In October 1999, Information Systems transitioned the main MIT web server from a single CERN server to two Apache servers. The new servers continue much of the original server's functionality, while adding functionality for server side includes, encrypted transactions (https), and the ability to restrict access to a defined group of users. This document explains the features currently available on the web.mit.edu server, and supplements the services available from Web Communications Services.

1. Content served from web.mit.edu is stored in Athena (AFS) lockers, to which individual users and groups have access. Content can be reached from web.mit.edu with a short path and a long path:
   

   http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/org/n/newsoffice/www/index.html
   http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www/
   

   For ease of use, CWIS recommends publishing the short URL. More documentation on shorter paths on web.mit.edu is available from http://web.mit.edu/cwis/faq/shorturl.html.
   
   
2. Server side includes (SSI) are enabled, providing another set of tools for web publishers. For security reasons, the exec directive is not enabled. SSI lets you embed a number of special 'commands' into the HTML. More on using SSI.
   
   
3. Limited and secure access to content over https is enabled, allowing web publishers to restrict access to a specific group of users or a group. This is done through a .htaccess.mit file and an access control list (system:htaccess.mit read) in each directory that needs to be restricted. More on enabling secure access.
   
   
4. Web-based forms can be created to send email comment forms or surveys. The forms take advantage of cgiemail, which is installed on web.mit.edu. More on creating web forms.
   
   
5. Content on web.mit.edu can be searched using MIT's installation of Ultraseek. Search forms can be created to search specific MIT web sites. Content restricted to MIT will be indexed in the near future.
   
   
6. Web page usage statistics are available through the web reporting service. Publishers need to place a marker on pages for which they would like data, and usage reports can be accessed through the data warehouse.
   
   
7. Many mime types are available on this web server. The Apache server handles more mime types than the previous CERN server.
   
   
8. Feedback and problems with the new web server can be reported to web-agents@mit.edu