AFP Engage! User's Guide

How AFP Engage! Works

As an AFP Server Browser

AFP Engage! 2.0 searches for and displays AFP servers targeted by ShareWay IP which have been registered on your intranet by ShareWay. ShareWay registers these servers using the Service Location Protocol (SLP). SLP, an Internet standard for finding services, is part of Mac OS 8.5. SLP functions very like AppleTalk's Name Binding Protocol (NBP), and enables the Chooser-like functionality of AFP Engage!

SLP is a fairly complex protocol that requires support from network routers in large networks. Routers must support an Internet standard called IP multicast. All recent routers support IP multicast, but in some cases such support must be specifically enabled in the router. If your network includes routers and subnets, it is possible that SLP will only function within a given subnet, and will not cross routers. That is, AFP Engage! will only be able to see servers registered with SLP on its own network. If you wish SLP to cross routers, you need to be sure IP multicast is enabled in those routers. Open Door Networks has authored a white paper on the features and limitations of SLP.

Running on Mac OS 8.5, ShareWay IP 2.0 registers its targeted server on the network, through SLP. In particular, ShareWay registers a URL of the form:

afp://IP-address/?NAME=TargetMachineName&ZONE=ZoneName

IP-address is the IP address of the ShareWay IP machine

TargetMachineName is the target server's machine name

ZoneName (optional) is the name of the zone (if zones are present) in which the target server resides

Registration is automatic, and transparent to the user. ShareWay IP deregisters when it or its target server is stopped quit. The one exception to the deregistration rule occurs if ShareWay IP Standard targets a server on another machine, and that target server is stopped or quit--ShareWay IP does not deregister under those conditions. AFP Engage! 2.0 can, in turn, query your intranet through SLP for all such URLs and display them in a list, by server name.

As an AFP URL Processor

AFP Engage! acts as a helper app in conjunction with Internet applications. Technically, in relation to Web browsers, it is an external protocol handler rather than a helper app. That is, it processes Internet protocols, not MIME types like a helper app does, and will not show up in the browser's helper app list. In all other respects, it acts just like a helper app. When AFP Engage! is registered with an Internet application, that application is then capable of using AFP Engage! to process URLs of the forms:

afp://server-name/volume-name*/path

and

afp:/at/server-name/volume-name*/path

* NOTE: The volume-name field may be optional, depending on the version of AppleShare client used. The path field is optional. See the AFP URLs chapter for details.

These are called AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) URLs. The first form is used over TCP/IP, the second over AppleTalk. AFP URL syntax is discussed in depth in the AFP URL section. AFP Engage! can take one of several actions when it encounters an AFP URL. The choices are presented in the Preferences window, discussed in Preferences.

Back to Table of Contents
Back to AFP URLs
Forward to Troubleshooting