Copyright notice No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any human or computer language, in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of LapLink, Inc. 18912 North Creek Parkway, Bothell, WA 98011, USA Trademarks LapLink, Inc., the LapLink logo, LapLink and SpeedSync are trademarks or registered trademarks of LapLink, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. LapLink Remote Network Accelerator 1997-2002 LapLink, Inc. All rights reserved 18912 North Creek Parkway Bothell, WA 98011 USA Remote Network Accelerator Installation and Quick Start Guide 2002 LapLink, Inc. 1 Contents What is Remote Network Accelerator (RNA)? Getting help Installing LapLink RNA Server and Client Distributing Remote Network Accelerator to end users Customizing client installations (for administrators) Modifying the LapLink RNA Setup script Installing LapLink RNA client (for end users) Understanding the LapLink RNA Service Manager Keeping an activity log Logging activity in Windows 98 Logging activity in Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP Troubleshooting Problems with the LapLink RNA Service Manager Problems with logging 4 5 6 7 8 9 13 14 16 17 18 19 19 19 2 What is Remote Network Accelerator (RNA)? What is Remote Network Accelerator (RNA)? LapLink RNA speeds up access to your office network from remote locations without changing the way you work. Running in the background on your computer, LapLink RNA client software communicates with the LapLink RNA Server on the office network to improve performance by reducing the amount of data transferred over the connection. Whether your connection is wired or wireless (802.11 and GPRS), or uses a VPN or RAS server, your remote network connections can benefit from LapLink RNA. Speeds up remote access Like an increasing number of business people, you can no longer do without the network when you leave your office. Whether from home, a hotel, or some other remote location, you connect to your office network via a VPN Internet connection as a matter of routine. Unfortunately these VPN connections typically are so slow that they reduce productivity and often incur unnecessary costs. LapLink RNA speeds up VPN access to the network by 300-400 percent. It does so by caching and compressing data and transferring it more efficiently, thereby reducing network traffic and making you more productive. LapLink RNA works regardless of how you connect to your office network. Connections are improved whether you connect over the Internet through a virtual private network (VPN) connection or a remote access server. Works in the background When you connect to the office network you work much as you do when connected directly to the network in the office. Adding LapLink RNA accelerates your work, but nothing else changes: you don't have to learn new routines or change the way you work. Except for the improved performance, you aren't even aware that LapLink RNA is running. A client/server software solution LapLink RNA consists of two services: · · LapLink RNA (the client service) LapLink RNA Server The client runs on the computer you use to connect to the office. The server runs on a computer on your office network. The client and the server work together to accelerate connections. LapLink RNA is entirely a software solution; there's no need to buy new equipment. And it works with a variety of remote access servers, (Windows NT/2000/XP RAS, for example) and hardware. 3 Getting help Getting help The LapLink RNA documentation set consists of electronic manuals and online Help. The electronic manuals help you understand how LapLink RNA works. See LapLink RNA Help for quick reference, step-by-step procedures, and a glossary of terms. Where to look for information For your convenience, the LapLink RNA manuals are provided in Adobe Acrobat format on the RNA CD-ROM. This documentation set is comprised of these components · · This Remote Network Accelerator Installation and Quick Start Guide provides installation instructions and information. The Remote Network Accelerator User's Guide and the Remote Network Accelerator Administrator's Guide provide specific information about the server and client service. LapLink RNA Help is online documentation providing instructions, complete troubleshooting, and reference. It contains detailed information about options in the software, and a glossary of LapLink RNA terms. · Accessing Help For definitions of terms used in any LapLink RNA document, look in the glossary in LapLink RNA Help. The help system provides easy access to answers about the software. LapLink RNA Setup installs Help for the RNA Service Manager. There are many ways to access RNA Help. Choose the method that best suits the situation. To access LapLink RNA Help: · · From any dialog box in LapLink RNA, click the Help button. From the LapLink RNA Service Manager, click the Help button on the toolbar, click LapLink RNA Help Topics on the Help menu, or press F1. From the Windows Start menu, point to the LapLink RNA program group and then click Help for LapLink RNA. · Using Help LapLink RNA Help is a Windows Help file with a Help Topics window that lets you navigate through the help system and find the information you need. To return to the Help Topics window from any help window, click the Help Topics button. To use What's This? Help: 1 · · · 2 In any LapLink RNA dialog box, do one of the following: Right-click the option you want help on and click What's This? on the shortcut menu. In the top right corner of the dialog box, click the question mark button and then click the option you want help on. Click or tab to an option and press F1. Click anywhere or press any key to close the pop-up window. 4 Installing LapLink RNA Server and Client Installing LapLink RNA Server and Client Install LapLink RNA server on a network server or a computer connected to the network. Insert the LapLink RNA CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive and click Install LapLink RNA Server. Before you install LapLink RNA Server, be sure that your computer meets the installation requirements. Check the Installation Requirements section of the Administrator's guide for details. Install the LapLink RNA Server on your network server or on a computer connected to the network. This computer does not have to be dedicated, but you must have administrator's rights to it and it should be available at all times. In order to install LapLink RNA Server, you must have Windows administrator rights to the computer. To install LapLink RNA Server: 1 2 3 4 Insert the LapLink RNA CD-ROM in a CD-ROM drive. On the LapLink RNA welcome screen, click Server. Follow the instructions on your screen. Restart Windows to enable the LapLink RNA Server. To install LapLink RNA client: 1 2 3 4 Insert the LapLink RNA CD-ROM in a CD-ROM drive. On the LapLink RNA welcome screen, click Client. Follow the instructions on your screen. Restart Windows to enable the LapLink RNA client. 5 Distributing Remote Network Accelerator to end users Distributing Remote Network Accelerator to end users Use Make Client Diskettes on the Remote Network Accelerator setup screen to make copies of the Client software available to users. For wider distribution, copy the client installation folder to an available network drive. Creating diskettes for client installation To create diskettes for installing the client: 1 2 3 Insert the LapLink RNA CD into your CD-ROM drive and click Client. Click Make Client Diskettes. Follow the steps on the screen. !TIP You will need 3 blank formatted diskettes before beginning. Setting up the client installation on a network Putting the client installation on a network is a convenient way to make the service available to many users at once. To set up the client installation on a network: 1 2 3 Explore the LapLink RNA CD-ROM with Windows Explorer. Copy the contents of the LeClient folder to an available network folder. When a client has connected to the network, have them run Setup.exe from the network folder. 6 Customizing client installations (for administrators) Customizing client installations (for administrators) You can customize client installations by hiding them from users, specifying particular LapLink RNA servers, naming the folder in which to install LapLink RNA, and so on. To change a client installation, create a setup file named Script.txt and include the edited file in the LapLink RNA Setup folder (LECLIENT) folder is located. Before distributing LapLink RNA you can create a Setup script file to modify the installation. This file specifies how Setup proceeds on client computers, and what settings take effect. For example, you can completely hide Setup or show certain dialog boxes while hiding others. Or you can display dialog boxes but not allow users to change the settings you have specified. This kind of Setup (sometimes called "scripted" or "silent") is particularly useful for controlling options that some users might have trouble designating, such as LapLink RNA servers. NOTE We recommend a short path to the install folder. For example, C:\LLRNA. 1 In Notepad or another text editor, open the sample script file that best suits your needs. For information about the different sample scripts provided with LapLink RNA, see the document "Sample Installation Scripts.doc" in the Sample Installation Scripts folder on the LapLink RNA CDROM. 2 Alter the settings as necessary. For details about the settings in the script, see the section Modifying the RNA Setup script. 3 Save the file as Script.txt in the LapLink RNA Setup folder you created on the network. 7 Modifying the LapLink RNA Setup script Modifying the LapLink RNA Setup script Modifying the Setup script, Script.txt, changes how an installation proceeds and options are set. This section lists the various settings in the file and how they affect installation. Controlling the execution of Setup Create and modify Script.txt in Notepad or another text editor. You can change settings in Script.txt to alter the way in which Setup proceeds. Hiding all or part of the installation [Setup] User Interface=VISIBLE Change the setting to HIDDEN to completely hide Setup from the user. The progress of Setup is recorded in a log file. Change the setting to FALSE to keep a particular dialog box from being displayed during Setup. Note that Dialog Name is the name of one of the Setup dialog boxes as listed in Script.txt. Change the setting to TRUE to prevent a user from changing any settings in the dialog box. Setting the type of installation [Setup] Setup Type=TYPICAL Change the setting to CUSTOM to require a custom Setup. [Dialog Name Dialog] Visible=TRUE ReadOnly=FALSE Restarting the computer after Setup [Setup] Reboot=FALSE Change FALSE to TRUE to restart the computer at the end of Setup. This setting applies only if the Finish Setup dialog is hidden by the script. Setting the setup log file option [Log File] Log=FULL Change FULL to ERRORS to record only error messages or to NONE to record nothing. Leave at FULL for a complete report. There can be only one [Setup] section in the Script.txt file. Specifying LapLink RNA servers Users can create lists of RNA servers to which they can connect. From this list of preferred servers they choose the server they want to accelerate their network access. 8 Modifying the LapLink RNA Setup script Using the Setup script, you can create a list of preferred servers and designate the one to connect to. This saves users the trouble of finding a server on the network and discourages them from making inappropriate connections. To specify LapLink RNA servers create a new section and give it this header: [Preferred Server List] Specify a server first by its name and then by either the type of connection or the server's IP address. You can designate just one preferred server or as many preferred servers as necessary. Designating a preferred server [Preferred Server List] ServerNameN=NAME For N type 1 for the first server, 2 for the second, and so on. The number differentiates between the servers. For NAME type the name of the server. For example, type this to add the first server, named ACME LapLink RNA Server, to the list: ServerName1=ACME LapLink RNA Server For N repeat the number used with Server- Name. For TYPE specify the connection type: TCP/IP, IPX, or SAP. For N repeat the number used with Server- Name. For ADDRESS type the server's TCP/IP address. For example, this specifies the ACME LapLink RNA Server computer's IP address: 255.255.255.255 (Optional) For N repeat the number used with ServerName. For DOMAIN type the name of the domain in which the server is located. Use this option when you have to distinguish the designated server from another server with the same name. ConnectionTypeN=TYPE or ServerAdressN=ADDRESS DomainNameN=DOMAIN F ...