CGI scripts
Background information
NOCservices's virtual web servers run the Apache web server software under the Linux operating system. As such, any CGI script that can run on a Unix system should work fine.
For additional security, all CGI scripts run on our servers run using Apache "suexec" functionality. This allows each user's scripts to run under his/her individual user identification instead of the traditional method which has all CGI scripts run by the same one user regardless of whose site they belong to.
File and directory permissions
Though the instructions provided with some CGI scripts tell you that you need to have a world-writable file or directory in order for the CGI script to work, this is mearly a workaround for the typical situation in which all CGI scripts are run by a single user regardless of which site they are a part of. As mentioned above, since NOCservices uses the "suexec" system, this is no longer the case and therefore the lapse in security is also not needed.
In fact, due to the increase in security provided by the "suexec" system, CGI scripts that are world-writable or are in world-writable directories will not be run as the server knows that they may have been altered and therefore are untrustworthy. However, the server will still refuse to run just any script -- you must still tell it which scripts may be run by setting the corresponding file permissions.
Your CGI directory must be world executable for the web server to be able to see any CGI scripts within it, and your CGI scripts must be readable and executable by your own user ID. NOCservices recommends the following access permissions:
| CGI directory | CGI scripts | |
| User | Read Write Execute | Read Write Execute |
| Group | Read Write Execute | Read Write Execute |
| Others | Execute | (none) |
To set the access permissions, look for a command regarding file permissions or the Unix "chmod" command within your FTP client software.
Commonly used commands
Often, when setting up a CGI script, you will be asked for the location of one or more Unix commands. Some of the most common are listed below; if you need information on any others, just contact NOCservices Technical Support.
- Date - /bin/date
- Perl - /usr/bin/perl
- Sendmail - /usr//sbin/sendmail
- Unix Shell (bash) - /bin/sh
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