MGI Server Admin - Domain Management

MGI domain management allows you to manage domains including virtual host configurations, enable or disable MGI modules on a doman basis, manage regions of domains including custom error pages, file uploading, module preferences, and security.

Domain Management

In MGI, a domain is defined as one web site. One web site folder (or alias) at the root of WebSTAR or one web site created in IIS.

In the domain management window, a Default Domain appears at the top of the list. The default domain is activated for any web site that is not specifically configured in Domain Management. All web sites that fall under the default domain have shared access to databases and other settings. If you are running a shared hosting environment, we recommend that you disable all modules in the Default Domain (see the Domain Preferences below). This will disallow unauthorized use of MGI on your server and prevent unintended shared databases and other access.

Add a new domain for each web site on your server. To add a new domain, enter a label for the web site (e.g., domain.com) under "Create new domain" and click the "Create..." button. The domain will appear in the domain list.

Domain Preferences

Domain preferences allow you to enter virtual host names for the specified domain and enable or disable MGI modules for the specified domain.

In the virtual host name box, enter the name of all virtual domains that point to the web site (one per line) and click the "Save" button. For example, for many domains the virtual hosts "domain.com" and "www.domain.com" should be entered. Note: Virtual host field mapping must also be set up in the settings of the web server and cannot be specified in MGI alone. Click the "Return" button to return to the Domain Management window or continue configuring the domain preferences.

At the bottom of the Domain Preferences window, the modules available for the web site are listed. The module list does not reflect modules that are disabled at the server level (under Module Management in the MGI Server Admin). By default the web site has access to all modules. To disable the web site's access to a module, click the "Disable" button beside the module. When disabled the module name displays in plain text with a line through the name. To enabled a module, click the "Enable" button beside the module. When enabled the module name displays in bold text. Changes to modules in the Domain Preferences affects only the specified domain and its regions, but does not affect the server module settings or module settings for other domains.

Region Management

Region Management in the Server Admin interface is the same as the region management in the Domain Admin interface. Domain Admin access might be given to those individuals responsible for a domain who do not have server privileges.

In MGI, a region is defined as a subsection of one web site (i.e., a subfolder of the web site). Regions specified in the Region Management list restrict file paths within the region to the root of the region (i.e., a file path cannot walk "up and out" of a defined region) and restrict database access and other settings to the region. Regions can be created to separate access and settings between sub-folders of a web site. For example, if you need to separate database access for different divisions of a company that are sub-folders of a web site, you could create a region for each division. For the majority of web sites, shared access within a domain is preferred and allowed, therefore the default region (/ - the root level) is used.

To add a region, enter the region (sub-folder) path under "Create new region" and click the "Create..." button. The region path is based on your virtual host mapping. A region is any sub-folder under the mapping level of the domain for the region. For example, if your virtual host "domain.com" maps to the folder "/domain/" and you want to create a region for "/domain/store/", then you would enter "store" as the region path. However, if you have the domain "store.domain.com" mapped to the folder "/domain/store/", then the "store" folder is actually the root level ("/") of that domain.

NOTE: If you are using a virtual host application that modifies the URL rather than maintaining separate virtual roots (such as Welcome in normal mode or HomeDoor on a Macintosh), you must prepend the region name with the host folder path. For example, the Welcome admin requires a "host folder" for each virtual host. If the host folder for a domain is "/websites/company/" then the "store" region name should be entered as "/websites/company/store/". If you are running a "true" virtual hosting system (such as WebSTAR Virtual Host or Welcome in router mode on a Macintosh or an NT IIS virtual hosting system), there is no need to prepend information to the region name since the URL is not modified. For example, the "store" region should simply be entered as "/store/".

Region Preferences

Region preferences in the Server Admin interface are the same as the region preferences in the Domain Admin interface. Domain Admin access might be given to those individuals responsible for a domain who do not have server privileges.

Region preferences allow you to specify the language, the handling of errors, file uploads, the availability of tags in each MGI module, and the global region settings for specific MGI tags.

Unprocessed MGI Tags

If an MGI tag is mis-named or not available to the specified domain, MGI can pass the tag through or remove the tag from the page before it is served. To allow the tag to be passed through, click the checkbox beside "Do Not Remove Unprocessed MGI Tags" and click the "Save" button. To have the tag removed, unclick the checkbox beside "Do Not Remove Unprocessed MGI Tags" and click the "Save" button.

Embedded Error Checking

By default MGI does not check for errors in MGI tags that are embedded in HTML. To have MGI check and report errors in embedded tags, check the box beside the "Report Errors in Embedded MGI Tags". Warning: MGI may find embedding errors in scripts such as Javascript which are not actually errors and are acceptable coding. To remedy this problem, add spaces to the script near embedded tags (after open brackets "<") or turn this option off.

Error Pages

When MGI encounters an error, an error page is displayed. The default MGI error page is named "Wow! I bet you didn't expect to see this..." followed by the specific error and suggestions for remedy of the error. If there is a mistake in MGI code, the error page will highlight the code being processed in red to facilitate de-bugging. Custom error pages have the option of displaying any or all parts of an error using the mgiGetErrorParameter tag. To use the default MGI error page for the region, click the radio button beside "Use Default MGI Error Page" and click the "Save" button. To use a custom error page in the region, click the radio button beside "Use...", enter the path to the custom error page (relative to the root of the region), and click the "Save" button.

Default Index Pages

In WebSTAR (Mac) only, you have the option of using the default index pages defined in the web server admin or using the default index pages defined for the region of the specified web site. By default, the region is set to use the "Web Server-Defined Default Pages". To use the default index pages listed for the region, select the radio button beside "Use". Enter each default index page on one line with a return. For example, you may want the "index.html", "index.htm", and "index.mgi" pages to be served by default when a specific index page is not entered. Default pages are checked and served in the order entered.

HTTP File Uploads

MGI supports file uploads from HTML file input elements. In the Region Preferences, you may set a maximum file size for uploaded files, a specific folder for uploaded files, a validation for file names and allow or deny IP addresses (including wildcards).

To set a maximum file size, enter the maximum file size in kilobytes under "Max file size:" and click the "Save" button.

To specify a folder for uploaded files, enter the path to the folder (relative to the root of the region) under "Extra path information:" and click the "Save" button.

To validate the file name before files are uploaded, enter one or more regular expression patterns under "Regular expression pattern list" and click the "Save" button. See the regular expression symbol list for more information.

For security resons you are required to list at least one IP address for file uploads, although you can use wildcard values. To allow an IP address, enter an "A" followed by a colon and the IP address (e.g., "a:205.160.14.88"). To deny an IP address, enter a "D" followed by a colon and the IP address (e.g., "d:205.160.14.99"). You may use an asterisk (*) for a wildcard value in any position of the IP address. For example, to allow all IP numbers from the 272 Class C block, you would enter "a:272.*.*.*" as a filter. For multiple filters, enter one filter per line. When a file upload request is received, the most restrictive match for the IP address will be processed and if two filters match, a deny filter will override an accept filter. For example, if you wish to allow all IPs from the 205.160.14 address except the IP address "205.160.14.233", then you would enter an allow and deny statement in the IP filter list ("a:205.160.14.*" and "d:205.160.14.233"). To allow all IP addresses, use wildcard values for all positions (i.e., "a:*.*.*.*").

Region Module Preferences

At the bottom of the Region Preferences window the modules available for the selected region are listed. A module disabled in the Domain Management window will not be listed in the Region Preferences window. By default the region has access to all modules. To disable the region's access to a module, click the "Disable" button beside the module. When disabled the module name displays in plain text with a line through the name. To enabled a module, click the "Enable" button beside the module. When enabled the module name displays in bold text. Module management at the region level affects only the specified region and does not affect the server module settings, the domain module settings or module settings for other regions.

To configure the module preferences, click the "Edit..." button beside the module name. Under the Module Preferences window, the MGI tags in each module are listed. By default the region has access to all tags in each module. To disable access to a specific MGI tag within a module, uncheck the box beside the tag name and click the "Save" button. To enabled an MGI tag within a module, check the box beside the tag name and click the "Save" button or click the "Revert" button to return all settings to default.

Additional settings for specific MGI functions such as database search result limits, date and time GMT offsets, and mail server settings may also be entered in the module preferences. If you change the module preferences, click the "Save" button to save the settings. Preference changes take effect immediately.


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