Access Control Files; How Does Access Control Work - Sun Microsystems Netscape Enterprise Server Administrator's Manual

How Does Access Control Work?

Access Control Files

When you use access control on Enterprise Administration Server or the files or
directories on your web site, the settings are stored in a file with the extension
.acl. Access control files are stored in the directory
server_install /httpacl where server_install is the location where
the server is installed. For example, if you installed the server in
/usr/netscape/server4, the ACL files for both Enterprise Administration
Server and each server instance configured on your server would be located in
/usr/netscape/server4/httpacl/.
The main ACL file name is generated-https- server-id .acl; the
temporary working file is called genwork-https- server-id. acl. If you
use Enterprise Server to restrict access, you'll have these two files. However, if
you want more complex restrictions, you can create multiple files and reference
them from the magnus.conf file. There are also a few features available only
by editing the files such as restricting access to the server based on the time of
day or day of the week.
When server users change ACLs through Web Publisher, the ACL configuration
Note
files are modified, and you receive a JavaScript notification alerting you of the
change.
Also, you can manually create and edit .acl files to customize access control.
For example, if you want to use an Oracle or Informix database of users instead
of an LDAP database, you need to use the access control API to program a
hook into the server's access control structure. This API is written in the C
programming language. For more information on the API, see the Netscape
DevEdge Online site at http://developer.netscape.com.
For more information on access control files and their syntax, see "ACL File
Syntax" on page 456.
How Does Access Control Work?
You can control access to the entire server or to parts of the server such as
specific tabs or pages in Enterprise Administration Server or the files or
directories on your web site. When the server evaluates an incoming request, it
determines access based on a hierarchy of rules called access control entries
(ACEs), and then it uses the matching entries to determine if the request is
Chapter 14, Controlling Access to Your Server 331