![[Erlang Systems]](min_head.gif)
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application-level
protocol with the lightness and speed necessary for distributed,
collaborative and hyper-media information systems. The
httpd module handles HTTP 1.0 as described in
RFC 1945 with a few exceptions such as
gateway and proxy functionality. The
same is true for servers written by NCSA and others.
The server implements numerous features such as
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer),
ESI (Erlang Scripting Interface),
CGI (Common Gateway Interface),
User Authentication(using
Mnesia, dets or plain text database),
Common Logfile Format (with or
without disk_log(3) support),
URL Aliasing,
Action Mappings,
Directory Listings and
SSI (Server-Side Includes).
The configuration of the server is done using Apache-style run-time configuration directives. The goal is to be plug-in compatible with Apache but with enhanced fault-tolerance, scalability and load-balancing characteristics.
All server functionality has been implemented using an especially crafted server API; EWSAPI (Erlang Web Server API). This API can be used to advantage by all who wants to enhance the server core functionality, for example custom logging and authentication.
All functionality in the server can be configured using
Apache-style run-time configuration directives stored in a
configuration file. Take a look at the example config files in
the conf
directory (UNIX: $INETS_ROOT/examples/server_root/conf/, Windows: %INETS_ROOT%\examples\server_root\conf\) of the server root for a complete
understanding.
An alphabetical list of all config directives:
All server functionality below has been implemented using
EWSAPI (Erlang Web Server API) modules. The following modules
all have separate manual pages (mod_cgi(3), mod_auth(3),
...):
disk_log(3).
The Modules config directive can be used to alter the server behavior, that is to alter the EWSAPI Module Sequence. An example module sequence can be found in the example config directory. If this needs to be altered read the EWSAPI Module Interaction section below.
start()
start(ConfigFile) -> ServerRet
start_link()
start_link(ConfigFile) -> ServerRet
ConfigFile = string()ServerRet = {ok,Pid} | ignore | {error,EReason} | {stop,SReason}Pid = pid()EReason = {already_started, Pid} | term()SReason = string()start/1 and start_link/1 starts a server
as specified in the given ConfigFile. The ConfigFile
supports a number of config directives specified below.
start/0 and start/0 starts a server as specified
in a hard-wired config file, that is
start("/var/tmp/server_root/conf/8888.conf"). Before
utilizing start/0 or start_link/0, copy the
example server
root (UNIX: $INETS_ROOT/examples/server_root/, Windows: %INETS_ROOT%\examples\server_root\) to a specific installation directory (UNIX: /var/tmp/, Windows: X:\var\tmp\)
and you have a server running in no time.
If you copy the example server root to the specific
installation directory it is furthermore easy to start an
SSL enabled server, that is
start("/var/tmp/server_root/conf/ssl.conf").
restart()
restart(Port) -> ServerRet
restart(ConfigFile) -> ServerRet
restart(Address,Port) -> ServerRet
Port = integer()Address = {A,B,C,D} | string() | undefinedConfigFile = string()ServerRet = ok | not_startedrestart restarts the server and reloads its config file.
restart/2 restarts the server which listens to the
specified Port on Address.
restart(integer()) restarts a server which listens to a
specific Port.
restart(string()) extracts BindAddress and
Port from the config file and calls restart/2
restart/0.
restarts a server which listens to port 8888, that is
restart(8888).
stop()
stop(Port) -> ServerRet
stop(ConfigFile) -> ServerRet
stop(Address,Port) -> ServerRet
Port = integer()Address = {A,B,C,D} | string() | undefinedConfigFile = string()ServerRet = ok | not_startedstop/2 stops the server which listens to the specified
Port on Address.
stop(integer()) stops a server which listens to a specific
Port.
stop(string()) extracts BindAddress and Port
from the config file and stops the server which listens to the
specified Port on Address.
stop/0 stops a server which listens to port 8888, that is
stop(8888).
parse_query(QueryString) -> ServerRet
QueryString = string()ServerRet = [{Key,Value}]Key = Value = string()parse_query/1 parses incoming data to erl and
eval scripts (See mod_esi(3)) as defined in the standard
URL format, that is '+' becomes 'space' and decoding of
hexadecimal characters (%xx).
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The Erlang/OTP programming knowledge required to undertake an EWSAPI module is quite high and is not recommended for the average server user. It is best to only use it to add core functionality, e.g. custom authentication or a RFC 2109 implementation. |
 |
The current implementation of EWSAPI is under review and feedback is welcomed. |
EWSAPI should only be used to add core functionality to the server. In order to generate dynamic content, for example on-the-fly generated HTML, use the standard CGI or ESI facilities instead.
As seen above the major part of the server functionality has
been realized as EWSAPI modules (from now on only called modules).
If you intend to write your own server extension start with examining
the standard
modules (UNIX: $INETS_ROOT/src/, Windows: %INETS_ROOT%\src\)
mod_*.erl and note how to they are configured in the example
config
directory (UNIX: $INETS_ROOT/examples/server_root/conf/, Windows: %INETS_ROOT%\examples\server_root\conf\).
Each module implements do/1 (mandatory), load/2,
store/2 and remove/1. The latter functions are needed
only when new config directives are to be introduced (See EWSAPI Module
Configuration below).
A module can choose to export functions to be used by other modules in the EWSAPI Module Sequence (See Modules config directive). This should only be done as an exception! The goal is to keep each module self-sustained thus making it easy to alter the EWSAPI Module Sequence without any unneccesary module dependencies.
A module can furthermore use data generated by previous modules in the EWSAPI Module Sequence or generate data to be used by consecutive EWSAPI modules. This is made possible due to an internal list of key-value tuples (See EWSAPI Module Interaction below).
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The server executes |
-record(mod,{data=[],
socket_type=ip_comm,
socket,
config_db,
method,
request_uri,
http_version,
request_line,
parsed_header=[],
entity_body}).
The fields of the mod record has the following meaning:
data
[{InteractionKey,InteractionValue}] is used to
propagate data between modules
(See EWSAPI
Module Interaction below). Depicted
interaction_data() in function type declarations.
socket_type
ip_comm | ssl, that is the socket type.
socket
ip_comm or ssl format
depending on the socket_type.
config_db
config_db() in function type
declarations.
method
"GET" | "POST" | "DELETE" | "PUT", that is the
HTTP method.
request_uri
Request-URI as defined in RFC 1945,
for example "/cgi-bin/find.pl?person=jocke"
request_line
Request-Line as defined in RFC 1945,
for example "GET /cgi-bin/find.pl?person=jocke HTTP/1.0".
parsed_header
[{HeaderKey,HeaderValue}], that is all HTTP header
fields stored in a list of key-value tuples. See RFC 1945
for a listing of all header fields, for example
{date,"Wed, 15 Oct 1997 14:35:17 GMT"}.
entity_body
Entity-Body as defined in RFC 1945,
for example data sent from a CGI-script using the POST method.
A do/1 function typically uses a restricted set of the
mod record's fields to do its stuff and then returns a
term depending on the outcome, that is {proceed,NewData} |
{break,NewData} | done which has the following meaning
(OldData refers to the data field in the incoming
mod record):
{proceed,OldData}
{proceed,[{response,{StatusCode,Response}}|OldData]}
Response) should be sent back
to the client including a status code (StatusCode) as
defined in RFC 1945.
{proceed,[{response,{already_sent,StatusCode,Size}}|OldData]}
socket provided by the mod
record (see above), including a valid status code (StatusCode)
as defined in RFC 1945 and the size (Size) of the
response in bytes.
{proceed,[{status,{StatusCode,PhraseArgs,Reason}}}|OldData]}
StatusCode)
as defined in RFC 1945, a term describing how the client
will be informed (PhraseArgs) and a reason
(Reason) to why it happened. Read more about
PhraseArgs in
httpd_util:message/3.
{break,NewData}
proceed above but with
one important exception; No more modules in the EWSAPI Module
Sequence are executed. Use with care!
done
socket
provided by the mod record, the client will typically get
a "Document contains no data...".
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Each consecutive module in the EWSAPI Module Sequence can choose to ignore data returned from the previous module either by trashing it or by "enhancing" it. |
Keep in mind that there exist numerous utility functions to help you as an EWSAPI module programmer, e.g. nifty lookup of data in ETS-tables/key-value lists and socket utilities. You are well advised to read httpd_util(3) and httpd_socket(3).
An EWSAPI module can define new config directives thus
making it configurable for a server end-user. This is done by
implementing load/2 (mandatory), store/2 and
remove/1.
The config file is scanned twice (load/2 and
store/2) and a cleanup is done (remove/1) during server
shutdown. The reason for this is: "A directive A can be dependent
upon another directive B which occur either before or
after directive A in the config file". If a directive
does not depend upon other directives; store/2 can be left
out. Even remove/1 can be left out if neither
load/2 nor store/2 open files or create ETS-tables
etc.
load/2 takes two arguments. The first being a row from
the config file, that is a config directive in string format
such as "Port 80". The second being a list of key-value
tuples (which can be empty!) defining a context. A context is
needed because there are directives which defines inner
contexts, that is directives within directives, such as
<Directory>.
load/2 is expected to return:
eof
ok
{ok,ContextList}
mod_auth:load/2).
{ok,ContextList,[{DirectiveKey,DirectiveValue}]}
{port,80}.
{ok,ContextList,[{DirectiveKey,DirectiveValue}]}
[{port,80},{foo,on}].
{error,Reason}
A naive example from mod_log.erl:
load([$T,$r,$a,$n,$s,$f,$e,$r,$L,$o,$g,$ |TransferLog],[]) ->
{ok,[],{transfer_log,httpd_conf:clean(TransferLog)}};
load([$E,$r,$r,$o,$r,$L,$o,$g,$ |ErrorLog],[]) ->
{ok,[],{error_log,httpd_conf:clean(ErrorLog)}}.
store/2 takes two arguments. The first being a tuple
describing a directive ({DirectiveKey,DirectiveValue}) and
the second argument a list of tuples describing all directives
([{DirectiveKey,DirectiveValue}]). This makes it possible
for directive A to be dependent upon the value of directive B.
store/2 is expected to return:
{ok,{DirectiveKey,NewDirectiveValue}}
load/2.
{ok,[{DirectiveKey,NewDirectiveValue}]}
load/2.
{error,Reason}
A naive example from mod_log.erl:
store({error_log,ErrorLog},ConfigList) ->
case create_log(ErrorLog,ConfigList) of
{ok,ErrorLogStream} ->
{ok,{error_log,ErrorLogStream}};
{error,Reason} ->
{error,Reason}
end.
remove/1 takes the ETS-table representation of the
config-file as input. It is up to you to cleanup anything you
opened or created in load/2 or
store/2. remove/1 is expected to return:
ok
{error,Reason}
A naive example from mod_log.erl:
remove(ConfigDB) ->
lists:foreach(fun([Stream]) -> file:close(Stream) end,
ets:match(ConfigDB,{transfer_log,'$1'})),
lists:foreach(fun([Stream]) -> file:close(Stream) end,
ets:match(ConfigDB,{error_log,'$1'})),
ok.
Keep in mind that there exists numerous utility functions to help you as an EWSAPI module programmer, e.g. nifty lookup of data in ETS-tables/key-value lists and configure utilities. You are well advised to read httpd_conf(3) and httpd_util(3).
Modules in the EWSAPI
Module Sequence uses the mod record's data
field to propagate responses and status messages, as seen
above. This data type can be used in a more versatile fashion. A
module can prepare data to be used by subsequent EWSAPI modules,
for example the mod_alias module
appends the tuple {real_name,string()} to inform
subsequent modules about the actual file system location for the
current URL.
Before altering the EWSAPI Modules Sequence you are well advised to observe what types of data each module uses and propagates. Read the "EWSAPI Interaction" section for each module.
An EWSAPI module can furthermore export functions to be used by other EWSAPI modules but also for other purposes, for example mod_alias:path/3 and mod_auth:add_user/5. These functions should be described in the module documentation.
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When designing an EWSAPI module try to make it self-contained, that is avoid being dependent on other modules both concerning exchange of interaction data and the use of exported functions. If you are dependent on other modules do state this clearly in the module documentation! |
You are well advised to read httpd_util(3) and httpd_conf(3).
If a Web browser connect itself to an SSL enabled server
using a URL not starting with https:// the
server will hang due to an ugly bug in the SSLeay package!
httpd_core(3), httpd_conf(3), httpd_socket(3), httpd_util(3), inets(6), mod_actions(3), mod_alias(3), mod_auth(3), mod_security(3), mod_cgi(3), mod_dir(3), mod_disk_log(3), mod_esi(3), mod_include(3), mod_log(3)