TOPIC
Name: Network Assistant Beta Seed
DISCUSSION
Network Assistant 3.5b12 Beta Seed This will probably be our last seed of Network Assistant 3.5, so please put it through its paces and send us any feedback as soon as possible! Important: This is a beta version of Network Assistant, which will expire on September 1, 1998. Although our testing has shown this version to be stable, it is not intended for use in a production environment. Seed versions of Network Assistant are not supported. All Network Assistant 3.5 functions work over TCP/IP as well as AppleTalk. Please see the accompanying user's manual for further information about new features in Network Assistant 3.5. Network Assistant Seed Site Listserve A listserve has been created to notify seed sites of new seeds and to provide a location for Network Assistant seed sites to share experiences, questions, comments, and suggestions about using Network Assistant and to offer feedback to the Network Assistant engineering and marketing teams. You can subscribe to this listserve at < http://www.lists.apple.com/apple-network-assistant.html >. We would particularly be interested in feedback on: It was necessary to change the Network Assistant preference file format in the b6 build. As a result, if you are updating to b12 from Network Assistant 3.5 b1 through b5, you will need to reset the client workstations' security settings (Administrator access and passwords and workstation information). If you are updating from Network Assistant 2.0, 2.0.1, 3.0, or 3.0.1, you will not encounter this situation. You will also not encounter this situation if you update from b6 to b12, or if you update from b12 to the final product. We apologize for this inconvenience. If you are updating many computers, you can save time by using the following steps:
2. Run Network Assistant Security to set up the desired Network Assistant preferences file. 3. Save this preferences file somewhere else on your hard disk. 4. Reinstall the earlier Network Assistant build on your administrator computer and restart. 5. Select the b12 preferences file that you created and saved. Copy it to the Preferences folder in the System folder to the client workstations that you want to update. 6. Copy the Network Assistant 3.5b12 Startup extension to the Extensions folder in the System folder on the client workstations that you want to update. 7. Copy the Network Assistant 3.5b12 Security application to the client workstations that you want to update. 8. Restart the selected client workstations. 9. Update the administrator computer to Network Assistant 3.5b12 and restart. Improving Performance When Sharing a Screen, Observing, and Controlling To improve performance when sharing a screen, observing, or controlling workstations, the "Only send changes made by Quick Draw" option in the Preferences dialog box is now selected as the default. While selecting this option improves performance, Network Assistant may not be able to send changes made by some programs that do not use Quick Draw or that use it in non-standard ways. If you want to send changes made by these programs, select the "Send all screen changes" option in the Preferences dialog box. If the "Only send changes made by Quick Draw" option is selected, make sure you have the same fonts installed on all the workstations. In Network Assistant, you can create a Software Difference report to compare the fonts that are installed on different workstations and then use the Copy Items command to update any workstations that are missing fonts. In order to improve performance, Network Assistant does not send a desktop picture if the "Only send changes made by QuickDraw" option is selected. If a desktop picture appears on the workstation you are sharing, the desktop appears black. To improve screen sharing, controlling, and observing performance, we recommend that you use Network Assistant's Change System Settings command to set all shared screens to the same number of colors. Due to network bandwidth limitations, the selected computers must be set to less than millions of colors to use the "Send all screen changes" command. For best performance when screen sharing to multiple workstations, we recommend sharing to workstations in the same zone. Charcoal Font Mac OS 8 uses the Charcoal font as the system font. If you share the screen of a workstation with Mac OS 8 installed with workstations that do not have Mac OS 8 installed, the screen may not appear correct. You should install the Charcoal font on the workstations that do not have Mac OS 8 installed. If you are using Mac OS 8 on any of the workstations you will be using with Network Assistant, you may want to install the Charcoal font on all the workstations. Sharing Screens That Are Different Sizes If a workstation has a monitor that is smaller than the screen you are sharing, you can see only part of the shared screen on the workstation. If a workstation that you are observing has a monitor larger than your administration workstation, you will only be able to see part of the screen. If you are multi-observing, you will be able to see the whole screen. Internet Security IMPORTANT : Network Assistant lets you connect to workstations using TCP/IP, the protocol used by the Internet. Because Network Assistant may allow someone to gain access to your workstations from the Internet, you should change the Network Assistant password on all workstations to prevent unauthorized access to your workstations. Network Assistant uses TCP/IP port number 3283 to communicate with the other workstations. If you have a firewall installed and you want to access workstations on your network from the Internet or workstations at other sites over the Internet, make sure you allow UDP packets with a port number of 3283 through the firewall. If you want to prevent access to and from the Internet, you can block port number 3283. The Network Address Translation firewall capabilities of the VICOM Internet Gateway prevent Network Assistant clients from communicating through the Gateway. Computers on local or remote IP networks that are not using the Gateway's Network Address Translation will communicate successfully. For example, a Network Assistant administrator can access workstations remotely by using the PPP dial-in feature of the VICOM Internet Gateway. Restarting an AppleShare or AppleShare IP server To avoid potential problems, when restarting an AppleShare or AppleShare IP server, we recommend that you select the "Let users save work" option, rather than the Restart Immediately option. Renaming an AppleShare or AppleShare IP server You cannot use Network Assistant's Rename Workstation command to rename an AppleShare or AppleShare IP server while the server is running. Copy System Folder You cannot copy the System Folder of a remote volume mounted on your Administration workstation. Unavailable Workstations Some applications, such as screen savers and games, require more of the workstation's processor time. If one of these programs is open on a workstation, the workstation may appear unavailable in Network Assistant, or you may get a communication error when you try to send a command to the workstation. Turning on File Sharing Before using the Change Settings command to turn on file sharing, make sure the workstation has the File Sharing software installed. If File Sharing is not installed on the workstation, no error message appears but you cannot use file sharing. Create a Software Version report to verify that the File Sharing software is installed on other workstations. Screen Security Applications If you are controlling a workstation and a screen security application locks your administration screen, you will not be able to enter the password to unlock the screen. You will need to restart your administration workstation. Wake Up and Sleep Features To use the wake up and sleep features of Network Assistant 3.5, you must have Energy Saver version 2.0.4 or later installed on your workstations. Changing a Workstation's Network Connection After changing a workstation's network connection or TCP/IP address, you need to restart the workstation so that Network Assistant can access it. Searching for Workstations by TCP/IP Address Searching for workstations over a large range of TCP/IP addresses (over 11,500) may cause network activity to stop temporarily on the administration workstation and you may not see workstations in the Workstation dialog box. If you encounter this situation, we recommend searching smaller ranges of TCP/IP addresses. Using Apple Remote Access (ARA) You can use Apple Remote Access to administer workstations remotely with Network Assistant. However, you cannot use Network Assistant to control a workstation connected through ARA. Using Internet Config The Change Internet Settings command supports Internet Config 1.4, included in the Extras folder on the Apple Network Assistant CD. If you are using Network Assistant to set up Internet Config, you should install Internet Config on the workstation running Network Assistant. To use Internet Config, drag it to your hard disk, open the application, and enter the information requested. Using Disk Copy When controlling a workstation, double clicking or dragging a disk image item onto the Disk Copy application icon can cause a crash. Instead, you should open Disk Copy and then open the disk image. |
| Document Information | |
| Product Area: | Apple General Information |
| Category: | Apple On Line Resources |
| Sub Category: | Apple SW Updates |
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