This document contains late breaking news of the latest features added to the VICOM Internet Gateway which do not appear in the VICOM Internet Gateway manual. At the end of the document, the version history of the product is also listed.
For the latest news about updaters, shows that Vicom Technology are attending, new versions of our software, new products, press news and lots more, take a regular look at our news page at:
http://www.vicomtech.com/newsflash.html
Contents:
• Installing the VICOM Internet Gateway
• Registering your VICOM Internet Gateway
• OT TCP/IP Control Panel
• Running TCP/IP server applications on the Gateway machine
• Previous Users of the VICOM Internet Gateway
• The Gateway as a DHCP client (required when used with some Cable Modem Providers)
• Dynamic PPP server ports
• Detecting a dropped phone line
• Login scripts
• Setting the MTU Value on the PPP Port
• Vicom Technology's Technical Support Area on the Web
• Saving Information About the Set-up of Your VICOM Internet Gateway (Contacting Technical Support)
• Version History
Installing the VICOM Internet Gateway
The VICOM Internet Gateway is installed as a fat binary version of the product which includes native code for both 68K Mac's and PowerPC's. This fat binary version is intended to work on:
• a 68K based Macintosh running either MacTCP or Open Transport.
• a PowerPC running Open Transport.
To run the Internet Gateway on a PowerPC, you MUST have Open Transport installed, which is available from Apple's web site (http://www.apple.com).
Registering your VICOM Internet Gateway
To receive news of updates, offers and for free technical support, please register the product on-line at the following web page:
http://www.vicomtech.com/register.html
OT TCP/IP Control Panel
If TCP/IP is used on the Gateway machine (needed if TCP/IP applications are run on that machine), TCP/IP should be set to "Load Only When Needed". This option can be found by opening the TCP/IP control panel, selecting "Advanced" user mode, and then selecting the "Options" button.
Running TCP/IP server applications on the Gateway machine
If any TCP/IP server applications are run on the Gateway machine the mirror port should be set as follows:
• If the Internet Proxy port has a static address then this port should be mirrored. Users accessing the server from inside the network access it at this address, as do users on the Internet.
• If the Internet Proxy port has a dynamic address then the Internal (normally Ethernet) port should be mirrored. Users inside the network access the server at the internal address. Users on the Internet access the server at the address of the Internet Proxy port. Users from the Internet would of course need to know the address the Internet Proxy port had obtained.
To mirror a port, select the port required in the status window and select "Mirror This Port" from the "Ports" menu.
Please note that the Internet Gateway must be loaded and turned ON, before any server applications are loaded.
Previous Users of the VICOM Internet Gateway
The "DHCP Clients" file and the "VICOM TCP/IP Preferences" file can now be located in the "VICOM Settings" folder within the System's "Preferences" folder. The default is for the VICOM Internet Gateway to use the files that are placed in the "VICOM Settings" folder.
We recommend that previous users of the VICOM Internet Gateway move their existing "DHCP Clients" and "VICOM TCP/IP Preferences" files into the "VICOM Settings" folder.
The Gateway as a DHCP Client
The VICOM Internet Gateway can now be a DHCP client when it has an Ethernet port. To set the Gateway to be a DHCP client on an Ethernet port, set the IP address for that Ethernet port to be "Dynamic" (uncheck the "Static" check-box in "Basic" User Mode). The Gateway will then receive information about the IP address that the port requires, the Default Gateway IP address, and the Domain Name Server IP address from a DHCP Server.
One area where this new feature is of particular importance is to cable modem users. Several cable modem providers now use a DHCP server to assign an IP address to customers when they connect using their cable modem, rather than assigning each customer with a static IP address.
NOTE: A Gateway cannot be a DHCP Server and a DHCP Client on the same Ethernet interface or on the same physical network. The Gateway will not serve DHCP addresses to itself. This means that if you have a DHCP Server and DHCP Client port on the same physical network, the server port will not respond to a request from the client port.
Dynamic PPP Server Ports
The Gateway's PPP server ability has been improved. Previously each PPP server (dial-in) port had to be on a separate IP network to the other ports and dial in client machines had to be on a different IP address to the PPP port on the Gateway. This is wasteful of IP addresses and therefore it is now possible with version 3.8 and above of the Gateway to put a PPP server (dial-in) port on the same network as an Ethernet port, and the Gateway will bridge traffic between these two ports.
To activate this capability, set the address of a dial in port to "dynamic". When a remote client connects to this port, the Gateway will give it the address specified in "PPP Server Base Address" in the Preferences. If no address has been specified in the "PPP Server Base Address" option, an address on the same network as the first Ethernet port will be assigned to the dial-in port. The IP address of the port will be one higher than the IP address of the Ethernet port. For example.
Ethernet Port: 200.1.1.100
Dynamic dial-in PPP Port 1 (when a remote user connects): 200.1.1.101
Remote dial-in users IP address connected to dial-in port 1: 200.1.1.101
(Assuming that remote user 1 stays connected)
Dynamic dial-in PPP Port 2 (when a remote user connects): 200.1.1.102
Remote dial-in users IP address connected to dial-in port 2: 200.1.1.102
If the same set-up of the Gateway was used (i.e. an Ethernet Port and a Dynamic PPP Port as above), but with an IP address of 200.1.1.120 entered in the "PPP Server Base Address" option, the IP address of the Dynamic PPP Port 1 and the IP address of the remote dial-in user would therefore be 200.1.1.120. The Dynamic PPP Port 2 and remote user would both be on an IP address of 200.1.1.121
Detecting a Dropped Phone Line
The Gateway uses the Apple Modem Tool to drive modems. This tool does not always detect that the modem has dropped the line, so the Gateway will remain connected even though the modem has disconnected (e.g. caused by the problem on the phone line).
The solution to this is "PPP Echo", found in "Advanced Options" within "Connect Info". When activated, the Gateway will send PPP echo packets to the remote end as specified. If the remote end does not respond (as will happen if the modem has disconnected), the Gateway will terminate the connection or, if "Keep connection open at all times" option is enabled, the Gateway will hang-up the modem and reconnect.
Login Scripts
When using a login script to log into a service provider, it is quite common to need to send several Carriage Return (CR) characters to "wake up" the provider. Some providers may not respond to a carriage return (CR) and may require a carriage return line feed character sent to them (CRLF). A pause between sending each character is also another possible requirement. To accommodate this, the Gateway now allows three special character sequences in a "Send" string of a login script:
\r sends a CR (carriage return)
\n sends a CR LF (carriage return followed by line feed)
\d causes a one second delay
For example, to send three CRs with a one second delay between them, one would use:
\r\d\r\d\r
Alternativly, you can just send a Carriage Return (CR) by entering a line to "Send" a space followed by a CR (check the "Send CR" box). You MUST have something to send, i.e. there must be something in the middle box (e.g. a space).
NOTE: You cannot enter a delay in the first line by selecting the "Delay" option. You must "Send" one or more "\d" items.
Setting the MTU Value on the PPP Port
The default MTU value for the PPP port you use to connect to the Internet is set to a default value of 1500. This value may need to be changed if:
a) you cannot receive or send email
b) you cannot view certain web sites, but you can view other sites
c) the PPP handshaking of the Gateway does not complete and you can never log into your ISP.
To change the default MTU value, set your "User Mode" to "Advanced". Edit the PPP port that you use to connect to your ISP and select the "Connect Info" button. Check the "Specify MTU" checkbox and enter a MTU of 576.
NOTE: Version 3.8.7 and 3.8.8 of the Gateway had the default MTU value set to 576. Upgrading to a later version of the Gateway will not change this value to 1500 and therefore you may need to manually change the MTU value.
Vicom Technology's Technical Support Area on the Web
Vicom Technology's Technical Support team have an area on the Vicom web site which contains:
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Tutorials
• Vicom Software Updaters
• Application Notes and Version Histories
• Contacting Technical Support
This area is constantly updated to address common questions and problems our users experience.
The main page for the Support area can be found at:
A web page called "Communications Products" contains a list of TCP/IP applications that can be used with the VICOM Internet Gateway and that Vicom Technology's Technical Support team think users will find useful. The web page can be found in he Support area of the web site at:
Saving Information About the Set-up of Your VICOM Internet Gateway
When contacting VICOM Technical Support for help with the VICOM Internet Gateway, you can now help us to help you by sending a text document containing the set-up of your VICOM Internet Gateway.
If you need help from VICOM Technical Support, we recommend the following:
1) Select "Save Config As..." from the "File" pull-down menu of the VICOM Internet Gateway and save the file (this file is automatically saved as a text file).
2a) Fill out the "Contacting Technical Support" form along with the contents of the configuration text file on the following web page: http://www.vicomtech.com/support/support.form.html OR
2b) Email the file along with a description of your problem to the email addresses given below OR
2c) Print the file (by using any text editor) and fax the file along with a description of the problem to:
North America: Fax: +1 650-691-9838
Email: support_1@vicomtech.com
Europe/International: Fax: +44 1202 310241
Email: support_2@vicomtech.com
Sending this file to VICOM's Technical Support Team helps us provide a speedier and more accurate response.
Version History
Version 3.9.0
1. Several improvements have been made to the look of the Internet Gateway windows, for example: the "View Users", "DHCP Clients", "Port Trace" and the main Status windows are now all resizable. Support has also been added for MacOS 8 Appearance Manager and Kaleidoscope and improvements have been made to the layout of several windows.
2. The Gateway will now automatically set up Open Transport on the Gateway machine itself. The only item the user has to do is to enter their ISP's Domain Name Server address.
3. CHAP negotiation is now supported for dial in ports when using a Radius Server or Vicom's own User name and password facility. CHAP is NOT available when using Apple's Users & Groups.
4. The Gateway prompt, asking the user for confirmation before quitting, can now be disabled if required via an option in the Preferences under the "Launching and Quitting" subpreference.
5. Login scripts now have a new "Send Hidden" option. Items entered as "Send Hidden" will not be displayed in Trace or a Config file.
6. The Ping Host facility now allows you to enter Domain Names as well as IP Addresses. It also keeps a list of the last ten Hosts that were "pinged".
7. There is now a new type of port called "Dial up: Answer and Proxy dial". This port acts as a Proxy Port when dialling out, and acts as a standard Dial In port for remote access.
8. DHCP Lease time now has a maximum value of 32,767 minutes. In previous versions the maximum was 546 minutes.
9. The DHCP Setup window has been redesigned to now fit onto a 12" monitor.
10. Port related commands (such as "Start Port") have been moved to the "Ports" menu. The "Network" menu now contains generic gateway commands, such as "Start Gateway".
11. An update has been made to the "-Gateway-" extension (ALAP). This adjusts the maximum outgoing packet size of applications running on the Gateway machine, using Open Transport, to 576 bytes (the previous value was 1500). This addresses some problems the Gateway was having dealing with large packets trying to be sent via the PPP port which may have a MTU smaller than 1500 .
12. The Gateway log will now display the names of users who dialled into the Gateway.
13. The "Connect Info" and "Advanced Options" windows are now available for dial-in ports. This is useful for setting the MTU value, PPP timeouts, and PPP protocol options.
14. Dial-in ports now have "PPP Echo" defaulted to On. This means the Gateway will be better able to detect if the other end has unexpectedly disconnected, in which case the connection will be reset, and will then wait for the next caller.
15. Darko the auto setup Guru now uses the last address from your TCP/IP settings and assigns that as the default Ethernet address. If there is no assigned address the Gateway will assign the default address of 192.168.1.254.
16. The default for MultiHoming is now Off. The default has changed from earlier versions of the Gateway therefore users with existing configuration files will still have MultiHoming on (since it was on by default in previous versions).
17. The default MTU value is now 1500. Please note that users with existing configuration files, where the MTU value has been set, will still have the old MTU values set for each port.
18. The number of characters in the "Login" window for username and password has been extended to 29 characters.
19. There is no limit on the number of Global Host Access Rights entries. In previous versions, there was a limit of 32k, i.e. the size of the Global Host Access Rights file in the Vicom Settings folder stored in the Preferences folder.
Version 3.8.8
1. 68K Machines now display throughput correctly. Previous 68K Gateway's would not display correctly once the throughput increased to over 1kbyte/s.
2. MTU negotiation is now improved on PPP connections so that the requested MTU is now passed to the remote end. This ensures that packets larger than the value set in the "specify MTU" preference are not forwarded to the Gateway on links with short frame sizes.
3. ICMP Destination unreachable packets now forwarded correctly when they need to transit another router, enabling MTU Path discovery to work correctly. This is particularly relevant where a Gateway is used as a PPP server on a network which is attached to the Internet via another router.
4. DHCP Packets are now of the correct size and format to conform to RFC 2131.
Version 3.8.7
1. The Gateway could not read in the "Users & Groups" file under MacOS 8. This version fixes this problem and allows the Gateway to read in the file so it can be used with Dial-in port security. This version also fixes a problem where the "Users & Groups" menu item within the Gateway would not work.
2. Fixed a problem with the "DHCP Clients" file which meant that Windows 95 machines that were set to always get the same IP address would instead be assigned an address from within the DHCP range. Any machines that were set to always get the same IP address outside of the DHCP range would instead be assigned an address from within the DHCP range.
3. The default MTU (Maximum Transfer Unit) for PPP ports is now 576 bytes. This has no adverse effect on performance and eliminates some problems encountered with CTB tools that have a limited packet size.
Version 3.8.6
1. Fixed a problem where some cable modem users would still not get their IP address using DHCP.
2. Fixed a problem where a FTP data channel could time out while uploading, and if there was a lot of traffic through a PPP port. This would cause a FTP client transfer to fail.
Previous Versions
For the history of previous versions of the VICOM Internet Gateway, please see the complete VICOM Internet Gateway Version History document on our web site at:
