SimpleDesktop Server Help
- General Setup
- Connection Setup
- Chat
- Users and Permissions
- Security
1.1 - IP Address - how to find your server
Every machine on a network has an IP address. An IP address can be thought of like a postal address. If you want to send messages to a machine then you have to know it's address before you send them. In order for SimpleDesktop to know where your server is, you must tell it the IP address of the server. Generally speaking the IP address that appears in the main page of your SimpleDesktop server (e.g. 62.48.13.129) is the IP address you should use to connect to your server. Entering this address into your SimpleDesktop client should allow you to connect. (NOTE: please read the next section on Routers, Firewalls and Port Forwarding).
1.2 - Routers, Firewalls and Port Forwarding
For some people, the IP address that appears in their SimpleDesktop Server will not be the IP address they should use to connect to the server. Generally speaking, these are people with a network of computers. People with complex networks of computers will generally understand the concept of an IP address and understand how to get SimpleDesktop to see the server anyway, but sometimes people have a network without even knowing it.
Routers and Modems:
If you lease a broadband connection such as DSL or Cable, you will have a router which connects to the WAN (the broadband network) and acts as your proxy to the internet. What this means is, that box the telephone company gave you to plug into your computer and into the phone line or cable line, is like another computer, acting as a proxy between you and the internet. If you are running a SimpleDesktop server at home and you want to connect to it from some other part of the internet, you have to tell SimpleDesktop to connect to that box, rather than to your computer. Routers and modems vary greatly in their configuration but you will usually have been provided with some application to find out information about your router or modem. You should use this application or documentation to find out the WAN side IP address of your router or modem - this is then the IP address that you should use to connect to your computer from the rest of the world.
Port Forwarding:
If you have a broadband or cable connection and you wish to set up a SimpleDesktop server on it, you may need to explicitly tell your router or modem to forward connections on a particular port to your particular computer. Configuration varies greatly across modems and routers but you should read the sections in your routers' help about 'Port Forwarding' or 'Virtual Servers'. Basically you will be telling your server that when someone connects to it on port X, they actually should be connecting to your computer on port X (where the SimpleDesktop Server will be listening).
Firewalls:
Most people that have a firewall have set it up themselves and will know how to configure bits of it. The basic purpose of firewalls is to stop communications that arent explicitly allowed. This means that firewalls will often stop SimpleDesktop from communicating. Obviously this is no good. If your firewall has a general security setting (such as low, medium, high), you may need to lower this security setting in order for SimpleDesktop to work. For more advanced users, you may wish to configure a specific port as open for SimpleDesktop to use (see your SimpleDesktop Server and the Ports section of this help for more information).
1.3 - Accepting Connections
The Master tab in SimpleDesktop Server is the general server status and On/Off switch. There are three main switches. The first is a general On/Off switch called 'Accept Connections', if this switch is off, SimpleDesktop will not be listening for any connections. The next is a general switch to let users gain control of the computer or not ('Remote Control') and the next is a general switch to let users exercise control of the SimpleDesktop Server window ('Remote Server Control').
1.4 - Logs
SimpleDesktop Server features two logs. The first log is a general log of everything going on in the server, it contains information about things like who connected and when. The next log contains specific information about connections such as when a connection was made, when it terminated and for what reason it was terminated.
1.5 - Connections
When a user is connected to a SimpleDesktop Server, an entry will appear in the 'Connections' section of the Master tab. If you wish to destroy this connection, simply select it and click 'Kill'.
1.6 - Automatic Server Startup
To have your server run automatically when you log in to your computer, you need to set up your computer to run SimpleDesktop server automatically. In Windows, simply add a shortcut to the SimpleDesktop server to the 'Startup' section in your Start Menu, Programs section. To do this, simply select the start menu button and navigate to Settings and then to Start Menu. Select the Advanced tab and then the Advanced button. In the resulting window you can enter the Programs folder and the Startup folder. You can then create a shortcut to the file 'sdesktopserv.exe' in your SimpleDesktop install folder.
1.7 - Server Status, Client Download and Web Client
To see your server's status and download a cross-platform SimpleDesktop Client, simply point a web browser at your SimpleDesktop Server. If you SimpleDesktop Server is listening on port 2603 (as it is by default) then the address you should type into your browser is "http://address:2603/" where 'address' is the IP address of your SimpleDesktop Server. For example, if you SimpleDesktop Server's address was 192.168.1.8, then you would point your browser to "http://192.168.1.8:2603/". From this web page you can check the status of your SimpleDesktop Server and download a client from any normal browser to connect to it in a full SimpleDesktop session. From this page you can also use the server's built in Java web client to connect - the web client contains all the functionality of the standard client but provides even easier access with no download necessary.
1.8 - IP Upload / Router Page Upload
Although the server shows it's IP address on the main page, service providers often change these IP addresses as time goes on. If you're away from home and your IP address changes you may not be able to find out what it has changed to without physical access to your machine. However, one way around this problem is to have SimpleDesktop server upload the changing IP address at regular times to a known location - such as a free web page. With the server uploading it's IP address, you simply need to browse to the web page containing the IP address and then enter that into your SimpleDesktop client.
If your computer connects to the internet directly you will likely want to upload the 'local machine ip address'. If you use a router, you can have SimpleDesktop grab your router's status page and upload the IP address of your router.
To have SimpleDesktop upload your router's IP address, Select 'Get a Router's Web Page' and enter the address of your router's web page in the text field next to it. SimpleDesktop will search your router's web console for any references to IP addresses.
Once you have entered your router's web page or chosen to upload the local machine IP address, click 'Test' to check that it works ok. If all is well you should see a green tick and a message showing the captured IP addresses.
Once you are have tested the IP address fetching, you can change the frequency of the page upload in hours. Normally, you will want your server to upload the IP address every hour or half an hour (0.5 hours) or so but you can set it to anything you like.
When you're happy with the upload frequency, just add your web site FTP details and click 'Test' to try them out.
If a scheduled IP address upload should fail for any reason, you'll see an entry in the server log with details of why it failed.
TIP: Remember to press the 'Save Settings' button to let the server know you want to start the schedule.
TIP: To use this feature you will need FTP access to some web space, however, if your ISP doesn't provide you with a web page, free web space can be found very easily on the internet.
2.1 - Ports
In addition to an IP address, a computer also has a number of Ports. These can be though of as pidgeon holes for messages. SimpleDesktop Server by default listens on port 2603 and 2604 for incoming connections but this can be changed or more ports can be added. To add or edit a port range, use the buttons in the Connections tab. To collapse the ports you have added into as few port ranges as possible, select the Collapse button.
TIP: Some networks only allow access on Port 80. Port 80 is the default web browser port.
2.2 - Host filtering
When a SimpleDesktop client makes a connection to your SimpleDesktop Server, it must always provide its address for return messages. The address of a machine is a common way to block unwanted connections. There are two ways to filter based on host - allow only a specified group of hosts, or deny only a specified group of hosts. To add or edit an allowed or banned host, use the buttons in the host area of the Connections tab. Using * at then end of a hostname will allow you to match all hostnames beginning with that name (e.g. badhost* will match any host with a name beginning with 'badhost'). To test your host filtering, you can type sample hostnames into the field at the bottom of the Connections tab.
3.1 - Chatting with Users
A common use for SimpleDesktop is as a remote administration tool, where someone might fix your computer from another computer. In this case, it is handy to be able to chat to the other person. The Chat tab of SimpleDesktop Server allows you to chat to any connected users or to view any chatting between connected users.
3.2 - Whiteboard Overlay
Users can draw to a whiteboard using the SimpleDesktop client - this allows them to highlight certain portions of the screen or to demonstrate things with ease. To see what users have drawn, click the 'Whiteboard Overlay' button in the server Chat tab. To remove it, just click the mouse again.
4.1 - Users
In order to support a variety of uses, SimpleDesktop Server allows configuration of users with rich permissions. To add and remove users, simply use the buttons in the Users tab of SimpleDesktop Server.
4.2 - Permissions
To alter permissions for a particular user, select the user in the Users tab of SimpleDesktop Server and then check or uncheck individual permissions at the bottom of the window. When you are happy with the results, save the settings. NOTE: permissions will only apply on NEW connections to the server, not to existing connections.
TIP: Remember to press the 'Save Settings' button at the bottom of the panel when you've changed a user's permissions.
5.1 - WARNING
WARNING: security is a very complex subject and only advanced users should edit their security settings or opt for custom security settings.
5.2 - Connection Encryption
When this feature is turned on, an entire SimpleDesktop session is encrypted from start to finish. When this feature is off, only password transfer is encrypted.
5.3 - Encryption Strengths and Key Sizes
Some countries only allow encryptions of a certain strength such as 128 bit encryption. To alter the encryption strength of the session, change the key size for the Symmetric key encryption algorithm (normally set to Blowfish encryption).
© Copyright 2004 Moog Software