HOT MIX 12 SILICON GRAPHICS, INC.

PCShare 2.0


  

High Performance Server for DOS/Windows-PCs

PCShare provides extremely fast, reliable, feature rich networking services for DOS and Windows PCs. It is fully compatible with standard DOS and Windows programs, incl. multi user applications, supports entry level PCs and excels in ease of use.

Sharing files and printers is simple and straightforward with PCShare's login program for DOS. Windows users enjoy full Windows integration, mount drives and printers with a network chooser and examine remote directories in the File Manager with the appropriate PCShare extension.

PCShare allows any standard Windows program to use its networking capabilities by means of the Microsoft WinSock API. PC users access Oracle or Sybase databases, emulate terminals with KeaT erm or teemtalk and view X applications with eXceed or teemX. Commercial solutions like SAP R3 or company wide electronic mail like HPs OpenMail clients can be used, too. A myriad of Internet software for Telnet, FTP , Gopher, world wide web etc. is supported.

Customizable login scripts can be executed with PCShare's user and machine profiles. Users access Unix oreven issue Unix commands from the DOS command line with PCShare s terminal emulation. Unix tape drives can be used to backup local PC data.

Strict security can be enforced by disabling all local PC drives or with diskless boot.

PCShare is based on standards: proven TCP/IP communication, Unix systems, WinSock program interface, ODI network driver interface etc.

PCShare ensures a smooth growth path. It scales from one user to hundreds of nodes, from entry level workstations to most powerful multiprocess or RISC servers, from a single Ethernet to complex internets.

PCShare coexists nicely with other networks like NetWare or Windows for Workgroups on the same PC. It is a great link between these PC based networks and powerful Unix systems. It is possible to evaluate PCShare on a few nodes and add more over time without disruption of daily work.

PCShare is designed with crossplatform in mind. It tightly integrates Unix and by means of optional Helios EtherShare also Apple Macintosh. It offers sophisticated printing and is prepared for future Helios OPI 1.2.



Features & Benefits

Performance

E'net 980 KByte/s, FDDI 5MByte/s

Modest Requirements

Only 40 KB conventional PC RAM needed; can be loaded high

Runs even on 8086 or 80x86 PCs with 640 KB RAM under DOS 3.3

Supports ODI compliant adapters for Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI ...

Ease of Use

Fast installation from CD-ROM

Menu-driven administration

Easy network setup with automatic node address assignments

Provisions for troubleshooting

Full Windows integration

Flexibility

Suite of network services

MS-DOS/PC-DOS 3.3 or newer, Novell DOS 7, Windows, WfW, ...

Full DOS file and record locking

WinSock & LAN WorkPlace API

Coexists with other PC networks

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

TCP/IP , Unix, NFS, NIS, BootP , ...





System Requirements

PCShare Server

PCShare Client

Network





Installation, Administration and Configuration

Server Installation

Server Administration





Product Highlights

PCShare DOS Login and Windows Chooser

PCShare's services are accessed with a DOS login tool, a Windows chooser or by batch programs. There is full Windows integration including the help system. PCShare does not require extensive training for PC users and will easily be accepted by even unexperienced users.

File Services

PCShare offers extremely fast file services. Due to its great performance PCShare allows to boot hundreds of PCs remotely from a server and to run Windows with diskless PCs. All Unix disk space including NFS volumes, CD-ROM, MO etc. can be used for PC file services. Unix directories appear as DOS drive letters. Long Unix names are automatically mapped to proper DOS names. DOS file and record locking is fully supported.

Print Services

PCShare allows PCs to print to Unix spool systems and also to redirect Unix print queues to locally attached PC printers. It is very easy to set u p Unix spoolers and to redirect Unix print queues to PC printers in the network. The output to locally attached PC printers remains under the full control of Unix and Windows is not burdened with these print jobs. PCShare offers flexible character mapping to get proper output on various pri nters.

Standard TCP/IP Stack for Windows

PCShare provides Microsoft WinSock and Novell LAN WorkPlace program interfaces. The stack is implemented as DLL and Windows driver. There is no need to preconfigure TCP/IP sessions, both TCP/IP program interfaces can be used simultaneously, TCP/IP sessions do not take up conventional DOS memory and there is virtually no limit on the number of concurrent sessions.

PCShare Terminal Emulation

PCShare includes an enhanced ANSI terminal emulation with ISO7, ISO8, PC and HP character set, 36 user definable function keys and black on white representation. It solves the basic needs of most users. For experts the terminal emulation accepts Unix commands at the DOS prompt and launches a session for executing the command. The terminal emulation is extremely fast and displays up to thirty screens a second.

User and Machine Profiles

The administrator can set up login procedures so that every time a certain PC is booted or a certain user logs in, individual batch programs are executed. This is a convenient and user friendly method to spread important news, synchronize user or configuration data, check for viruses or enf orce certain activities like starting TSRs.

Security Options

PCShare can be configured to automatically disable local PC drives when connecting to a PCShare server or to boot diskless from server.

PCShare "tar" Programm

PCShare provides a DOS tar program so that any PC can share Unix tape devices for remote backup.

Easy TCP/IP Setup

Despite standard Unix methods for setting up IP addresses an unrivaled automatic way is offered.

Flexible Licensing Scheme

PCShare comes with a floating license for the PCs. The server license is tied to a specific machine and for a certain number of simultaneous users. The server also acts as license server for the TCP/IP stack. There is an attractive one server/one user kit for single PC solutions. License expansions for additional 1, 5, 10, 20 and 100 users are available.

Convenient Update to PCShare 2.0

Existing installations can easily be updated PC by PC without interrupting daily work. When the new PCShare 2.0 software is installed on an existing 1.4 server, the old server will continue to run in compatibility mode. PCShare 1.4 clients can then be updated over the network whenever appropriate.