Running Your Web-Enabled Application › HTTP Server - General Information

HTTP Server - General Information

The IBM HTTP Server controls interaction between the Web (Internet/Intranet/
Extranet) and the IBM i. The IBM HTTP Server is a process that listens for requests coming in from external clients, such as web browsers.

Make a request to the IBM i IBM HTTP Server by typing a URL into the address bar of a browser (which is connected to an IBM i across a network or across the Web) in the following format:

http://as400-name[:port-number][/path]

That is:

http://MYAS400
http://myas400:80/images/image1.gif
http://myas400:1025/Welcome.html

Several different instances of the HTTP Server can run at the same time. An instance describes each separate server when a single IBM i starts multiple Web servers.

When an HTTP server instance receives a request from a client, it returns a file to the client (such as an image file or a static HTML page) or it calls a program on the IBM i to do specific processing based on the request. The type of action taken by the HTTP server instance depends on its configuration.

HTTP server instance configuration is done using a configuration file that is read by the HTTP server instance when it is started (using the STRTCP (Start TCP/IP) or STRTCPSVR (Start TCP/IP Server) command). The configuration file consists of a number of server directives-specialized instructions that determine what type of requests the HTTP server instance should listen for, on which port it should listen, and how it should process them. You can define several different HTTP server instances, each using different configuration files to process different types of requests.

Note: You can also do these tasks using the IBM Web Administration for i5/OS interface. For information on how to do this, please refer to the appendix Web Administration for i5/OS Interface.