Extending IBM HTTP Server functionality with third-party plug-in modules

This section contains topics on using third-party plug-in modules with IBM HTTP Server.


Before you begin

Modules that are loaded into IBM HTTP Server, whether distributed by IBM or a third-party vendor, must comply with the following specifications:

  • The openssl library cannot be loaded by IBM HTTP Server plug-in modules.

  • Plug-in modules provided by IBM may use the Global Security Kit (GSKit) library for SSL communications. These plug-in modules must comply with the GSKit restrictions for using a local GSKit installation to interoperate with the current release of IBM HTTP Server.


About this task

We can build third-party plug-in modules (dynamic shared object modules) for execution with IBM HTTP Server. IBM HTTP Server ships as an installation image with executables that we cannot rebuild because the source does not ship with the installation image. However, IBM HTTP Server does ship the header files necessary to compile and build third-party plug-in modules that execute as an IBM HTTP Server module.Important: The use of third-party plug-in modules does not prevent IBM HTTP Server from being supported, but IBM cannot support the third-party plug-in module itself. If a problem occurs when the third-party plug-in module is loaded, IBM support might ask for the problem to be reproduced without the third-party plug-in module loaded, in order to determine if the problem is specific to the configuration with the third-party plug-in module. If a problem is specific to the configuration with the third-party plug-in module, the provider of that module might need to help determine the cause of the problem. IBM cannot resolve such problems without the involvement of the provider of the module, as this requires understanding of the implementation of the module, particularly with regard to its use of the Apache APIs.


Procedure


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