IBM AS/400E Chapter 9. Using Server-Side Includes

Chapter 9. Using Server-Side Includes

This chapter discusses using server-side includes with IBM HTTP Server for

AS/400.

Server-side includes allow you to insert information into CGI programs and HTML

documents that the server sends to the client. This chapter describes the commands

that are required to make server-side includes work in your CGI programs and

HTML documents.

Before using server-side includes on your server, there area few issues you should

consider. One issue is performance. Performance can be significantly impacted

when the server is processing files while sending them. Another issue is security.

Allowing users to run commands can be a security risk. Care should be taken

when deciding which directives you use server-side includes in and in which

directories you use the exec command. You can minimize the security risk if you

do not enable the exec command.

You should also note that you cannot refer to files recursively. For example, if you

are running file sleepy.htmland the program finds

<--!#include file="sleepy.html"--> the server does not detect the error and the

server loops until it abends. However, you can refer to files within files. For

example, file sleepy.html refers to files smiley.html references dopey.html.

To use server-side includes, you must add theAddType directive to your

configuration file. Two examples follow:

Examples:

AddType .shtml text/x-ssi-html 8 bit 1.0

AddType .htmls text/x-ssi-html 8 bit 1.0

Note: If you use file extensions other than .shtml or .htmls, you should check the

AddType directive to see if that extension already exists. See the

configuration file, appendix listing, or the MIME form for a list of existing

AddType directives.

You can also use the imbeds directive to specify whether server-side includes are

used in HTML documents, CGI programs, or both. Examples of this directive

follow:

Examples:

imbeds value

imbeds on

Default: imbeds off

The server does not process your error files for imbeds, regardless of the file

extensions or use of the imbeds directive.