This topic provides a general overview of handlers.
Important: Information
for this topic supports the latest PTF levels for HTTP Server for i5/OS .
It is recommended that you install the latest PTFs to upgrade to the latest
level of the HTTP Server for i5/OS. Some of the topics documented here are
not available prior to this update. See http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/software/http/services/service.htm 
for more information.
for more information. A handler is an internal representation of the action that is performed when a file or URL is requested. Generally, files have implicit handlers, based on the file type. Normally, all files are simply served by the server, but certain file types are handled separately. For example, you may use a type of application/x-httpd-cgi to invoke CGI scripts.
Handlers are unrelated to file type. They are either based on filename extensions or on location. This allows both a type and a handler to be associated with a file (see Files with Multiple Extensions).
Handlers are either built into the server, built into a module, or are added with the Action directive. The built-in handlers are:
- default-handler: Send the file using the default_handler(), which is the handler used by default to handle static content. (core)
- send-as-is: Send file with HTTP headers as is (mod_asis).
- cgi-script: Treat the file as a CGI script (mod_cgi).
- imap-file: Imagemap rule file (mod_imap).
- type-map: Parse as a type map file for content negotiation (mod_negotiation).
- proxy-server: Determine if file is local (mod_proxy)