With the frequency that Web servers are hitting the market, it is hard to keep up with which ones are available and what features they provide. This appendix list many of the Web Servers that are available today. We have tested many of these servers and
present reviews with a short list of our likes and dislikes. A great online source of information on Web servers is Web Servers Comparison at http://www.proper.com/www/servers-chart.html maintained
by Paul E. Hoffman.
This freeware Web server runs under Microsoft 3.1 or Windows NT. The server was written in C++ by Gustavo Estrella, and the source code is available as part of the software distribution.
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps
This server was developed by Gunter Hille at the University of Hamburg. The product is in its early development (v 0.16) yet offers an easy installation.
ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/pub/net/winsock
This is Bob Denny's freeware Windows HTTP server. The operation and configuration of this server are documented with many HTML files. If you must run on Windows 3.x, you've got to check this server out. It is a very capable Web server, especially
considering the price.
http://www.city.net/win-httpd
Web server for DOS and Microsoft Windows 3.1.
ftp://ftp.bws.com/pub/evaluation/nfs_dos_windows/
Written by Bob Bradley, this does double duty as a Web and Gopher server for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. It is easy to install.
http://unix1.utm.edu/~bbradley/zbs/zbsgetit.htm
Process Software Corporation, through an agreement with EMWAC, has enhanced the EMWACS Web server and turned it into a commercial product. Windows NT and Windows 95 versions are available. This was the first commercial Web server for Windows NT.
http://www.process.com/prodinfo/purvdata.htm
An excellent WWW server written by Chris Adie of EMWAC. You can't beat the price—it's free!
http://emwac.ed.ac.uk/html/internet_toolchest/https/contents.htm
An HTTP server for Windows 95 and Windows NT written by Bob Denny in cooperation with O'Reilly & Associates.
http://gnn.com/gnn/bus/ora/news/c.website.html
This is an HTTP server for Windows 95 and Windows NT from Computer Software Manufacturer in Austria.
http://www.csm.co.at/csm/alibaba.htm
SAIC has not yet announced plans to market or sell this HTTP server. The software was originally developed for internal use by Don De Coteau out of SAIC's San Diego, CA Information Technology Laboratory. It runs on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
http://wwwserver.itl.saic.com/
Netscape Communications Corporation, the makers of the most popular Web browser, offer a standard Web server for Windows NT and a commerce version that supports SSL for encrypted secure operation.
http://www.netscape.com/comprod/netscape_commun.html
The NetPublisher Server provides the functionality of a Z39.50 server, a World Wide Web server, and a Gopher server all in one. The extended architecture has been designed to allow you to focus on the information you are serving, not how it is served.
There is one source for all three protocols. Ameritech also offers a complete package of Web publishing tools.
http://netpub.notis.com/
This is a pair of web servers for Windows NT and Windows 95: Communications Builder and Commerce Builder. Features include multiple Web/domain support, authentication-based access control, a caching HTTP proxy, and an exclusive: Web-based, real-time
chatrooms.
http://www.aristosoft.com/ifact/inet.htm
This is a full-featured Web server for Windows 95 and Windows NT. A key selling point is its database connectivity, allowing you to publish your ODBC databases without writing a single line of CGI code.
http://www.ilar.com/default.htm
This is a Web server for Windows 95 and Windows NT.
http://www.folio.com/
Both the Windows 95 and NT versions of this Web server come in the same package. Quarterdeck WebServer 32 offers virtual domains and directory-level security.
http://www.qdeck.com/
FrontPage is much more than a Web server; it's a client/server GUI Web publishing package. Its client/server architecture supports authoring, scripting, and management of your Web site from your personal workstation, across your LAN, or even over the
Internet.
FrontPage is available now for Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT.
http://www.vermeer.com/
This feature-rich HTTP server for Windows 95 and Windows NT offers many bells and whistles, including enhanced server side includes (SSI+). It also has several very useful Web related development tools for validation of directories, local and remote
hyperlinks, and access control.
http://www.questar.com/
We personally tested 11 of the Windows 95 servers listed above. The number of Web servers available for Windows 95 has more than tripled over the past six months, and we can only assume that this number will continue to increase rapidly. You will find
that most of the Web servers on the market today offer a free trial period of 30 to 60 days.
- Purveyor Desktop WebServer 1.1
Likes: It is simple to install, runs fast, and has all the advanced security features for password-protecting files and directories by user or group. Of all the Windows 95 servers we tested, Purveyor and WebQuest had the best integration with the
Windows 95 user interface. An additional pull-down menu and button bar is added to Explorer for easy configuration. This is clearly a powerful server and the documentation is nothing short of excellent. Considering the quality of the Purveyor server for
Windows NT, it comes as no surprise that Process has developed a fine Windows 95 server.
Dislikes: Doesn't support WinCGI or ISAPI (yet). However, Purveyor for NT does support ISAPI and Purveyor Desktop supports buffered CGI, which is similar to WinCGI.
- FolkWeb 1.1
Likes: This server has nearly all of the features of the big boys and it is very affordable. The installation and operation couldn't be easier—it was literally up and running within seconds after completing the simple GUI installation. Outstanding
technical support kept this server high on our list during testing. It supports image maps, CGI 1.1, WinCGI 1.2, and has built-in provisions for ODBC databases.
Dislikes: The online help system and the documentation are somewhat lacking. For example, the help doesn't include a Table of Contents.
- WebQuest
Likes: This is a nice Web server that contains a feature rich set of Server Side Includes (SSI). The SSI's are so feature rich that you don't have to do CGI programming, not even for database access. Has very good server integration with Windows 95.
Dislikes: A bit expensive for a Win95 Web server. In all fairness, the version we examined showed a few signs of it still being in the beta stage. Questar is banking on the SSI+ feature to extent that they don't support WinCGI or ISAPI.
- Internet Factory Communication/Commerce Builder Web Servers
Likes: Installed in a snap, they give a 60 day trial, as a neat twist the added chat rooms to the servers so you have something like IRC built into your server, All in all it's pretty slick.
Dislikes: Running this server with just a few Chat Rooms will not only require a lot of network bandwidth, but also a huge amount of memory.
- Alibaba
Likes: Easy installation, good documentation, and a lot of nice features. We know of several well known sites that use this server.
Dislikes: No published price, you have to e-mail the authors for price information.
- WebSite
Likes: This is packed full of features and utilities. After installation, you will have a new program group with several utilities to make your Web site maintenance easier: Home Page Wizard, What's New Wizard, Web View, Web index, Quick Stats, and the
Image Map Editor. The installation is smooth, and you have the option to run from the desktop or as an NT service. This product runs on NT and Win95.
Dislikes: We found many of the utilities somewhat overwhelming and not very intuitive. Image mapping was not as straightforward as with the other servers. With the proper time invested in learning this package, it can be very powerful.
- ZBServer
Likes: Easy to install, runs surprisingly fast, and supports WinCGI.
Dislikes: Lacked some of the advanced features and tools found in other servers.
- Front Page
Likes: Lots of tools for Web publishing and Web page management. This is a good package for large corporate Web site management.
Dislikes: This 9 MB package is more a Web publishing tool than a Web server.
- Quarterdeck
Likes: Simple general purpose Web server.
Dislikes: Installation hard to follow and the server was hard to configure. The GUI did not perform well at low screen resolutions.
- SAIC-HTTP
Likes: It's free and feature packed. Nice file redirection and security features. It supports installing multiple HTTP servers on one NT Server. It also has a feature called External modules, which enables you to extend the functionality of the server.
Modules (CGI scripts that reside in the modules directory under the server root directory) are automatically executed when the URL that is referenced matches an entry in the module mapping table.
Dislikes: This Server was developed for Windows NT and is hard to configure to run on windows 95. We ran out of patience and gave up.
- W4 Server
Likes: 25.00 shareware.
Dislikes: You get what you pay for.
We personally tested five Windows NT servers. We review them here in case you are considering upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows NT. (You might want to check out our book, Web Site Construction Kit for Windows NT.)
Some of the Web Servers listed here have additional features that we have not covered in this appendix; please consult the product documentation or contact the manufacturer for full information.
Of the Windows NT servers that we tested, here is a list in the order that we rank them, with a brief statement of our likes and dislikes:
- HTTPS from European Microsoft Windows NT Academic Center (EMWAC)
Likes: Despite the fact that it's free, HTTPS is a very robust and easy to use Web server. It includes a good manual and has image mapping built into the system; so there is no need to call a CGI image mapping routine. We highly recommended this as a
good starting point.
Dislikes: It lacks the more advanced security features offered by commercial packages, such as exclusion by IP, file, or directory. If you are connected by dial-up and loose your connection, after reconnection you will have to stop and restart the
HTTPS service for it to work.
- Purveyor 1.1 for NT from Process Software
Likes: This is the server Chris uses. It is simple to install, runs fast, and has all the advanced security features for password-protecting files and directories by user or group. All the configuration is done from a Control Panel applet or an
additional pull-down menu and button bar added to File Manager. Purveyor has full support to run as a proxy server. This is one smooth server.
Dislikes: We haven't run across any yet.
- Netscape Communications and Netscape Commerce from Netscape Communications
Likes: Both packages are very robust but take a little more time to install than the others. All server configuration and administration is done from a Web browser using forms. The Web browser approach to administering your Web server will appeal to
anyone who wants to change server configuration remotely. It has a very nice server statistics viewer for monitoring server operation.
Dislikes: We prefer a Control Panel applet for server administration, instead of the Web browser approach. Setup proved to be somewhat time-consuming and hard to follow. If you use this server, do your homework prior to setup and installation.
- WebSite from O'Reilly and Associates
See the Windows 95 Web Server Reviews for comments about this server.
SAIC-HTTP
This product is expected to be freeware. It installed smoothly and was easily configured via the NT Control Panel. It also had nice file redirection and security features. It supports installing multiple HTTP servers on one NT Server. It also has a
feature called External modules, which enables you to extend the functionality of the server. Modules (CGI scripts that reside in the modules directory under the server root directory) are automatically executed when the URL that is referenced matches an
entry in the module mapping table.
Dislikes: This is still a little quirky but is definitely one product to keep your eye on.