[GRASS-user] How to best access hundreds of orthophotos -- mapserver as WMS server?

[Rainer M Krug]

Hi

I have hundreds, probably thousands, of orthophotos which I would like 
to access as easy as possible. They are in MrSid format, but I will 
convert them to geotiff.

My problem is that it is sometimes quite difficult to find the one 
covering the region I am working in and it involves quite some trial and 
error to get the right one (which is time intensive and annoying...).

I thought about setting up mapserver as a WMS server, but I didn't 
manage (might have to spend some m ore time on that). What I would like 
to know:

1) Is mapserver as WMS server the best solution or is there a more 
effective one?

2) If mapserver (WMS server) is the way to go - can somebody give me an 
example .map file which is achieving that?

3) the whole layer is obviously in several single tiles - can mapserver 
handle this as a single layer or do I( have to do something special?

Sorry for the slightly oftopic questions - but 1) should be ontopic.

Thanks

Rainer