A new virtual server is created by pressing the New Virtual Server button on the Virtual Servers tab. The first thing you will have to do is choose a name for your virtual server. The name will be used to identify it in the configuration interface.

Configuration types
The next thing to choose is what kind of server you want to create. The configuration type determines which modules will be pre-installed in your new virtual server. There are a number of configuration options to choose from.

Bare bones

This configuration creates a virtual server without any modules pre-installed. With this configuration type you get total control of your new server.

Basic server

This configuration contains a few basic modules you need to get going.

FTP server

This configuration provides you with the modules you need to run a FTP server. The configuration also provides a pre-configured FTP port.

Proxy server

This configuration provides you with all of the proxy server modules you need to run Challenger as a proxy server.

Generic server

This configuration contains the most common and popular modules used with Challenger. It is the default configuration.

Manual viewing server

Configuration for viewing the on-line manuals, compelete with all modules necessary for running the interactive examples.

Configure Server Variables
Your virtual server will now be installed containing a number of modules. Some of these modules may require further configuration, please refer to the chapter about that specific module.

One thing that you will have to configure is how your virtual server is to be accessed by the outside world. If it is to be accessed through IP-less HTTP, you only need to fill in the Server Variables/Server URL variable. Please refer to the HTTP page for more information about IP-less HTTP.

To use any other protocol you need to configure a port for it. This is done through the Server Variables/Listen ports variable. There you press the Configure a new port button.

Port

Enter the port number you want your virtual server to bind to. The default port depends on the protocol used, 80 for HTTP, 443 for HTTPS or 21 for FTP.

Protocol

Please select which protocol you want your virtual server to respond to. You can choose between the following protocols: FTP, HTTP, HTTPS or tetris, default is HTTP.

If you want to you can bind your virtual server to several ports and protocols. For example, you may want to configure a virtual server to handle both an HTTP and an HTTPS port. Or you might want to have both an HTTP and a FTP port, so users can upload pages through FTP.

Host

Please select or enter which interface the port should bind to. The interface is identified either by its host name or IP address. The default is ANY, which means that the port will be bound to every interface and answer to every IP address the computer handles.

Once you have made your choices press the Use these values button. When you later press the save button you will be prompted to enter the right Server Variables/Server URL variable as a sanity check.

The port might not always be opened properly. You can always find out if it has been opened by zooming in on your virtual server on the Virtual Servers tab. In case the port was not opened properly a restart of the server might fix the problem. If not it is probable that the server does not have the privilege to open the port, or some other process has already opened it. It is common that the default FTP port, 21, is already in use by the Unix FTP daemon and that the FTP daemon must be disabled in the /etc/inetd.conf file.