Customizing the WSI configuration file

The configuration file determines how incoming requests should be routed to the VA Smalltalk application for processing.

The default configuration file shipped with Web Connection (abtwsi.cnf) works for most users. If you have any special requirements, for example you need to use a port other than 8081, you need to change the configuration file for your system.To specify configuration information for the Web Server Interface, you need to create a configuration file in the same directory with the WSI common file (abtwsc.dll). The configuration file determines how incoming requests should be routed to the VA Smalltalk application for processing.

Note:

To run the WebSphere samples, you must use the default port 8081.

To create a WSI configuration file, you might want to start with the sample configuration file included in your VA Smalltalk directory. Copy abtwsi.cnf to the directory containing the WSI files. You must then edit the file to customize it for your environment. You can edit the WSI configuration file using an ASCII text editor.

The WSI configuration file should contain a series of entries, each on a separate line and consisting of a keyword followed by keyword-specific parameters. Each keyword performs a different configuration function. Valid keywords for the configuration file are:

•

transport

•

link

•

verbose

•

log

•

codepage

•

errorfile

You can also include comments in the configuration file by placing a # character in the first column. Any line beginning with # is ignored.

transport entry

A transport entry defines a specific network route to a machine running VA Smalltalk. Generally, this consists of a communication protocol (using one of the transport modules supplied with Web Connection) and protocol-specific addressing information.

Your configuration file must contain at least one transport entry, even if your VA Smalltalk application and your Web server are running on the same machine. If you need to route requests to multiple different VA Smalltalk images, you must configure a separate transport entry for each image.

The format of a transport entry is as follows:

transport <transportName> <transportLibrary> <transportInfo>

For example:

# This entry uses TCP/IP to connect to port 8081 on the same machine

transport TCP abtwstt.dll - 8081

#

# This entry uses TCP/IP to connect to port 8088 on www.ibm.com

transport MyTCP abtwstt.dll www.ibm.com 8088

 

transportName

An arbitrary label used to identify the transport configured by this entry. You will use this label to refer to this transport in the link entries.

transportLibrary

The name of the WSI transport module for the communication protocol you want to use. Currently, this must be one of the following:

•	abtwstt.dll (TCP/IP for Windows)

•	abtwstt.so (TCP/IP for AIX, Solaris, Linux)

transportInfo

Protocol-specific information defining the specific location of the VA Smalltalk image.

For TCP/IP, this information consists of the hostname and port to connect to, separated by a space (for example, www.ibm.com 8081). If the VA Smalltalk image and the Web server are on the same machine, you can specify a hyphen (-) in place of the hostname.

link entry

A link entry defines the VA Smalltalk part corresponding to a URL path. This line controls which specific page will respond to incoming requests. Your configuration file must contain at least one link entry.

The format of a link entry is as follows:

link <pathInfo> <transportName>

For example:

# The following entry routes all requests to the same location as

# defined by the transport entry TCP.

#

link * TCP

#

#

# The following entry routes all requests whose PATH_INFO begins

# with /MyCGI to the location defined by the transport entry MyTCP.

#

link /MyCGI* MyTCP

#

#

# The following entry routes all requests whose PATH_INFO begins

# with /MyCGI/test/ to the location defined by the transport entry

# testTCP.

#

link /MyCGI/test/* testTCP

 

pathInfo

The PATH_INFO value that applies to this entry.

PATH_INFO is an environment set according to the URL specified in the incoming request. PATH_INFO contains the information that comes after the name of the CGI program or API adapter module. For a Web Connection part, this is the same as the name of the part being accessed, with a leading / character.

By specifying different PATH_INFO values on different link entries, you can specify that different part names should be accessed in different locations. This means that you can use a single Web server to route incoming requests to multiple VA Smalltalk applications running in different locations.

You can use a trailing asterisk as a wildcard character representing the last part of the PATH_INFO value. If you want to handle all requests in the same way, you need only one link entry with an asterisk (*) in the pathInfo field.

Note:

If the PATH_INFO value of an incoming request matches more than one link statement in the configuration file, Web Connection uses only the last matching entry.

transportName

The name of the transport to use for requests matching this entry. transportName must be the name of a transport defined earlier in the configuration file by a transport entry. To have different requests routed to different locations, you would specify multiple link entries, each using a different transport.

verbose entry

A verbose entry configures the amount of information included in error pages returned to browsers. This option is ignored if you use the Servlet interface. The format of a verbose entry is as follows:

verbose <on|off>

If you specify verbose off, the error messages returned from WSI will not reveal any information about your WSI configuration, which can be important if you are concerned about security.

If you specify verbose on, the error messages will include detailed information about your Web server setup, including:

•	Version information about your abtwsac.exe executable

•	Version information about your Web server software

•	The TCP/IP host name of your Web server

•	Path and file name information about your Web Server Interface setup

•	All available environment variables and their values

This information can be helpful during debugging, but it is generally not of interest to users at run time.

If your configuration file does not contain a verbose entry, the default value is verbose off.

log entry

A log entry is used to configure the logging of error and debugging information during the running of the WSI application. The format a log entry is:

log <on|off|debug> filename]

The default is log on. If you specify log off no additional error information is logged. The setting of log debug should only be used when directed by IBM service.

The optional filename string will override the default log file name and only applies to CGI and ISAPI programs.

errorfile entry

This optional entry allows you to override the default name of the error format file. The format of the errorfile entry is:

errorFile <filename>

codepage entry

This optional entry allows you to override the default code page, 819. The format of a code page entry is:

codepage <codepageName>

Code page 819 is used by most Internet applications. Changing this value allows your VA Smalltalk application to translate your client data correctly if your users are using a code page other than 819.