ProNFS Version 2.3 - NFS Client and Server by Labtam.

Date: 12 July 2004

Labtam is pleased to present a new software update for ProNFS now Version 2.3. It is the second major release for the 2004 year.

NFS Client and Server for Microsoft Windows. The only NFS software that gives you the high performance file sharing connectivity capabilities. ProNFS enhances your networking performance and access.

The ProNFS Package can be split into the following:

ProNFS Server

ProNFS Server can be installed on any Windows 95/98/NT/2000 PC to share your local drives and folders with other networked users, no matter which operating system they are running on their workstations. Only a NFS Client is required on that system for users to mount your disks as part of their system.

ProNFS Client

ProNFS Client can be installed on any Windows 95/98/2000/NT/XP PC to enable your workstation to benefit from networks NFS Server services. With the help of ProNFS Client you can mount disks and folders from network, no matter under which operating system they reside, and make them as part of your familiar local desktop environment.

New Features on this release include

The following enhancements have been made

1. Installation:
- implemented the "-auto2" option for "setup.exe". This is the same as "-auto" option with the only difference: the Finish dialog message is suppressed

2. Comsetup:
- implemented the "Enable TCP/IP KeppAlive mode" setting
- implemented the "Enable Logotype" setting

3. Startup:
- implemented the randomized RLOGIN initial portnumber to avoid possible rejection of connection

4. NFS-Server:
- NFS_Server refuses to close and shut down the system if mounts are active

5. NFS-Client for MS Windows NT4/2000/XP:
- now each individual NFS server is assigned a set of attributes that are used when mounting. These include: using SSH connection, using Portmapper, ports used by MOUNT, NFS, and NLM protocols, using TCP or UDP transport, NFS protocol version. While editing the Remote NFS server list, you can change attributes assigned to individual NFS servers
- now User Name and Password entered when logging in will be used to authenticate the user (and to obtain the UID and GID values) when mounting NFS resources. You can directly specify proper UID/GID to mount an individual file or directory
- now you can find out the owner's UID/GID, permissions granted, and UID/GID used for mounting a file or a directory (from the XWPNFS Attributes tab)

The following bugs have been fixed

1. FTP:
- Endless printing into the status area if an incorrect host name entered
- Incorrect listing when a link name will match to a user or group name
- Incorrect listing when a file name consists of spaces

Undocumented Features

1. Comsetup :
- implemented the "Auto-start XwpPeg Package Watcher" setting to provide the corresponding control of the XwpPeg facility;

2. Ftp : - FTP connections (in the "non-Passive", default, mode) can be made through an existing SSH connection with prepared Forwarded ports.
This way does not require especial Telnet/SSH facility and can be used with any SSH-client which provides traditional Forwarding.
All settings are made manually.
Let's assume that you need to access the remote host (say, 192.168.136.41) via FTP, and SSH connection is made with the SSH daemon which is on another remote host (say, 192.168.136.34), and each host is directly accessible one from another (192.168.136.41 <-> 192.168.136.34).
Also, you should know two free ports on local machine (say, 21 and 4444) and one on the remote host connected via SSH (say, 5555 on 192.168.136.34).
At first, two forwardings must be made via SSH-Client facility. Local-to-Remote: "21->192.168.136.41/21" (that in natural for FTP) and Remote-to-Local Forwarding: "4444<-5555".
After that you must add two lines to the "[FTP]" section in the "xwp.ini" file:
"IP_SSH_FWD=192.168.136.34" and "PORT_SSH_FWD=5555,4444" (i.e., specify the remote and local ports).
Now the FTP can be started. The "host" field must contain "localhost" or "127.0.0.1". The "non-Passive" mode must be set up (i.e. the "Passive Transfer" check box must be unchecked).
After "Connect" the FTP will be connected to "192.168.136.41" with no direct network access (only via SSH connection).

3. NFS-Server :
- the "AUTO_CHECK_ExPortmapper=1" line can be inserted into the "[NFSSERVER]" section of the xwp.ini file to check whether an external portmapper exists to use it;
- the "FL_MITXELENA=1" line can be inserted into the "[NFSSERVER]" section of the xwp.ini file to avoid directory permission problem for some NFS-Clients (e.g. of SCO UNIX 5.0.5).
This setting changes the default directory permission from 755 to 777.

4. NFS-Client for Windows NT4/2000/XP :
- the size of network packets can be changed instead of using the fixed 8K value;
- the full set of settings can be saved to a file and loaded from it later.
- the package is installed with the native Installation procedure (using the "Custom" installation mode) without necessity to deal with an additional separate executable;
- the links support was implemented (3 modes are available to do this).

Known problems

1. Uninstallation :
- the uninstallation procedure does not remove components which were installed in additional (non-first) installation sessions. Such additional components should be removed manually.

2. Lpd :
- printers on the remote MS Windows NT 4 hosts are unavailable from the local host under MS Windows NT 4 .

3. NFS-Server :
- there may be problems on PCs with several IP addresses;
- some Linux NFS-3 Clients may issue an error message (about the wrong file ID) because of wrong packets unwrapping in the Linux's "nfs3xdr.c" module.

4. NFS-Client for Windows 9x :
- PC must be restarted after you change the license file, "xwpdllid.dll";
- can fail when connecting to NFS-Server on another PC under Windows 9x if both PCs have Client/Server for Microsoft Networks installed.

Single User licenses are at $40.00 USD. Please visit the Software Pricing page for pricing on Multiple Licenses.

If at anytime you require any information or assistance please do not hesitate to e-mail us at: sales@Labtam-inc.com

Download and try ProNFS software for FREE. (Demo version runs 60 minutes at a time.)

PLEASE NOTE:

The programs associated in this package may send and/or receive broadcast IP requests. Since such packets cannot cross the nearest firewall/gateway/router, please be sure that these IP requests are invisible from outside your network. We assume that such behavior cannot be considered as "Hacking" or "Trojan horse's action".