Mailing List Archive

Randy wrote:
> Any suggestions? (other than put it on a xxnix box)

The common wisdom says that Windows is easier to use. In a lot of
cases, this is true.

This is not one of those cases. Apache::ASP is a native of *ix systems,
and so it's far easier to install it there. You usually don't have to
set up Apache, mod_perl, or compilers on a Linux box...they're just
assumed to be there, already working, or at least easy to install. The
lack of this support environment is what you're running into on Windows.

Even if you have an absolute requirement to use Windows for the final
product, I would suggest getting started with Linux first. That will
give you necessary experience with Apache and Apache::ASP which will
help you to understand the Windows instructions.

You don't have to get dedicated hardware for this, or install Linux.
You can download all this, ready to go. First, get VMware Player, here:

http://www.vmware.com/download/player/download.html

Now we need a VM. Download VA-LAMP-vmware-*.zip from:

http://virtualappliances.net/download/vmware/

This VM is set up for basic Apache serving already. There are several
more steps required to add Apache::ASP support, but all are easy. It
might take 15 minutes, all told.

0. Install VMware Player. It wants to reboot the host machine, but it
isn't really necessary.

1. Extract the contents of the VM zip file to the place you want the VM
to live. You'll need 2.5 GB of disk space.

2. Open the VA-LAMP folder and double-click the VA-LAMP.vmx file you
find inside. This will start the VM in VMware Player.

3. After the VM boots -- it won't take long! -- you'll see it report the
IP address that your LAN's DHCP server assigned it. Write it down. For
the sake of the discussion below, we'll say it's 192.168.0.42

4. Put that IP address into a web browser to test that the VM is
working. You should see the VM's welcome page.

5. Say Start > Run and put \\192.168.0.42\wwwroot into the Open field
and hit Enter. This will connect to the directory holding the content
being served from the VM by Apache. Log in as admin/admin when
prompted. You should see index.html. Delete it, or move it off the VM.

6. Now we have to create the new Apache configuration file, and it's
easier to do it in Windows and transfer it over, rather than transcribe
it into the VM directly. You'll need a Unix-aware text editor for this.
If you don't have one, I can recommend Notepad++, which is free:

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/

Paste the text below into a new text file, adjusting the first two lines
as desired. If you're using Notepad++, say Format > Convert to UNIX
Format. Then save it out as \\192.168.0.42\wwwroot\asp.conf to write a
copy of the new configuration file to the VM's virtual hard disk.

-------------- 8< ---------- cut here --------- 8< -------------

ServerAdmin your@email.here.com
ServerName my-first-apache-asp-server
DocumentRoot /var/www/html

<Directory "/var/www/html">
Allow from all
AllowOverride None
DirectoryIndex index.asp
Options FollowSymLinks
Order allow,deny
</Directory>

<IfModule mod_perl.c>
PerlModule Apache::ASP

<Files ~ (\.asp)>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler Apache::ASP
PerlSetVar Global /var/www/html
PerlSetVar StateDir /tmp/asp
</Files>
</IfModule>

-------------- 8< ---------- cut here --------- 8< -------------

7. Click back into the VMware Player window, log in as root/root, and
give the following commands to set up Apache. First, we'll blow away
the default Apache config and put our new one in its place:

# cd /etc/apache2/sites-enabled
# rm *
# mv /var/www/html/asp.conf ../sites-available
# ln -s ../sites-available/asp.conf .

We've started with a minimal VM, so we don't have the C compilers and
such on the system yet. Let's go get 'em:

# apt-get update
# apt-get install build-essential

Now we need to set up CPAN:

# cpan

Answer the configuration questions, accepting all defaults.

Now we can install Apache::ASP and its prerequisites:

cpan> install Bundle::Apache::ASP
cpan> exit

Now, the clincher: we need to restart Apache, to load our new configuration:

# apache2ctl restart

This should run quickly and silently. It if complains, you did
something incorrect above.

9. Pop out of the VM (Ctrl-Alt), open your Unix-aware text editor again,
ensure it's in Unix line ending mode, and write this:

<% print "Hello, world!" %>

Save it out as \\192.168.0.42\wwwroot\index.asp and hit the refresh
button in your web browser. The page should change to say "Hello,
world!" If so, congratulations, Apache::ASP is working. Continue on
with the examples at http://apache-asp.org/eg/

If all of this is too much for you to deal with, best just use Windows'
own flavor of ASP.

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Redirecting this back to the list. Please don't respond to me
personally. I'm here to support Apache::ASP, not to support you in
particular. :)

Randy wrote:
> It now has Apache::ASP installed on it, but still won't run ASP scripts.

What do you get in the browser?

What do you get in Apache's error log?

What does your global.asa file contain, and where is it?

Can you post the relevant sections of your httpd.conf file, and say what
is in all of the directories it references?

Do all of these directories have appropriate permissions? Especially,
does the StateDir exist, and is it writeable by the httpd user?

> How do I call out a directory, and specify ASP scripts to run in it, in the
> httpd.conf file? (I think this may be the end of it).

There is an answer, but it's the wrong question. If you configure
Apache::ASP to run on the server as a whole and it doesn't work,
restricting it to a single directory won't make it work.

Once you get ASP working globally, we can talk about tightening it down
to a single directory. Let's not complicate things yet.

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Sorry for the personal reply. I'm not used to this list yet.

In the browser, I get the asp script.

In the error log, I get nothing. (It seems the server thinks it's cool to
just throw the script out there.)

I don't seem to have a global.asa file anywhere on the server. (Did a search
for it...came up empty.)

Directories:

<Directory "D:\Xxxxxxx\xxxxxx">
Options FollowSymlinks Includes
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

That directory is the "home" directory for my site. It contains index.php
and several other php scripts

<Directory "C:/IndigoPerl/apache/htdocs">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

That directory is what came pre-installed on IndigoPerl as the "home".
There's nothing there.

<Directory "C:/IndigoPerl/apache/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

<Directory "C:/IndigoPerl/php">
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

The previous two directories seem to be where Apache is supposed to look for
cgi's or php.exe.

<Directory "C:/IndigoPerl/apache/htdocs">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews ExecCGI +Includes
</Directory>

That one seems to tell Apache that in htdocs which options to use.

<Directory "C:/IndigoPerl/apache/htdocs">
<IfModule mod_perl.c>
# Files directive is only valid in Directory section
<Files ~ "\.(pl|cgi)$">
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler ModPerl::Registry
Options ExecCGI
allow from all
PerlSendHeader On
</Files>
</IfModule>
</Directory>

That one seems to tell Apache how to handle Perl scripts in the htdocs
directory.

As for permissions, all of the directories above seem to be configured
properly...at least as far as I understand Apache.

What is the StateDir? Never heard of it.

By "the httpd user" to whom do you refer?

Thanks.


-----Original Message-----
From: Warren Young [mailto:warren@etr-usa.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 8:44 PM
To: Apache-ASP List
Subject: Re: Apache::ASP Installation Issue

Redirecting this back to the list. Please don't respond to me
personally. I'm here to support Apache::ASP, not to support you in
particular. :)

Randy wrote:
> It now has Apache::ASP installed on it, but still won't run ASP scripts.

What do you get in the browser?

What do you get in Apache's error log?

What does your global.asa file contain, and where is it?

Can you post the relevant sections of your httpd.conf file, and say what
is in all of the directories it references?

Do all of these directories have appropriate permissions? Especially,
does the StateDir exist, and is it writeable by the httpd user?

> How do I call out a directory, and specify ASP scripts to run in it, in
the
> httpd.conf file? (I think this may be the end of it).

There is an answer, but it's the wrong question. If you configure
Apache::ASP to run on the server as a whole and it doesn't work,
restricting it to a single directory won't make it work.

Once you get ASP working globally, we can talk about tightening it down
to a single directory. Let's not complicate things yet.

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Randy wrote:
>
> In the browser, I get the asp script.

That means Apache::ASP isn't even being called for the page, which is an
Apache configuration problem, not a problem with Apache::ASP. (Problems
with Apache::ASP or the ASP pages themselves show up as complaints in
error_log.)

In all of what you posted about your httpd.conf contents, I don't see
that you've actually configured Apache to use Apache::ASP. This is from
the top of the configuration section of the manual:

PerlModule Apache::ASP
<Files ~ (\.asp)>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler Apache::ASP
PerlSetVar Global .
PerlSetVar StateDir /tmp/asp
</Files>

I posted something much like it in my initial reply to you. It applies
just as well on Windows as on Linux. Apache is Apache.

> I don't seem to have a global.asa file anywhere on the server.

I don't know that Apache::ASP fails to work without it, but you do want
it. Here's the default one:

http://apache-asp.org/eg/global.asa

Search for global.asa on apache-asp.org for more on what it does.

Also see the documentation for the Global configuration option to see
how to change where global.asa lives:

http://apache-asp.org/config.html#Global

In the snippet above, it appears it's telling Apache::ASP to look in the
same directory as your .asp files, which may not be a good thing if you
want the contents of your global.asa to be secret. You can use the
Global directive to put global.asa outside the document tree, so Apache
won't serve it. Alternately, you can configure Apache to never serve *.asa.

> <Directory "D:\Xxxxxxx\xxxxxx">

Are you sure this section actually works? From the Apache platform
notes for Windows:

> because Apache uses Unix-style names internally, you must use forward
> slashes, not backslashes

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/platform/windows.html

> What is the StateDir? Never heard of it.

It's in the manual: http://apache-asp.org/config.html#StateDir

> By "the httpd user" to whom do you refer?

The user that Apache runs under. It might not be your user account. If
you run it as a Windows service, by default, it runs as the SYSTEM user.

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Thanks a bunch! I'll get right on these configuration changes, and let you
know how they worked out.

I had a feeling (being so inexperienced with Apache configuration) that it
wasn't even set up. Somehow, being a long-time Windows user, I sort of
expected the installer to take care of basic configuration.

I will definitely look into what global.asa does and where to put it, as
well as how to secure it. Thanks!

<Directory "D:\Xxxxxxx\xxxxxx"> refers to the home directory of my website
(the names were changed to protect the innocent) and they do work.

I will also look into what State.Dir is.

Since this is a Windows box...yes, it's probably using the system user by
default.

Thanks again.

R

-----Original Message-----
From: Warren Young [mailto:warren@etr-usa.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 11:20 PM
To: Apache-ASP List
Subject: Re: Apache::ASP Installation Issue

Randy wrote:
>
> In the browser, I get the asp script.

That means Apache::ASP isn't even being called for the page, which is an
Apache configuration problem, not a problem with Apache::ASP. (Problems
with Apache::ASP or the ASP pages themselves show up as complaints in
error_log.)

In all of what you posted about your httpd.conf contents, I don't see
that you've actually configured Apache to use Apache::ASP. This is from
the top of the configuration section of the manual:

PerlModule Apache::ASP
<Files ~ (\.asp)>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler Apache::ASP
PerlSetVar Global .
PerlSetVar StateDir /tmp/asp
</Files>

I posted something much like it in my initial reply to you. It applies
just as well on Windows as on Linux. Apache is Apache.

> I don't seem to have a global.asa file anywhere on the server.

I don't know that Apache::ASP fails to work without it, but you do want
it. Here's the default one:

http://apache-asp.org/eg/global.asa

Search for global.asa on apache-asp.org for more on what it does.

Also see the documentation for the Global configuration option to see
how to change where global.asa lives:

http://apache-asp.org/config.html#Global

In the snippet above, it appears it's telling Apache::ASP to look in the
same directory as your .asp files, which may not be a good thing if you
want the contents of your global.asa to be secret. You can use the
Global directive to put global.asa outside the document tree, so Apache
won't serve it. Alternately, you can configure Apache to never serve *.asa.

> <Directory "D:\Xxxxxxx\xxxxxx">

Are you sure this section actually works? From the Apache platform
notes for Windows:

> because Apache uses Unix-style names internally, you must use forward
> slashes, not backslashes

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/platform/windows.html

> What is the StateDir? Never heard of it.

It's in the manual: http://apache-asp.org/config.html#StateDir

> By "the httpd user" to whom do you refer?

The user that Apache runs under. It might not be your user account. If
you run it as a Windows service, by default, it runs as the SYSTEM user.

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