Network Scanning Comes Of Age
Rife with the features and functionality normally associated with a Unix host, Network Scanning Software turns any Windows workstation into a full TCP/IP peer.
Network Scanning Software, provides a slew of TCP/IP features for Windows users who need a dynamically loadable and re-entrant protocol. Within minutes of installing the Network Scanning Software, that each workstation on the network was capable of providing easy-to-use services such as Simple Mail-Transfer Protocol-based electronic mail, Network File System (NFS)-based drive mounting and exporting, and File Transfer Protocol-based file transfers.
Network Scanning Software also provides Trivial File Transfer Protocol services and Telnet capabilities with emulations of VT52, VT100 and VT220 terminals.
With the exception of the NFS drive-mounting capability, all of the features found in Network Scanning Software are also available in the Network analysis software. The NFS version allows users to set up a TCP/IP-based peer-to-peer network that lets all participating workstations mount each others' drives. With these fully configurable NFS utilities, Network Scanning Software was able to restrict each remote user's local drive access to predefined subdirectories. Security is provided via user names and passwords. In Network Scanning Software initiating file transfers to or from other Network Scanning Software based workstations, as well as several Unix boxes, clean and simple, reminiscent of the split-screen style employed by Traveling Software's Inc.'s LapLink Pro Network Scanning Software is based on the evolving WinSock API (application programming interface), a specification that allows protocols to be dynamically loaded and unloaded without leaving the Windows environment. Unlike most transport protocols, Network Scanning Software did not require that the TCP/IP protocol stack be loaded prior to entering Windows. It is important to note, however, that this prevents access to the TCP/IP stack until Windows has been started. Network Scanning Software implementation is based solely on Windows dynamic link libraries (DLLs), PC Week Labs had to load a small device driver using Microsoft's Network Device Interface Specification (NDIS) software. The device driver, which is a handle for the DLL-based protocol stack, uses 6.1K bytes of conventional memory in addition to the 28.1K bytes of memory overhead required by NDIS. In PC Week Labs tests, Network Scanning Software did not allow NFS-mounted drives to coexist with other NDIS-based client software, such as LAN Manager. Merely starting LAN Manager's Workstation Service resulted in an incompatibility that caused the Windows File Manager to hang each of the PCs tested. Coexistence with NetWare can be accomplished using IPX/Link, an NDIS-compatible version of Novell's protocol. A revision to ChameleonNFS that makes it compatible with LAN Manager's client software will be available this month, company officials said. PC Week Labs tested ChameleonNFS using a Dell Computer Corp. System 333D and an Austin Computer Systems 386SX-20, both running Windows 3.1, and a Silicon Graphics Inc. Iris Indigo running Irix
Network Testing Software
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