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updated:6/17/98

 

 

 

Installation & Use

Managing Web & File Activities

This section will explain how to monitor, manage and tune activities on the Web & File Server.

[Advanced]

AppleShare IP Manager

The Appleshare IP Manager not only gives you easy access to the various "admin" programs that make up ASIP, but it also tells you at a glance what ASIP services are running and which are not.

In addition, the "Show Network Info" option under the Manager menu displays information about the AppleTalk server and zone name, and the IP address and name.

Web Server Activity Window

From the Web & File Server Activity window of the Web & File Admin program, you can determine:

  • Status: Running or Not Running. You start and stop the server, with options from the Server menu.

  • Name of server: this is the name your AppleShare users will see in their Chooser.

  • Current User Activity: this guage indicates how active the server currently is, based on how much processing time has been allocated to it. The red bar indicates how many cycles the file server operations can use.

  • Set Maximum allows you to determine how much processing time the server may use. If the primary purpose of the server is to share files and web pages, set this up towards the max. If you have other services that require processing time and are of equal priority, find a nice balance. This may take some trial and error.

  • Connected Users: Shows number of users conected.

  • Guest Access: Indicates whether guest access has been enabled for File Sharing, FTP, Web Services, and Windows File Sharing.

  • For each connected user, it will display

    • Login name (may be Internet alias, depending on how connection was made).

    • Connection type, such as Appleshare/AppleTalk, AppleShare/TCP/IP, FTP, etc.

    • Connected for: days, hours and minutes the user has been connected.

    • Idle for: days, hours, and minutes the user has been idle, i.e., not reading or writing to the server.

  • Disconnect users: Select one or more connected users in the list, and click on the little scissors button to disconnect them. You'll be given the option of setting the number of minutes before the disconnect and sending that user(s) a message. To cancel the disconnect, select the other button, showing scissors crossed out.

Server Logs

Web & File Sharing Log

In the System Folder:Prefernces:ASIP Preferences folder, you'll find the Appleshare IP Web & File Log, a text file that will indicate the following data:

  • Date & Time Web & File Server started/stopped.
  • Volumes found at startup.
  • Number of valid volumes found.
  • Date and time AppleShare/TCP services started/stopped.
  • Date and time Web Service started/stopped.
  • Date and time FTP service started/stopped
  • Error messages if certain services could not be started, for example, because of a bad TCP/IP configuration.

Below is an excerpt from a Web & File Sharing Log.

    AppleShare IP Web & File Server was started at 4:03:08 PM on 4/28/98 . The volume “Macintosh HD” was prepared at startup.
    One valid server volume was found.
    AppleShare/TCP service was started at 4:03:43 PM on 4/28/98 .
    Web service was started at 4:04:25 PM on 4/28/98 .
    FTP service was started at 4:04:30 PM on 4/28/98 .
    AppleShare/TCP service stopped at 4:58:48 PM on 4/28/98 .
    Web service stopped at 4:59:04 PM on 4/28/98 .
    FTP service stopped at 4:59:29 PM on 4/28/98 .
    (TCP/IP services could not be started due to a TCP/IP configuration problem).
    AppleShare IP Web & File Server was shut down at 4/28/98 on 5:00:00 PM

HTTP Log

In the System Folder:Preferences:ASIP Preferences folder, you'll find the HTTP log, a text file that will indicate the data listed below. The log format is compatible with third-party applications that analyze log files and produce statistical information about Web usage for your site.

  • Date/Time when the action occurred.
  • Result indicates the result of the action. Possibilities are:
    • OK, the action completed successfully
    • PRIV. The user did not have the appropriate privileges to complete the requested action.
    • ERR! an error occurred
  • Hostname of the visitor's computer.
  • URL for the requested action.
  • Bytes sent to the visitor's computer.
  • hostname URL, Bytes_sent

Below is an excerpt from an HTTP Log:

    !!LOG_FORMAT DATE TIME RESULT HOSTNAME URL BYTES_SENT
    05/11/98 15:39:04 OK 17.104.104.86 :Default.html 0
    05/11/98 15:39:04 OK 17.104.104.86 :AppleShareIP.jpg 0
    05/11/98 15:42:44 OK 17.104.104.86 :Default.html 0
    05/11/98 15:49:45 PRIV 17.104.104.86 :notarealfolder: 165

The HTTP log file can grow to 32K, at which point, it is saved with the current date ("HTTP Log 5/20/98"), and a new log file is created.

Tuning Performance

Here are some tips on optimizing performance, or troubleshooting performance problems, on the Web & File Services:

  • At the server:
    • Check maximum activity level; setting this at "maximum" will allow Web & File sharing to use all processing cycles. If you set it below the maximum, the server will not be able to use all cycles, even if nothing else is going on at the server.
    • Check caches: giving more RAM to the Appleshare cache (by decreasing RAM reserved for other applications in the Web & File Settings:Cache window) may improve performance.
    • Limit other activity on the server. If you can move other services to different computers, you can leave more processing power to Web & File Services. Some types of services don't require a top-of-the-line system. For example, MacDNS could run on a 68020 machine. Speed usually isn't quite so necessary on a print server. Also, keep third-party extensions to a minimum, especially if they require a lot of processing time, such as 3D screen savers.
    • Set up Energy Saver to never spin down the disk, and use "server settings," which will allow the server to reboot after a power outage.
    • Turn off logging: the HTTP log can be turned off in Web Settings. While obtaining logs can be useful for statistical analysis, it can also decrease performance by as much as 10%.
    • Limit number of connections: you can limit the number of file, FTP, and Web connections, as well as Guest connections, in the Web & File Server Settings windows. Doing so will generate a "server busy, try again later" type of message, but may improve performance for those users who are logged on.
    • Set up the server for the fastest type of link available. AppleShare over TCP is usually faster than Appleshare over AppleTalk.
      • Consider using multihoming to place the server on multiple network segments, instead of making traffic go through routers on the network. (The server would need multiple network interfaces, which may involve installing additional network interface cards.)

      • Consider putting the server on a 100BaseT network segment with your heaviest users.
    • Consider disk access speed, speed of scsi bus, disk formatting utility. Conley SoftRAID ships with most server and some desktop bundles. Creating a striped RAID volume may increase overall performance.

    • Perform regular maintenance on the server: run Disk First Aid, or some other type of disk utility. Rebuild the desktop. Check for sufficient disk space. And most important of all, back up the data regularly.
    • If using an ISP over a slow-ish link, setting up MacDNS on your local network may help with faster DNS service, as it will cache all queries sent to the parent (ISP) DNS server.
  • At the client:
    • For best performance, upgrade clients with the latest system software and the latest version of AppleShare client software.

    • Where possible, configure clients for AppleShare over TCP connections to the server, by installing AppleShare Client 3.7 or later, and configuring their TCP/IP control panel.
    • Consider placing the server in the same zone, or same network segment, as the clients who will use it most. This will reduce the amount of network traffic required to communicate with the server.

 

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