ShareWay IP Gateway User's Guide

Using ShareWay IP

 

The Status Window

ShareWay IP's status window is shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1. ShareWay IP Standard status window, ShareWay IP inactive

ShareWay IP's status window contains five important pieces of information.

This window will display a 'not available' warning next to the target server name if ShareWay IP has not been able to contact the target server. ShareWay IP periodically checks the availability of its target server, updating the 'not available' display as appropriate. The one exception is that ShareWay IP Standard Edition checks the availability of a remote server (a target server not on the ShareWay machine) only when an access is attempted. A server might display 'not available' if:

This window may also show that the IP address is not available. This would happen if:

 

Changing the Target Server (Standard Edition only)

If the status window is not showing, choose "Show Gateway Status" from the File menu. If ShareWay IP is active, you will need to stop it before selecting another target server. Once ShareWay IP is stopped, the status window appears as shown in Figure 1 above.

There are two basic choices for target servers:

Note that ShareWay IP Standard Edition can communicate with only one AFP server at a time. When you have selected a target server, you can start ShareWay IP by clicking the "Start" button. The server will not be accessible over TCP/IP until ShareWay IP has been started, and will be made inaccessible again by clicking the "Stop" button, quitting ShareWay IP, or shutting down the Macintosh where ShareWay IP is installed. If users are connected to ShareWay IP's targeted server when you attempt to stop or quit ShareWay IP, you will be warned that there are users connected and asked to confirm your choice.

NOTE: The Gateway can be run on the same machine as an AppleShare 4 server with AppleTalk multihoming enabled. As in other configurations, the Gateway will connect to the server using the primary AppleTalk interface.

When ShareWay IP has been started again, the status window appears as in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. ShareWay IP Standard status window, ShareWay IP active

 

The Background Version

The ShareWay IP background application provides the basic functionality of ShareWay IP as a faceless, background-only application. As a background application, ShareWay IP will not show up in the application menu or "About this Computer" window, and cannot be accidentally quit by the user. The background application has no user interface, so configuration must be done through the foreground version of the product. Any errors encountered by the background application will be posted as alerts, after which the background application will quit.

 

Administration of the Background Version (Personal & Standard Editions)

Changes to the background version's configuration are made through the foreground version. Changes include entering a serial number, turning logging on or off, and changing target servers for the Standard Edition. When the foreground version is launched with the background version already running, you will have the choice of quitting the background version or canceling the launch. If you choose Quit, the background version will quit and the foreground version will launch, allowing you to make the desired changes. When all changes are made, quit the foreground version and relaunch the background version.

To simply quit the background version, run the foreground version and choose Quit. Alternatively, the background version can be quit by sending it a "quit" Apple Event.

 

Security

Since ShareWay IP makes AFP file servers accessible over TCP/IP, potentially even over the Internet itself, the files on those servers may become accessible to a much larger number of people, making security an even more important issue. Consult the documentation for your AFP server on how to make that server secure, using passwords, access privileges, and other techniques.

If you are using ShareWay IP Personal, or you are using ShareWay IP Standard and have personal file sharing enabled on the target machine, you may want to consider disabling personal file sharing's guest access. To do so, go to the "Users & Groups" control panel, double-click the Guest icon, and under File Sharing, uncheck "Allow guests to connect." Under Mac OS 8, you must double-click the Guest icon, choose "Show Sharing", and under File Sharing, uncheck "Allow guests to connect to this computer."

ShareWay IP Standard requires even greater attention to security than ShareWay IP Personal, due to its ability to export servers from machines other than the Gateway machine. That is, a user with ShareWay IP Standard installed on their machine can choose to export their own server or any other server on the same AppleTalk network. This increases the possibility of making servers available on an intranet or the Internet without those servers having been properly secured.

ShareWay IP helps you keep track of the Gateways installed on your networks, and thus more easily address security issues:

ShareWay IP also provides an optional connection log, which lists all access attempts to the server, successful or otherwise. The connection log is particularly useful for identifying potential security issues. See Logging for details.

Finally, it may be desirable to install a firewall product on the ShareWay machine, such as Open Door's DoorStop.

 

Logging

ShareWay IP has the option of logging significant gateway events, such as:

To turn on (or off) ShareWay's logging feature, choose "Turn Logging On" (or "Turn Logging Off") from the File menu.

When logging is enabled, a file called "ShareWay IP Log" is written to the ShareWay Macintosh's Preferences folder. ShareWay IP always appends to an existing log file. ShareWay IP's log file can be analyzed in real-time by Open Door's LogDoor Real-time Server Monitor. LogDoor provides an up-to-the-minute view of accesses to your server, which may be important for both security and management reasons. See ShareWay IP Log File for details of the log file format.

 

Number of Users Supported

Because Mac OS personal file sharing only supports a maximum of 10 simultaneous users, ShareWay IP Personal Edition also supports only 10 simultaneous users. On the other hand, since other servers support many more simultaneous users, ShareWay IP Standard supports up to 20 simultaneous users.

Although ShareWay IP Personal should have little effect on the performance of the machine on which it is running, ShareWay IP Standard could adversely affect its machine's performance if a large number of users connects simultaneously. If you expect heavy usage of the Gateway, you may want to run it on a separate machine.

 

Methods of Accessing the Targeted Server

There are three ways to access the server targeted by ShareWay IP from a Macintosh which has connectivity via TCP/IP to the ShareWay IP machine.

Standard Edition Users: If ShareWay IP is targeting a server on another machine, it is possible for the client on the same machine as that server to mount its own volume via ShareWay IP. This is not recommended. Note also that, due to the nature of AppleShare, a ShareWay-targeted server cannot be accessed from the same machine as ShareWay IP.

 

Serial Numbers

ShareWay IP Personal and Standard editions use a serial number mechanism to easily convert evaluation versions of the software to paid-for versions and to prevent unauthorized duplication of the software. Both editions are available as evaluation versions that will stop working 10 days after the date they are first run. Until expiration, an eval version has all the functionality of a full working version. An eval version of ShareWay can be converted to a full working version by giving it a valid serial number.

When an unexpired eval version of ShareWay IP is launched, a dialog appears with the options "Enter Serial Number..." and "OK". Clicking OK lets you run the software as an eval version. Clicking "Enter Serial Number..." brings up a dialog which allows you to enter a serial number and convert the software into a full working version. Enter the serial number you were provided when you paid for the product and click OK.

When an expired eval version is launched, a dialog appears with the options "Enter Serial Number..." and "Quit". To convert an expired version into a full working version, click "Enter Serial Number...", enter a serial number and click OK.

The "Enter Serial Number..." dialog can also be brought up while the product is running. Stop the Gateway, choose "Enter Serial Number..." from the File menu, and proceed as described above.

If more than one copy of ShareWay IP is used, each copy must have a unique serial number. A ShareWay serial number is registered on the network (and checked for duplicates) when the Gateway is started, not when the serial number is first entered.

ShareWay IP 1.1 serial numbers will not work with ShareWay IP 2.0. You must purchase an upgrade to ShareWay IP 2.0 to obtain a valid 2.0 serial number. To purchase a serial number for an eval copy, or to obtain a lost serial number, contact Open Door Networks.

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