Apache::Gateway The Apache::Gateway module implements a gateway using LWP (libwww-perl) with assorted optional features. From the HTTP 1.1 draft, a gateway is [a] server which acts as an intermediary for some other server. Unlike a proxy, a gateway receives requests as if it were the origin server for the requested resource; the requesting client may not be aware that it is communicating with a gateway. FEATURES * Standard Gateway Features implemented using LWP * Automatic Failover with Mirrored Instances * Multiplexing * Pattern-dependent Gatewaying * FTP Directory Gatewaying * Timestamp Correction REQUIREMENTS In order to install and use this package you will need Perl version 5.004 or better, an Apache server with modperl, and the appropriate administrative privileges to run Apache/Perl modules. Apache::Gateway uses many other modules. * Apache::Constants * HTTP::Date * HTTP::Request * HTTP::Status * IO::File * LWP::UserAgent * Regexp * Time::Zone * URI::URL These packages should be available on CPAN. INSTALLATION You install Apache::Gateway as you would install any perl module library. Use the CPAN module or run the following commands: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install SUPPORTED PLATFORMS I have built and tested Apache::Gateway under Linux. AVAILABILITY The latest public version of this package is available for download from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) . DOCUMENTATION See ChangeLog for a list of recent changes. POD style documentation is included in Gateway.pm. This is normally converted to a manual page and installed as part of the "make install" process. You should also be able to use the 'perldoc' utility to extract and read documentation from the module file directly. Definitions.txt defines some HTTP terms used in the documentation. NOTES Apache::Gateway is now quite dated. Sites needing to implement gateways using Apache might now wish to consider a combination of mod_proxy (to which I've also contributed), mod_rewrite, and, if necessary, connection input/output filters. Failover remains a distinguishing key feature of Apache::Gateway. If you want to automatically failover to other servers when one is down, Apache::Gateway is the only commonly available solution. Rotating or otherwise multiplexing requests to servers in a server farm or set of mirrors is possible with mod_rewrite, although it's easier with Apache::Gateway. Fixing up timestamps for misconfigured gatewayed mirrors is possible with connection input/output filters but is much easier with Apache::Gateway. However, the performance penalty of Apache::Gateway is enough that, even with its greater ease of use, I would recommend using mod_rewrite and/or connection filters for busy sites that don't need the failover feature. SUPPORT For comments, questions, bug-reports, announcements, etc., send mail to . To subscribe to this list (which you must do to send mail to the list), send a mail message to with the body: subscribe modperl See the modperl documentation for a list of modperl list archives. Comments can also be sent to the author at . COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 1998,2004 Charles C. Fu. All rights reserved. This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.