CompuNotes - We now have forums on the website! See below! Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing ISSN: 1525-4534 January 27, 2002 Issue 172 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= To subscribe, send an e-mail to compunotes-subscribe@topica.com To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to compunotes-unsubscribe@topica.com or send an e-mail to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com with the following SIGNOFF COMPUNOTES-L +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CONTENTS 1=> Reminder about changes to CompuNotes ... By Patrick Grote, mailto:pgrote@compunotes.com 2=> This Issue's Winner! Articles: 3=> The Network Monkey, Basic Packet Filters on NetWare 5.x, By Jim Huddle, mailto:jhuddle@cfl.rr.com Reviews: 4=> Product: DiskJockey 2000 Professional Edition, Reviewed by: Donald Hughes, mailto:don.hughes@compunotes.com 5=> Product: Imagine Your Complete Home and Landscape, Reviewed By: Paul Schneider, Ph.D., mailto:paul@studio5D.com 6=> Product: Replicator - data replication and archiving utility, Reviewed By: Howard Carson, mailto:agitater@compunotes.com --- Why not suggest CompuNotes to a friend, family member or co-worker? You can win $10,000 and they have a chance to win each week with great information! Please click: http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=864865 --- 1=> Reminder about CompuNotes' Changes, By Patrick Grote, pgrote@compunotes.com Just wanted to touch on a few things that have changed concerning CompuNotes in the year 2002: 1) You can help us grow! Forward a copy of CompuNotes to a friend that you think would like to read it. Put up a link to CompuNotes on your website. Mention articles you read in CompuNotes in online discussions. We appreciate each and every time you refer someone to CompuNotes. We wouldn't be here without a fantastic subscriber base! You can also click on the Recommend It link: http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=864865 If you use the link you get a chance to win $10,000. 2) Advertising free. Except for CompuNotes promos, the newsletter is now advertising free. The website is also advertising free except for products or services that we personally use. We don't make any money off the banners or links you click on. The only exception to this is the Amazon link. If you like a review and want to buy a book through Amazon you can use the link. We get a few cents from each book bought through us. The money we make goes towards paying for some of the hosting and postage costs we incur. 3) We advertise for you. If you have a great website that will honestly help our readers, let us know. We'd love to include your banner on our site at no cost. 4) Contribute Your Knowledge or Opinion - We're always looking for new writers to review products and author great articles for our readers. Writing experience is not necessary and it's a great way to interact. 2=> Winner! This week's winner: James Lytton! Would you like to win something just for subscribing? We give away a prize each and every week to one of our subscribers. Who knows, it could be you! You could win next week ... all you have to do is subscribe! 3=> The Network Monkey, By Jim Huddle, mailto:jhuddle@cfl.rr.com Basic Packet Filters on NetWare 5.x Last time I told you about the DHCPCLNT.NLM which Novell included with NetWare 5.x. There was a quick procedure showing how to configure the server to use the NLM. Now that you are connected, everything is great, yes? Well, no, it isn't. You've got a nice, wide pipe to the Internet and it doesn't take any of your PC's resources to work. The only problem is that wide pipe is also wide open to all the nasty children of evil out there. Even though NetWare's security is legendary, it doesn't by default stop malicious folks from trying to get to the Windows PCs you have behind the server. As set up, it'll pass through just about everything that hits the Public NIC. Since most folks are running some form of Windows, this leaves a major security hole for those defenseless PCs on your private segment. You're going to need some packet filtering to begin the process of safeguarding your inner network. You start by loading FILTSERV.NLM at the console prompt. This sets up the environment for packet filtering. Next enter IPFLT and press Enter. Now type in FILTCFG and press Enter. From there select Configure TCP/IP Filters-Packet Forwarding Filters. Change Status to Enabled. Under Action, make sure Deny Packet in Filter List is selected. Under Filters and Exceptions you can create packet filters which will leave your system as open as you like, or nail it down so it will be practically invisible to outsiders. I'll go through adding a Filter here that denies ping requests coming to the Public NIC. If you're really keen to nail down your system packet wise, then I recommend the book by Craig Johnson (he's a Novell Support connection SysOp) called Novell BorderManager: A Beginner's Guide to Configuring Filter Exceptions (http://www.caledonia.net). Just about everything I know on this subject comes from this book. Select Filters and make sure it says (List of Denied Packets), then press Enter. The screen which appears will be the same whether you are creating a Filter or Filter Exception. The top window shows the filter highlighted by the bottom window. Press the Insert key. This calls the Define Filter window. Leave the Source Interface Type and Destination Interface Type with the default of Interface. Next select the Source and Destination Interface. A couple of points to note here: the Source Interface is the origin of the packet type you are filtering; the Destination Interface is the NIC that receives the packet. Leave the Source Interface with the default of and change the Destination Interface to Public (or whatever you've named the external NIC). Arrow key down to Packet Type and hit Enter. As you'll see, Novell has kindly created a long list of packet types for you. Scroll down and locate the packet type "icmp". Press Enter and Packet Type will show icmp. Leave the other fields as they are, except for Comment because you may want to add a description. Press Escape and Yes to save the filter. Press Escape until you are prompted to exit FILTCFG and select Yes. Back at the console prompt, enter UNLOAD IPFLT and press Enter. To test the filter, get a friend on a remote network to ping your external address (check the DHCPCLNT information screen to get your current address). With IPFLT unloaded it should answer your friend's query. Type IPFLT at the console prompt. This should activate all filters in place. Have your friend try another ping. He or she will get zip for an answer. The Public interface will pass the packet to the TCP/IP stack and the stack, using the filters in place, will determine that the ping packet should just be discarded. Pretty slick huh? To see what else you need to block, you can point your browser to a couple of web sites that will scan your connection for vulnerabilities. The first is http://scan.sygatetech.com. This is run by the folks at Sybergen who sell security software. The other is http://www.grc.com. This is the home of Gibson Research. You may remember Steve Gibson from using his Spinrite product back in the MFM/RLL hard disk days. He still sells Spinrite, updated for current drives, but he's also expanded his efforts into the security area. Click the Shield's Up image to get to his scanning engine. When you've completed scans from either of these sites you're going to be very afraid. However, you will know what you need add in the way of filters to protect your system. Done it again, I'm over my word limit. Next time, some really neat stuff about NetWare 6. Jim Huddle, CNE, CNE5, CBS, MCSE 4=> Product: DiskJockey 2000 Professional Edition Reviewed by: Donald Hughes, mailto:don.hughes@compunotes.com System requirements: Windows 9x, NT, 2000, XP; 486/25 MHz CPU, 12MB RAM, 19MB hard drive space, Internet Explorer v4.0 (optional for browser and plug-in functionality), sound card (optional for multimedia features) MSRP: US$69.95 (Slim Edition - $14.95) Since the demise of Xtree Gold and Norton File Manager, I have searched for a file management utility to replace the underpowered Windows Explorer. Each new Windows version brought changes in Windows Explorer which, while improved, unfortunately still lacked many functions for end users. One day while surfing the Internet I came across the Clear & Simple Web site and their new file manager tool called DiskJockey. After reading the online information I downloaded an evaluation copy and took DiskJockey for a spin. From the very start, the program impressed me with the ease of operation and the multitude of functions this gem of a program could accomplish. DiskJockey 2000 can view over 230 file types, making it the most comprehensive viewing utility in the world. Just click and it views. If a client sends you a file you can't view what do you do? Just fire up DiskJockey and there it is. Now, isn't that quick? DiskJockey views all popular file types - Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Data Base, Graphics, Presentation, and Compressed files. When you are looking for a file, what do you really want to do with it? Grab a paragraph for the e-mail you're working on? Quickly print it so that you can show it to someone? The DiskJockey makes this easy - just view then copy to clipboard or send it to the printer. Sure you've already got WinZip, but why fire up another program when you can do it all from DiskJockey? Not only can one unzip you can even view files in a zip file without unzipping! Fastest way to see the README file in a new download, and the easiest Zip utility on the market. Even creates Self-extracting Zip files. It is an exceptional file manager Move, copy, delete, rename with aplomb. Complete with Folder Synchronization and quick backup tools. Tight shell integration for efficient drag and drop to, from and within DiskJockey. How can you expect to manage your files if you can't see them. Like an iceberg, the power of DiskJockey lies beneath the program's surface and the only way for a user to put the mouse to the metal is to download the demo program. DiskJockey is one very powerful file utility for any user who needs to move, copy, delete, archive, unzip an archive file, or change file attributes. The built-in file viewers are extremely handy when examining the multitude of files that collect on a hard drive. Another handy, dandy feature of DiskJockey is that users can see at a glance or a mouse click the size and remaining free space on a hard drive. Want to know the number and size of files in a folder? No problem when using DiskJockey - just click on the folder, then on the calculator icon on the top menu bar and instantly a user is given the number of files plus the total size of all files in that folder. Knowing the number and size of files and size is important if you need to make copies of data files and back them up to a floppy disk. Once selected, file moving or copying is no problem with DiskJockey. In addition DiskJockey is great for coping, moving, dragging and dropping files across a network. The large number of built-in file viewers, in conjunction with the easy to use and comprehensive file handling capabilities of DiskJockey will aid any user in organizing their hard drive. DiskJockey is the Swiss Army Knife of file managers, and very user friendly. If you need to move, copy, and view, backup or just organize the mass of files on your hard drive or network, DiskJockey from Clear & Simple is the key to successful file management. Product Website: http://www.clear-simple.com 5=> Product: Imagine Your Complete Home and Landscape Reviewed By: Paul Schneider, Ph.D., mailto:paul@studio5D.com Requirements: 486 processor, 50 Mb disk space, 2X CD-ROM drive, 16 Mb ram, Windows 95, NT 4.0 or higher, SVGA video card with 800x600, High Color MSRP: $119.95 Got an old home you want to fix up? Perhaps you want to add a deck, hot tub, or do some landscaping? Maybe some interior design is in order? If you have tackled any of these projects in the past you are probably aware that numerous problems can arise when doing it yourself. But hiring someone can be expensive. Imagine Your Complete Home and Landscape, hereafter referred to as Imagine, seeks to aid you in the design process for these projects. It will help you decide what looks best and what it will take to complete the project before actually starting any physical work and discovering a bit too late that you really didn't imagine what you thought you had imagined. The distributors cite this item as 5 separate programs (Landscape, Interior Design, Dream Home, Remodeling, and Deck) all in one package. Be forewarned however, while each of these is sold separately, the actual software for these programs is identical. The difference, and this is an important one, is the library of objects you will find on the CD. Of course one upside is that you only need to learn one program to use all five CDs. Imagine's development tool provides you with several sample homes and rooms, but also allows you to import any of your own photos. Once a home or room image is imported or selected you can get down to work. Imagine offers a variety of tools that make it easy to snap in, resize, change colors, skew, and much more, using a wide variety of home related objects such as doors, windows, grasses, furniture, and plants stored on the various CDs. Each content object comes with detailed information which can aid you in your decision to use it or not. This information covers such details as whether the plant grows in your area of the country and the building materials that are required for that cool deck you picked. Learning how to use Imagine is facilitated through several short 'movies' which demonstrate each of the different options. In addition, the user guide provides 13 specific and several general tutorials that cover most of the tools and options. After taking the time to finish these tutorials, I found myself modifying different rooms and homes with relative ease. The process of creating a house is most akin to using a paint program and its various tools, except you need less artistic talent. What the tool is not is an architectural grade design tool. Instead, its focus is on creating a look and feel for a pre-existing picture. What it does do is provide a guide for home building, renovation and remodeling. Using it reminded me of a doctor using a computer to simulate how a plastic surgery patient will look after the procedure. Essentially Imagine does the same thing for the home. Overall, the more I used the program the more I begin to like it. There are certainly limitations to what it can do, but it walks the line pretty well, making it easy to use yet still retaining enough power to get the job done. If you are looking to make some home improvements or want to design your own home, but really want to put some thought and effort into your design (which you should!), then Imagine can help move this task out of the insurmountable realm and into the possible. Visual Applications Imagine Your Complete Home and Landscape Web site: http://www.showoff.com/ 6=> Product: Replicator - data replication and archiving utility Reviewed By: Howard Carson, mailto:agitater@compunotes.com Requires: Linux or Solaris (Sparc and Intel) server or network appliance, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape; supports clients running Win95/98/ME/NT/2000, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris MSRP: US$2475.00 (5 client Linux license) Backups, backups, backups - the bane of our existence. But if you're a network or IT manager, backups are a way of life. The big problem is quickly getting at individual files within backed up data, whenever they're needed, avoiding costly delays and downtime in the process. So if you can imagine a situation in which certain directories on client computers scattered around a typical network are backed up transparently and automatically, after which the data can be accessed by a client computer through a web browser, then you understand the basic premise behind Replicator. Couple that basic application with the ability to automatically move infrequently used data to lower cost storage media (moving it back to active network storage drives only when needed), while keeping high-usage data ready at hand in network area storage or active servers, and you've got a good overview of the serious replication, archival, data storage and data retrieval power in Replicator. Replicator can be installed on most Linux and Solaris-based servers, replicating data from selected clients throughout a network (LAN, WAN or Internet), then storing the data in local and/or off-site media. Replicator is designed to maintain the latest copy of your data, create archive copies of the data and generate a data history. Replicator allows clients to retrieve their latest replicated data or any one of their archived copies without outside assistance. It will replicate data from virtually any client computer running any standard client operating system. Replicator manages complete file systems, specific directories and/or files. We performed our usage tests with three different SunSparc servers, all running SunOS 5.7. Nothing to do with tape backup and data encryption systems is easy. Media failures, drive failures and other problems abound. Hard drives are cheap and easy these days however, so can we please kill tapes? Please? By the same token, nothing to do with any Linux or Solaris installation is ever easy either. The scope of this review is too limited to go into all the details. It's sufficient to say that everStor's technical support seems to be up to the task of getting problem areas sorted out. If you have any flaky network segments or nodes, we recommend fixing them before horsing around with Replicator. After installation, a Network Administrator can get into the GUI via IE or Netscape to select the replication frequency for each data set, create configurations, etc. We configured Replicator for part of our WAN (in three separate server locations in the Toronto, Canada area) using Replicator's server-to-server function. We set up a higher level Replicator corporate server to replicate data from lower level Replicator servers. The lower level Replicator servers grabbed data from local workstations and servers. For security purposes and according to the very insistent advice from everStor tech support and the product documentation, each client's data was stored in a directory tree on a destination disk unique to the client. It was a bit of a pain to set up, but it worked well. We gave a couple of client computer users their own server to control along with a password which allowed them to set up custom directories, replication frequency and selective restore. This also worked well (except for one individual, who shall remain nameless, who insisted on trying to delete existing directories while creating his own. BAD DOG!). Geez. Cons: Since the Replicator GUI is web-based it requires an operating web server - OK for many applications but relatively insecure for WAN-based applications (you've got to open a server port and all that). There are several firewall and security issues here. Replicator is designed to replicate only data changed since the last replication action and we're trying to figure out why everStor didn't add full backup capabilities to the product (thereby providing IT managers with a seriously heavy-duty, comprehensive data tool). Pros: Good quality middle-ware that fits nicely between full backup policies and the need for automated, high-speed, incremental data backup & retrieval for clients and servers throughout a network. You can select the replication frequency of a data set while preserving the network bandwidth needed to conduct your normal business activities. Replicator is excellent for replicating critical configuration files, customer data and for data recovery needs caused by buggy productivity software. Mission critical password, revenue and inventory files can be replicated at higher frequency rates than less critical files. everStor also makes something called the jb Driver (a reasonably intelligent robotics driver for controlling tape libraries and optical jukeboxes) which in conjunction with Replicator, may make the job of managing storage media drive stacks significantly easier. Apparently decent sales support engineering staff. Good stuff. everStor, Inc. Replicator Product Web site: http://www.everstor.com +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Publisher / Senior Editor: Patrick Grote, mailto:pgrote@compunotes.com Senior Editor: Howard Carson, mailto:agitater@compunotes.com Managing Editor: Don Hughes, mailto:don.hughes@compunotes.com Archives: ftp://ftp.compunotes.com/archives Website: e-mail: mailto:feedback@compunotes.com Want to Write for Us?: mailto:agitater@compunotes.com fax: (314) 909-1662 voice: (314) 909-1662 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CompuNotes is: Available weekly via e-mail and on-line. We cover the PC computing world with comprehensive reviews, news, hot web sites, great columns and interviews. We also give away one software package a week to a lucky winner for just reading our fine publication! Never dull, sometimes tardy, we are here to bring you the computing world the way it is! Please tell every on-line friend about us! CompuNotes B440 1114 West Essex Ave. St. Louis, MO 63122 feedback@compunotes.com (C)2002 Patrick Grote ISSN: 1525-4534 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! http://auctions.yahoo.com *********************************************** The COMPUNOTES-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html