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.. _Introduction:
************
Introduction
************
`AWS` stands for *Ada Web Server*. It is an Ada implementation of the
`HTTP/1.1` protocol as defined in the RFC-2616 from June 1999.
The goal is not to build a full Web server but more to make it
possible to use a Web browser (like Firefox or Chrome) to control an
Ada application. As we'll see later it is also possible to have two
Ada programs exchange informations via the `HTTP` protocol. This is
possible as `AWS` also implements the client side of the HTTP
protocol.
Moreover with this library it is possible to have more than one server
in a single application. It is then possible to export different kind
of services by using different `HTTP` ports, or to have different ports
for different services priority. Client which must be served with a
very high priority can be assigned a specific port for example.
As designed, `AWS` big difference with a standard `CGI` server
is that there is only one executable. A `CGI` server has one
executable for each request or so, this becomes a pain to build and
to distribute when the project gets bigger. We will also see that it is
easier with `AWS` to deal with session data.
`AWS` support also `HTTPS` (secure `HTTP`) using
`SSL`. This is based on either `OpenSSL` or `GNUTLS` two Open Source SSL
implementations.
Major supported features are:
* HTTP implementation
* HTTPS (Secure HTTP) implementation based on SSLv3
* Template Web pages (separate the code and the design)
* Web Services - SOAP based
* WSDL support (generate stub/skeleton from WSDL documents)
* Basic and Digest authentication
* Transparent session handling (server side)
* HTTP state management (client side cookies)
* File upload
* Server push
* SMTP / POP (client API)
* LDAP (client API)
* Embedded resources (full self dependant Web server)
* Complete client API, including HTTPS
* Web server activity log
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