosh computers. Other problems have also been resolved, including access control and FTP client compatibility issues.

Active Server Pages: The syntax of the Personal Web Server Active Server Pages implementation has been changed to make it more compatible with Internet Information Server. Active Server Pages are now documented in Personal Web Server Help.

CGI, AppleEvent, and MOS Plug-in support: Personal Web Server CGI and MOS plug-in support has been enhanced to support a broader range of third party server extensions.

W*API(tm) plug-in support: Personal Web Server now ships with a beta version of the W*API(tm) Adapter Plug-in that allows Personal Web Server to use W*API(tm) plug-ins.

Log format: The Personal Web Server Log format now places the date and time in separate fields.

My Personal Web Site: The contents of the My Personal Web Site folder have been updated to use the new Active Server Pages syntax. Files that use Active Server Pages are now identified by the ".asp" file extension. (Because of these changes, several tags supported in Personal Web Server 1.0b1 may not work properly in 1.0.)

Attention Web for One(tm) users!

Microsoft Personal Web Server is similar to Web for One, but has some important differences. Because of these differences, Web for One users will have to manually switch to Microsoft Personal Web Server. This document explains the differences between the two servers and provides instructions for switching from Web for One to Microsoft Personal Web Server.

Changes: - Improved Performance: Microsoft Personal Web Server has notable speed improvements over Web for One. (This performance enhancement was achieved with a small increase in the memory used by the Web server-it still uses close to one megabyte of RAM.)

- MOS Plug-in Support: Personal Web Server supports MOS plug-ins. To install a MOS plug-in, drop the plug-in into the Server Plug-ins folder. This folder is located in the PWS folder in MS Internet inside your System folder. To make installing plug-ins easy, the installer places an alias to the Server Plug-ins folder in the Personal Web Server folder.

- Active Server Pages: Active Server Pages (ASP) allows you to create dynamic Web pages and forms using a scripting language based on VBScript. The ASP syntax replaces the syntax used by Web for One for server includes and form processing. Because Microsoft Personal Web Server does not support the Web for One server include or form processing syntax, all pages using that syntax will have to be updated. (This version of Microsoft Personal Web Server for Macintosh does not support the full ASP scripting language, but does provide equivalent functionality to the server includes and form processing syntax used in Web for One.)

- The default pages installed by Web for One contain old versions of the

'server include' and 'form processing' syntax. The Microsoft Personal Web

- Preferences: Microsoft Personal Web Server will not retain your previous Web for One settings. Please use the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel to configure your Web server again.

Switching from Web for One to Microsoft Personal Web Server:

If you have been using Web for One, you will have to make a number of changes to begin using Microsoft Personal Web Server.

To switch from Web for One to Microsoft Personal Web Server: 1. Install Microsoft Personal Web Server. This installation will not affect Web for One. Web for One will continue to publish your Web site, until you manually switch to Microsoft Personal Web Server, as described in this section. 2. Open the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel. 3. Configure the server options, and re-enter information in the About Me and Links panels. Do not click the Start button yet. The Microsoft Personal Web Server installer places a new default Web site on your hard disk. If you want to continue to use your original Web site folder, click Set Folder... and select that folder. 4. Update your Web site folder. Personal Web Server does not support the server include and form processing syntax used by Web for One. The "My Personal Web Site" folder installed with Personal Web Server contains updated versions of the default pages installed with Web for One. If you continue to publish the folder you published with Web for One, replace the default pages installed with Web for One with those from the "My Personal Web Site" folder. (Do not replace the "$messages" folder or its contents.) If you modified these default pages or have other pages on your site that use the old syntax, you must update those pages to use the ASP syntax. If you elect to publish the new "My Personal Web Site" folder, make sure to copy over any files from your original Web site folder that you want to publish. If you want to keep existing messages left by visitors to your site, replace the "$messages" folder in "My Personal Web Site" with the "$messages" folder from your original site. Do not replace the other default files unless you manually update the server include and form processing syntax in the older versions. 5. Turn off and remove Web for One. To do this, open the Web for One control panel, and if Web publishing is on, click Stop. Then, close the control panel and remove Web for One from the Control Panels folder. Finally, open the Extensions folder, located inside your System Folder, and remove the Web for One Extension. (You may save the control panel and extension outside the System folder, or drag them into the Trash.) 6. Click Start in the Microsoft Personal Web Server control panel to begin publishing your Web site again.