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SMArT

SMArT is the web-based configuration interface for MARS_NWE, a Novell NetWare 3.x emulator for Linux and FreeBSD.

In the current setup, this repository is no longer treated as a standalone component only. It is integrated into the main mars_nwe project as a Git submodule and is therefore included in the normal mars_nwe release process.

Project status and integration

This repository is intended to be embedded into the main mars_nwe Git repository:

  • Main project: mars_nwe
  • Submodule role: provides the SMArT web UI and helper tools
  • Release model: shipped as part of the integrated MARS_NWE release, not as a separate end-user release artifact

The build and install rules show that the web UI binaries, Perl helpers, configuration, static assets, and PAM file are installed as part of the overall build and installation flow.

Architecture overview

SMArT consists of two main parts:

  1. Perl-based application logic for configuration pages and helper scripts
  2. nwwebui service as the web frontend that exposes the application over HTTP and HTTPS

The current implementation adds a dedicated nwwebui service that can serve the application directly over:

  • HTTP on port 9080
  • HTTPS on port 9443

The service supports TLS via OpenSSL and can run both listeners in parallel. HTTPS is the preferred mode because authentication happens more securely over an encrypted connection, while plain HTTP may still be useful for testing or trusted internal environments.

Security model

SMArT uses PAM-based authentication through the check_login helper. The supplied PAM policy is a standard pam_unix stack for authentication, account, password, and session handling. During installation with MARS_NWE, this file is installed automatically as:

  • /etc/pam.d/smart

That means no manual PAM file deployment is normally required when SMArT is installed through the integrated mars_nwe package or release.

Installed components

The install rules include the following relevant components.

Binaries

  • nwwebui – dedicated web service frontend
  • check_login – PAM authentication helper

Perl helpers

  • smart
  • apply.pl
  • readconfig.pl
  • settings.pl
  • static.pl

Configuration and assets

  • smart.conf
  • static HTML and image assets for the web UI
  • optional mars-nwe-webui.service systemd unit
  • PAM file installed as /etc/pam.d/smart

These components are all installed by the build system as part of the same integrated installation target.

Typical runtime paths

The original templates use CMake placeholders. For documentation, the following standard example paths can be used in a typical Linux installation:

  • Main MARS_NWE config directory: /etc/mars_nwe
  • SMArT config file: /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf
  • Main MARS_NWE server config: /etc/mars_nwe/nwserv.conf
  • Helper binaries and scripts: /usr/libexec/mars_nwe
  • Static SMArT assets: /usr/libexec/mars_nwe/static
  • Log directory: /var/log/mars_nwe
  • PID directory: /run/mars_nwe
  • TLS certificate: /etc/mars_nwe/server.crt
  • TLS private key: /etc/mars_nwe/server.key
  • PAM file: /etc/pam.d/smart

These values are sensible standard defaults for documentation. Packaging may still adjust them depending on the target distribution.

The smart.conf file

The smart.conf file controls both the SMArT frontend behavior and the nwwebui listener settings.

A documented example with standard installation paths is shown below:

# SMArT / nwwebui configuration file

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# UI colors
# ------------------------------------------------------------
$COLOR_BACK      = "#F0F0FF";
$COLOR_HEAD_BACK = "#C0C0FF";
$COLOR_HEAD_FORE = "#000000";
$COLOR_SUBH_BACK = "#D0D0FF";
$COLOR_SUBH_FORE = "#000000";
$COLOR_TEXT_BACK = "#E0E0FF";
$COLOR_TEXT_FORE = "#000000";

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Main MARS_NWE configuration
# ------------------------------------------------------------
$mars_config = '/etc/mars_nwe/nwserv.conf';
$nonroot_user = 'nobody';
$smart_compact_nwservconf = 0;

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# SMArT internal file layout
# ------------------------------------------------------------
$smart_conf_path     = '/etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf';
$smart_nwclient_path = '/etc/mars_nwe/.nwclient';
$smart_static_dir    = '/usr/libexec/mars_nwe/static';
$smart_log_path      = '/var/log/mars_nwe/smart.log';
$smart_check_login   = '/usr/libexec/mars_nwe/check_login';

# Optional override, usually not needed
# $smart_perl_path   = '/usr/libexec/mars_nwe/smart';

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# nwwebui listener settings
# ------------------------------------------------------------
$nw_bind_ip    = '0.0.0.0';
$nw_log_level  = 1;
$nw_daemonize  = 0;
$nw_pid_file   = '/run/mars_nwe/nwwebui.pid';
$nw_log_file   = '/var/log/mars_nwe/nwwebui.log';

$nw_ssl_enable = 0;
$nw_http_port  = 9080;
$nw_https_port = 9443;

$nw_cert_file  = '/etc/mars_nwe/server.crt';
$nw_key_file   = '/etc/mars_nwe/server.key';

smart.conf settings explained

UI colors

These variables define the default SMArT page colors:

  • $COLOR_BACK – page background
  • $COLOR_HEAD_BACK / $COLOR_HEAD_FORE – main section header colors
  • $COLOR_SUBH_BACK / $COLOR_SUBH_FORE – subsection header colors
  • $COLOR_TEXT_BACK / $COLOR_TEXT_FORE – regular content row colors

Main MARS_NWE configuration

  • $mars_config – path to the main nwserv.conf file that SMArT reads and updates
  • $nonroot_user – unprivileged user account used when SMArT drops privileges
  • $smart_compact_nwservconf – controls how nwserv.conf is written back:
    • 0 keeps comments, spacing, and the original structure as much as possible
    • 1 writes a more compact version without the original long comment layout

SMArT internal file layout

  • $smart_conf_path – absolute path to smart.conf
  • $smart_nwclient_path – file used to store bindery login information for SMArT helper tools
  • $smart_static_dir – directory containing HTML, icons, and other static assets
  • $smart_log_path – log file used by the Perl-based SMArT frontend
  • $smart_check_login – PAM-based authentication helper path
  • $smart_perl_path – optional override for the main SMArT Perl executable; usually not needed

nwwebui listener settings

  • $nw_bind_ip – bind address for HTTP and HTTPS listeners, for example 0.0.0.0 for all IPv4 interfaces or 127.0.0.1 for localhost-only access
  • $nw_log_level – service log verbosity:
    • 0 = errors only
    • 1 = informational messages
    • 2 = debug output
  • $nw_daemonize – whether nwwebui detaches into the background
  • $nw_pid_file – location of the PID file
  • $nw_log_file – log file written by nwwebui
  • $nw_ssl_enable – enables or disables HTTPS support
  • $nw_http_port – HTTP listener port; set to 0 to disable plain HTTP
  • $nw_https_port – HTTPS listener port; set to 0 to disable HTTPS
  • $nw_cert_file – PEM certificate path for TLS
  • $nw_key_file – PEM private key path for TLS

The current code and template show that:

  • nwwebui listens on 9080 for HTTP by default
  • 9443 is used for HTTPS
  • the log file can be configured with $nw_log_file
  • the log path can also be overridden at runtime with -l

Because passwords may be transmitted during login, HTTPS is the recommended way to access the interface.

Starting the service

Depending on the installation method, nwwebui can be started either via systemd or directly from the command line. The build system installs a mars-nwe-webui.service unit when systemd support is enabled.

Starting with systemd

A typical installed system uses the mars-nwe-webui.service unit. The unit starts nwwebui, prepares the needed runtime directories, and loads the standard smart.conf file.

Typical commands:

systemctl enable --now mars-nwe-webui.service
systemctl start mars-nwe-webui.service
systemctl stop mars-nwe-webui.service
systemctl restart mars-nwe-webui.service
systemctl status mars-nwe-webui.service

The service unit starts nwwebui with the equivalent of:

/usr/sbin/nwwebui -c /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf

Starting from the command line

nwwebui can also be launched manually. The built-in usage text documents the supported options:

Usage: nwwebui [-h] [-d] [-s] [-c <smart.conf>] [-p <pidfile>] [-l <logfile>]

Options:
  -h, --help            Show this help text and exit
  -d, --daemon          Run in daemon mode
  -s, --stop            Stop the running nwwebui instance
  -c, --config <file>   Use an alternate smart.conf path
  -p, --pidfile <file>  Override PID file path
  -l, --logfile <file>  Override log file path

Typical examples:

# start in foreground with the standard configuration
/usr/sbin/nwwebui -c /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf

# start in daemon mode
/usr/sbin/nwwebui -d -c /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf

# stop a running instance
/usr/sbin/nwwebui -s -c /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf

# use a custom PID file
/usr/sbin/nwwebui -d -c /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf -p /run/mars_nwe/nwwebui.pid

# use a custom log file
/usr/sbin/nwwebui -c /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf -l /var/log/mars_nwe/custom-nwwebui.log

# override both PID and log file
/usr/sbin/nwwebui -d -c /etc/mars_nwe/smart.conf -p /run/mars_nwe/nwwebui.pid -l /var/log/mars_nwe/nwwebui.log

The -l option overrides $nw_log_file from smart.conf at runtime.

Typical access URLs:

  • http://<host>:9080/
  • https://<host>:9443/

For production use, HTTPS should be preferred.

Build and installation notes

This repository is built as part of the main mars_nwe build. The build system:

  • generates smart.conf from the template
  • generates the smart launcher script
  • builds nwwebui
  • builds check_login
  • installs the PAM file and static UI assets

Because this repository is integrated as a Git submodule in mars_nwe, end users normally consume it through the main mars_nwe source tree and release packages rather than using it as a standalone project.

Summary

SMArT is now an integrated part of the mars_nwe release and includes a dedicated nwwebui service that can expose the interface over both HTTP and HTTPS. The standard listener ports are 9080 for HTTP and 9443 for HTTPS. Authentication is handled through PAM, and the required /etc/pam.d/smart file is installed automatically together with the integrated MARS_NWE installation.

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