Sygate Essay, Research Paper

SYGATE 3.11 BUILD 556 README

Thank you for trying SyGate 3.11. This document contains important information that you may find useful for installing and using SyGate 3.11. For additional instructions on installing and using SyGate 3.11, please see the SyGate 3.11 online users guide–you can quickly get to it from the help menu within the SyGate Manager application. (Note: a shortcut to the online users guide is indicated by a question mark icon from the SyGate Manager application.)

CONTENTS:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

UPGRADING PREVIOUS VERSIONS

INSTALLATION AND USE

TROUBLESHOOTING

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CHANGES SINCE THE SYGATE 3.0 VERSION

KNOWN ISSUES WITH THIS RELEASE

HOW TO REGISTER

CONTACT INFORMATION

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

- Intel 486, Pentium or equivalent PC.

- Win95 (Rev B or higher), Win98, WinNT 4.0 (SP3 or higher), or Win2000.

- 10 MB or more free disk space

- 32 MB or more available memory.

- Microsoft TCP/IP protocol installed.

- Ethernet network interface card.

- DSL, DirecPC, Cable Modem, ISDN, or Analog Modem (for SyGate server).

- A working Internet account with an Internet service provider.

- Cable or DSL modem service or an analog modem service with Microsoft dial-up networking 1.2 or higher or America Online 4.0 or higher.

Note: Cable and DSL modems require an additional Ethernet adapter on the SyGate server computer.

UPGRADING PREVIOUS VERSIONS

- If you are upgrading SyGate from SyGate 2.0 or SyGate 3.0 software, you will need to stop the SyGate service using the SyGate Manager program, exit the SyGate Manager program completely, then uninstall SyGate completely from your system using either the uninstaller provided or Windows Add/Remove program application.

- If you are using SyGate 3.0 or SyGate 3.1, you do not need to re-enter your registration code after installing SyGate 3.11. If you are installing onto a computer that previously had a registered SyGate version. Your registration information should be retained by your computer even after uninstalling SyGate. However, if you reformatted your hard drive or reinstalled your Windows software, you may need to re-enter the registration information. If your previous versions registration code and serial number fail to work with SyGate 3.11, you should contact your version s distributor to obtain further registration information.

- If you created your own settings for SyGate’s Black and White list (BlackLst.bwl and WhiteLst.bwl) or Apprule.cfg configuration file, you should first backup these files into another directory before uninstalling. If you do not do this, your settings will be eliminated when you uninstall the SyGate software. If you backup your configuration files into another directory and wish to restore your old settings after installing the new version or build, stop the SyGate service using the SyGate Manager program, then exit the SyGate Manager program completely. Then copy the configuration files specified above back into the SyGate directory, overwriting the existing files. Your old configuration settings will then be restored the next time SyGate is started.

INSTALLATION AND USE

It is recommended that you close any other services or applications that may be using your network or modem drivers prior to installing SyGate.

For Windows 95 Users:

It is recommended that you have the Windows 95 version 4.00.950 B or later and Microsoft DUN 1.2 or higher software installed. If you have a version of Windows 95 previous to 4.00.950 B, you should download the Windows 95 Service Pack 1 and Windows Socket Update (Kernel 32) from Microsoft’s Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows95. You can check the version of Windows 95 you are using from the general tab of the system control panel.

For Windows 98 SE Users:

SyGate will currently not work with Windows 98 SE if Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) is installed. To check if Internet Connection sharing is installed, go to the Windows tab of the add/remove programs control panel and look in details for the networking items. If Internet connection sharing is enabled, deselect this option and restart the computer prior to installing SyGate.

For Windows NT 4.0 Users:

SyGate 3.11 will currently not work with Windows NT RRAS (routing and remote access services update). The standard RAS services installed with Windows NT works well with all versions of SyGate. To check if RRAS is installed, go to the routing tab of TCP/IP properties in the network control panel to see if enable IP forwarding is grayed out. If it is, we recommend removing RRAS or reinstalling Windows NT 4.0. For SyGate Server to function properly on Windows NT 4.0, make sure that “IP forwarding” is not enabled in the routing tab of TCP/IP properties in the network control panel. In addition, verify that “enable DNS for WINS resolution” is not enabled in the WINS Address tab of TCP/IP properties in the network control panel. We recommend that immediately before and after installing SyGate on a Windows NT 4.0 system, that you reapply the Windows NT service pack you are using.

For DirecPC Users:

If the networked client computers were previously modified using a third party dial-up network settings optimizer”, we recommend that you use that same utility to change the setting for MTU to 1466 on each system. We have found that inconsistencies between this MTU setting and MTU modifications on the client computers can cause the Internet connection to be significantly slower than the SyGate server computer. Make sure that the computer with the DirecPC connection (the SyGate server) is configured for automatically connecting to the Internet so that the client computers can initiate a connection when nobody is using the SyGate server computer.

Dial-up Networking Users:

Make sure that the computer with the Internet connection (the SyGate server) is configured for automatically connecting to the Internet so that the client computers can initiate a connection when nobody is using the SyGate server computer. Also, insure that the dial-up networking selection used in the SyGate Managers configuration screen has exactly the same user name and password as the dial-up networking profile. Otherwise, your client computers may not be able to always connect or the connection will be frequently refused by the service provider.

If installing SyGate Manager Client software:

It is important that the version and build of the SyGate software be the same as what s running on the SyGate server computer. To see all of the computers on your network within the SyGate Manager application, you must have SyGate Manager running on each computer. If you notice there is hub or network connection activity after starting the SyGate Manager software, this is SyGate Manager communicating to transmit and receive status from other SyGate Manager programs on your local network.

TROUBLESHOOTING

- If your networked computers are unable to browse the Internet, verify that they are able to communicate with the SyGate server computer using “ping”. Go to a command prompt (start/run/command) on the system having trouble and type “ping x.x.x.x”, where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the SyGate server computer. If you are unable to get a reply, there may be a problem with your network drivers, network adapter, or your cables. We recommend correcting this issue according to any documentation or utility software which may have come with the network adapter and then trying SyGate again. If you do get a reply, the client computer is communicating with the server computer using TCP/IP.

- If the networked computers are able to ping the SyGate server computer, check the TCP/IP settings on the networked computers to verify that they are configured to obtain their TCP/IP settings automatically or that they are using the IP address of the SyGate server computer in the TCP/IP settings for both Gateway and DNS.

- If the TCP/IP settings are okay and the networked computers can ping the SyGate server computer, check the settings for your Internet browser application to make sure it is not set to use a “proxy”. For Internet Explorer, you can check this in the Internet options control panel. For Netscape Navigator, you can check this in the proxy setting in the preferences screen. Also, make sure that the Internet options control panel is configured to connect to the Internet through your local network and not through a dial-up modem.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

- I already have a TCP/IP network, how do I configure it to use SyGate?

Install SyGate on the computer with the Internet connection, then enter the IP address of the SyGate server computer into the Gateway and DNS entries within the TCP/IP settings on each computer.

- Why am I unable to communicate with my cable modem service provider s e-mail, news, and Web servers from my networked computers?

Some cable modem services require domain suffix information on each computer to reach their e-mail, news, and Web servers. You can obtain your domain suffix by going to the following Web site from your network: http://www.sygate.com/cgi-bin/gethost.cgi. Once you know what the domain suffix information is, go to the DNS tab of the TCP/IP settings on each computer and enter this information into the section “domain suffix search order”.

- How can I configure SyGate to use a backup DNS server in case the service provider s primary DNS server fails?

If the first DNS server listed in the TCP/IP properties on the SyGate server computer fails, your networked computers may not be able to communicate on the Internet. This can be corrected by using SyGate’s built in DHCP server and specifying primary and backup DNS servers in the advanced settings (available in the SyGate manager program s configuration screen). This can also be corrected by manually specifying primary and backup DNS entries in the TCP/IP settings on each computer.

- How do I setup my network so that all the computers in my network are listed in the SyGate manager application?

The SyGate manager program looks for and communicates with other SyGate manager programs on your network. If you install SyGate client software and start the SyGate manager program, SyGate manager will

display all other systems also running the SyGate manager program in the SyGate network neighborhood.

- How do I setup SyGate so that I can run a Web server or FTP server from a computer on my network?

The computer you want to use as a Web server or FTP server must have a unique IP address and should not be configured to obtain it’s TCP/IP settings automatically. Edit the apprule.cfg file (located in the SyGate directory) using a text editor and look for the predefined sections “my Web server” or “my FTP server”. Modify the entries so

that the correct IP address is specified and enable the lines (by removing the # characters). After modifying the entry you want to use, save and close the file, then use the SyGate manager program to stop and start the SyGate service. Other users should then be able to reach your server using your SyGate servers public IP address.

- How do I configure Windows 2000 to work as the SyGate server or as a SyGate client computer on my network?

SyGate 3.11 server works fine with Windows 2000 default configuration. To configure Windows 2000 for Internet through a different computer configured as the SyGate server, set the preferred and alternate DNS entries in the TCP/IP properties to be the service provider s recommended DNS settings and set the Gateway entry to be the SyGate server computers local network IP address.

- How do I configure my Macintosh for an Internet connection through the SyGate server computer on my network?

To configure your Macintosh to work on your network behind SyGate, you can configure the Macintosh TCP/IP control panel to configure “using DHCP server” if you’re using SyGate’s built in DHCP server. If you configure “manually”, set the router and name server address entries to be the SyGate server computer s local network IP address and give the Macintosh its own unique IP address for your network.

- What type of virtual private networking (VPN) works with SyGate and how do I configure it?

SyGate 3.1 works with Microsoft VPN (PPTP), ShivaVPN, BayVPN, Tunnel protocol (formerly AltaVista Tunnel). SyGate currently supports one VPN connection from the SyGate network to a VPN host on the Internet. You cannot host a VPN connection behind the SyGate server, however if the SyGate server computer is running on Windows NT, you can use it as a Microsoft VPN (PPTP) host so that you can connect to your SyGate network through VPN clients on the Internet.

- How can I control the type of Internet connections that my networked computers can access?

You can configure SyGate to only allow or to deny certain connections from your network through SyGate’s black and white list feature. You can manage the connections you want to allow by port number and IP address. You can also specify time periods for each restriction you define. You can set restrictions for individual computers (by their IP address) or for the entire network (by entering 0.0.0.0 as the IP address).

- What kind of security does SyGate offer and how does it protect me from hackers on the Internet?

SyGate offers an enhanced security mode which blocks incoming TCP/IP connections to the SyGate server computer outside of ports 1000 to 5000 (the range used for TCP/IP connections going out). This allows the SyGate server computer to still function on the Internet and will block other ports common to hackers and trojan horse attacks. SyGate also will allow connections into your local network only if they are first established from the local network, blocking all other connections. Sybergen Networks also offers additional network security with its SyShield product, allowing you to further define port security and set security schedules. For more information, go to the Sybergen Networks Web site at: http://www.sybergen.com.

CHANGES FOR SYGATE 3.11 VERSION

11/30/1999 – Build 556 (current release)

- Includes new SyGate device drivers.

- Change SyGate detection algorithm for DNS.

11/19/1999 – Build 555

- Added AOL 5.0 Compatibility.

- Fixed memory leak related issues reported on specific configurations.

- Improved DNS handling.

10/29/1999 – Build 539

- Fix registration validation problem.

- Blizzard StarCraft multi-client support added.

09/24/1999 – Build 538

- Fix licensing and registration problem.

- Fix DHCP server assigning duplicate IP to clients.

- New configuration option to enable/disable socks5 support.

- Disallow outside IP to establish Socks5 connection if Socks5 is enabled.

- New menu option “Exit Manager” on SyGate manager menu.

- Replace SyGate30.pdf file with SyGate31.doc (updated documentation).

09/16/1999 – Build 535

- Modified trial key algorithm.

09/16/1999 – Build 534

- Added 30 day trial period and new registration codes.

- Implemented Different tray icons for engine off, online, offline.

- Added support for Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6.

KNOWN ISSUES WITH THIS RELEASE

- This build of SyGate does not provide DNS forwarding for Windows 2000 or Linux networked computers. This is a planned feature for a future version of SyGate. See frequently asked questions (above) for recommended solution.

- There is currently no option to disable the Auto hang-up feature for dialup/AOL settings. If you wish for SyGate not to automatically disconnect your dialup or AOL connection, setting this option to Auto hang-up after “999999″ seconds (equivelent to approximately 11.5 days of continuous use).

- If primary DNS fails from the service provider, networked clients may lose their Internet connection. See frequently asked questions (above) for recommended solution.

- NetMeeting users cannot receive calls from the Internet connections public IP address. This is a known problem for most gateway services like SyGate because NetMeeting dynamically allocates ports when establishing a call into your network. To work around this issue, we recommend using a NetMeeting directory server from the NetMeeting client.

- pcAnywhere and Laplink software are limited to one host running behind the SyGate server computer. This is an issue because most versions of pcAnywhere and Laplink use a designated port for communication. You can use SyGate’s apprule to redirect that port to a networked computer, but only one may be specified. With pcAnywhere9.0, you can set it up as a pcAnywhere gateway on the SyGate server computer so that multiple pcAnywhere hosts can exist behind SyGate.

- Several one-way cable modems do not work with SyGate. This is usually the case if the cable modem and dial-up modem are separate devices and both used simultaneously for the Internet connection. If the cable modem has a built in dial-up modem, like the Motorola Surfboard 1200, it should work fine with SyGate.

- ATM is currently not supported as an adapter type in SyGate. We are looking at this and hope to offer support for ATM adapters in a future version.

HOW TO REGISTER

You can register this software online at http://www.sybergen.net. Upon registering this software, our Web site will automatically generate a serial number and registration key for your continued usage. After receiving this information, you can enter it into the registration screen (available in the help menu from the SyGate manager program).

License upgrades are also available for current users of SyGate. For registration of a license upgrade, just reenter the new serial number and registration key send to you from our Web site.

HOW TO CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Technical Support for this product is available for this product from the following vendors:

- If you are evaluating this software or purchased this software online, you should contact Sybergen Networks for support at [email protected] or go to the Sybergen Networks support page at: http://www.sybergen.com/support/default.htm.

- If you purchased your original SyGate software in a retail package distributed by Acer Neweb software, a support request form is available from the Acer Neweb support page at http://www.acerneweb.com.

If you received your original SyGate software with a hardware product from SOHOWare (NDC), ActionTec, Zoom, or Asante, contact information for the support of this software is included with the documentation for your product.