Installing FrontPage Server Extensions to an Apache Web Server

ID: Q202198

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions

SUMMARY

This article provides an example for installing the FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions to the Apache Web server. It is intended to be an example for you to follow. You may have customized settings and permissions that are different than the examples provided.

MORE INFORMATION

The steps listed in this article are appropriate for installing to an Apache Server that has never had the Server Extensions installed and for upgrading from FrontPage 98 to FrontPage 2000.

The first step is to download the Server Extensions from the Microsoft Web Site at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/languages/fp/default.asp

You need to download the following two files for the install:

FP40.<platform>.tar.Z
Fp_install.sh installation script

After you download the files, copy them to /usr/local. Make sure the file is in the format FP40.<platform>.tar.Z. Sometimes, downloading the file can cause it to be renamed incorrectly to FP40_<platform>_tar.Z. If this occurs, rename the file to its original name. For instance, mv fp40_bsdi_tar.Z fp40.bsdi.tar.Z

Before going further, you need to gather some information and prepare for the install.

Determine the user and group that will own the content area of the Web site. You will be asked for this information during the install. The user and group must have a UID and GID that is greater than these listed below:

UID
---
Linux - 15
All other versions of UNIX - 11

GID
---
HPUX - 20
IRIX - 20
SUNOS4 - 20
SCO - 24
All other versions of UNIX - 21

Example:

User - webuser
Group - webgroup

Determine the location of your Httpd.conf file for your Web server. You will be asked for its location when installing the Server Extensions.

Example:

/usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf

You will need to know the location of the httpd daemon for your Web server. When running the Change_server.sh script, you will be asked for its location.

Example:

/usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd

Edit the Access.conf configuration file and set AllowOverride None to AllowOverride All. This is a requirement for the Server Extensions to install. Edit the Access.conf and look for <Directory @@ServerRoot@@/htdocs>, and change the AllowOverride None immediately below it to AllowOverride All.

Review the Httpd.conf and Srm.conf files. On some versions of Apache, directives are in quotation marks (""). FrontPage cannot interpret these quotation marks. Make sure that the ServerRoot /usr/local/apache and the DocumentRoot /usr/local/apache/share/htdocs are not in quotation marks.

Note: The location of ServerRoot and DocumentRoot may be different for you.

Now that you have all of the information, you are ready to install the Server Extensions. Run the Fp_install.sh installation script to install the Server Extensions. Make sure your permissions are adequate to run the script and that you are logged in as root.

Running FP_Install.sh

Run ./fp_install.sh

Are you satisfied with your backup of the system (y/n): choose y.

FrontPage Server Extensions directory [/usr/local/frontpage]: press Enter to accept the default.

Do you want to install a root web (y/n): choose y.

Server config filename: /usr/local/apache/etc/httpd.conf

This is the configuration file Httpd.conf for your virtual server. Your location of the Httpd.conf may be different than the example.

FrontPage Administrator's user name: testuser

This is a non-UNIX account that will be used by FrontPage to open the Web site.

User name of the owner of this new web:[] webuser

This is the UNIX account that will own the content area of the FrontPage Web.

Group of this new web:[] webgroup

This is the UNIX group that will own the content area of the FrontPage Web.

What type of server is this: 2

2 is selected because this is an Apache server that has not been patched. If the Change_server.sh Apache upgrade script was run first, select 3 for Apache-fp.

FrontPage Administrator's Password: Password

This is the password for the non-UNIX account FrontPage Administrator.

Confirm Password: Password

Which local character encoding does your system support: [1] 1

1 is selected for Latin 1 for English.

What should the default language be: [1] 1

1 is selected for the English language.

Install new sub/per-user webs now (y/n): choose n

If you want to install new subwebs or per-user Webs, you can do so now. This can also be done after the installation is complete with the FrontPage client software after the Change_server.sh has been applied or through the FPsrvadm.exe utility.

Do you want to install Virtual Webs (y/n): choose n

If you have configured other virtual servers in the Httpd.conf file, you can install the FrontPage Server Extensions to these virtual servers now. This can also be done after the installation is complete with the FPsrvadm.exe utility.

Installation Completed! Exiting...

At this point, it is a good idea to test to see if the Server Extensions are installed properly. Try to open the Web with the FrontPage client software. You can test this by opening the root Web for this computer by opening the Web by the static IP of this computer.

If you want the ability to create subwebs for the virtual server where just installed the FrontPage Server Extensions from the FrontPage Client, you need to patch the server using the Change_server.sh script. The Change_server.sh script is located in /usr/local/frontpage/version4.0. Change the directory to /usr/local/frontpage/version4.0 to run the script. If you are upgrading from FrontPage 98 and your server is patched with your own compiled patch, please refer to the SERK for more details. If you installed the FrontPage 98 patch and did not compile it with your own modules, proceed with the upgrade.

On some servers, the Change_server.sh patch will fail if the Web server is running. In order to assure a clean install of the patch, please stop the server. Typically the process ID for stopping the server can be located in /usr/local/apache/var/run/httpd.pid. If you run the command more httpd.pid, you will get the process IDnumber. Next run the command kill 26477, where 26477 is the process ID for the Web server.

Running Change_server.sh

To patch the Apache Web server 1.3.1, use the following steps:

Run ./change_server.sh

Are you satisfied with your backup of the system (y/n): choose y

Where is the current apache daemon located: [] /usr/local/apache/sbin/httpd

You must use the entire path to the location of the httpd daemon for the Web server. Note that your location may be different than the example.

Press Enter to continue.

This is an Apache server! Would you like to upgrade it (y/n): choose y

Enter UNIX Username: webuser

Enter UNIX Group: webgroup

Would you like to be prompted interactively for each webs owner/group (y/n)?: choose y

Who should own web root web on port 80: [] webuser

This is the UNIX account that will own the content area of the FrontPage web.

What group should the group for web root web on port 80 be?: [] webgroup

This is the UNIX group that will own the content area of the FrontPage Web.

Would you like to set the default permissions (y/n): choose y

It is recommended that you say yes at this prompt. Permissions will be tightened in the Apache-fp folder.

Installation Completed!

NOTE: You will need to stop the old server daemon and start the new one before your Webs will work properly. For instance, cd /usr/local/apache/sbin ./httpd

For the latest information about the latest releases and patches for the different variations of Apache, please see the following Web sites:

http://www.rtr.com/fpsupport/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/languages/fp/default.asp

For additional information on how to manually patch the Apache Web server with the FrontPage module, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

216039 How to Manually Patch an Apache Server

Additional query words: 97 front page

Keywords : fpse2000
Version : winnt:
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbinfo