Server Side Includes is an optional feature of the web server which allows text from another file or the output of a program to be included as part of the current web page. This puts more work on the server because instead of just passing the contents of the file to the client, it must search through the text for additional instructions and carry them out.

To tell the we server that you wish to have it look for Server Side Includes you will need to set the execute bit on the permissions of your html file. This can be done by issueing the following command: 

	chmod 0755 index.html

One example of what you can do with Server Side Includes is to automatically give the date and time of the last time your page was modified. This can be done by using a line just like this one: 

This page last modified < !--#echo var="LAST_MODIFIED" -->.
without the space here   ^

Another use for Server Side Includes is to be able to includes counters that work without generating graphical images. This can be done by includinga something like: 

This page has been accessed < !--#exec cgi="./counter.pl" --> times.
without the space here       ^

Where counter.pl looks something like: 

#!/local/bin/perl
$file="your_counter_file";
print "Content-type:  text/plain\n\n";
select(STDOUT); $|=1;
open(COUNT,"+<$file");
flock(COUNT,2);
$count=;
$count++;
seek(COUNT,0,0);
print COUNT "$count\n";
close(COUNT);
flock(COUNT,8);
print "$count\n";

Be sure to set the file permissions on counter.pl like: 

	chmod 0755 counter.pl

These examples are configured for use in a personal web page. For departmental pages some changes may need to be made.