Case Sensitive Server Files

The path name component of a URL is sometimes case sensitive depending on the operating system of the web server. While the domain name component is never case sensitive, the path name can be. For example, if the website is hosted on a Windows server:

www.bobsfruitsite.com/catalog/fruit.asp   and

www.bobsfruitsite.com/CATALOG/Fruit.asp

are the same page, whereas on a Unix server they would be different pages.

A website built on a Windows server can therefore have URLs in both upper and lower case or a combination that refer to the same actual file that is presented to the browser. The web designer may not intentionally create links in mixed case but the fact that a Windows web server permits them without error means they inevitably happen.

Conversely on Unix servers the above pages would be different. A mistake made by the web designer is not hidden - the page named with the wrong case would result in a 404 'not found' error.

At analysis time ClickTracks needs to gather data for all unique pages. On a Windows server the above requests are for the same page, so ClickTracks needs to know that the web server here is not case sensitive.

Usually the case sensitivity of a web server is determined by the server operating system. Windows and MacOS pre OSX are not case sensitive. Unix (including MacOSX) is case sensitive. The one exception to this rule concerns Apache which can be configured with non case sensitive page names even on a Unix system. This situation is rare, however.

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