The Local Common Gateway Interface (LCGI) extension is one of two versions of the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) supported by the NetWare Web Server. The other is the Remote Common Gateway Interface (RCGI). CGI defines a standard interface between Web servers and other programs. CGI enables the Web Server to call programs to perform tasks in response to user requests, interact with the user, and create dynamic Web pages.
While each of these interfaces is tailored to the NetWare operating system, RCGI scripts and applications can run on other platforms besides NetWare, but always require dedicated sockets. In comparison LCGI applications must be written as NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs) and are not portable. Although LCGI applications are not portable, they run more quickly since they eliminate the need for sockets by executing threads directly from the NetWare Web Server. Also, as they run only under Netware, they can take advantage of architecture of the Netware environment. Use LCGI when you want your dynamic Web page to run most efficiently on the NetWare operating system.
Loading a module in the NetWare environment requires substantial overhead. LCGI NLMs reduce this overhead because they are loaded only once for many requests and not unloaded until the Web Server unloads. In addition, NetWare threads work more efficiently as reentrant functions than as multiload processes. When LCGI NLMs remain resident in memory and are used in this reentrant fashion by simultaneous requests, they can be literally twice as fast as their UNIX heavy-weight thread or process-oriented counterparts.
For details on creating dynamic web pages with LCGI, refer to the Dynamic Web Page Programmer's Guide.
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