AppleShare IP 6.0 Seed 3 is a technology evaluation release and will expire on June 30, 1998. This is not a supported product, but we encourage you to try it and give us feedback. This copy is for evaluation purposes only and is offered at no charge. We cannot guarantee that any subsequent releases will be offered free of charge, but we suggest that you check back frequently for any revisions of this release.
Remember that the software you are receiving is in development. There are inherent risks in putting unreleased software on your machine. Although we feel the product is stable, there are still risks. We suggest that you not use this product in production or mission critical operations; or where 100% reliability is required. As much as possible, we will respond to problems and provide updates to deal with issues, but we cannot guarantee all problems will be addressed. As added precautions, we recommend that you backup your hard drives prior to testing, save your work often and continue to backup your hard drives as often as necessary to protect your data. Apple cannot accept liability for any lost data or other injury.
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
You have agreed to a Non-Disclosure Agreement in order to participate in this seed. This is a highly confidential project. By agreeing to the NDA, you have agreed not to reveal any information about this project. Please read the NDA for details.
This NDA now holds you accountable and in confidentiality for any and all AppleShare IP 6.0 project related seeds until the project is released or we terminate the project. You must maintain any and all information you receive from Apple regarding this seed release as confidential for the duration of the seed or until we notify you that the seed has been terminated. Be sure to read the NDA for details.
Seed Mailing List
Do not discuss this seed on the AppleShare IP Mailing List. Doing so is a breach of confidentiality.
Please send your feedback and any questions concerning the AppleShare IP 6.0 Seed 3 to:
devsupport@apple.com.
All messages and discussion on this list are confidential and are subject to the terms of the NDA.
Please send in your feedback as early as possible in order to have it considered for this release.
Requirements for Running AppleShare IP 6.0
AppleShare IP 6.0 requires MacOS 8.1 and MacsBug 6.5.4a3. MacOS 8.1 is available for download from http://www.info.apple.com/swupdates/. MacsBug 6.5.4a3 can be downloaded from ftp://dev.apple.com/devworld/Tool_Chest/Testing_-_Debugging/Debuggers_-_dcmds/.
Overview of AppleShare IP 6.0
AppleShare IP 6.0 is a complete set of LAN and Internet services - including everything you need to set up Web, File, Mail, and Print servers, as well as FTP. New for version 6.0, AppleShare IP 6.0 now provides built-in support for Windows file sharing and the AppleShare IP Mail Server now supports the Internet standard IMAPv4 protocol. Support for these open standards means that AppleShare IP is fully compatible with Macintosh and Windows clients.
A single administration console makes it simple to manage AppleShare users, groups, passwords and security. Also included with this seed is a new web-based administration console. A convenient addition to AppleShare's standard administrative tools, web-based administration allows AppleShare IP to be monitored and controlled from anywhere on the Internet. Both choices retain the hallmark ease of use which makes AppleShare IP the easiest server operating system available.
What's New in AppleShare IP 6.0
Here are some of the key new features in this seed release, along with their benefits to you:
File Services
Windows File Sharing Service (SMB/CIFS over TCP)
AppleShare IP 6.0 now allows Windows computers to connect to an AppleShare IP server without additional software. AppleShare IP also allows Windows clients to browse and find the server using the Windows Network Neighborhood interface.
AppleShare IP's Windows file sharing service shares the same multi-threaded server architecture and file caching as the AppleShare Web and File server, providing high-performance to both Macintosh and Windows clients.
AppleShare IP's support for Windows file sharing works standalone, as a single server, or integrates into a larger network of Windows NT servers. Security for Windows clients is fully integrated with all other AppleShare services, making it easy to set up accounts and access privileges once for all users, no matter how they access the server. Turning on Windows file sharing is as simple as clicking a checkbox in the Web & File server administration program.
AppleShare IP 6.0 is now the easiest cross-platform server to set-up, manage, and use.
Performance Improvements
AppleShare IP 6.0 adds additional performance enhancement to the file server, which are particularly noticeable on a 100MBit network.
Idle Disconnect
New for version 6.0, the Idle Disconnect feature allows the AppleShare IP administrator to specify how long users can be idle before the server automatically disconnects them. This feature is supported by both the AppleShare file service and Windows file sharing service.
ISO Character Support in FTP Service
The AppleShare FTP service now maps file names to ISO character sets to handle differences in character sets between MacOS and Windows clients.
Full HFS+ Compatibility
AppleShare IP 6.0 is fully compatible with HFS+ volumes. Both the server and the client now correctly report the disk space available and used on a server HFS+ volume.
Web Service
ASIP 6.0 provides a powerful, expandable, and easy to use web server. New for this release are HTTP 1.1 support, alias support, upgraded W*API support, and additional security options.
HTTP 1.1 Support
AppleShare IP 6.0 Web service now provides support for HTTP 1.1, including HTTP 1.1 option negotiation, persistent connections, byte-range requests, and file upload.
Alias Support in Web and FTP Services
Both AppleShare IP 6.0 Web and FTP services now supports aliases to files and folders. To ensure server security, the target of the alias must be within a shared folder or volume. Aliases to remote volumes are not supported.
Extensibility
The AppleShare IP server is easily extensible by using W*API plug-ins or CGIs. Additional third-party plug-ins can be purchased separately to support database access and Java Servlets. AppleShare IP 6.0 now provides support for W*API version 1.2.
Additional Security Control
AppleShare IP 6.0 now allows users to create custom error files, allowing you to provide more information to customers of your web site in the event of an access error. The following user-supplied files are now supported:
• error.html
• noaccess.html
If present, these error files override the server's corresponding default messages.
In addition, administrators now have the option to disable automatic listing of directories via HTTP, providing additional security for your web site.
Mail Services
AppleShare IP 6.0 includes a feature-rich and easy to use mail server. The AppleShare IP mail server has been upgraded in almost every feature area. Existing protocol support has been enhanced, as well as the addition of many new features. While many new features and preferences have been added, setting up the server remains as simple as launching the application.
Here are some of the many new features available in AppleShare IP 6.0:
IMAP
AppleShare IP 6.0 includes full support for the IMAPv4 protocol, allowing users to access their mail from anywhere on the Internet. Support is providing for a full range of clients, including Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Outlook Express, CTM PowerMail, Mulberry, Simeon, Siren, and more. In addition, AppleShare IP 6.0 supports POP3, SMTP, PASS, Finger, APOP, and mail notification; providing a complete e-mail solution with all of the popular Internet protocols supported in one server.
High-Performance Message Store
AppleShare IP mail server uses a high-performance database, so accounts and messages are not limited by the MacOS file system. This database stores unique messages only once on the disk, providing improved performance, lower delivery times, and much better disk utilization than traditional file-based message stores. A built-in V-Twin based search engine provides lightning fast text searching across the IMAP database.
Enhanced Control
The AppleShare IP 6.0 Mail Server adds many new management features for controlling mail delivery, sending, and relaying, including anti-spam control. The improved administration application allows messages to be viewed and controlled by destination.
Scheduled Connections
AppleShare IP 6.0 now allows connections to any host to be scheduled down to the hour, and support for the Internet ETRN standard allows remote servers to be polled for waiting messages as well.
Print Service
Along with an updated Print Admin user interface, here are some of the new Print Server features available in AppleShare IP 6.0:
TCP/IP Support
Print Server now supports printing over TCP/IP in addition to over AppleTalk.
Secure Printing
A support for secure printing (user authentication before printing) was added. However, since client software that supports this feature is not available at this time, you must uncheck the "Require Password for Printing" checkbox in the Security panel of the Queue window.
Enhanced Server/Admin Communication
The communication mechanism between the Print Server and Print Admin were significantly improved. As a result, the user interface is much more responsive and flicker free now.
AppleShare Administration
AppleShare IP 6.0 continues to provide a simple, unified management interface. In addition to the traditional AppleShare IP administrative applications, this seed release now provides remote server management through a Web-based administration package. AppleShare IP remote administration integrates the management of the File, Web, Mail, and Print services into one interface allowing you to perform high frequency server administration tasks from anywhere on the Internet.
For this seed release, start the AppleShare IP Web Server and enter the following URL to launch Web-based administration:
http://servername/WebAdmin/WebAdmin.acgi
You will be asked to type your name and password twice unless you have guest access enabled on your Web Server. If you have guest access then you will only be prompted once. This will be fixed in a later release. WebAdmin requires at least Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0 with Java enabled.
AppleShare Client
Login Status Dialog
When connecting to a server and mounting a volume, the AppleShare Client now brings up a dialog, providing connection status and allowing you to cancel the connection. You can also switch to other applications while waiting for the client to connect (the switching is available only if you have Appearance Manager installed with MacOS 8.0 or later). With this feature, you no longer have to be "locked up" while waiting for the client to connect to a server that is unavailable or located across the world on the Internet.
General
Separate Guest for Each Service
In AppleShare IP 5.0, the concept of guest user was shared among AppleShare, FTP and Web services. AppleShare IP 6.0 provides additional security with an option to enable or disable separate guest for each service in the “Guest” user panel in the Web & File administration application.
