Powerful Resource Document Objects
PowerWeb Server++ exploits the concept of an object to simplify the administration
and configuration of the server. Virtually every server on the market
forces the administrator to work with entire directories of files,
whereas PowerWeb Server++ can work with individual files, all files matching
a given wildcard pattern, all directories matching a wildcard pattern,
or simply an entire directory or an entire disk. We call a collection
of documents a resource.
NCSA Performance Problems Overcome
The problem with using .htaccess files in servers such as the NCSA server,
is their very low performance. Not only does an NCSA server need to
consult the .htaccess file in the document's own directory, it must also
load the .htaccess file in each of the parent directories too, before
it can decide upon its access control.
PowerWeb's Access Control Database
PowerWeb Server++ bypasses these performance limitations by managing an
object-orientated access control database that contains all the security
rules. These rules have the advantage of being more powerful as well
as being more flexible.
Re-Use of Security Rules
Taking advantage of object orientation, not only can groups of documents be
considered a single object, so can groups of security rules. This means
you can define an access control policy and store it in a template object
which can be applied to any document object or resource.
Managed Consistency
This extremely powerful concept allows for reuse of security rules and
for ensured consistency. For example, a security policy could be defined
for all user home directories on a given server. If that policy changes,
the rules only need changing in one place.
Simplification Through Inheritance
PowerWeb Server++ takes the concept still further. Unlike any other server on
the market, it can use inheritance to define a security template
based on another existing security template, overriding just those
rules that differ.