Hewlett-Packard did a name shift on its Web server which includes security features for the HP e3000, as Secure Apache/iX became HP WebWise Secure Web. The software can be ordered from HP as part number B9074AA and is supported on MPE/iX 6.0 and 6.5. The 6.0 customers (the vast majority of the installed base) must install patches MPELX36A, MPELX51A and MPELX44A. 6.5 patches are MPELX51B and MPELX44B. The last patch in each series fixes a bug in the HPGETPROCPLABEL intrinsic where it was unable to load data items containing unresolved function pointers. What customers get with WebWise is the first Web server that adds SSL/TLS encryption and X.509 support for the e3000 — a product the customer base and its suppliers have been asking for since the summer of 1997. It’s not free, as the base-level Apache/iX Web server is, but HP is pricing the secure version between $1,200 and $1,900 per e3000, depending on the system’s software tier. HP has put a demonstration online with its own Jazz Web server at the CSY headquarters. Non-secure requests go to http://jazz.external.hp.com, while secure requests go to https://jazz.external.hp.com. HP’s Mark Bixby, the engineer who started all of this years ago by porting the Open Source Apache server to the HP 3000 at a California college, noted that HP will have redesign Jazz to eliminate some glitches when the Secure Web Server reaches for material from non-secure sites. “When browsing Jazz in secure mode, your browser will generally act in a confusing or annoying manner because of the way Jazz pages mix local (secure) Jazz content with external (unsecure) graphics content from www.hp.com,” Bixby said. “To make browsers happy, a secure Web server must be designed to return all content from secure Web servers. Future redesigns of the Jazz look and feel may attempt to address this.

HP also posted notice that support for Apache/iX (version 1.3.4) and WebWise is now fully in the hands of the HP Response Center. The Response Center is only supporting the Web server for MPE/iX 6.0 and 6.5 for help on installation, configuration, and operation.

Team member Barbara Dubbert said the CSY Apache e-mail address, apacheix@cup.hp.com, will continue to be available “but only for comments and feedback to the Apache MPE/iX Team. We’d still like to hear from you about how we can improve the product, but we cannot guarantee a reply to your message.”