FTP Delivers An All-In-One Network Access Suite
By Christopher Smith
Do you remember how the television character MacGyver would save himself in a life-or-death situation? He would pull out a Swiss army knife, make a group of the most obscure objects work together, rescue himself and save the world. Although you may not be facing a life-threatening predicament with your network, you may be troubled about providing users with a seamless array of distributed or legacy enterprise network resources.
FTP Software's Network Access Suite 3.0 will provid
e you with both the systems management and seamless user interface you're looking for. This release offers complete interoperability with Microsoft Corp.'s IP stack, which is included with Windows95 and Windows NT. Whether or not your users need to access information from FTP servers, Network File System (NFS) shares, an IBM mainfram
e or the Web, you can count on Network Access Suite to provide all the tools you'll need in one package.
Everything but the Kitchen Sink
While testing Network Access Suite 3.0 in our Syracuse University lab, I found several client applications--including an FTP client--that were undeniably easy to use. The FTP client operates like Microsoft Windows Explorer, and I was able to automate server logons to do all of the work with profiles, which are accessible through screen icons. This is a great feature of the software.
If you're looking for an easy-to-configure FTP server for quick-and-dirty IP data transfers, the suite's FTP server comes with a few authentication
features not found in traditional FTP servers for your desktop computer. When running it on top of a Windows95 machine, I was authenticated through a local password file and also had the option of doing so from a Network Information Service (NIS) server. Additionally, if you opt to use the FTP server with Windows NT, it can utilize the native NT Domains user database for authentication.
Even More on the Utility Belt
I tested additional security features, such as the ability to reject logins for users on machines lacking a valid Domain Name Service (DNS) name, or to restrict access based on IP address. I was also thrilled that the FTP server ran in the background on our Windows95 client without being intrusive.
If you are using Windows95 environments configured for virtual desktops (where you can log in to any machine and access your desktop settings), you may also enjoy the suite's support for universal session profiles. I tested this release's ability to complement the Windows95 enterprise
mobility feature. I was impressed with how my preconfigured FTP and TN3270 session profiles followed everywhere I went.
In addition to these key applications for client connectivity, Network Access Suite 3.0 has a few applications that make universal file sharing and printing easier. One of these extras is an FTP application, KEYview, tha
t lets you open foreign word processor files, nonstandard graphics and multimedia files, among others. Additionally, Network Access Suite has some bundled utilities, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Web browsing, as well as printing, backup, e-mail and remote-control tools.
I was skeptical about managing the implementation and user configurations for such a variety of applications. To manage the installation for this complicated utilities assortment, FTP bundles its Custom Install Manager (CIM) to develop custom templates for installations.
Version Friendly
If you opt to use Network Access Suite with FTP's native IP stack, Secure Client 3.0,
you will soon be able to take advantage of the IP version 6 support within the applications, since it supports IPv6's larger IP address spaces.
At Network Computing's lab at Syracuse University, we offer our users many different resources that may encompass mainframe sessions, FTP hosts and terminal emulation sessions. Managing the user interface to access these resources can be hectic when dealing with our large volume of clients. I tested the suite's Web-based management feature. By linking application session profiles directly into a Web page, I was able to present a single resource list for users. I could easily manage the list from one central location without sacrificing usability.
Other Tools in the Box
Additionally, the suite features other "odds and ends" management tools. The OPEN Script scripting tool lets you automate tasks between any applications that can communicate with ActiveX. Using a similar programming style as Microsoft's Visual Basic, I created simple scripts in a matt
er of minutes to automate file transfers, backups and other administrative tasks working with Microsoft Office applications. Other management applications include an IP-based user querying utility (such as whois, finger and host), a PC clock synchronizer and a helpdesk configuration retriever. These extra tools bring some of the advantages traditionall
y offered only on Unix systems into the PC arena.
Christopher Smith is a network consultant working at Syracuse University. He can be reached at chsmith@mailbox.syr.edu.
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