Establishing a Connection with a CustomerÆs Computer

A potential customer opens a sign-up program that starts Internet Explorer, dials the ISS, and posts an initial CGI request. The ISS then does the following:

• Accepts the CGI request from the customerÆs desktop computer (the HTTP client).
• Creates a local data store for accumulating the information that the customer enters.
• Assigns a unique session handle that is embedded in all subsequent HTTP transactions with the client.

Preparing the server

If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0 (IIS), carry out the following steps to copy all files in this ISS Server folder to the InetSrv folder on the IIS system. If you are not using IIS, see Understanding the Server Folder Components for details about where to place the components.

To install the server

1. Install Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and include the TCP/IP and Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0 options. For additional information about installing Windows NT 4.0, see the Windows NT Server Resource Kit.
2. Install Remote Access Service (RAS). You can use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to assign IP addresses automatically or set up a range of static IP addresses. You must enable user accounts for dial-up and set up RAS to receive calls.
3. When installing RAS, you must enable user accounts for dial-up and to receive calls.
4. If you used the default setup for IIS, use the following command lines to copy the files and directories. for your custom browser to the following subfolders located in the Inetpub directory:

To the WWWRoot subfolder: xcopy:\server\eng\isp_file\server\wwwroot /s/e

If you are using the sample sign-up server without modifying Signup.exe, you must use the default directory structure for IIS. If you have a different directory structure, you will see the following CGI error after you submit the final request to create the .ins file in the Insfiles directory in WWWRoot:

"The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers. The headers it did return are:"

The error occurs because the CGI application source code has hard coded directory paths. If the code is not modified, then it requires the default directory structure for IIS.

To the Scripts subfolder: xcopy:\server\eng\isp_file\server\scripts /s/e

To modify options

1. If the guest account is used for dial-up access, then it must be enabled and have the same password as the one specified in the .ins file. It is easiest not to specify any password.
2. Change the properties of the Scripts directory to allow read and execute permissions.
3. If there is no type of name resolution available when users dial up, then they must use the IP address to access the IIS server.
4. Use the following URL to access the beginning Web page:
   http://server name/scripts/template/home.htm

To create a guest account

1. Start the User Manager utility and use it to set the default Guest account password to None (that is, no password).
2. Start the Remote Access Administrator utility.
3. On the Users menu, click Permissions, and then enable the Guest account for dial-in permission.

The following entries are generally required for all users and must be added manually to the .ins file. Be sure to review these entries carefully, because no error checking is provided.

The following entries are user-specific and must be added to the .ins file (except for the Outlook Express entries, which are necessary only if Outlook Express features are provided by the service). The mechanism for placing these entries dynamically in the file varies based on the services available on your server. Usually, user input is required at sign-up. Most servers support some macro mechanism associated with CGI that makes the process easy.

For Windows 3.1, all Outlook Express entries must be set or none of the settings will be used.

If users are assigned to different servers, the following entries need to be changed to replace the information entered into the wizard.