Windows 95/NT File Share Support

This feature allows you to map your Virtual Server's home directory to your Windows 95 or NT desktop over the Internet. This is very nice for maintaining your web site. After your Virtual Server's network drive is mapped you can "drag-and-drop", delete, copy, move files on virtual server as if it were a local drive (except slower, of course). Tests show that a 28.8K connection gets about 2Kbps transfer rate which is not bad.

An important note: Because UNIX uses a different EOL (End Of Line) scheme than DOS/Windows you will need to translate any text (html, perl script, etc.) files before copying them up to your virtual server. UNIX text files have lines delimited by a single line-feed character (0A hex), whereas DOS text-mode files are delimited with a carriage-return/line-feed pair (0D/OA hex). We have placed a very useful utility, fixcrlf, that you can install on your Windows 95/NT host to do help convert DOS files to UNIX and UNIX files to DOS. With fixcrlf you simply drag-and-drop your file on to the fixcrlf dialog. It automatically detects which the ASCII file type and makes the proper conversion. Please note that binary files do not need to be converted.

Tip: Use an editor that is "UNIX aware" like HotDog Pro from Sausage Software. This way you don't have to worry about converting the file before uploading your content. You can then edit your content right on your Virtual server volume directly over the Internet.

Here is a step-by-step setup process to configure your Windows 95/NT operating system to support the "file share" feature. It is a little tricky to do but is worth the effort. Once you get this set up, you can have it automatically "reconnect" when you log into your Windows 95/NT again. Therefore, this only needs to be done once.

The following instructions are for Windows 95 clients:

1. "Client for Microsoft Networks" and the "TCP/IP" protocol stack must be installed. This is done with the "Network" configuration panel in the "Control Panel". Note that TCP/IP must be installed before you can connect to the Internet in the first place.
2. The "Primary Network Login" must be set to "Client for Microsoft Networks". Again, this is set in the "Network" configuration panel.
3. The virtual server domain ("biff.org", for example) has to be included in the "Domain Suffix Search Order" area of the "DNS Configuration" of the "TCP/IP Properties" control panel (note that this assumes that DNS is enabled).

Now to attach your virtual server home directory as a file share on your Windows 95 client you need to do the following:

1. Reboot your Windows 95 client. Windows 95 will probably require this after you make the changes above.
2. At the "Enter Network Password" banner login with your virtual server username and password (the one assigned to you when you get your account).
3. From the "Start" pull-up menu go to "Find->Computer". In the "Find: Computer" dialog enter the "www" in the "Named:" field and click on "Find Now". After a few minutes a computer icon will show in this dialog.
4. Double click on the computer icon named "www" and a window with a single folder should appear. This folder is your home directory on the virtual server. From here you can do normal Windows 95 things like drag-and-drop files onto your virtual server or drag files over to your recycle bin to delete files.
5. If you want to map your virtual server home directory to a "DOS logical drive" click on the home directory folder of the "Www" window with you right mouse button. This will bring up a menu. Select "Map Network Drive" menu option and select your favorite letter (e.g., V:) as the network drive. You may also select "Reconnect at logon" so that Windows 95 automatically does this for you in the future. Note that after the network drive is mapped it will show up in your "My Computer" window.

A similar procedure is used for Windows NT clients.