Building dynamic websites with Mod perl and apache

Building dynamic websites with
Mod_Perl
Building dynamic websites with
Mod_Perl
Kamal Nayan
http://tipstricksandhacking.blogspot.in

Topics covered
 What is Perl
 What Web Server do
 What is CGI
 Perl CGI
 What is Mod_Perl
 Why use Mod_Perl
 Difference between CGI and Mod_Perl
 Evolution of website
 How Mod_Perl works with Apache
 The Apache request cycle
 Web Server working diagram
 How to install Mod_Perl
 Mod_Perl Configuration
 How to Check Version
 Mod_Perl Handler
 Further Reading
HTTP://TIPSTRICKSANDHACKING.BLOGSPOT.IN

What is Perl
Perl is an all-purpose, open source (free software) interpreted
language maintained and enhanced by a core development team
called the Perl Porters. It is used primarily as a scripting language and
runs on a number of platforms. Although initially designed for the UNIX
operating system.
Perl is interpreted language which is parsed and executed at run time
Instead of being compiled into binary form and then run.

• In response to a Web client request
(e.g., http://google.com) a Web server:
 Accepts network connection
 Parses the request (index.html)
 Reads file from disk or runs a dynamic content
generator
 Sends content (headers and body) back
What Web Servers Do

What is CGI

Common Gateway Interface, which is just an interface
between browsers and servers

CGI provides a standard way a browser can call, pass data to
and receive response from programs on server

CGI is not a Perl-specific concept. Almost any language can
produce CGI programs but Perl has a very nice interface to
creating CGI methods

Perl CGI
Perl is a simple programming language. it's popular for use
on the web. When it's used on the web the programs are
called Perl CGI, because CGI is the way that Perl talks to
your web browser.
e.g.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
print "Content-type: text/htmlnn";
print "Hello, I am kamal nayan";

What is Mod_Perl?
 The fast way to create server side Perl
scripts that replace the need for the
Common Gateway Interface.
 Open-Source interface between Apache
and Perl
 Apache handlers can be written in Perl
 One-time parsing/compilation

Why Use Mod_Perl
 As sites grow, their content usually becomes
more dynamic
 Sites ported to mod_perl show request
return rates 200% to 2000% higher
 Generally the more processing of content, the
slower the page return

 The main difference between Mod_Perl and Perl scripts
running as CGIs is that Mod_Perl compiles Perl modules
and scripts the first time they are run/used, and keeps them
in memory, ready to be executed in the next request
 A Perl script run as CGI is compiled every time it is run
 Mod_Perl can be used also to create Apache modules in
Perl, that will completely handle the requests as if a normal
Apache module
Difference between CGI and Mod_Perl

How Mod_Perl works with Apache
 Mod_Perl allows you to interact with server and
directly alter server behavior
 Gives you the ability to "program within
Apache's
framework instead of around it"
 Allows you to intercept basic Apache functions
and replace them with your own Perl

Evolution of a Web-site
PerlRun
How to execute the Perl
interpreter
Perl Registry
This module creates an object
oriented interface to registry. It
allows you to read & update
local as well as remote registry.

The Apache request cycle

Web Server working diagram
/home/sulabh/Desktop/webserver.jpg

Quick way to install Mod_Perl:
For CentOS :
yum install mod_perl -y
rpm -qa|grep -i mod_perl
For Ubuntu :
apt-get install libapache2-mod-perl2
dpkg -l|grep mod-perl2
How to install Mod_Perl

How to install mod_perl
Basic steps to install Mod_Perl:
$ lwp-download http://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/httpd-2.4.9.tar.gz
$ lwp-download http://apache.org/dist/perl/mod_perl-2.0.8.tar.gz
$ tar xzvf httpd-2.4.9.tar.gz
$ tar xzvf mod_perl-2.0.8.tar.gz
$ cd mod_perl-2.0.8
$ perl Makefile.PL –with-apxs=<Path of APXS>
e.g. /usr/local/apache_back/bin/apxs
$ make && make test && make install
$ cd ../httpd-2.4.9
$ make install
LoadModule perl_module modules/mod_perl.so

Mod_Perl Configuration
Specific File type :
<Files *.mp>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::Registry
PerlOptions +ParseHeaders
Options +ExecCGI
</Files>
Specific File :
<Files "^/cgi/get_captcha.cgi">
PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::Registry
PerlOptions +ParseHeaders
Options +ExecCGI
</Files> HTTP://TIPSTRICKSANDHACKING.BLOGSPOT.IN

How to Check Version
To check Apache version
/usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -V
To check Perl version
$perl -v
To check Mod_Perl version
$perl -Mmod_perl 999 or perl -Mmod_perl2 999

Mod_Perl Handler
Handlers are simply perl subroutines called by the server at
various stages of the HTTP request cycle. Handlers, are
typically created as a perl modules stored in a library, and
accessible via perl's @INC array.
For example, here's an example that returns a greeting and the
current local time.

File:My/Greeting.pm
package My::Greeting;
use strict;
use Apache::Constants qw(OK);
sub handler
{
my $r = shift;
my $now = scalar localtime;
my $server_name = $r->server->server_hostname;
$r->send_http_header('text/plain');
print "Thanks for visiting $server_name.n";
print "The local time is $now.";
return OK;
}
1;

We have to save the above file in perl library (e.g. My/Greeting.pm).
Now we have to write below given code in httpd.conf, to return the
above greeting when the URL /hello is visited on your server.
<Location /hello>
PerlHandler My::Greeting
</Location>

Further Reading
CPAN
http://www.cpan.org/
Mod_Perl Guide
http://perl.apache.org/guide
Stas Bekman
FAQ
http://perl.apache.org/faq
Frank Cringle

Building dynamic websites with Mod perl and apache

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