Secure Global Desktop Administration Guide > Arrays, servers and load balancing > Configuring your own web server for use with Secure Global Desktop

Configuring your own web server for use with Secure Global Desktop

A web server on each array member is an essential part of a working Secure Global Desktop installation.

When you install Secure Global Desktop, you install the Secure Global Desktop Web Server. This web server is pre-configured for use with Secure Global Desktop and we recommend you use it.

If you want to use a your own web server with Secure Global Desktop you can do so. However, you must configure the web server for use with Secure Global Desktop. The configuration depends on whether you are using the browser-based webtop or the classic webtop or both.

Configuring a web server for the browser-based webtop

The browser-based webtop uses the SOAP protocol (over HTTP) to access the services provided by a Secure Global Desktop server. This means, even if you use your own web server, you must continue to run the Secure Global Desktop Web Server.

To use your own web server for the browser-based webtop, you need a web server and a JavaServer Pages (JSP) container because the webtop is a JSP application. Once you have a working web server/JSP container, follow these instructions for relocating the browser-based webtop.

Configuring a web server for the classic webtop

To be able to use your own web server with the classic webtop, the web server must support CGI.

If you are using only the classic webtop, you do not need to run the Secure Global Desktop Web Server. To prevent the Secure Global Desktop Web Server from running:

Stop the Secure Global Desktop Web Server: tarantella webserver stop.
Change your system boot scripts so that the Secure Global Desktop Web Server does not start when the system boots, and that your own web server does. The Secure Global Desktop Web Server boot script is in the /etc/rc.d/rc?.d/ directory, where ? depends on the runlevel the host boots in. The boot script name contains "TarantellaWebServer". You must move or delete the script.

Note If you are using the browser-based webtop and the classic webtop, you must continue to run the Secure Global Desktop Web Server. See above for details.

To configure your own web server for the classic webtop:

Add an Alias (Document directory) for the Secure Global Desktop document root. For example:
```
Alias        /tarantella          /opt/tarantella/var/docroot
```
Add a ScriptAlias (Program or CGI directory) for the Secure Global Desktop CGI programs. For example:
```
ScriptAlias  /tarantella/cgi-bin  /opt/tarantella/var/docroot/cgi-bin
```
Make sure your web server listens on the standard HTTP or HTTPS ports, 80/tcp or 443/tcp.

To ensure that users can download the Native Client and Secure Global Desktop Java™ archives, edit your web server's mime.types file and add "exe", "dmg", "jar" and "cab" as file extensions for the "application/octet-stream" mime type, for example:

application/octet-stream        bin dms lha lzh class so dll exe dmg jar cab

Note You you may have to remove the "exe" file extension as an extension for the "magnus-internal/cgi" mime type.

Related topics
Introducing the Secure Global Desktop Web Server Relocating the browser-based webtop to your own JSP container