Important Information
About Mac OS Personal Web Sharing
Welcome to Mac OS Personal Web Sharing. This "read me" document introduces the software and contains late-breaking information about setting up and using your own Web server.
Mac OS Personal Web Sharing is the easiest way to share your information with everyone on your intranet, no matter what type of computer or browser they're using. All you do is put the items you want to share in the server folder and turn on the server.
To install Personal Web Sharing, double-click the WebScript icon in the Web Sharing folder. To set up your Web server, see the instructions in "Using Personal Web Sharing" in the Web Pages folder (which is created when the software is installed) at the root level of your hard disk.
The Web Pages folder also contains a file named "Default.html" which you can use as the home page for your server. You can modify this file or choose a different home page (see "Using Personal Web Sharing" for instructions).
Personal Web Sharing is compatible with Open Transport 1.1.1 (or a more recent version). MacTCP 2.0.6 is supported only with System 7.5.5, but we have noticed some inconsistencies with large volume connections.
Important: A continuous TCP/IP connection and a static IP address are strongly recommended for use of Personal Web Sharing. If your system does not have a persistent connection and a static IP address, any interruption in the network connection could negatively affect TCP/IP signals. In some circumstances, this could cause the system to appear to hang. To avoid this problem, always use a continuous TCP/IP connection and a static IP address.
Note: This problem could also occur with other server applications.
VM off: Web servers expose a bug in the Ethernet driver for PCI-based computers. To ensure that your server works correctly, either turn off virtual memory (VM) or install Mac OS System 7.6.
OT/PPP: There is a known problem using OT/PPP 1.0 with Personal Web Sharing. This software runs as a background application, which conflicts with the dialog box that PPP tries to display when reconnecting (if the connection has been broken). This can cause your system to crash. To work around this problem, turn off the automatic reconnect option in the PPP control panel.
Follow these steps to turn off the automatic reconnect option:
Location of server folder: To ensure that the correct content is served, the Web Pages folder (or other server folder) should be located no more than five levels below the root level of the hard disk.
Browsers look for "index.html" document: Visitors to your Web server may use a browser that automatically looks for a document named "default.html" or one named "index.html" as the point of entry (home page) to your server, regardless of the home page you select in the Web Sharing control panel. This occurs because some browsers "assume" that the home page will have one of the names noted above, and they only look for the home page name you specified after looking for either "default.html" or "index.html." You can avoid having visitors inadvertently see the wrong document by renaming any files named "default.html" and "index.html" (whether at root level or inside a nested folder on the server). If you change document names, be sure to revise any links to the renamed documents so they reflect the new name.
Personal NetFinder and an "index.html" document: In Personal NetFinder view (similar to list view in the Finder), if there is a document named "index.html," it will open in the visitor's browser. Therefore visitors will see that document as if it were a home page, and the list view of files at that level of the server will not be displayed. If you don't want visitors to see the list of files in a certain folder on your server, you can put an "index.html" document in that folder. By contrast, if you want visitors always to see a list of files at each level of the server's content, don't include any files named "index.html."
File Sharing and AppleShare: If you want to use access privileges for your server, you must use the File Sharing privileges, which you set in the Users & Groups control panel of your system software. Personal Web Sharing is incompatible with the Users & Groups component of the AppleShare Server Software; do not use AppleShare Server Software's privileges for your Web server. If you want to use the AppleShare Server Software and Personal Web Sharing, configure the Web server to give everyone read-only access in the Web Sharing control panel.
MacIP via LocalTalk: Some computers providing a server may experience slower performance overall during times of heavy activity on the Personal Web Sharing server over LocalTalk.
IP Addressing: Every Personal Web Sharing server will need a unique assigned IP address. Do not use nonstandard IP addressing with your server. Some IP addresses ("0.0.0.0" or "1.1.1.1," for example) are reserved for network hardware such as routers and gateways. If you are not sure how to assign an IP address to your server, contact your network administrator.
As with the Finder, Personal NetFinder will take a longer time to display its list of files if the server contains a large number of files. To optimize performance, limit the number of items in any one folder in your server content.
CGIs are applications, created by developers, that add functionality such as counters, image maps, and database access to your server. Personal Web Sharing supports CGIs that are compatible with MacHTTP 2.2 and WebStar 1.3.1. To obtain information about CGIs, contact your Internet Service Provider, a user group, or your network administrator.
Personal NetFinder displays header information in the language of the Finder (part of the system software) used by the server.
Thanks and enjoy!
- Personal Web Sharing team
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Updated 4/24/97