ASP is also an abbreviation for application service

provider.

An Active Server Page (ASP) is an HTML page that

includes one or more scripts

(small embedded programs) that are processed on a Microsoft Web server before the page is sent to

the user. An ASP is somewhat similar to a server-side

include or a common gateway interface (CGI) application

in that all involve programs that run on the server, usually tailoring a page for the user.

Typically, the script in the Web page at the server uses input received as the result of the user's

request for the page to access data from a database

and then builds or customizes the page on the fly before

sending it to the requestor.

ASP is a feature of the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS),

but, since the server-side script is just building a regular HTML page, it can be delivered to

almost any browser.

You can create an ASP file by including a script written in VBScript

or JScript in

an HTML file or by using ActiveX Data Objects (ADOs)

program statements in the HTML file. You name the HTML file with the ".市星火" file suffix. Microsoft

recommends the use of the server-side ASP rather than a client-side script, where there is actually

a choice, because the server-side script will result in an easily displayable HTML page.

Client-side scripts (for example, with ) may

not work as intended on older browsers.

For Web

service applications, Microsoft provides a new version of ASP support called ASP.NET.

Related glossary terms:

DirectAccess, Microsoft System Center, IIS (Internet Information Server), catastrophic failure, hotfix, Active Directory, Windows Sysinternals

This was last updated in July 2005

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

Email Alerts

Register now to receive SearchWindowsServer.com-related news, tips and more, delivered to your inbox.

By submitting you agree to receive email from TechTarget and its partners. If you reside outside of the United States, you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Privacy

More News and Tutorials

FAQ: Hardening Windows servers

Here's why you should treat your server like a workstation -- and not a server -- when it comes to security.

The 2012 summer reading list for IT pros

From an IT detective story to the tale of the world's most wanted hacker, these 10 books will feed your need for tech this summer.

Revamped Windows Performance Toolkit improves performance monitoring

Performance monitoring gets a graphical boost with the release of several new event tracing tools.

Articles

Resources from around the Web

The ASP Resource Index is a comprehensive starting point.

Microsoft's Client and Server Scripting in Web Pages provides some perspective about when and how to use Active Server Pages.

SearchVB.com, a portal for Visual Basic developers, includes a collection of links about Active Server Pages.

SearchWin2000.com has a collection of Internet links related to Active Server Pages.

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know.

Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com