ESAWEB

A Very Fast VM Web Server

z/VM needs a web server than can compete in performance with other platforms. That is Velocity Software's intention in delivering ESAWEB.

Find out what Web Servers others are using

ESAWEB beats CA's VM:WebGateway ^TM

We believe this product is up to 30 times faster than it's z/VM platform competitors, and at less cost. Products that make price performance improvements measured in orders of magnitude significantly increase your potential applications.

And ESAWEB is priced to be competitive. Installations with ESALPS already are fully licensed for ESAWEB. Note that this site is running ESAWEB on a P390 under z/VM. And has been since July of 1999.

Our objective is to ensure that you can't afford not to run ESAWEB. The following lists available features and when they became available. Upgrades are FREE for licensed users.

CA-VM:Webgateway to ESAWEB Conversion Utility

As the CA product, VM:Webgateway is no longer enhanced or marketed, installations looking for a z/VM based webserver can use the Velocity Software conversion utility to convert CGIs written for VM:Webgateway to operate with ESAWEB.

ESAWEB Release 3.5.A.6 Features and Benefits (1/06)

Internal Trace table

An internal trace table has been added to help diagnose product abends.

ESAWEB Release 3.5.A.1 Features and Benefits (1/06)

CGI_ENVIRON support

A new configuration directive has been add in the included domain configuration file. The CGI_ENVIRON directive changes the default SUBCOM environment for CGI execution. The default is CGI. By specifing CGI_ENVIRON CMS, for instance, the CGI can be invoked in the CMS SUBCOM environment.

ESAWEB Release 3.4.C.5 Features and Benefits (12/05)

NO-CACHE support

A new keyword has been added to the syntax of the mimetype definiton in the ESAWEB MIMETYPE and USER MIMETYPE files. The NO-CACHE keyword will cause a CACHE-CONTROL: NO-CACHE response header to generated in response to the request. NO-CACHE is automatically generated for output produced by CGIs.

ESAWEB Release 3.4.C.0 Features and Benefits (04/05)

Extended log records

A new field has been added to the log records, maintained on disk. This field, Reason Code, is used to identify the specific reason for a particular STATUS code, such as 403, 404, 500 (Access Forbidden, Not Found, Server Error, respectively). Other "architectural" changes were made to the log record in anticipation of future enhancemenst. The LOGCERN pipe stage and the SHOWLOG XEDIT macro have been upgraded to recognize the new format and show the relative information.

Extended logging

When using LOGGING VERBOSE or LOGGING DETAIL, a new logging message is generated whenever a "reason code" is present. This message is a separate line following the VSILOG0100I message. It is displayed only when there is a reason code. The code is primarily for diagnostics.

Extended statpage support

STATPAGEs allow installations to customize the results of a "abnormal" status to a request, such as in the case of a 404 status. This support was introduced in a previous release. It has been extended to allow for STATPAGEs to be defined on a sub-directory level within an ESAWEB AUTHLIST.

Common Log Format

The LOGCERN pipe stage has been updated to allow for a simple method to create "Common Log Format" and "Extended Common Log Format" records from the log records created by the ESALOG virtual machine.

ESAWEB Release 3.4.A.1 Features and Benefits (11/04)

"Auto-ASCII" support for AUTHLIST and ALIAS files

The ESAWEB AUTHLIST and ESAWEB ALIAS files can be saved either as ASCII or EBCDIC files. Installations using web publishing tools won't have to be concerned with the way these files are saved.

RESOLVE_URL and CGI_EXIT directives moved to host definition files

The global directives have been moved to enable installations to customize by domain rather than by system.

AUTO_TRANSLATE directive added to give greater flexibility to installations using web publishing tools.

Files NOT stored as "binary" on the web server can be automatically translated, if desired. The new directive gives complete control of translation to installations on a domain-by-domain basis.

Added support for installation defined "Error Status Pages".

Installastion may now define and taylor web pages to be served in response to certain error status codes such as 404, 403, and 500. This is a much more "end-user" friendly presentation.

Dynamically accessed ROOT and PATH minidisks.

Installastions may, optionally, use dynamic access and re-access of the path structure contained on minidisks. This allows for changes/additions on minidisk areas to be reflected immediately instead of waiting for "auto-refresh".

Connect to TCP/IP on a specific IP address.

Installastion may, optionally, instruct ESAWEB to connect to TCP/IP on a specific IP address as well as a specific port. This allows installations to define different web servers to listen on the same port but different IP addresses while running on a single image of VM.

ESAWEB Release 3.2.B.2 Features and Benefits (5/04)

Extended security options in ESAWEB AUTHLIST file

COOKIE - allows the security exit to verify the contents of a cookie instead of, or in addition to, a userid/password combination
OPTIONS - controls AUTHLIST inheritance, use of ESM exit, and/or password requirments.
ORDER - controls the order in which ESAWEB will invoke the various forms of userid/password verification
ESM_EXIT - defines an ESM (External Security Manager) exit to be invoked for the specific path

ESAWEB Release 3.2.A.7 Features and Benefits (9/03)

End user control of log record formatting
LOGFMT and DATEFMT keywords of LOGCERN pipe stage dictate the output format of log records
CGI Pre/Post process exit
The Pre and Post process exit for CGI execution allows installations to ensure the integrity of the server environment remains intack after CGI execution.
Support fo multiple files in a form
Forms can now have multiple TYPE=FILE input tags. CGIs can then gain access to the files via the NEXTFILE sub-command.
PATH override using SFS directory
Installations can map any SFS filespace as a sub-directory of the "root" using the PATH configuration directive.
HOST name validation
Under installation control, using the VALID_HOST configuration directive, ESAWEB will generate a request status code of 400 if the HOST request header does not contain a defined host name.

ESAWEB Release 3.2.A.1 Features and Benefits (6/02)

Console logging of inbound/outbound HTTP headers
LOGGING of HTTP details to virtual console for diagnostics
HEADER Digestion
Optionally recognizes extended (X-ESAWEB) headers in HTML (optionally all files) to augment HTTP control response header entries
INCLUDEd AUTHLIST support
ESAWEB AUTHLIST files can include common files to allow similar AUTHLIST definitions to be contained in a single file.
USER MIMETYPE files
USER MIMETYPE files are used to override the ESAWEB MIMETYPE file definitions so product upgrades don't destroy installation mimetypes.

ESAWEB Release 3.2.A.0 Features and Benefits (2/02)

Termination Immediate Commands
QUIT, STOP, END immediate commands to gracefully terminate ESAWEB web server.
LOGCERN PIPE stage
A pipe stage to convert ESAWEB LOG files to CERN format very quickly.

ESAWEB Release 3.1.A.1 Features and Benefits (6/01)

Logical Device HTML support
This feature allows installations to "webify" 3270 applications, using an interface to the ESAWEB 3270 logical device support virtual machine.
Shadow Web Server for VM^TM (formerly EnterpriseWeb/VM^TM) migration aid
A collection of utilities that tie direcly to ESAWEB to enable running Shadow Web Server for VM^TM CGIs and hierarchical structures on an ESAWEB server while migrating to ESAWEB formats.

ESAWEB Release 3.1.A.0 Features and Benefits (5/01)

SMSG interface to administration machine
This feature allows installations to control the ESAWEB servers, through the administration machine, via the CP SMSG command.
CERN formated log records
A conversion utility has been created to convert ESAWEB log records to CERN standard format

ESAWEB Release 2.1.B.1 Features and Benefits (01/01)

Userroot (Tilde hack) support
This feature allows access to individual user's html without having to predefine path access to the area. This feature does NOT include CGI execution support for a "tilde" path.

ESAWEB Release 2.1.B.0 Features and Benefits (12/00)

SSI (Server Side Includes) support
This feature allows dynamic inclusion of data into an HTML file. This allows installations to allow non-HTML authors to input data into a web page without having to have knowledge of HTML coding techniques.
Auto-index support
Displays a columnar list of "servable" files when no "default" html file is found in a path

ESAWEB/SSL Release 2.1.A.O Features and Benefits (12/00)

ESAWEB with Secure Socket Layer (SSL3) incorporated as a "no charge" add-on. SSL3 allows a browser user to authenticate the web server, communicate privately and communicate without tampering. For more information, visit ESAWEB/SSL Overview.

ESAWEB Release 1.3.1 Features and Benefits (7/00)

ALIASing support
This feature allows an installation to map long and/or illegal path and file ids to valid VM paths and file ids.
Added several meta-variables
CGIs now have access to the SCRIPT_NAME, PATH_INFO and PATH_TRANSLATED meta-variables.
Enhanced GET_ARGS cgi command
The GET_ARGS cgi command has been enhanced to allow the CGI to retrieve all keyword/value pairs in REXX stems even if only a single occurrence is encountered in the form or query string.

ESAWEB Release 1.3 Features and Benefits (6/00)

Password prompting control
Now a site can control the number of times a requestor will be allowed to enter invalid passwords. In addition, ESAWEB can also control the amount of time that can expire before a known requestor will be re-challenged.
More powerful ADMIN functions
The functions granted to the ESAWEB administration virtual machine/webserver have been extended once again. Now the admin machine can perform such functions as:
    1.    Graceful shutdown of one or more servers with a single CGI command
    2.    Start (XAUTOLOG) one or more servers with a single CGI command
    3.    Retrieve the path structure for a host to be reviewed and, through simple
            CGIs, massage authorization lists for each.
    4.    View and reset ESAWEB password violations excisions
Enhanced ADMINISTRATION support
The "canned" utilities supplied with ESAWEB for the sake of administration and log data view have been beefed up to meet the ever growing needs of our customers, not to mention to take advantage of new CGI commands.

ESAWEB Release 1.2.1 Features and Benefits (4/00)

Multi-home hosting:
Multiple domains directed to a single IP address can now be served by a single set of servers "listening" on a single TCP/IP port. This relieves an installation from having to acquire bunches of IP addresses for each domain, (re)configuring TCP/IP to recognize and route the various IP addresses and having different domains on separate "non-standard" ports.
LOG cgi command:
CGIs can now generate records that will be sent to and maintained by the ESAWEB logging facility. This allows installations to enhance information kept about their CGI usage and make it available via either the supplied logging tools or "home growns" logging tools.

ESAWEB Release 1.2 Features and Benefits (2/00)

CGI Redirect Support:
From a CGI, you can now redirect users to allow for either security or load balancing, or even special purpose functions for specific users.
CGI PIPE Support:
For performance, it turns out that using PIPE stage to output data is significantly faster than using STEM rexx variables. There is now a PIPE stage called output. This stage reduces by 2 or more the processor and time to output data files to the browser. It also allows for very fast conversion from WEBSHARE or other web server CGIs.

ESAWEB Release 1.1 Features and Benefits (1/00)

Full POST Support:
For products such as VM Resources COOLMAIL to work, the ability for the server to accept data and files from the browser is now available.
System Variables:
Many system variables are available for CGIs to use to determine environment. Issuing the SYSVARS rexx command sets all of the variables. A sample CGI (LISTVARS.CGI) variables is proided to show the current available variables. Let us know if you need additional variables.
Logging:
Logging is now performed VERY FAST using IUCV function to transmit data to a central server that formats and writes the data to disk. This architecture was chosen to reduce any potential for logging to slow your web server. CERN format logging is available as well as an enhanced version.
Byte counts for each file are recorded in the log to ensure you can analyze your data traffic requirements.
Command Interface:
An administration web server is now provided that controls many of the web server functions - using a web page and cgi designed for this purpose. To use this function requires adding a server to a different port and adding the administrator's identifiers to the authorization list. Refreshing, recycling as well as CP and CMS commands can be performed by the web servers using this interface. A STATUS function is also provided to review status of all of your active servers.

ESAWEB Release 1 Features and Benefits (10/99)

Fast Web Server: Performance was NOT an afterthought!
ESAWEB is written in assembler making it truly fast and greatly reducing CPU resource requirements. An internal cache is provided to eliminate I/O. Persistent connection, part of HTTP 1.1 is supported to reduce the TCPIP CPUT requirements. Status 304 is supported. The browser can send a request for a file and request that it be sent if it has been modified since a particular date. If it has not been modified, a status 304 is sent back with no data. That tells the browser to use its cached version, saving having to transmit data the browser already has in it's cache. The ESAWEB program is small! Currently about 100K, this program does not require significant amounts of storage.
The result is a much higher capacity web server in terms of the number of hits you can support. You may find that this web server pays for itself just in CPU savings.
Full HTML, Image, EBCDIC, ASCII Support: Any files you serve from another platform, you can serve from ESAWEB on VM. ASCII to EBCDIC and ASCII to conversion tools are provided so that you may develop your web site using tools on PC, move the files to VM, convert them to EBCDIC, and edit them using XEDIT. EBCDIC files are translated to ASCII automatically when requested by the user.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL3): Incorporated into ESAWEB, as a "no charge" add-on, SSL3 allows a browser user to authenticate the web server, communicate privately and communicate without tampering.
Full Security: Security is controlled by IP address and/or by UserID and password. Security is at the directory level, providing you with the ability to protect each individual directory's files, even controlling access to users coming from specific identified locations.
CGI Support: CGIs are written with a very simple REXX interface to allow you to add logic to your web site, or an interface to your data. So how fast is a CGI? Try this Link and Access and display of an ESAMAP performance report: ESAMAP Reports
We also have an interface to ESAMON that you can check out: ESAMON.
Cookie Support: Cookies are available to CGI to maintain user states.
For an example of a cookie SET, click 'SET Cookies'.
For an example of Getting all available cookies, click 'GET Cookies'.
To display the code, click in: 'Display CGI'.
Standard Socket Interface: There are no special software or hardware requirements for ESAWEB. Only standard TCPIP interfaces are used.
Full Instrumentation: Nobody would expect the experts in VM Performance to provide a web server without full instrumentation. ESAMAP and ESAMON at level 2.2H1 provide reporting based on ESAWEB application data. Logging to the console is also provided.
SFS and Minidisk: Both the SFS file structure and minidisks are supported. One should note that using Minidisk is measurably faster, so depending on how fast you want your web site to be may dictate your storage architecture. Full SFS directory support is provided, meaning that directories do not need to be predefined.
Redirection/Load Balancing: ESAWEB allows requests to be redirected based on IP address or by userid. This would allow you to load balance over several systems by having one group of users go to one system, and another group go to another. Or even provide a different main screen depending on who they are.
Multi-homing: If you have a need to support multiple domains from one IP address, no problem. Each domain can have it's own directory, with no limit to the number of domains you can support.
Content-Length: Many applications need files to have the CONTENT-LENGTH served in the header. ESAWEB provides this for all files. Larger files are pre-read to get the content length, and then the length is cached for future use.
Developed by the VM Performance Experts: This web server is developed to meet extensive performance goals by people that understand performance. ESAWEB will be continuously enhanced, with more function being added, just as our other products are continuously being enhanced. Be assured that every effort is being made to make this server FAST!
Service Level Agreements: In combination with our ESATCP and ESAMAP/ESAMON performance products, you will have the ability to measure service levels by IP subnet, giving you the ability to know how your web server is performing for your users against service level targets. Real time alerts can be set so that you are aware of when targets are missed.
Other Features: ESAWEB supports GET, POST and HEAD requests.
Low Cost of Operation: Not only is ESAWEB so fast that it significantly reduces your processor resource requirements to run a web server on VM, it is priced just as low.
Ease of Installation? Installation of ESAWEB is VERY EASY!

Access Controlled Pages:

If there is a feature you need that is not on the list, and having it makes a business case for you to acquire ESAWEB, please send a note to: BARTON.
For authorized Velocity Software users, you may look at the following pages:

So just how fast is ESAWEB?

Your vote is important. If you have need of features today, or wish to let me know what you think would significantly improve our functionality, or even to order a trial, send me some mail.

A customer comparison to VM:WebGateway

"First of all I would like to say, that I'm quite impressed by the good
performance of ESAWEB compared to the web-server product we are currently using (VM:WebGateway from CA). If it is indeed 30 times faster than alternative VM based web-servers, as you claim, is maybe too optimistic, but it certainly is fast. And the price is very attractive too. I'm also delighted by the simple and fast way to access HTTP header variables and POSTed arguments/variables in CGI programs. This is done in a rather clumsy way in VM:WebGateway. My conclusion is, that we would most certainly be interested in buying ESAWEB as a replacement for VM:WebGateway, both to speed up our web services (that would make our users very happy!) and to lower the overall CPU utilization of our web operations."

Another Customer Testimonial

"Hi guys,

Well, I did the absolute minimum required to get this running................

1 x userid - ESAWEB
1 x 2 cyl minidisk (would have fit on 1)
1 x ESAWEB Configuration file change
2 x SFS authority changes
2 x TCPIP profile changes

and my web site is now being served by ESAWEB! It only took about 15 mins! And it is significantly faster than the Sterling product I was running.................Thank you very much.............."