Version 3.0 User's Guide
Serving Cloaked Files	Previous | Next Contents

Using NetCloak Without Suffix Mappings

If your server does not support action-based CGIs, you will need to add a command to your URLs to tell the Web server that NetCloak must process the document. For servers that do not support actions or suffix mappings, you cannot use the NetCloak plug-in, and must use the CGI.

To invoke NetCloak for a particular page without a suffix mapping, simply add "/NetCloak.acgi$" between the server name and document path in URLs. For example, the URL:

    http://your.server.com/myFolder/pageone.html

...would become...

    http://your.server.com/NetCloak.acgi$/myFolder/pageone.html

...to specify that the page be cloaked.

For this to work correctly, NetCloak must reside in your server's root folder, and your server must recognize that filenames ending in ".acgi" are used to invoke CGI applications.

If you have installed NetCloak.acgi in the "cgi-bin" folder on your server, the URL would look like this:

    http://your.server.com/cgi-bin/NetCloak.acgi$/myFolder/pageone.html

Most servers support calling a CGI in this manner, so it is a good way to force your Web server to return a page through NetCloak when you are not sure if a suffix mapping is working correctly.

Cloaked File Limitations

Due to limitations in how CGIs interact with the server, the NetCloak CGI is limited to a file size of 60k bytes. All files larger than 60k will be truncated by the CGI before they are passed to the server. In some cases, even 60k may be too much data for your server to handle in a single request. If you notice problems when serving large files (over 32k) with NetCloak, visit the NetCloak FAQ list at "www.maxum.com" for up-to-date information on handling large files.

The NetCloak plug-in is capable of handling substantially larger files without difficulty.

Copyright © 1996-1999 Maxum Development Corporation http://www.maxum.com/	Previous | Next Contents