WebSphere: what is _vti_bin and _vti_inf.html for ?

[stefan.lorei@xxxxxxx]

Hi there,

I have written a Servlet F1servlet which creates an Excel-File (with
Tidestone's Formula One) and send it back to the Browser.
When I look at my log-files at WebSphere I can see following entrys:
...
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:05:04 +0000| "POST
/servlet/F1servlet HTTP/1.1" 200 292826
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:05:12 +0000| "POST
/servlet/F1servlet HTTP/1.1" 200 62464
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:05:19 +0000| "OPTIONS /servlet
HTTP/1.1" 403 185
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:05:19 +0000| "GET /_vti_inf.html
HTTP/1.1" 403 185
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:05:19 +0000| "POST
/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/_vti_rpc HTTP/1.1" 403 185
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:05:20 +0000| "OPTIONS
/servlet/F1servlet HTTP/1.1" 200 -
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:05:26 +0000| "POST
/servlet/F1servlet HTTP/1.1" 200 62464
00000000000010.10.10.96 - - ¬22/Jan/2002:08:09:19 +0000| "POST
/servlet/F1servlet HTTP/1.1" 200 62464
...

Can anyone tell me:
1. what OPTIONS means
2. what is _vti_bin and _vti_inf.html for ?

At my search at the Web I learnd that this dir contains
Frontpage-extensions.
But I use no Frontpage and I have no such dir at my IFS.

Stefan