HOT MIX 12 SILICON GRAPHICS, INC.

EtherShare 2.2


  

High Performance AppleTalk Server

EtherShare provides reliable, high performance network services for Apple Macintosh based on state-of-the-art Unix servers. It also gives Unix applications flexible printing options on PostScript devices like LaserWriter.

EtherShare fully complies with Apple standards and works with any Macintosh out of the box. There is no need to retrain Macintosh users.

EtherShare is easy to set up. The server installation is performed from CD-ROM with a straight forward routine. The installation is finished by a server reboot and immediately after that all management is done remotely with Macintosh. It's as simple to configure users, groups, print spoolers, account information, font services etc. with EtherShare as it is to activate File Sharing of Macintosh System 7.

EtherShare not only offers impressive file and print services, AppleTalk routing and remote administration by Macintosh, but many additional features which prove extremely useful for the daily workflow.

EtherShare spool queues are only limited by available Unix resources. There are detailed accounting infos on all print jobs which are easily exported to other programs. The built-in font server minimizes font problems and significantly reduces network traffic.

EtherShare provides a Macintosh frontend to the Unix mail system. It also includes a terminal emulation which communicates with the Unix host via AppleTalk. So mobile PowerBook users can easily dial into an ARA server and then connect to Unix.

EtherShare scales well from small to large sites with most demanding requirements: from a server with one Ethernet interface to one with multiple network adapters, from entry level workstations to most powerful multi processor servers, from simple Unix storage devices to huge disk arrays or MO juke boxes, from local Unix users and groups to central name and directory services etc. Despite this growth potential EtherShare always remains easy to administer and never requires relearning from users.

EtherShare is tightly integrated in Unix. With optional Helios PCShare it offers a complete and powerful, yet easy to manage crossplatform solution. With Helios OPI it serves the most demanding printing needs.





Features & Benefits

Performance

up to 850 Kbyte/s throughput to Apple Macintosh over Ethernet

Utilizes full Unix power, incl. multi processor RISC machines

Load balancing with multiple network adapters

Reliability

Full conformance to AppleTalk

Handles largest output requests, up to gigabytes per print job

Supports most demanding storage needs with hundreds of gigabytes

Ease of Use

Macintosh look-and-feel to user

Fast server installation from CD

Full administration via Macintosh

Flexibility

Supports all Apple Macintosh

Huge choice of output options

Servers from major Unix vendors like Sun, IBM, HP , SGI, DG

Sophisticated font management and spooler accounting

Routing between all networks

Scales well for small & large sites





System Requirements

EtherShare Server

EtherShare Client

Network





Installation, Administration and Configuration

Server Installation

Client Installation

Server Administration





Product Highlights

Accessing EtherShare Services

Macintosh users access EtherShare volumes and spoolers through the standard Chooser. There are absolutely no differences for Macintosh applications whether they run from an EtherShare server or use data and print queues on an EtherShare server.

File Services

EtherShare is compliant with Apples AFP 2.1 as used in File Sharing or AppleShare, e.g. access privileges, fast Find File, Alias (with directory and file ids!), DOS short names etc. All Unix disk space incl. NFS volumes, CD-ROM, MO etc. can be used. Up to 250 volumes per EtherShare server are supported and even volumes larger than 2 GB can be accessed by Macintosh. The special resource information of Macintosh files stored in a way that also Unix and DOS application can fully share the actual document data content.

Print Services

EtherShare offers powerful printing services based on the Unix spool system with flexible queue management. Detailed accounting information incl. used fonts etc. is provided. EtherShare OPI is supported by an optional Helios product. EtherShare also accepts Unix text, nroff and PostScript. Output is directed
  -to PAP printers in E'net, LocalTalk,  Token-Ring, 
   FDDI, e.g. networked ImageWriter/DeskWriter, 
   laser or proof printer, typesetting machine etc. 
  -serially attached PostScript printer 
  -to TCP/IP stream 
  -to TCP/IP remote LPR 
  -to file on disk -via shared memory interface to
   another Unix application, e.g. a software raster
   image processor 

Font Management

EtherShare stores PostScript fonts on the server with no more worry about downloading them.

AppleTalk Routing

EtherShare includes AppleTalk routing between available network adapters as standard. This allows optimal load balancing.

Electronic Mail

EtherShare includes a gateway to standard Unix mail with easy-to-use Macintosh frontend.

Terminal Emulation

Helios Terminal gives terminal access via ADSP which is great for mobile users dialing in with ARA.
Licensing Scheme
The server license is tied to a specific machine and for a certain number of simultaneous users. License expansion are easily keyed in. EtherShare can manage thousands of (Unix) users, e.g. at a site with central NIS name service, but the maximum number of concurrent users is 250 per server.



Related Products

EtherShare OPI

EtherShare serves as platform for the Helios open prepress interface OPI server. With Helios OPI prepress users who work with large color or greyscale images the size of dozens of megabytes gain significant throughput improvements in the order of magnitudes. See also: EtherShare OPI

PCShare

The optional Helios PCShare integrates DOS/Windows PCs for a complete crossplatform solution for Macintosh, PC and Unix.

AppleTalk Tunnel

AppleTalk Tunnel is an EtherShare extension which allows to interconnect AppleTalk networks on remote sites via TCP/IP tunnels over X.25 or ISDN. The link between two or more EtherShare hosts with AppleTalk Tunnel is totally transparent for AppleTalk and all its services.

SLIC LocalTalk Card

SLIC, the S-Bus card for LocalTalk under Solaris 1, is a convenient way to print to LocalTalk printers or to inexpensively wire Macintosh as terminals.

AppleTalk Toolkit

Helios provides a Unix C library for AppleTalk DDP, NBP , ZIP , ATP , PAP and ADSP with functions largely compatible to Inside AppleTalk. A scheduler for asynchronous completion is included. A standard EtherShare product acts as run time environment for Unix apps written with the toolkit.

SHM and Admin Plug-In Interfaces

On request Helios discloses to its OEM partners EtherShare's fast shared memory interface and a plug-in interface to the administration program.