22. Host Settings
The Host options make changes to the OVERLAPS web server. You can use these settings to configure web access to OVERLAPS (HTTP/HTTPS), and to tweak its performance.
Note that all changes made to this section require a service restart to take effect. You can do this manually, or by checking the Restart the OVERLAPS service now box at the bottom of the page before clicking Save Changes.
22.1 Communication Security
22.1.1 Enable HTTP Access
It is recommended that for most sites this should be left enabled.
If you do not have an SSL/TLS certificate (it is strongly recommended you get one to protect the security of your network) then this will be the only way that your users can access OVERLAPS.
If you have an SSL/TLS certificate installed and HTTPS hosting enabled (see Configuring HTTPS Connection Encryption) then HTTP traffic will automatically be redirected to the secure, encrypted connection.
22.1.2 Enable encrypted HTTPS access (SSL Certificate Required)
Once you have installed your SSL/TLS certificate (see Configuring HTTPS Connection Encryption), check this box to enable hosting over a secure, encrypted connection.
22.1.3 Enforce Windows Integrated Authentication
Checking the Enforce Windows Integrated Authentication box removes the option for logging in via the web form. Instead, users are logged in using Windows Integrated Authentication (NTLM or Kerberos) instead, meaning that user passwords are not directly transmitted to the website. For more on enabling Kerberos, see Configuring Kerberos.
22.1.4 Session Cookie Timeout
Specify how long session cookies should persist before timing out and forcing a logout.
22.2 IP Address
If the server that OVERLAPS is installed on has more than one IP address (either by having multiple Network Interface Cards or by having more than one IP address assigned to a single Network Interface Card) then by default OVERLAPS will attempt to listen on all available IPs. If you would prefer that this is limited to one particular IP address, you can select it here.
This can be useful on servers where you also have another web service running (e.g. IIS or Apache), but you would like to use the default ports (HTTP port 80 and HTTPS port 443) for both services. In this case, you can bind each service to a separate IP address, allowing them to use the same ports.
For more information on this setup, consult your other web service’s documentation for how to bind to a single IP address.
22.3 Server Ports
Use this section to specify the ports that OVERLAPS will listen to for unencrypted HTTP and encrypted HTTPS connections. By default, these are set to ports 80 and 443 respectively.
22.4 Performance
22.4.1 Number of Processing Threads
This setting is used to determine the maximum number of CPU threads that OVERLAPS will use when processing web requests and serving data. This is usually best left as the default unless you notice significant performance problems.
22.4.2 Maximum Ajax Request Length
Specifies the maximum amount of time (in milliseconds) a client will wait for data to be returned from the OVERLAPS server before issuing a timeout warning. This is set high by default, but if you are receiving timeout alerts (due to, for example, a slow network link), then consider increasing it.
22.5 Service Restart
Here you can check the Restart the OVERLAPS service now? box and click Save Changes if you wish to initiate an immediate service restart.
Restarting the service is necessary for all of the settings on this page, but it is not enforced automatically as it would cause all users to be temporarily disconnected and logged out.