This cross-platform based administration service is comprised of two components, the HELIOS Admin server and the HELIOS Admin client.
The HELIOS Admin client is a convenient tool that allows configuring users, groups, volumes, printer queues, etc., and which due to its Java heritage is supported on all platforms. For details see the chapter " HELIOS Admin" in the Base manual.
Note: By default, Java is not installed on current Windows workstations. In order to run HELIOS Admin, a Java runtime must be installed on the client system.
In this manual we focus on the PCShare related issues in HELIOS Admin such as configuring SMB volume settings, Windows printer settings, etc.
Note: PCShare Admin is still supported by HELIOS, but it is recommended to use the cross-platform HELIOS Admin instead. For details on PCShare Admin, refer to the PCShare 2.x manuals which can be found on the HELIOS CD (manuals > old > ps20-e.pdf/ps25-ad.pdf).
This chapter describes the use of the application HELIOS Admin to perform PCShare related configuration from any workstation in a convenient and secure way.
In order to use HELIOS Admin, the HELIOS Admin server must already be running on the host you want to configure. The HELIOS Service Controller is configured to start this server automatically when the system is booted.
Other chapters in this manual describe how administrative work, which is required to configure and maintain the PCShare system, can be carried out directly on the host, e.g. by using " prefvalue" (see " HELIOS utility programs" in the Base manual). Most of these tasks can be carried out much easier using HELIOS Admin from one of the workstations.
HELIOS Admin offers a high degree of convenience to the system administrator. The application allows the host configuration to be represented graphically with lists and windows. HELIOS Admin allows users, groups, volumes, and printers to be installed, configured and deleted from any of the workstations. You can also interrogate each PostScript printer for available resident fonts and install downloadable fonts to the print server.
HELIOS Admin accesses and modifies the " Preferences" configuration file just as if the changes had been made manually. However, HELIOS Admin and the HELIOS Admin server have built-in safety checks to avoid conflicting or invalid configuration settings.
HELIOS Admin has the additional advantage that almost all changes are immediately effective, without having to restart the affected service.
- Any new suffix mappings or changes to existing ones will be available immediately.
- Any new HELIOS volume or printer will be available immediately.
- Any changes to HELIOS volumes, e.g. setting groups membership, will be available immediately.
- Any changes to HELIOS volumes in use, e.g. removing or changing mount points, switching characteristics to read-only, or changes in groups membership may result in side effects for PCShare clients. This may range from write errors to volumes getting dismounted(!).
- Removing access rights to volumes for clients that still have documents open on that volume might cause damaged or only partially saved documents.
Make it a habit to check the
Active Users list prior to making any changes that might affect connected users. Use the HELIOS Admin feature to send messages to connected clients to notify them in advance of potential damaging changes. In the
Active Users list you can verify which users have certain volumes in use.
In the
Settings > Server Settings window (Fig.
1), in the
Windows tab, you can specify the
Server Name and select the
Domain/Workgroup (if not specified, the system uses the host name as server name and " WORKGROUP" as domain name). In addition, you may enter a description in the comment field. The
Avoid elections option is usually turned off. In case you do not want your PCShare host to become LMB (
Local Master Browser) check the flag
Avoid elections. From the
Default Client Charset pull-down menu choose the default client character set which is used for non-Unicode clients and for protocols not supporting Unicode, e.g. " Browsing" . From the
IP Access pull-down menu choose the desired IP access list for the server. This setting defines the access list for SMB/CIFS clients. It allows selecting a list from pre-defined IP access lists. See the Base manual for creating/modifying IP access lists.
Fig. 1:
Server Settings window
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This chapter refers to SMB related volume settings only. For general information on volume settings and instructions on how to change them see " Volume settings" in the HELIOS Admin chapter of the Base manual.
The
Volumes list shows all HELIOS volumes on the host (Fig.
2). The HELIOS Admin server automatically creates this list by inspecting volume-related entries in the " Preferences" file (see " Volume preference keys" in the Base manual).
Choose the
Volumes tab. If it is not available, activate it in the
Lists menu.
Fig. 2:
Volumes list on host " ankh"
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Changing SMB volume settings
Before changing SMB volume settings, make sure that the volume is not in use. All users should unmount the volume, because changes take effect immediately and this could lead to strange effects.
Select the volume name, and choose
Open from the
File menu (or double-click the volume name).
The
Windows tab displays the SMB information about the selected volume (Fig.
3).
Fig. 3:
Windows tab on host " ankh"
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The
Windows visible checkbox determines whether the volume is visible at all in the Windows
My Network Places.
The
SMB Name field allows specifying the name by which the volume is published in an SMB environment, and which is visible in the " SMB Name" column (Fig.
2).
The SMB volume name can have up to 255 characters. Due to compatibility reasons for older Windows versions, PCShare automatically shortens the name to 12 characters. Accessing the volume via its long name is possible by referencing its UNC name, e.g.:
\\<server name>\<long volume name>\<pathname>
By default, the PCShare server will hold files open in its cache even if a client closes a file. If you need to prevent PCShare from doing so, e.g. for compatibility reasons with some UNIX applications, the
Close option can be activated, forcing the server to close files immediately on client close.
From the
SMB Charset pull-down menu you can choose the SMB character set which is used by the volume:
PC850,
EUC-KR, or
SJIS.
All HELIOS volumes are Unicode UTF-8 encoded. The SMB character set describes what encoding should be used for non-Unicode clients or protocols.
3.4 Printer spooler settings
This chapter refers to SMB related printer settings only (see
4.6 "Print server utility programs"). For general information on printer settings, e.g. how to create and delete printers see " HELIOS Admin" in the Base manual.
The
Printers list shows all HELIOS printer queues on the host (Fig.
4). The HELIOS Admin server automatically creates this list by inspecting printer-related entries in the " Preferences" file (see " Printer preference keys" in the Base manual).
Choose the
Printers tab. If it is not available, activate it in the
Lists menu.
Fig. 4:
Printers list on host " ankh"
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Before changing printer data, make sure that the printer queue is currently not in use.
Select the printer, and choose
Settings from the
Printer menu (or double-click the printer name while holding down the Alt key).
The
Windows tab displays information about the selected printer (Fig.
5).
Fig. 5:
Windows tab on host " ankh"
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The name of the Windows SMB printer (
SMB Name) is specified in the
Windows - SMB section. The SMB printer name is shortened to 12 characters in the Windows
My Network Places list. The Windows
Map Network Drive- item (see
Mapping the network drive in
4.3 "Managing file/folder permissions") allows specifying the long name.
The Windows name of the printer only becomes visible in the network if the
Windows - SMB checkbox is active.
The
SMB Name is the name by which it is known to the network. You may optionally specify a printer driver in the field
Driver Name. If you leave this field empty, Windows may ask you to specify a driver.
The driver name is usually identical with the PPD (
PostScript Printer Desription) name. If this name matches an existing driver name on the local Windows client computer, Windows will automatically choose this driver.
3.5 Windows printer output settings
Windows Printer (Fig.
6) connects a server queue via TCP/IP to an SMB/CIFS Windows workstation or print server.
Then specify the
Computer Name,
User Name,
Password and
Printer Name in the respective fields.
Computer Name must be the WINS name, a valid DNS name, or the IP address in decimal. Likewise,
User Name and
Password must have valid access rights on the remote SMB/CIFS printer. Finally click
Save.
Note: Printer Name must be the shared name which may be different from the name in the Windows printer list.
If the
PostScript Printer option is switched off the job will be sent as is (" raw" ); tasks that are usually done during printing (e.g. font inclusion) will be skipped.
Fig. 6:
Windows Printer connection
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