ShareWay IP Professional Edition
User's Guide

Using ShareWay IP

 

Gateway Status Window

The Gateway Status window contains useful information about the status of ShareWay IP, as well as access to other ShareWay windows. The status window is brought up by selecting "Gateway Status" from the Windows menu, and appears as shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Gateway Status Window

The Status section of this window contains several pieces of useful data about the gateway:

Each element in the activity graph shows the number of logins made and the total number of bytes transferred within the time represented by that graph element. A graph element's period varies depending on the overall period of the graph. The graph's overall period (duration) is set using the Duration popup menu immediately below the graph. The graph's duration is labeled at the lower left and lower right of the graph. Graph element times as a function of graph duration are shown below in Figure 2. Each time ShareWay IP is launched, the graph starts out empty.

Graph Duration Width of Graph Element
1 hour 25 seconds
2 hours 50 seconds
6 hours 150 seconds
12 hours 5 minutes
24 hours 10 minutes
2 days 20 minutes
3 days 30 minutes
4 days 40 minutes
5 days 50 minutes
6 days 60 minutes
7 days 70 minutes

Figure 2. Graph Element Width vs Graph Duration

In addition, the Start/Stop button that turns the gateway on and off is located in this section of the status window. Once you have selected a target server (see the next section), you can start ShareWay IP by clicking the "Start" button. No servers will be accessible over TCP/IP until ShareWay IP has been started.

The contents of the status window can be hidden by clicking the disclosure triangle at the top left of the window.

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.

 

Adding Target Servers

Selecting new target servers is as simple as:

Start by selecting "Target Servers" from the Windows menu. The "Target Servers" dialog appears as shown below in Figure 3. The red "X" at the window's top right indicates that the Gateway is inactive.

Figure 3. "Target Servers" Dialog

The scrolling list, initially empty, shows all selected servers and information (see Changing a Target Server for details) relating to each of them. To add a target server, click the "Add..." button to bring up the "Add Target Server" window shown below in Figure 4.

Figure 4. "Add Target Servers" Window

You can choose to target a server on the ShareWay Macintosh, or any server connected to the ShareWay Macintosh via AppleTalk.

Server on this Macintosh - ShareWay IP will communicate with the AFP server on the same Macintosh as ShareWay IP. This Macintosh does not have to be connected to an AppleTalk network, but AppleTalk must be active. If you wish to target the server on the ShareWay Macintosh, click "Server on this Macintosh" and then click "Next." The IP address dialog will appear in one of two forms. See Target Server IP Address Dialog below.

Server on AppleTalk - ShareWay IP will communicate with an AFP server on the AppleTalk network or an interconnected AppleTalk network. If you wish to target a server on AppleTalk, click "Server on AppleTalk" and then click "Choose...". The Window shown below in Figure 5. appears.

Figure 5. Select a Server on AppleTalk

Select a zone, if any are present, then select a server and click "OK," or double-click a server. The IP Address dialog will then be displayed in one of two forms. See the next section.

 

Target Server IP Address Dialog

When a server has been selected, the target server IP address window appears in one of two forms. The dialog shown in Figure 7 appears only if the ShareWay Macintosh is running Mac OS 8.1 and multiple IP addresses are implemented (see the Multiple IP Address Appendix for details). Otherwise, the dialog shown in Figure 6 will appear.

Port numbers only - This form of the dialog is shown below.

Figure 6. Target Server IP Address Dialog Without Multiple IP Addresses

In this scenario, the IP address used is the IP address of the ShareWay machine. This same IP address is used for all target servers. Servers are distinguished by using different port numbers. The range of valid port numbers is 1 to 65535, and the default is 548. Although some of the lower-numbered ports are normally reserved for other uses, ShareWay will allow any of them to be selected. It is recommended that non-default port numbers used for ShareWay IP start with 8548, although anything over 1024 should almost always be available. When ShareWay is activated on a particular port it will check to determine if that port is already in use. Enter the desired port number (or leave it blank to use the default). The Access radio buttons below the port number text box determine whether server connections will be enabled or disabled when the server is added to the target server list. The default is "Enabled". When finished, click Done.

Port numbers and multiple IP address - This form of the dialog is shown below.

Figure 7. Target Server IP Address Dialog With Multiple IP Addresses

In this scenario, multiple IP addresses are available on the ShareWay machine, as configured in the file "IP Secondary Addresses" in the Preferences folder (see the Multiple IP Address Appendix). If the addresses in the list are not what you want, quit ShareWay IP, reconfigure "IP Secondary Addresses", restart the machine and relaunch ShareWay IP.

This form of the dialog also presents the option of changing the port number, giving even more flexibility to choosing an IP address for a target server.

The IP address preceded by a bullet is the machine's primary IP address, as configured in the TCP/IP control panel. The radio buttons below the list control whether all configured IP addresses are displayed, or only those that are unused. If you intend to use a unique IP address for each target server, then "Unused" (the default) will be more convenient for you. If you intend to use an IP address for several target servers, using port numbers to differentiate them, then you must select "All."

Choose an IP address from the list and enter a port (if desired). The Access radio buttons below the port number text box determine whether server connections will be enabled or disabled when the server is added to the target server list. The default is "Enabled". When finished, click Done.

Once target servers have been specified, the Gateway must be started for the servers to be accessible from a TCP/IP network: To start the Gateway, click the Start button in the Gateway Status window. Servers 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 servers when you attempt to stop or quit ShareWay IP, you will be warned that there are users connected and asked to confirm your choice.

 

Changing Parameters of a Target Server

For a given target server, you can

From the Window menu, select "Target Servers." The "Target Servers" window appears as shown below in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Target Servers Window

The scrolling list shows all currently selected target servers. For each server, you can see

The list is sorted, by default, on server name, but can be resorted on any column by clicking the column's heading. The column used for sorting is underlined.

To change a server's characteristics, select it in the list and click "Open," or double-click it in the list. The server info dialog appears as shown below in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Target Server Info Dialog

Notice that each pane has a disclosure triangle at the top left. Clicking this triangle will toggle the pane between being shown and hidden.

To enable or disable connections to a target server, simply click the Enable/Disable button in the Status section of the window. This section also displays:

Changing the IP address and/or port number that ShareWay IP associates with a server is done in the Address section of the Target Server Info window. This section also displays the server's current IP address and port number (if non-default) and its AFP URL (access via this URL can be made through Open Door's AFP Engage! URL Processor, which greatly simplifies client access to target servers). To change the server's IP address or port number, click the "Change..." button. This button will be disabled if server connections are enabled (see the paragraph above). Clicking this button brings up a dialog similar to the Target Server IP Address Dialog documented above. Choose the desired IP address (if multiple IP addresses are implemented -- see above) and/or port number.

The limit on the number of users allowed to connect simultaneously to a server can be changed in the "User Limit" section. The default is 20, the maximum is 120, and the minimum is 0, which makes the server inaccessible. The number is changed by using the up and down arrows on the "Maximum Connected Users" control. Connections must be disabled to change this number.

 

Changing a Target Server for a Particular IP Address

The section above describes how to change parameters (such as IP address) associated with a given target server. This section describes how to change the target server associated with a particular IP address. You might need to do this if a target server is renamed or moved to a different zone.

To do this, bring up the server window by double-clicking the server in the Target Servers window. See Figure 10 below. The server's IP address is displayed in the Address pane of the server window. Disable the server if it is enabled (see Changing Parameters of a Target Server above), and open the Server pane at the top of the window if it is not already open. Select the new server you wish to have associated with the IP address displayed in the Address pane. The controls for choosing a new server work the same as described in Adding Target Servers above. The server you select will have the same IP address (and the same user limit) as the previous target server.

Figure 10. Target Server Info Dialog

 

Monitoring Connected Users

Current connections can be monitored with the "Connected Users" dialog. From the Windows menu, select "Connected Users." The dialog appears as shown below in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Connected Users Dialog

The scrolling list displays all currently connected users, showing:

The list is, by default, sorted by user name, but can be sorted using any column by clicking on that column's heading. The heading is underlined for the column used for sorting.

It is possible to force the disconnection of a user by selecting that user in the list, and clicking the "Disconnect..." button. You can open the server window for the server a particular user is connected to by selecting that user and clicking the "Open Server" button or by double-clicking the user.

 

Monitoring Gateway & Server Activity

ShareWay IP Professional provides two forms of real-time activity display:

See Figure 12 below.

Figure 12. Gateway Activity

See Figure 13 below.

Figure 13. Server Activity

 

Log Files

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

To use ShareWay's logging feature, open the Gateway Status window. The current status of logging (on or off) is displayed in the Gateway Log pane. To toggle logging's status, click the button in the Gateway Log pane. 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.

The fields of ShareWay's log file are tab-delimited. Each line has the form:

<date> <time> <event>

where <event> is something like "Gateway started" or "Gateway stopped." If <event> involves a target server, then <event> has the form:

<server name> <server IP address> <event type>

where <event type> is something like "Server connections enabled."

 

Exporting to Text

The contents of several of ShareWay IP's windows can be exported to text files. This feature is available for the following windows:

To save a window's contents to a text file, bring the window to the front and from the File menu select "Export Window." Text files can be useful to document the mapping between AFP servers and IP addresses and other pieces of ShareWay IP's configuration, to enumerate which servers are targeted by ShareWay IP, and to capture the list of users connected at a particular time. They can also be imported into a word processor and used if you wish to print out some aspect of ShareWay IP's display. Many of the lists are tab delimited, and thus can be used in a spreadsheet application as well.

The Target Servers window can also be saved in HTML format. When "Export Window..." is chosen with the Target Servers window at the front, there are two radio buttons, Text and HTML, below the Save button in the Standard File dialog that appears. By choosing "HTML" and saving that file to a location within a Web server's hierarchy, a list of all targeted servers can be made available to users by simply publishing the URL to the HTML file. This has two benefits:

 

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 have personal file sharing enabled on a target server's 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 Professional requires additional attention to security, due to its ability to export servers from machines other than the Gateway machine. That is, a user of ShareWay IP Professional can choose to export any other servers 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.

In order to help you keep track of the ShareWay IP Gateways installed on your AppleTalk networks and thus more easily address security issues, while ShareWay IP Professional is active it registers on AppleTalk the machine name of the machine on which it is installed, using type "ShareWayIP". A network management utility which can search through an AppleTalk zone and display devices of a given type can be used to display all running ShareWay IP Gateways, allowing you to keep track of who is using Gateways.

 

Methods of Accessing Target Servers

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

  1. Chooser - On any client Macintosh, select the Chooser from the Apple menu, and select the AppleShare icon. Click on the "Server IP Address..." button, and enter the IP address (and port number if non-default) that ShareWay IP has assigned to the desired target server, as displayed in ShareWay IP's Target Servers window. The IP address and port number should be separated by a colon, as in "ShareWayIPAddress:PortNumber". If there is no "Server IP Address..." button, you are using an old version of AppleShare Client. When you click on the "Connect" button, ShareWay IP's server will be accessed and the standard AppleShare login process will be begun.

    NOTE: If the IP address used by ShareWay IP for a particular target server has been assigned a DNS name, then the server targeted by ShareWay IP can be accessed through that name (plus associated port), as well as through its IP address and port number. The domain name assigned will often be displayed in the AFP URL in the address portion of the server window.

  2. AFP Engage! URL Processor - If Open Door's AFP Engage! URL Processor is installed on a client machine, access to a Gateway-targeted server can be easily initiated through AFP URLs of the form

    afp://username@ShareWayIPAddress:Port/volumename/pathname

    username@     - optional: needed to log in under a specific user name, as opposed to Guest
    ShareWayIPAddress - the IP address assigned by ShareWay IP to the targeted server as displayed in the Target Servers window (or the hostname associated with that IP address)
    Port - the port number assigned by ShareWay IP to the targeted server
    volumename - the name of the volume on the targeted server
    pathname - optional: a path on that server. Note that you use the IP address assigned by ShareWay IP, but a volume name and pathname from the server.

  3. Aliases - Access to a Gateway-targeted server can be initiated through an alias to that server. To create an alias, mount the server using one of the two methods described above. When the server's icon is on your desktop, create an alias to it from the Finder's File menu. To initiate future access to that server, just double-click the alias.

    Note that there are a number of known problems with aliases connecting to AppleShare servers over TCP/IP. If you have trouble connecting to a server with an alias, try to connect again using the Chooser or AFP Engage! After connecting successfully, create a new alias to the server to use in the future.

NOTE: If ShareWay IP is targeting a server on another machine, it is possible for the client on that server's machine to mount its own volume via ShareWay IP. This is not recommended.

 

Starting ShareWay IP Pro At Boot Time

To have ShareWay IP Pro start automatically at boot time, put an alias to ShareWay IP in the Startup Items folder. The Gateway will launch in the same state it was in when it was last quit or when the machine was last shut down. The Gateway's state includes the choice of target servers and whether the Gateway is active or not.

Note: both personal file sharing and AppleShare can take a few minutes to start up at boot time. It will thus take a few minutes after restarting for these servers to become available through ShareWay IP Pro if they are on the same machine as ShareWay IP.

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