Hosts Page

Overview

The Hosts Page shows you all of your Gnutella network connections. Each connection displays the name of the computer, along with the status, amount of shared files if known, and the type of program the other computer is running if it can be determined. If your DNS server (which you access automatically through your internet service provider) supports reverse lookups, the country of origin, service provider, or business is displayed along with the text for the connection when it can be determined.
In order to search for files, and to return search results to other users, you must be connected to at least one other host. BearShare can automate this process by maintaining a certain minimum number of connections. These other connections are learned by listening to the messages which pass through the network if you are already connected to one computer, or by receiving the IP addresses from a Gnutella service provider. BearShare uses the Clip2 DSS host list exclusively to obtain the initial entry points into the Gnutella network.
In order to get the most out of your network connection, you should periodically adjust the number of hosts you are connected to. If you have a slow connection, you should consider keeping a relatively small number of hosts (2 to 4) active, and also consider removing all of your connections after you start a download.

Appearance

Host List

The Host List shows you all of your host connections, as well as incoming connections destined to become upload requests, push downloads, or temporary connections. This is a description of each column:

Host This column displays the IP address or computer name of the host you are connected to. If the reverse lookup feature is enabled in the Setup, the FreePeers Agent will attempt to determine the computer name. Some computers do not have names, and depending on your service provider, you may not have the capability for resolving IP addresses into their names.
Origin The country of origin, internet service provider, or business entity corresponding to the remote address is displayed if it can be determined, reverse lookup is enabled in the Setup, and your DNS server allows reverse lookups.
Status

This column indicates the status of the connection. During the connection process, you will see the following states.
Coming An incoming connection has been accepted and we are waiting for a handshake to determine the connection type.
Connected A connection has been made, and we are waiting for a handshake.
Trying BearShare is trying to connect to the host.

When a host connection has been established, it will be one of the following:
Auto This connection was made automatically by BearShare.
In This is an incoming connection. Your IP address is only advertised in pong messages when you accept incoming connections by checking the box.
Leaving This connection is in the process of shutting down.
Out This is a connection that you manually established.
Service Service is indicated when the FreePeers Agent establishes a connection with a Gnutella service provider to obtain the addresses of new hosts. Service connections have all text drawn in blue.
Service In This is shown when a Gnutella service provider has connected to your servent to obtain network information. These connections are usually short lived. BearShare allows Gnutella Server providers to connect even if you are at the limit of the number of connections you specify. The FreePeers Agent shields incoming service connections from broadcast traffic of queries, query hits, spurious push requests, and ping messages.
Service Out This indicates a connection you established manually to a Gnutella service provider.
Temp This is a temporary connection will be closed after BearShare responds with the IP addresses of other hosts to connect to.

Some incoming connections are for uploads or downloads. In these cases, these will be shown:
Give This ia a response to a file you wish to download.
Info This is a request for information about a shared file.
Upload This is a request to upload your shared file.

When the connection is terminated gracefully or with an error, these states are possible:
Bandwidth A connection reached a bandwidth barrier and was dropped.
Blocked The remote host was blocked from making a connection attempt due to repeated spamming or requesting the same file too frequently for download. This usually happens when users attempt to download your shared files from web search pages using a "download accelerator". GetRight, FlashGet, and Go!Zilla are examples of download accelerators. IP address stay blocked for 5 minutes.
Canceled The FreePeers Agent canceled an manual or automatic connection request. This can happen if you try to connect to the same host twice.
Closed The connection was closed normally.
Dropped A connection was dropped due to a bad message, large message, or repeated spamming. To see the reason, turn on Show all host errors in the Network Setup.
Dup A host attempted to connect twice to you. If this happens too frequently the host is blocked for 5 minutes.
Problem There was a problem with the connection. Problems are reported in the error list.
Timeout The FreePeers Agent terminated the connection for one of many possible reasons. To see the reasons, turn on Show all host errors in the Network Setup.
Error A program failure occurred. The reason is reported in the error list.

Due to the nature of TCP/IP over the Internet, connections can frequently fail. When they fail, the status will show one of the following:
Abort The connection was aborted by the remote host. This can be the result of user actions, or a problem with their software.
Refused A manual or automatic connection attempt was refused by the remote host. The remote host may not be running the program any more, or they may be behind a firewall. This can also happen if the remote host has more incoming connections than it can handle.
Reset The connection was reset by the remote host. This can happen when the disconnect sequence is abruptly terminated, or through a software problem.
Down The remote host is not responding to a connection attempt.
Unreach The remote host IP address is unreachable from your network.
Net Down The network subsystem failed.
Failure Another problem was indicated with the connection. The reason is reported in the error list.

Time If the host is properly connected, this indicates the amount of time they have been connected to you. When the FreePeers Agent is waiting for something to happen, the number of seconds until it gives up is shown.
Shared The number of files, and total size of all files, shared the the host is reported here. If the connection is to a Reflector or BearShare Deflector, the number of files is reported as the aggregate of the clients below the proxy.
In Out Dup The percentage of messages in, messages out, and duplicated messages is shown here. Dimmed text for messages in or out means that no messages are traveling in or out respectively. Red text for messages in indicates that the connection is idle and will be dropped after a certain length of time. Red text for messages out indicates that the connection has reached a bandwidth barrier, and will be dropped if the situation does not remedy itself. BearShare automatically throttles pings and pongs for hosts that reach a bandwidth barrier.
Bandwidth The amount of bandwidth being consumed for the connection is shown here. This does not include files being uploaded or downloaded by the host, if any. Uploads and downloads do not take place through the Gnutella network. The number is drawn in red if the host has reached a bandwidth barrier.
Version The type of client the host is using is displayed here, if it can be determined from the information available.

All incoming connections are reported in the host list, even if they are responses to push requests, requests for uploads, or temporary connections. These incoming connections are drawn in dimmed text. When connections fail or get closed, they remain visible for a few seconds and then they are removed.

When BearShare detects a bandwidth barrier, it temporarily reduces the flow of outgoing messages to the host. If the problem does not correct itself within a certain time period, the connection is closed. The connection status indicator will flash yellow and green when a bandwidth barrier is present on one or more hosts. You can read more about the bandwidth barrier and its impact on the Gnutella network here.

You can select a host by left clicking in the list. You may select more than one host by holding down the control key when you click. By right clicking in the list, you have options to remove the currently selected host, or to remove all hosts.

Host Menu

Right clicking in the host list produces the host menu. This menu provides the following options:

Remove Immediately disconnects selected hosts and removes them from this list. The host may not receive all of the information intended for them.
Remove All Disconnects all hosts and removes them from the list. If Keep at least is checked, new connections will be established if possible.
Reset Disconnects all hosts, removes them from the list, and clears the internal cache of hosts. This is useful when all of the entries in your host cache are unresponsive and you need to get a connection back into the Gnutella network. The hosts, files, and file sizes reported about your network horizon will be reset as well. If Keep at least is checked, the FreePeers Agent will open a connection to a Gnutella service provider to obtain more host addresses.
Block IP Disconnects and removes selected hosts from the list, and prevents those IP addresses from connecting until the program is re-launched.

Host Errors

Any problems with connections appear in this list. It is normal to see problems during connection attempts. The hosts you are connecting to may not be running the program anymore, there might be a disruption of network services between you and the other computer, or they might be refusing incoming connections.

Server errors may also appear in this list. For example, if a directory you specify as a download or shared folder is moved or deleted, you will receive a notification in the host errors list.

You can clear the list by right clicking with the mouse and choosing Clear List. You may also resize the errors list by clicking and dragging in the space between the errors list and the host list.

Manual Host Connection

When you want to initiate a connection directly to a particular IP address or domain name, enter it in the edit box and press the Connect byutton. To specify a particular port number, append a colon (':') followed by the port number to the IP address or domain name.

Sometimes you need to manually connect to another computer. For example, if you just want to share files with some of your friends, you can enter their IP address in the edit box and click the Connect button. If you are using BearShare in a local area network without Internet access, you will have to type in the IP address of the computer on your LAN you wish to connect to.

Auto Connect

When the box is checked, BearShare will try to keep the mininum number of connections you specify in the edit box. BearShare uses a variety of techniques to learn the addresses of other computers on the Gnutella network. If the cache of IP addresses is empty, BearShare will consult the Clip2 DSS host list automatically.

The edit box controls the number of hosts that the FreePeers Agent will try to maintain, as well as the maximum number of hosts that will be allowed during automatic connection or incoming connection management.

Accept Icoming

Checking this box allows other people to connect to your computer as hosts. When the box is off, incoming host connections will always be considered "Temp". Note that even with the checkbox turned off, it is still possible to receive upload requests if you are sharing files Share Files is checked in the Uploads page.

You should always leave this box checked unless you are behind a firewall or cannot receive incoming connections.

Message Statistics

These statistics show the number of stable hosts, and the total bandwidth consumed by your host connections. The bandwidth display does not include bandwidth used by uploads or downloads, and does not include bandwidth used by other programs.

Status Indicators

The status indicators show you, at a glance, the state of your BearShare servent. A full description of the status indicators is in the Main Window page.

About Button

Pressing this will bring up the About dialog, which displays the version number of the program as well as some additional links to resources.

Community Button

You can go directly to the forums at BearShare.Net by pressing this button.

Setup Button

This button brings up the Setup Dialog, which allows you to set up your configuration. The server continues to operate while the dialog is active.

Exit Button

Press this to exit the program. Your host connections will be terminated, any failed or completed transfer items will be removed from their lists, and search results will be discarded.

If there are transfers in progress, BearShare will minimize to the system tray and wait for the transfers to complete before exiting. If you still want to shut the program down, you can right click the tray icon and either choose Restore to bring the window back, or Exit to exit.

If you choose restore, the server will reactivate itself. If you have automatic connections turned on, then BearShare will reconnect to the Gnutella network.

Help Button

You can access the documentation at any time by pressing this button. The documentation is installed in the same location as the program files.