The document summarizes the request processing flow for Oracle iPlanet Webserver. It describes the various processing stages including authentication, name translation, path checking, object typing, input/output processing, routing, service execution, error handling, and logging. Key directives are executed at each stage to determine how the request is handled. Requests for files in the document root and for web applications are processed differently, with different directives matched at each stage.
2. Topics Covered
• Request Processing Stages – Summary
• Processing the Request for the file Present in Document Root
• Processing the Web Application Request
• Processing the Oracle Weblogic server plugin request
• Processing the Reverse Proxy Request
NOTE: I have included the Request Processing and the Execution of Directives to the best of my
Understanding and Knowledge.
If there are any discrepancies, please feel free to share with me.
3. Request Processing Stages - Execution
Phase Default be Directives Comments
forced Executed
AuthTrans N/A All
NameTrans Yes Only One Either the matched directive or default.
PathCheck N/A All All PathCheck directives are processed.
Object Type Yes All After a MIME attribute has been set, it
cannot be changed.
Input N/A All All matched directives are processed.
Output N/A All All matched directives are processed.
Route N/A Only One Matched Directive will be processed.
Service Yes Only One Either the matched directive or default.
Error N/A All
Log N/A All All Directives are processed
6. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir
close the TCP/IP session after SSL Communications
were completed in older versions of IE Browwsers
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
7. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir Replaces a directory prefix in the requested URL with
a real directory name.
document-root Evaluated, but not true
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
8. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir Processing falls into the default case.
File location path is the Concatenation of Document
document-root root directory and URI from the request.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
9. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir
Updates the ACL for this instance.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
10. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir
URI did not contain any potential security risks so
processing continues.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
11. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir
URI did not contain any extra path information, so the
PATH_INFO variable was not populated
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
12. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir
The requested resource was not a directory so the
resource path information remains unaltered.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
13. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir The mime.types file defined in the server.xml is
evaluated. The server locates an extension of
document-root requested file and sets the Content-Type accordingly.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
14. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir The type has already been defined and force-type
does not set enc or lang attributes. This directive is
document-root processed, but no changes occur.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
15. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir This Directive matches the ObjectType Directives set
earlier. The send-file SAF is used to process and send
document-root the file to the client.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
16. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir
The access log is updated to reflect the client request
and subsequent server response.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
17. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
pfx2dir
document-root Directives Processed
check-acl
uri-clean
for a file from
find-pathinfo
find-index
Document Root
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
AddLog
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed Executed Successfully
Evaluated, but not true
ALT compress-on-demand Not Evaluated
19. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir close the TCP/IP session after SSL Communications
were completed in older versions of IE Browwsers
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
20. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir
Determines whether the requested resource maps to
content that is hosted in a Java web application. It
document-root turns out to be true.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
21. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir URI did not contain any potential security risks so
processing continues.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
22. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir
URI did not contain any extra path information (found
after the filename) so the PATH_INFO variable was
document-root not populated
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
23. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir
Implements welcome file processing for Java web
applications. It acts on URIs that map to directories
document-root within the Java web application
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
24. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir The requested resource was not a directory so the
resource path information remains unaltered.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
25. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir
May set the value of the Content-Type request header
field when the request URI maps to a resource in a
document-root Java web application.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
26. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir
This directive is processed, but no changes occur.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
27. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir
The type has already been defined and force-type
does not set enc or lang attributes. This directive is
document-root processed, but no changes occur.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
28. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir Processes requests for resources in Java web
applications and returns a response to the client.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
29. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir The access log is updated to reflect the client request
and subsequent server response.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index-j2ee
find-index
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
ALT send-
precompressed
ALT compress-on-demand
30. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
nametrans-j2ee
pfx2dir
document-root
check-acl
Directives Processed
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
for a Web Application
find-index-j2ee
find-index
Request
type-j2ee
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT service-j2ee
ALT es-internal
ALT cgi
Executed Successfully
ALT send-
precompressed Evaluated, but not true
Not Evaluated
ALT compress-on-demand
33. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir close the TCP/IP session after SSL Communications
were completed in older versions of IE Browwsers
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
34. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir
Process the directives in a named object.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
35. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir
Replaces a directory prefix in the requested URL with
a real directory name.
document-root Evaluated, but not true
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
36. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir
Processing falls into the default case.
File location path is the Concatenation of Document
document-root root directory and URI from the request.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
37. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir
Updates the ACL for this instance.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
38. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir URI did not contain any potential security risks so
processing continues.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
39. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir URI did not contain any extra path information, so the
PATH_INFO variable was not populated
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
40. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir The requested resource was not a directory so the
resource path information remains unaltered.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
41. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir
The mime.types file defined in the server.xml is
evaluated. The server locates an extension of
document-root requested file and sets the Content-Type accordingly.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
42. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir
The type has already been defined and force-type
does not set enc or lang attributes. This directive is
document-root processed, but no changes occur.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
43. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir Delegated to serve dynamic pages, such as JSPs or
pages generated by Weblogic server.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
44. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir The access log is updated to reflect the client request
and subsequent server response.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
45. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
assign-name
pfx2dir
document-root Directives Processed
check-acl
uri-clean for a Oracle Weblogic
find-pathinfo
find-index Server Request
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
wl-proxy
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal Executed Successfully
Evaluated, but not true
Not Evaluated
48. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir close the TCP/IP session after SSL Communications
were completed in older versions of IE Browwsers
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
49. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir
looks for a certain URL prefix in the URL that the
client is requesting. If map finds the prefix, it replaces
document-root the prefix with the mirror site prefix. Evaluated True.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
50. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir
Replaces a directory prefix in the requested URL with
a real directory name.
document-root Evaluated, but not true
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
51. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir URI did not contain any potential security risks so
processing continues.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
52. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir URI did not contain any extra path information, so the
PATH_INFO variable was not populated
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
53. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir The requested resource was not a directory so the
resource path information remains unaltered.
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
54. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir
The mime.types file defined in the server.xml is
evaluated. The server locates an extension of
document-root requested file and sets the Content-Type accordingly.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
55. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir
The type has already been defined and force-type
does not set enc or lang attributes. This directive is
document-root processed, but no changes occur.
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal
56. Auth Name Path Object
Input Output Route Service Error Log
Trans Trans Check Type
match-browser
map
pfx2dir distributes the load across a set of homogeneous
HTTP origin servers
document-root
check-acl
uri-clean
find-pathinfo
find-index
type-by-
extension
force-type
index-common
send-file
service-trace
error-j2ee
AddLog
ALT
proxy-retrieve
http:*
ALT set-origin-server
MyAppServer
ALT
check-acl
es-internal