Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1

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FSLOGIN Full Screen Login. Version 1.2, May 1993. A utility for all Novell NetWare users. -------------------------------------------------------- | Please enter your Login Data | |------------------------------------------------------| | | | Server YOUR_SERVER.................. | | | | Userid YOUR_USERID.................. | | | | Password ............................. | | | | -------- | | |Accept| | | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------- (c) Confirm 1993, The Netherlands, All rights reserved. Author: Aad Slingerland _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Contents of this document ========================= The Shareware concept and the Ombudsman The purpose of this program How to install How to use Pre-filling the fields in the form Special keys Password expired! Some other features Some questions and answers Errorlevels and error messages Current limitations Registration and support Credits ------- It is worthwhile mentioning the effort of a group of colleagues and friends who have together done a fine job looking, testing, talking, phoning, faxing, criticizing and cheering me up again. They helped, and often still help FSLOGIN growing. The Shareware concept ===================== Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details. Some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their software. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are also low. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT ---------------------- Users of FSLOGIN must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "FSLOGIN is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of FSLOGIN." FSLOGIN is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using FSLOGIN and continue to use FSLOGIN after a trial period of 30 days, you must make a registration payment to Confirm. The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one Novell NetWare server at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one server location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Users of FSLOGIN must register and pay for their copies of FSLOGIN within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Anyone distributing FSLOGIN for any kind of remuneration must first contact Confirm at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering FSLOGIN immediately (However Confirm must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of FSLOGIN). You are encouraged to pass a copy of FSLOGIN along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. The Ombudsman ------------- This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a Compuserve message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. The purpose of this program =========================== All the PC-users who are connected to a local area network with Novell servers, have at least one thing in common. They must login to the network, before applications and data become available. It's obvious that this is almost always done using the standard Novell login program. This command line utility, however, is not very attractive to use and does not do a fine job, when users must be informed about network exceptions or errors. It is my goal to enhance the way you can login to a server, by providing you with a full screen, Novell menu style program. FSLOGIN is not only a different way to type some data, like the userid and the password, but does extensive checking of accounting and security exceptions. All kinds of reasons why a user cannot login to a server, are presented in clear text in a full screen window. Because the user is properly informed of certain exceptions, he or she will be able to communicate better with the system administrator, instead of complaining something like "I cannot login!". The actual Novell login command line utility is only executed after various checks on correctness of names, accounting and security matters have been done. Almost nothing but a file server that goes down at that particular moment, can go wrong now. ------------------------------------------------ | Login Status | |----------------------------------------------| | | | The login process to the chosen file server | | with the chosen userid cannot be completed. | | | | One of the security measures prevented this. | | You will have to contact the system admini- | | strator to clear this situation. | | | | The precise errorcode and reason is: | | | | Errorcode : 197 | | Reason : intruder lockout | | | ------------------------------------------------ How to install ============== Installing the Full Screen Login program can be done in three stages, of which the first stage is required. The stages two and three are optional, and using them depends on the preference of the system administrator. The first stage installs FSLOGIN on the Novell server, and is basically enough to make it available for use. The second stage is distributing one of the programs of FSLOGIN to PC's with a local hard disk. The benefit of this is, that this program is capable of 'finding' the sys:login directory, even if it is on some network drive like z:. The third stage is renaming the program fslogin.com to login.com. This makes the Full Screen Login program the one that's always used, and you don't have to change existing batch files, where 'login' is called. Stage One --------- . Execute the installation batch file (INSTALL.BAT) from the drive and directory where the distribution files reside. This batch files copies the program and language support files to the directory sys:login and flags them as read-only shareable. The file fslogin.com is also copied to the sys:public directory and flagged read-only shareable. ! When you are using a NetWare 2.xx server, you must grant a trustee assignment to the group everyone, which gives this group read and file scan rights in the sys:login directory. . That's all! Just type fslogin now. Stage Two --------- . Copy the program fslogin.com to the local disk of the PC's in your network. Make sure that this program resides in a directory, that is in the PATH variable. From that moment on, your users will be able to login, even if they have logged out the last time from 'some' network drive, leaving sys:login on 'some' network drive letter, but the first. Stage Three ----------- . Rename fslogin.com to login.com in both the directories sys:login and sys:public. When Stage Two has been used, also distribute login.com to the PC's with a hard disk. How to use ========== Once installed, Full Screen Login is available. Just type FSLOGIN and the Login Data menu shows up. As you can see the name of the default server, to which the workstation is attached is automatically placed in the Server field. For a first exercise, fill in the name of an userid you want to use and press the enter key. The highlight goes down to the Password field. When there is a password defined for this userid, fill it in and press enter again, otherwise leave this field blank. When all datafields are ok, the highlight is on the 'accept' button field. Press the enter key again to confirm the complete form to the program. At this moment the information that has been placed in the fields will be validated, and when something is wrong, you will be informed. When the validation is ok, and there are no other accounting or security restrictions, the actual Novell login.exe will be executed. You as a system supervisor, do not have to change anything to existing login scripts in order to use FSLOGIN. When filling in the fields in the form, you might have noticed that the Novell menu like interface expects you to acknowledge both the data in the individual fields, as well as the form as a whole. When entering data into a selected field (the field with the highlight), the hardware cursor appears. When the enter key is pressed to 'acknowledge' the data in this field, the hardware cursor disappears and the highlight moves on to the next field. When you want to edit the contents of a field, without losing what is already there, move the highlight to that field and press the Modify key (F3). There are some alternate keys that can be used to move the highlight from one field to another. Those keys are: tab, backtab, up arrow, down arrow, home, end, page up and page down. See the next chapter on how to further simplify the way you can work with FSLOGIN. Pre-filling the fields ====================== To make daily use even more simple, two of the three fields in the Login Data form can be pre-filled. You might already have noticed that the Server field contains the name of the server, to which the PC is attached. This automatic filling in of a servername should be sufficient in single server environments, where there is nothing to choose. However, in a multiserver environment the server to which the PC is attached is not always the one users need to access. A DOS environment variable can be used to specify a different name as the default. Type the following command at the DOS command prompt. SET FS_SRV=MYSERVER When the program is started again the Server field will contain the string 'MYSERVER'. Another feature available here is the ServerList function. When the F5 key is pressed, the program reads the names of available servers in the network and presents a list on the screen. Just move the highlight and pick a name! The Userid field can be pre-filled as well with the use of another environment variable. Type the following command at the DOS command prompt. SET FS_UID=MYUSERID Now the Userid field will also come up with a default. When the pre-filled values for the Server and Userid are correct, the only thing the user has to do is type the corresponding password and press the enter key twice. Once to acknowledge the contents of the password field and once to acknowledge the form as a whole with the aid of the accept button. There is a special form of the FS_UID variable, that can be useful when the userids in your organisation are highly structured. There are companies that use not so individual userids like ACCOUNT01, ACCOUNT02, ACCOUNT03 etc. And maybe SALES01, SALES02 and so on. The crucks is that part of the string always is the same. You can pre-fill this common part of the userid by placing it in the environment variable FS_UID, followed by a tilde. For example: SET FS_UID=TECHNO~ Have a look at what happens! When you are the supervisor, you probably type the string 'supervisor' a thousand times a year. See the next chapter why you should not! Special Keys ============ F1=Help ------- You might already have used the F1 key for online help. Most of the basics of this utility are explained here, and the average user should have enough information to do the job. The Arrow Up, Arrow Down, Page Up and Page Down let you scroll through the text, and the Escape key brings you back again. F3=Modify --------- This is in fact the default Novell menu function key for modifying the contents of a field. I considered it useful to mention this key on the 25'th line as a reminder. F5=ServerList ------------- When you are working in a multiserver environment, the ServerList function becomes valuable. Just press this key, to get an overview of all the file servers in your network, and pick one. Note that using the F5 key is independent of the currently highlighted field. It always works. F7=Supervisor ------------- There is one specific userid, which is probably typed thousands of times each day by thousands of supervisors. Just press the F7 key and look what happens. It does not matter on which field the highlight is. After pasting the string 'supervisor' in the Userid field, the highlight goes straight to the password field, since this is most likely the place you want to go. Password expired! ================= Well, in that case, this is what you get! -------------------------------------------------------------------- | Password Expired Status | |------------------------------------------------------------------| | Your current password has expired. In order to be able to | | login, you must specify a new one in the New Password field. | | Retype the new password again after the Verification prompt. | | This is a check to prevent typing errors. Your new password | | should be at least 3 characters long. | | | | New Password ................................... | | | | Verification ................................... | | | | -------- | | |Accept| | | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- This information guides the user to a new password. It is important to understand the relation between FSLOGIN and the grace login mechanism. As you will probably know the grace login feature of Novell allows the users to login with an old password, which is in fact expired. You could even give a user an unlimited number of grace login's, which would have about the same effect as giving a password an unlimited time to use. In it's current version FSLOGIN does not support the grace login feature of Novell. When a user presses the escape key in the above form, he/she is back in the Login Data form. In the meantime the number of 'Remaining Grace Logins' has been decreased by one! FSLOGIN actually performed a so-called 'LoginToFileServer' function call in order to check all accounting and security restrictions. The side effect of pressing the escape key again and again is that a user runs out of 'Remaining Grace Logins', effectively disabling the password. You might want to increase the number of grace logins for your users, to give them more 'room' to change their password. Some other features =================== Screen dimmer ------------- Full Screen Login has a screen dimmer that activates automatically after five minutes of keyboard inactivity. A small red box travels around on the screen (white, green or amber if you have a monochrome video adapter). When a key is pressed the Login Data form shows up again. Login Script Parameters ----------------------- Full Screen Login has support for the optional parameters, that can be passed to the system login script. There is no separate field for this, but parameters can be typed in the Userid field after the name of user. Leave one space between the name of the user and the parameter. When the Userid field seems to be full, just type ahead and see the text scroll. The combined length of the name of the user and the optional parameters cannot exceed 64 bytes. Command line mode ----------------- FSLOGIN does not only work full screen, but is also command line compatible with the Novell login command. The fslogin.com program does in fact pass the command line that is typed to the login.exe program. The advantage of using FSLOGIN is that the sys:login directory will be searched for and set to the first network drive letter. No more manual searching for drive 'x'. Monochrome VGA -------------- FSLOGIN works with monochrome VGA monitors without manually setting a specific video mode with the mode command. Your Company Name ----------------- Since version 1.1. a RRS (Registration Reminder Screen) has been added. This is the small window below the Login Data window, that contains the text 'Unregistered Evaluation Copy'. When you register you should specify a text string that you want to appear in this window. This text string should contain company information like the name of the company and perhaps the name of the department who does the registration. See the document REGISTER.xx for further instructions. Some questions and some answers =============================== Question 1 ---------- When I want to use your program, do I have to throw away my existing login scripts? No you don't. Full Screen Login does not replace the Novell login.exe and corresponding login scripts. It adds full screen support and extensive error and exception reporting, without throwing away your already made effort. Question 2 ---------- Why is the fslogin.com the only program to copy to the sys:public directory? In order to conserve a bit of disk space, and make eventual updates as easy as possible to install, there is only one place for the overlay and other support files, and that is the sys:login directory. The file fslogin.com is the only one to copy to the public directory. Question 3 ---------- I just installed your product, but I receive the message: 'The FSLOGIN.OVL program could not be executed.'. The most probable cause is, that you run the program fslogin.com from a local hard disk, but the server you are attached to does not have Full Screen Login installed. Use the NETX option 'PS=MYSERVER' to make the correct server the default, or better, install Full Screen Login on the other servers as well (see also sitelice.doc). Question 4 ---------- I installed Full Screen Login, but when I want to use it I receive the message: 'The LOGIN.EXE program could not be executed.'. Did you rename the original Novell login.exe? If yes, rename it back or make a copy of it. Question 5 ---------- I work in a large company with 257 file servers in a network. When I use the ServerList function, there are only 255 file servers in the list. The current limitation of the ServerList function is 255 names. If this really is a problem, please contact me. Question 6 ---------- Your program does not support grace logins. What should I do with the currently defined grace logins? Don't throw away the grace option for your users! When you disable grace logins, there will be no way the user can change the password, not with my program, nor with any other login program. In fact Full Screen Login needs some grace logins to remain, in order to be able to change the password. It's also worth mentioning, that when a user presses the escape key in the Password Expired Status form, the number of Grace Logins Left will be decremented by one. In fact Full Screen Login did do a login function call once to find out that the password had expired. Question 7 ---------- During the installation, stage one, I have to add a trustee assignment to the sys:login directory for the group EVERYONE. Why is this for NetWare 2.xx only? Because NetWare 3.11 already gives EVERYONE access to the sys:login directory, even after login. NetWare 2.xx did 'hide' the sys:login directory after login. Errorlevels and error messages =============================== EL Meaning ... --------------------- 0 Login ok 1 The user pressed the escape key EL Message ... --------------------- 2 The Novell Login program has executed, but some login failure occurred. The returncode of login.exe is: .. (hex) 3 There is no NetWare shell 3 The SYS:LOGIN directory could not be located 3 The FSLOGIN.OVL program could not be executed. Dos extended errorcode: .. (hex) 3 The LOGIN.EXE program could not be executed. Dos extended errorcode: .. (hex) Current limitations =================== NetWare Name Service -------------------- This version is not designed for use with NNS, but is compatible to a certain extend, because the NNS specific login.exe command is syntax compatible with the 'normal' login.exe. FSLOGIN does not present any domain information, but when used to login to a server which is part of a domain, the domain, profile and use scripts will be executed. Password Synchronization ------------------------ In a multiserver, non NNS environment users can be defined on more than one server. Under certain circumstances the Novell login.exe will ask the user to synchronize a newly defined password on other servers as well. This is not supported in the current version of FSLOGIN. Registration and support ======================== Feel free to use Full Screen Login for a trail period of 30 days. After this period you are expected to register or stop using it. The registration fee is based on a single file server license. When used on more servers, each server should have it's own license or better, a site license should be obtained. See the document SITELICE.DOC. Registration differs for the Netherlands, the United States and other countries. When neither the Netherlands or the US apply to you, you are expected to follow the US procedure, or contact Confirm for another arrangement. See also the register.xx forms on the distribution diskette or the archive file. Registered users are offered free support for a period of six months. They will receive a diskette with their 'customized' version of FSLOGIN, which contains the name of the company and/or department. Registered users will also receive free updates for a period of six months when new versions become available. My preference for support is using either Compuserve mail, Telefax or Fidonet (in this order). It is my goal to answer all questions within a reasonable amount of time. Compuserve : 76260,2363 Telefax : 31-8360-41580 Fidonet : 2:512/250.359 Phone : 31-8360-24988 The Netherlands --------------- Dutch users can register by paying the license fee to the Dutch Postbank account or call/fax for an invoice. See the document REGISTER.NL for further details. The United States ----------------- Users in the United States can follow some alternate procedures for licensing. See the document REGISTER.US for further information. Other countries --------------- Follow the US procedure, or contact Confirm for another arrangement. Any comment, criticism or idea is welcome, as long as it is in a constructive way. Aad Slingerland May 1993 End Of Document