Java Web App Context

Description

Many people running Java applications use the servlet engine to serve static content as well. But no servlet engine is nearly as efficient as LiteSpeed Web Server for these processes. In order to improve the overall performance, LiteSpeed Web Server can be configured as a gateway server, which serves static content and forwards dynamic Java page requests to the servlet engine.

LiteSpeed Web Server requires certain contexts to be defined in order to run a Java application. A Java Web App Context automatically creates all required contexts based on the Java web application's configuration file (WEB-INF/web.xml).

There are a few points you need to keep in mind when setting up a Java Web App Context:

• A Servlet Engine external application must be set up in External Apps before Java Web App Context can be set up.
• A Script Handler for .jsp files should be defined as well.
• If the web application is packed into a .war file, the .war file must be expanded. The server cannot access compressed archive files.
• For the same resources, the same URL should be used no matter whether it is accessed through LiteSpeed Web Server or through the servlet engine's built-in HTTP server.
  
  For example, Tomcat 4.1 is installed under /opt/tomcat. Files for the "examples" web application are located at /opt/tomcat/webapps/examples/. Through Tomcat's built-in HTTP server, the "examples" web application is thus accessed with a URI like "/examples/***". The corresponding Java Web App Context should thus be configured: URI = /examples/, Location = /opt/tomcat/webapps/examples/.

Description

Specifies the URI for this context. The URI should start with a "/". If a URI ends with a "/", then this context will include all sub-URIs under this URI.

Syntax

URI

Description

Specifies the directory that contains the files for this web application. This is the directory containing "WEB-INF/web.xml".

Default value: $DOC_ROOT + URI

Syntax

path

Description

Specifies the name of the servlet engine that serves this web application. Servlet engines must be defined in the External Apps section at the server or virtual host level.

Syntax

Select from drop down list

Description

Specifies whether to generate an Expires header for static files. If enabled, an Expires header will be generated based on Expires Default and Expires By Type.

This can be set at server, virtual host and context level. Lower level settings will override higher level ones, i.e. context settings will override virtual host settings and virtual host settings will override server settings.

Syntax

Select from radio box

Description

Specifies default settings for Expires header generation. This setting takes effect when Enable Expires is set to "Yes". It can be overridden by Expires By Type. Do not set this default at the server or virtual host level unless you have to, since it will generate Expires headers for all pages. Most of time this should be set at the context level for certain directories that do not change often. If there is no default setting, no Expires header will be generated for types not specified in Expires By Type.

Syntax

A|Mseconds
The file will expire after base time(A|M) plus specified seconds. Base time "A" sets the value to the client's access time and "M" to the file's last modified time.

Description

Specifies Expires header settings for individual MIME types.

Syntax

Comma delimited list of "MIME-type=A|Mseconds". The file will expire after base time (A|M) plus specified seconds.

Base time "A" sets the value to the client's access time and "M" to the file's last modified time. MIME-type accepts wildcard "*", like image/*.

Description

Specifies additional response/request headers to be added. Multiple header directives can be added with one directive per line. "NONE" can be used to disable parent header inheritance. If no directive is provided 'Header' is assumed.

Syntax

[Header]|RequestHeader [condition] set|append|merge|add|unset header [value] [early|env=[!]variable]

Example

Tips

Syntax and usage are similar to Apache's mod_headers directives for supported operations.

The 'Header' directive is is optional and can be excluded or left in when copying rules from elsewhere without issue.

Description

Specifies whether to generate a directory index on the fly when index files listed in Index Files are not available in a directory. This option is customizable at the virtual host and context level, and is inherited along the directory tree until it is explicitly overridden. You can customize the generated index page. Please check online wiki How-tos.

Syntax

Select from radio box

Tips

It is recommended to turn off Auto Index wherever possible to prevent revealing confidential data.

See Also

Index Files, Auto Index URI

Description

Specifies names of index files that will be searched sequentially when a URL is mapped to a directory. You can customize it at the server, virtual host, and context level.

Syntax

Comma-delimited list of index filenames.

Tips

Only set index files that you need.

Description

Specifies what directives in an access control file are allowed. An access control file can be placed in a directory to control the accessibility of files under that directory.

• When nothing is checked, inherited default settings will be used.
• When None is checked, access control files will be ignored.
• When Limit is checked, directives "Allow", "Deny", and "Order" are allowed. <Limit> and <LimitExcept> directives are also allowed with limited support for GET, HEAD, and POST requests.
• When Auth is checked, directives "AuthGroupFile", "AuthName", "AuthType", "AuthUserFile", "Require", and "Satisfy" are allowed. <Limit> and <LimitExcept> directives are also allowed with limited support for GET, HEAD, and POST requests.
• When FileInfo is checked, directives "AddDefaultCharset", "AddType", "DefaultType", "ForceType", "Redirect", "RedirectPermanent", "RedirectTemp", "RewriteBase", "RewriteCond", "RewriteEngine", "RewriteOptions", and "RewriteRule" are allowed.
• When Indexes is checked, directives "DirectoryIndex", "ExpiresActive", "ExpiresByType", and "ExpiresDefault" are allowed.
• When Options is checked, directive "Options" is allowed.

Syntax

Select from checkbox

Tips

If there is no need for directory level configuration customization, check None.

Description

Specifies the authorization realm for this context. When specified, a valid username and password must be provided in order to access this context. Authorization Realms are set up in the Virtual Host Security section. This setting uses each realm's Realm Name.

Syntax

Select from drop down list

Description

Specifies an alternative name for the authorization realm for the current context. If not specified, the original realm name will be used. The authentication name is displayed on the browser's login pop-up.

Description

Specifies which user/group can access this context. This allows you to use one user/group database (specified in Realm) across a number of contexts, but only allow certain users/groups from that database to access this context.

Syntax

Syntax is compatible with Apache's Require directive. For example:

• user username [username ...]
  Only listed users can access this context.
• group groupid [groupid ...]
  Only users belonging to the listed groups can access this context.

Description

Specifies which IPs or sub-networks are allowed to access resources under this context. Together with Access Denied and server/virtual host level access control, accessibility is determined by the smallest scope that a client's IP address falls into.

Syntax

Comma-delimited list of IPs/sub-networks.

Example

Description

Specifies which IPs or sub-networks are NOT allowed to access resources under this context. Together with Access Allowed and server/virtual host-level access control, accessibility is determined by the smallest scope that a client's IP address falls into.

Syntax

Comma-delimited list of IPs/sub-networks.

Example

Description

Specifies an external application that can be used to generate authorized/unauthorized decisions. Currently, only the FastCGI Authorizer is available. For more details about the FastCGI Authorizer role, please visit https://fastcgi-archives.github.io/ .

Syntax

Select from drop down list

Description

Specifies whether to add a character set tag to the "Content-Type" response header, when content type is either "text/html" or "text/plain" without any parameters. When set to Off, this function is disabled. When set to On, either the character set specified by Customized Default Charset or the default "iso-8859-1" will be added.

Syntax

Select from radio box

Description

Specifies a character set to be used when Add Default Charset is On. This is optional. The default value is iso-8859-1. This entry has no effect when Add Default Charset is Off.

Syntax

Name of a character set.

Example

Description

Specifies how long an object will continue to be served from cache after it has expired but before a new cached copy is available. The default is "10" seconds.

Syntax

Integer number

Description

Publicly cache all URLs served under the current context (virtual host, or context level).

Virtual hosts configured through Apache's httpd.conf can use the "CacheEnable" and "CacheDisable" directives at the server, virtual host, context, file, and location level or in .htaccess. "CacheEnable" and "CacheDisable" directives are compatible with Apache mod_cache directives. However, when used at the context, file, or location level, or in .htaccess, "CacheEnable" and "CacheDisable" will only be applied to directories below the current level. URL parameters will be ignored.

Syntax

Select from radio box

Tips

Disabled by default. Do not enabled this setting if you are using any LSCache plugins.

Description

Specifies how long an object will be cached. The default is "86400" seconds (one day).

Syntax

Integer number

Description

Privately cache all URLs served under the current context (virtual host, or context level).

A separate cached copy will be made per user based on their IP and set cookies.

Virtual hosts configured through Apache's httpd.conf can use the "CacheEnable private /url" and "CacheDisable private /url" directives at server, virtual host, directory, file, and location levels or in a .htaccess file. "CacheEnable private" and "CacheDisable private" are compatible with Apache's mod_cache directives and will be applied to all directories below the current level. However, when used at the directory, file, or location level, or in a .htaccess file, "CacheEnable private" and "CacheDisable private" will only be applied to directories below the current level. URL parameters will be ignored.

Syntax

Select from radio box

Tips

Disabled by default. Do not enabled this setting if you are using any LSCache plugins.

Description

Specifies how long an object will be cached in private cache. The default is "60" seconds.

Syntax

Integer number

Description

Cache pages responding with HTTP status code 5xx (500, 503, etc) for 10 seconds when the cache response header indicates that the page is cacheable.

Default values:
Server level: Yes
VH level: Inherit Server level setting
Context-level Inherit VH level setting

Syntax

Select from radio box

Tips

Enabling this setting is useful for avoiding bad requests but can also act as some added DDoS protection.

Description

Specifies if POST requests can be cached using the "x-litespeed-cache-control" header.

Default value: No

Syntax

Select from radio box

Description

Enterprise Edition Only Specifies whether to enable/disable IP Geolocation lookup. Can be set at server, virtual host, or context level. IP Geolocation is disabled by default when using value "Not Set".

Syntax

Select from radio box

See Also

Use Client IP in Header, DB File Path,

Description

Choose whether or not to enable PageSpeed optimization.

Syntax

Select from radio box

Tips

This can be set at the Server Level and overridden at the Virtual Host and Context Levels. Context Level settings will override Virtual Host Level settings.

Description

Set parameters using Google default filter sets.

Example