Embedded Device Management

Users of embedded devices need the convenience of a standard browser interface to manage and control devices easily. Indeed in several segments, (E.g. Communications) an embedded web server is already a standard expectation and devices must be managable via a browser.

You cannot just use any web server in a device for effective embedded device management. Enterprise web servers were not designed to manage devices. They have been designed to scale to hundreds of simultaneous users, access back-end databases and do not scale down well to the requirements of embedded devices. An embedded web server has a different set of requirements and should exhibit the following qualities:

Embedded Web Server Qualities

Compact with a small memory footprint
Strong security
Fast and efficient
Easy to create web user interfaces in a standards-based way
Run from ROM if required
Be embeddable in other applications if required
Be optionally single or multithreaded

Device Management Must be Secure

Most embedded web servers were designed before the security threat reached its current level. Indeed, five years ago, the web was a much kinder place. These embedded web servers were also designed for the very small memory footprints that were common place five years ago. Consequently, old web servers have usually compromised on features and security.

The requirements for an embedded web server today have changed significantly. Secure with efficient standard-based designs are now paramount. Mbedthis AppWeb is such a 2nd generation embedded web server that fulfills today's requirements. It is secure, compact and embeddable. It has an extensive set of features but is still one of the most compact and fastest web servers available.

AppWeb is usually run as a stand-alone service or daemon in embedded devices. The AppWeb download include a complete stand-alone HTTP program that can can be extended via loadable modules.

AppWeb Specifications

AppWeb will run in as little as 110K RAM and will consume less than 1% of the CPU when serving an active user. (It can serve over 3,500 requests per second on a PC class device). AppWeb has a modular architecture where you can select the feature set you require and only load those modules.

The AppWeb embedded web server has the following features:

Embedded Server Pages for dynamic content
Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
Server-side Embedded JavaScript
In-process CGI as well as traditional CGI
Digest Authentication
Dynamically loadable modules
HTTP Client program and library
Extensive logging
Fastest performance in its class
Cross-platform and portable
Full source code and documentation provided