Installing a new virtual web with FP2000 extensions
This article tells you how to install a new virtual web and allow a user to update
that web. It assumes the web site will contain the FrontPage 2000 Extensions.
You
may also wish to see the instructions for FrontPage 98.
See also other FrontPage articles especially FrontPage 2000 – installing the extensions.
For this example, we are creating a new virtual web called test.freebsddiary.org.
Create the DNS entries
If you are running a webserver, you’re probably also running a DNS server. For
my example, I’m creating a website which I can use for testing. So I’ll call it
test.freebsddiary.org. I modified the zone file and added the following entry:
test IN A 192.168.0.69
You’ll notice that the above IP number is not accessible from the internet. It is
a private non-routable address. It’s here on my LAN.
Then I hup’d named, and checked the error logs, just in case.
Create the virtual web
You should have a look at Apache – virtual hosts for
more information on virtual hosts. I added the following to
<VirtualHost 192.168.0.69>
ServerAdmin webmaster@freebsddiary.org
DocumentRoot /www/test
ServerName test.unixathome.org
ErrorLog /www/logs/test-error.log
CustomLog /www/logs/test-access_log common
</VirtualHost>
Note that the IP address listed above matches the IP address assigned to
test.unixathome.org.
Remember to create the directory /www/test.
Then I restarted apache via:
/usr/local/sbin/apachectl restart
Add a new user
Here is how I added a new user (i.e. logon) to the FreeBSD system. We are
adding susan to the system and give her a home directory of /home/susan.
However, we are not going to allow this user to actually logon to FreeBSD.
They will only access the website through FrontPage 98. This is the reason why we
don’t give her a shell.
# adduser
Use option ``-silent'' if you don't want to see all warnings and
questions.
Check /etc/shells
Check /etc/master.passwd
Check /etc/group
Enter your default shell: bash csh date no nologin sh : bash
Your default shell is: bash -> /usr/local/bin/bash
Enter your default HOME partition: [/home]:
Copy dotfiles from: /usr/share/skel no [/usr/share/skel]:
Send message from file: /etc/adduser.message no
[/etc/adduser.message]:
Use passwords (y/n) [y]:
Ok, let's go.
Don't worry about mistakes. I will give you the chance later to
correct any input.
Enter username [a-z0-9_-]: susan
Enter full name []: Susan Crinion
Enter shell bash csh date no nologin sh :
Enter home directory (full path) [/home/susan]:
Uid [1009]:
Enter login class: default []:
Login group susan [susan]:
Login group is ``susan''. Invite susan into other groups: guest no
[no]:
Enter password []:
Enter password again []:
Name: susan
Password: ****
Fullname: Susan Crinion
Uid: 1009
Gid: 1009 (susan)
Class:
Groups: susan
HOME: /home/susan
Shell: /usr/local/bin/bash
OK? (y/n) [y]:
Added user ``susan''
Send message to ``susan'' and: no root second_mail_address
[no]:
Susan Crinion,
your account ``susan'' was created.
Have fun!
See also chpass(1), finger(1), passwd(1)
Add anything to default message (y/n) [n]:
Send message (y/n) [y]: n
Copy files from /usr/share/skel to /home/susan
Add another user? (y/n) [y]: n
Goodbye!
The next step is to create the directories for the web. In this case, Susan will
have a home directory of /home/susan. In her home directory, she will
have a link to the actual website at /www/test.freebsddiary.org. This
link is named public_html.
# mkdir /www/test.freebsddiary.org # ln -s /www/test.freebsddiary.org/ /home/susan/public_html
A common directory for all websites
It is a good idea to put all of the physical files for a webserver under a common
directory. I have chosen /www. This makes it easy to set the
permissions for that file tree. And it makes backups easier too.
Here’s what I put
in my /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf file to set the permissions on this
tree:
<directory "/www">
<Directory "/www">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks ExecCGI
<IfDefine FRONTPAGE>
AllowOverride AuthConfig Limit Indexes Options
</IfDefine>
<IfDefine !FRONTPAGE>
AllowOverride None
</IfDefine>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
Install FrontPage Extensions for this virtual website – interactive
In this example, we are adding FP2000 to the virtual website
[root@fred:/usr/local/frontpage/version4.0/bin] # ./fpsrvadm.exe
Type "fpsrvadm -h" for help on command line options
Please enter command:
0) quit
1) install
2) upgrade
3) uninstall
4) check and fix
5) enable authoring
6) disable authoring
7) change security settings
8) recalculate links
9) delete
10) rename
11) set directory executable
12) set directory no executable
13) putfile
14) recalcfile
15) create a subweb
16) merge a subweb into its parent web
17) full uninstall of all FrontPage information
18) chown
Your choice [1]:
Please enter server type:
0) apache
1) apache-fp
2) ncsa
3) netscape-enterprise
4) netscape-fasttrack
5) stronghold
Your choice [0]: 1
Enter server config filename: /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf
Enter host name for multi-hosting []: test.freebsddiary.org
Starting install, port: test.freebsddiary.org:80, web: "root web"
Enter UNIX username []: susan
Enter UNIX group []: susan
User name to add to FrontPage group "administrators"
[administrator]: testwebsite
Password for user "testwebsite":
Confirm password:
Creating web http://test.freebsddiary.org
Chowning Content in service root web
Install completed.
If you don’t supply the correct host name, you’ll get this error
When installing the FP Extensions, be sure to supply the same value for the host name
as is specified in the config file. For example, if I misspell the host name:
Enter server config filename: /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf
Enter host name for multi-hosting []: test.freebsddiary.ort
'test.freebsddiary.ort' server is not a valid virtual server.
I have encountered interesting problems when using include files with httpd.conf.
I was putting my virtual host definitions in a separate file and including them
like this:
include /usr/local/etc/apache/vhosts/vhosts.conf
My temporary solution was to not use an include file. Effective, but inelegant.
Doing it the wrong way
My thanks to Chuck Handshy for pointing out
that I was using -p for both the port and the password in previous versions of this
article. The following is wrong.
Do not use this example. It
is wrong.
# cd /usr/local/frontpage/version4.0/bin
# ./fpsrvadm.exe -o install -t apache-fp \
-s /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf \
-p 80 -m test.freebsddiary.org \
-u testwebsite -p password \
-xu susan -wg susan
Starting install, port: password, web: "root web"
Password for user "testwebsite":
Confirm password:
Creating web http://test.freebsddiary.org
Chowning Content in service root web
As you can see, it’s installing to port "password". Ooops. I
specified -p for the port and for the password. Thanks Chuck.
Install FrontPage Extensions for this virtual website – command line
You can also install FP Extensions from the command line. Here’s how I did it.
I explain the parameters in the next section.
# cd /usr/local/frontpage/version4.0/bin
# ./fpsrvadm.exe -o install -t apache-fp \
-s /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf \
-port 80 -m testing.mysecretdomain.org \
-u testuser1 -xu dan -wg dan
Starting install, port: 80, web: "root web"
Password for user "testuser1":
Confirm password:
Creating web http://testing.mysecretdomain.org
Chowning Content in service root web
Install completed.
Note that by omitting the password on the command line, you are prompted to enter the
password. I think this is a good security feature of fpsrvadm.exe. In
general, you should not type passwords on the command line as anyone can view the command
by using the ps command.
I found I had to shutdown apache. A simple restart was not enough to get
publishing to work.
Different users
It is important to note that there are two different types of users specfied in the
process of adding FP extentions. In the above example, we have a user Susan, who has
a login of susan. She can connect to the webserver via telnet using this login.
[Actually, she can’t telnet. She has to use ssh, but that’s another story.]
The user names don’t have to be the same.
They don’t have to be different. If you are paranoid, you might make them
different. But it’ll be easier for your users, I think, if the names are the same.
But I’d suggest they keep different the passwords different in either case.
Authors vs administrators
Note: in the above example, I added an administrator. For most people this
should be fine. The administrator can do just about anything with the website.
But you may want to consider adding people as author, not administrator. I’m
not sure of the implications, but if there’s only one person on the website, I prefer
making them administrator, and leaving it at that. With multiple people, perhaps one
adminstrator and many authors is a better approach.
Access
After preforming this install, you should have a look at the root directory of your
virtual web. In my example, the following file should be of interest
# more .htaccess # more .htaccess # -FrontPage- IndexIgnore .htaccess */.??* *~ *# */HEADER* */README* */_vti* <Limit GET POST> order deny,allow deny from all allow from all </Limit> <Limit PUT DELETE> order deny,allow deny from all </Limit> AuthName test.freebsddiary.org AuthUserFile /www/test.freebsddiary.org/_vti_pvt/service.pwd AuthGroupFile /www/test.freebsddiary.org/_vti_pvt/service.grp
If you look at the files listed on the last two lines, you’ll see some interesting
stuff:
# more /www/test.freebsddiary.org/_vti_pvt/service.grp # -FrontPage- administrators: testwebsite authors:
That’s the login id we specifed when adding the FrontPage extensions. We can see
that it is an adminstrator of the website. This means they can do anything. We
can also use the fpsrvadm commad to add additional adminstrators, authors, etc.
See http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/frontpage/wpp/serk98/admin.htm
for more information.
# more /www/test.freebsddiary.org/_vti_pvt/service.pwd # -FrontPage- testwebsite:1pWXvqbWr4rx9
This file contains the encrypted passwords for this user.
Other notes
Brian Cook wrote in to say that he installed the apache13-mod_ssl port, then installed
mod_php4, and finally just untared the fp40.freebsd.tar.Z and followed the directions on
the Microsoft FP Homepage. The other thing that he needed to do (after following the
directions on above for fp_admin.exe) was to edit the /usr/local/frontpage/version4.0/frontpage.cnf
and add FollowSymLinks:1.
He found that solution after he encountered an
error when trying to install a FP web. The error said something about FollowSymlinks
not being in the right group. After checking the Apache configuration items and
finding the symlinks directive in the all the right places, he dumped the full error
message into Google. Approximately ten minutes
of reading and looking, he found the fix.
Publish
You should now be able to publish to this website using Front Page. If you
can’t, I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong. But if you find that I’ve missed
something out, please leave your comments.
Did it work?
Please, I’d like to know whether or not this worked for you. Please add your comments and let us all know. Thanks!
Im new on freeBSD.I just installed 4.5 & i dont know how to set up BIND for having DNS.could someone help me guide how to step by step? thanks
Start by asking in the Support Forum (click on FORUMS, top right).