Server setting?

Why would index.html not be the default?

[inY0URbrain]

Hi all,
Long time reader, first time poster.

I've found that a server that I'm doing sites on at the moment is quite peculiar...

Index.html files are not the default when the address points to a folder. It comes up with a "Directory Listing Denied" page when you do not specify the address to an html file.

I don't know too much about the server itself, and I think that the system admin doesn't have much of a clue either, as my emailed question earlier today came back with this response:

"Hi.
That one is not a valid link.
You have to also have the default file at the end ---- index.html"

*rolls eyes*

Why would someone set a server to NOT recognize an INDEX html file as the default?

[encyclo]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, inY0URbrain!

There are two possibilities here - I believe Windows servers prefer default.htm, although as you say any half-decent sysadmin should add index.html to the list.

The second is when you are on a Unix-type server (eg. Linux, FreeBSD, etc.) - in this situation, filenames are case-sensitive, which is not the case for Windows machines. So it could mean you've uploaded a file called, say, Index.html, which wouldn't be recognized as the default file.

[Purple Martin]

Don't forget there is also a difference between .htm and .html

Therefore you should try four different filenames (all of them in all lowercase):

default.htm
default.html
index.htm
index.html

[klogger]

Can't think of a good reason not to do it unless he wants the pages hard to find for security reasons.

To change it in Apache their is a line similar to the one encyclo mentions for the Windows servers that reads:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm

the sysadmin of the server should add the pages he wants it to serve in the order he wants them served in so that if you edit it to read:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php

it will serve out an index.html if it finds one, if not it will look for a index.htm and if it doesn't find it it will serve an index.php if it can find it. If it finds none it gives the 'Listing denied' that you are seeing.

These settingd are in the httpd.conf file for Apache, change and reboot to pick up the new configuration.

[txbakers]

The default page of a web folder can be anything. By tradition it has been either index.htm, index.html, default.htm or default.html.

But there is no "standard" and it's all up to the system administrator.

I have many sites whose "home" page is something other than those four listed.

It has nothing to do with a system administrator's abilities, although your answer from him sounds a bit daft.

[encyclo]

I agree there is no official standard, but a system administrator for a hosting company should know to put a reasonable selection of possible defaults, including index.html, index.php, default.htm, etc. His email explanation was very poor, too.

I just hope that the rest of the service offered by the company is better than that!