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Overview
Spaceports decided to use a totally different server to host dynamic content. This may seem a
strange idea at first, but actually makes for a more stable environment for all.
Perl CGI and PHP scripts can be very disruptive if misused, and keeping them separate from the
main website servers allows to keep downtime to a minimum. If a script gets out of control and the
CGI-BIN server resets, the HTML pages on the standard servers are unaffected.
Also, the 'planet' servers, having more users and files, take about four times longer to
completely reboot than the CGI-BIN server does.
Another consideration is that dynamic content, by its very nature, uses more resources (such as
CPU time) than static files.
Features available
- Full Perl CGI capabilities
- PHP 4
- SSI
- MySQL database
Limitations
- Files on the CGI-BIN server cannot be linked to from sites outside of Spaceports
- 10 Mb and/or 1000 file limit
- All methods of sending mail have been disabled due to abuse
- Connections to outside servers are blocked by the firewall
- Less stable than the 'planet' servers (this is a problem common to all servers running Perl and
PHP)
Important considerations
Static HTML or multimedia files do not belong on the CGI-BIN server. Doing so
will slow the service down for everybody.
Perl CGI scripts, PHP files, HTML pages using SSI and any file that needs to be written to (such
as logs or certain HTML pages) will only function on the CGI-BIN server.
The banner code for the CGI-BIN server is different to the one used on the 'planet' server.
Signing up
If you haven't already done so, you can sign up for a CGI-BIN account from within the Spaceports
member's area.
You will need to already have a standard account here first.
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