This section contains notes and hints specific to Sun Java System Web Server, Sun ONE Web Server, iPlanet and Netscape server installs of PHP on Windows.
From PHP 4.3.3 on you can use PHP scripts with the NSAPI module to generate custom directory listings and error pages. Additional functions for Apache compatibility are also available. For support in current web servers read the note about subrequests.
To install PHP as a CGI handler, do the following:
Make a file association from the command line. Type the following two lines:
assoc .php=PHPScript ftype PHPScript=c:\php\php.exe %1 %*
More details about setting up PHP as a CGI executable can be found here: » http://benoit.noss.free.fr/php/install-php.html
To install PHP with NSAPI, do the following:
Make a file association from the command line. Type the following two lines:
assoc .php=PHPScript ftype PHPScript=c:\php\php.exe %1 %*
Edit magnus.conf (for servers >= 6) or obj.conf (for servers < 6) and add the following: You should place the lines after mime types init.
Init fn="load-modules" funcs="php4_init,php4_execute,php4_auth_trans" shlib="c:/php/sapi/php4nsapi.dll" Init fn="php4_init" LateInit="yes" errorString="Failed to initialise PHP!" [php_ini="c:/path/to/php.ini"]
Configure the default object in obj.conf (for virtual server classes [Sun Web Server 6.0+] in their vserver.obj.conf): In the <Object name="default"> section, place this line necessarily after all 'ObjectType' and before all 'AddLog' lines:
Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php" [inikey=value inikey=value ...]
This is only needed if you want to configure a directory that only consists of PHP scripts (same like a cgi-bin directory):
<Object name="x-httpd-php"> ObjectType fn="force-type" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php" Service fn=php4_execute [inikey=value inikey=value ...] </Object>
Note: More details about setting up PHP as an NSAPI filter can be found here: » http://benoit.noss.free.fr/php/install-php4.html
Note: The stacksize that PHP uses depends on the configuration of the web server. If you get crashes with very large PHP scripts, it is recommended to raise it with the Admin Server (in the section "MAGNUS EDITOR").
Important when writing PHP scripts is the fact that Sun JSWS/Sun ONE WS/iPlanet/Netscape is a multithreaded web server. Because of that all requests are running in the same process space (the space of the web server itself) and this space has only one environment. If you want to get CGI variables like PATH_INFO, HTTP_HOST etc. it is not the correct way to try this in the old PHP way with getenv() or a similar way (register globals to environment, $_ENV). You would only get the environment of the running web server without any valid CGI variables!
Note: Why are there (invalid) CGI variables in the environment?
Answer: This is because you started the web server process from the admin server which runs the startup script of the web server, you wanted to start, as a CGI script (a CGI script inside of the admin server!). This is why the environment of the started web server has some CGI environment variables in it. You can test this by starting the web server not from the administration server. Use the command line as root user and start it manually - you will see there are no CGI-like environment variables.
Simply change your scripts to get CGI variables in the correct way for PHP 4.x by using the superglobal $_SERVER. If you have older scripts which use $HTTP_HOST, etc., you should turn on register_globals in php.ini and change the variable order too (important: remove "E" from it, because you do not need the environment here):
variables_order = "GPCS" register_globals = On
You can use PHP to generate the error pages for "404 Not Found" or similar. Add the following line to the object in obj.conf for every error page you want to overwrite:
Error fn="php4_execute" code=XXX script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]
Another possibility is to generate self-made directory listings. Just create a PHP script which displays a directory listing and replace the corresponding default Service line for type="magnus-internal/directory" in obj.conf with the following:
Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/directory" script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]
The NSAPI module now supports the nsapi_virtual() function (alias: virtual()) to make subrequests on the web server and insert the result in the web page. The problem is, that this function uses some undocumented features from the NSAPI library.
Under Unix this is not a problem, because the module automatically looks for the needed functions and uses them if available. If not, nsapi_virtual() is disabled.
Under Windows limitations in the DLL handling need the use of a automatic detection of the most recent ns-httpdXX.dll file. This is tested for servers till version 6.1. If a newer version of the Sun server is used, the detection fails and nsapi_virtual() is disabled.
If this is the case, try the following: Add the following parameter to php4_init in magnus.conf/obj.conf:
Init fn=php4_init ... server_lib="ns-httpdXX.dll"
You can check the status by using the phpinfo() function.
Note: But be warned: Support for nsapi_virtual() is EXPERIMENTAL!!!