About advanced settings for PWS

Although PWS's default settings allow you to quickly and securely publish documents on your Web site, you may want to change some of the default settings for special needs. For example, the default setting will have a home page that displays links to other documents on the site. However, if you have a large number of documents to share, and the document retains its original format, you will find that directory browsing is a quicker and more efficient way for users to read documents.

The role of the default document
The default document is typically an HTML-formatted document that the server provides to a site visitor when the visitor does not specify a filename in its request. If you type http://www.microsoft.com/in the Address field of your browser, you can access the Microsoft home page even if you do not type a filename. This is because the WEB server responds to all requests that do not include file names with the default document (Microsoft home page).

What happens if a visitor adds a subdirectory under the home directory to its request, but still does not add a filename? If you type http://www.microsoft.com/iis/in the browser, the default Web page specified for the Internet information Server subdirectory for the Microsoft Home Directory is accessed. Regardless of where you type the path, the default page is placed in each publishing directory to ensure that visitors find the home page on your site.

PWS supports the use of multiple default document names. When a request arrives without a filename, PWS searches for the first default document name. If no document is searched for the first file name in the directory specified in the request, the second default document is checked until a file is found or the file name is run out. This means that you can have a default document for a file name somewhere in the directory structure, and a default document for another file name elsewhere in the directory structure. You can also use the same file name in each directory, because the contents of the directory are different.

If the operating system supports a file name, the default document name can be any file name that you want. The file name must consist of letters and numbers, but cannot contain spaces. The most commonly used file names are Default.htm and index.htm, or other file extensions that are three letters after a period. For example, if you have Microsoft on your home page? Active Server Pages script, you should use the. asp extension so that the server can handle the script correctly. In this case, your home page should be default.asp or index.asp. For more information about using and creating Active Server Pages scripts, see your WEB application. To change the default document name used by PWS, see Change the name of the default home page.

If you choose not to use the default document, visitors can still access your site by typing their requested file name at the end of your site's address. To do this, the visitor must know the exact file name beforehand. Other ways that visitors can browse your Web site are using directory browsing.

Use directory browsing to browse
Directory browsing is an easy way to browse Web site documents. If you disable automatic use of the default document and enable directory browsing, visitors can view a list of all the files in the specified directory in their request. PWS automatically generates the displayed list and sets the format for it. In a site with many non-HTML documents, or on a site that frequently adds or deletes documents, this is a way for visitors to display a quick and low maintenance fee for a document in a directory. Visitors click the file name to display the contents of the document (assuming that the visitor has a program that is compatible with the document format). For more information about how to enable directory browsing, see Enabling directory browsing.

Activity logs and security
The simplest web site security is to maintain the computer log of the contact site. Log records who has visited your site, when to access it, and what to view. By checking the log, you can find out how users use the site and make sure no users are messing with your site.

Logs are written in the NCSA log file format and can be viewed in any text editor. A new file is created each month and placed in the Log FILE/W3SPC1 directory of the Windows System folder. The file name begins with Nc, followed by the year, month, and day of the digital form. For example, the log file created in August 1997 will be named Nc9708.log. For more information about enabling logging, see Logging Site activity.

Web site Performance
The number and type of site activities can affect the performance of other applications running on sites and computers. To help you monitor performance and look for potential bottlenecks and various issues, PWS includes site monitoring diagrams. The graphic includes several different ways to view site statistics. For more information about performance metrics, see Viewing site performance.

Web site performance is affected by several factors. These factors include:

The bandwidth of the network connection.
The size of the file on the site.
The resources that are required for an application or script that is embedded in a Web page or launched from a Web page.
The size of the RAM and the speed of the computer processor.
Most browsers do not establish a single connection to your site. Many browsers can maintain four simultaneous connections. The PWS meets up to 10 connections. This means that your site can easily support two or three users at the same time.

If your network connection is low, the file will take a relatively long time to reach the visitor. Each graphic in an HTML Web page is a separate file, and each graphic requires a connection to be sent to the browser. If your file is large, or if your HTML page contains a large number of graphics, visitors must wait for the Web page to download. To increase the efficiency of the transfer of web pages, make the least number of graphics and make them relatively small, lest you lose visitors because you are tired of waiting.