31.3 Configuring the Web Server

Table 11 lists the supported platforms for Web servers.

When configuring a Web server using a Windows platform, ensure that the dynamic views are started and the required VOBs are mounted at boot time. The process that starts the views and mounts the VOBs should be completed before the Web server process starts. Refer to the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit for information on using the srvany.exe function to start views and mount VOBs at boot time.

The steps for making the contents of a dynamic view accessible through a URL are different for each Web server.

NOTE: When you configure ClearCase on your Web server, do not locate the ClearCase license or registry server processes on the Web server because this introduces a single point of failure into your network architecture.

Configuring the Apache Web Server

Using the configuration file, you can load each dynamic view as a different instance of the Apache Web server process using different server port numbers.

To Configure an Apache Web Server on Windows

1. Install ClearCase Release 4.0 or later on the Apache Web server. Install ClearCase as a server only if VOBs will be local to the Apache host; you will also need to enable MVFS to use dynamic views.

2. Create the dynamic views to support the different stages of content development.

3. Edit <server-root>\conf\httpd.conf on the Windows Web server to add a new virtual host for each dynamic view by specifying a different port number for each view using the Listen directive.

Listen 9990
NameVirtualHost 172.21.170.146:9990
<VirtualHost 172.21.170.146:9990>
ServerAdmin admin@rational.com
DocumentRoot "//view/web_public/vobs/web"
DirectoryIndex index.html
ServerName plankroad.atria.com
ErrorLog logs/error_status.log
TransferLog logs/access_status.log
</VirtualHost>


The DocumentRoot directive specifies the dynamic view using the following syntax:

//view/<view-tag>/<VOB location>

Additionally, you can define the default document file name with the DirectoryIndex directive to enable all users to access a common file when requesting the URL of the Web site root directory.

To Configure an Apache Web Server on UNIX

1. Install ClearCase Release 4.0 or later on the Apache Web server. Install ClearCase as a server only if VOBs will be local to Apache machine; you will also need to enable MVFS to use dynamic views.

2. Create the dynamic views to support the different stages of content development.

3. Create and edit /etc/init.d/httpd on the UNIX Web server to add a new server instance for each dynamic view by specifying a different port number for each view using the Command directive where N would be 1, 2, 3 up to the number of server instances required.

COMMANDN="-c "\Port 7990\"\
-c \"User http\"\
-c \"Group http\"\
-c \"ErrorLog /xweb/apache_m/logs/error_log\"\
-c \"Options Indexes\"\
-c \"CustomLog /xweb/apache_m/logs/access_log common\"\
-c \"PidFile /xweb/apache_m/logs/httpd.pid\"\
-c \"ScoreBoardFile /xweb/apache_m/logs/httpd.scoreboard\"


4. For each of the command blocks you have created in Step 3, you must include a command to start the Web server. Within the /etc/init.d/httpd script, add the following cleartool command:

cleartool setview -exec "<path-to-Web-server-executable> $COMMANDN" <dynamic-view-name>

1. Create a symbolic link for /etc/init.d/httpd from the appropriate /etc/rc.n directory (where n=1,2,3 and so on). For example, suppose that ClearCase is started up in /etc/rc2.d/ S77atria, then you can create a symbolic link to httpd with the following command:

ln -s /etc/init.d/httpd S99httpd

Configuring the Netscape Enterprise Web Server

Using the Netscape Enterprise Server Administration tools, you can load each dynamic view as a new server instance, using a different port address, of the Netscape Enterprise Server.

To configure a Netscape Enterprise Web server on Windows or UNIX:

1. Install ClearCase Release 4.0 or later on the Netscape Enterprise Web server host. Install ClearCase as a server only if VOBs will be local to Netscape machine; you will also need to enable MVFS to use dynamic views.

2. Create the dynamic views as necessary to support the different stages of content development.

3. On the Netscape Server General Administration page, click Create New Netscape Enterprise Server.

4. Create a new virtual Web service by editing the Netscape Server Installation screen and assigning a unique server port number.

• If you are creating a new virtual Web service on Windows, specify the dynamic view in the Document Root box using the following syntax:

//view/<view-tag>/<VOB location>

• If you are creating a new virtual Web service on UNIX, specify the dynamic view in the Document Root box using the following syntax:

/view/<view-tag>/<VOB location>

5. Click the Content Management tab and then click Document Preferences. Type the name of the default document in the Index Filenames box.