Minimal AOLserver Configuration

the bare minimum

The following is the absolute minimum configuration needed to run AOLserver, it is meant to run chrooted and prepared to run several virtual hosts, each one named the same as its fully qualified domain name:

ns_section ns/parameters
ns_param home /
ns_param servername "Main AOLserver instance"
ns_param user  www-data
ns_param group www-data
ns_param serverlog /log/error.log
ns_param pidfile /log/pid

ns_section ns/servers
ns_param   localhost "local Website"
 
ns_section ns/server/localhost
ns_param   directoryfile   index.html
ns_param   pageroot        /localhost/www
 
ns_section ns/server/localhost/tcl
ns_param   library 	/localhost/tcl
 
ns_section ns/server/localhost/module/nssock
ns_param   port            8000
ns_param   hostname        localhost
ns_param   address         127.0.0.1
 
ns_section ns/server/localhost/module/nslog
ns_param   file            /localhost/log/access.log

ns_section ns/server/localhost/modules
ns_param   nssock             nssock.so
ns_param   nslog              nslog.so

If this is put into the file main.tcl AOLserver can be run with the following commandline:

aolserver-nsd -u www-data -g www-data -b localhost:8000 -r /var/www/main -t main.tcl 

real live example

Now comes the same stuff pepped up a little; it's the configuration I actually use for my testing and playground installation of AOLserver on my notebook.

Added are

• comments
• variables for illustration/clarity
• an option to run either chrooted or non-chrooted
• cgi-module configuration

I also use FHS compatibility for filenames and directories (FHS: directory naming convention invented by Linux distributors)

Configuration file

# Configuration Variables
set instance main
set description "Main Aolserver Instance"
 
set domain localhost
set domain_description "local Website"
set address 127.0.0.1
set port 8000

set debug false 
set chroot true

# empty home results in / as server home, which is
# what we want after chroot-ing
set home [expr {$chroot ? "" : "/var/lib/aolserver/$instance"}]
 
# AOLserver configuration starts here, no user servicable parts inside

ns_section ns/parameters
 
# The following is not required, debugging defaults to false
ns_param debug $debug
 
ns_param home ${home}/
ns_param servername $description
ns_param user  www-data
ns_param group www-data
ns_param serverlog $home/log/error.log
ns_param pidfile $home/log/pid
 
ns_section ns/servers
ns_param   $domain $domain_description

ns_section ns/server/$domain
ns_param   directoryfile   index.html
ns_param   pageroot        $home/$domain/www
 
ns_section ns/server/$domain/tcl
ns_param   library 	$home/$domain/tcl

ns_section ns/server/$domain/module/nssock
ns_param   port            $port
ns_param   hostname        $domain
ns_param   address         $address
 
ns_section ns/server/$domain/module/nslog
ns_param   file            $home/$domain/log/access.log
 
ns_section ns/server/$domain/module/nscgi
ns_param   map     "GET  /cgi-bin $home/cgi-bin"
ns_param   map     "POST /cgi-bin $home/cgi-bin"
ns_param   map     "GET /xx"
 
ns_section "ns/server/$domain/modules"
ns_param   nssock             nssock.so
ns_param   nslog              nslog.so
ns_param   nscgi              nscgi.so

Command line

You can run AOLserver chrooted with this configuration file (name it main.tcl) using the following commandline:

aolserver-nsd -u www-data -g www-data \
   -b localhost:8000 \
   -r /var/lib/aolserver4/main \
   -t main.tcl 

or not chrooted (set chroot false in main.tcl):

aolserver-nsd -u www-data -g www-data \
   -b localhost:8000 \
   -t main.tcl

if running under supervise or inetd add the "-f" switch to the commandline

Adding a virtual host

lets say we add www.local as an alias for the loopback interface (127.0.0.1) to experiment with virtual hosts. I will show how to do it with the bare minimum configuration

"Register" the new virtual host: ...

ns_section ns/servers
ns_param   localhost "local Website"
ns_param   www.local "A second Website" 

...

And add the following at the bottom of main.tcl ...

ns_section ns/server/www.local
ns_param   directoryfile   index.html
ns_param   pageroot        /www.local/www

ns_section ns/server/www.local/tcl
ns_param   library 	/www.local/tcl
 
ns_section ns/server/www.local/module/nssock
ns_param   port            8000
ns_param   hostname        www.local
ns_param   address         127.0.0.1

ns_section ns/server/www.local/module/nslog
ns_param   file            /www.local/log/access.log

Chroot requirements

Here is an excerpt of the files I needed to copy into the chroot to get the server running:

/var/lib/aolserver4/main/bin/nslog.so
/var/lib/aolserver4/main/bin/nssock.so
/var/lib/aolserver4/main/bin/init.tcl

... of course I copied the whole modules directory, not only the above ...

/var/lib/aolserver4/main/dev/null
/var/lib/aolserver4/main/etc/group

... the contents of the group file is:

www-data:x:33: 

...

/var/lib/aolserver4/main/etc/localtime
/var/lib/aolserver4/main/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
/var/lib/aolserver4/main/usr/lib/tcl8.4/encoding/*

... also, I copied the whole encoding directory of the tcl8.4 distribution, I guess, that only some of the files are really needed ...

/var/lib/aolserver4/main/proc
/var/lib/aolserver4/main/modules/tcl/init.tcl

see also: http://www.magma.com.ni/moin/AolserverMe, for my experiences while checking out these things.

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