Service Location Protocol

Mac OS 8.5 and later incorporate Service Location Protocol (SLP), an Internet-standard protocol which enables network services to be found dynamically on a TCP/IP network. ShareWay IP supports SLP by automatically registering URLs with SLP whenever ShareWay starts. One URL is registered for each target server and proxied-for server. ShareWay deregisters all URLs when ShareWay is stopped or quit. When a target server or proxied-for server becomes unavailable (is stopped, or loses connectivity to the ShareWay machine), ShareWay deregisters that server's URL.

SLP-registered URLs can be used by clients to locate and initiate access to ShareWay servers, by using:

• Mac OS 9's Network Browser
• applications using Mac OS 9's Navigation Services
• Open Door's AFP Engage!

These SLP-based methods of access provide an intuitive point-and-click interface similar to the Chooser.

Using SLP

Clients can use SLP-based methods to access ShareWay if

• SLP is available on the ShareWay and client machines (OS 8.5 and later)
• SLP is enabled on both machines
• the versions of SLP on the two machines are compatible

SLP is available with OS 8.5 and later. To enable SLP, the SLP plug-in must be in the Extensions folder. Use the Extensions Manager Control Panel to confirm that the extension "SLPPlugin" is enabled.

The version of SLP implemented with Mac OS 9 (SLP v2) is not compatible with the SLP implemented with OS 8.6 and 8.5 (SLP v1), although the SLP plug-in from OS 9 can be installed on OS 8.6 if desired--simply drag it to the Extensions folder. The following configurations will work

• ShareWay and client machines running OS 9
• one machine running OS 9 and the other running OS 8.6 with SLP plug-in 1.1 installed
• both machines running OS 8.5 or 8.6

SLP-based Methods of Access

The following methods of locating and initiating access to ShareWay servers use SLP.

• Network Browser (Mac OS 9) - On a client Macintosh, launch the "Network Browser" application from the Apple menu. A list of neighborhoods will appear--open the neighborhood "Local Services" by clicking its disclosure triangle, and a list of ShareWay servers (and other AFP servers supporting SLP) will appear. To access a server, double-click it and log in.
  
  Note: On OS 9, if the "Search domains" field of the TCP/IP Control Panel has been filled in on the ShareWay machine, the neighborhood that machine appears in will not be "Local Services", but rather the name in the "Search domains" field.
  
  
• Navigation Services (Mac OS 9) - In applications using the Navigation Services interface, Save and Open dialogs provide two means of connecting to ShareWay servers.
  
  
  • From the Shortcuts popup menu, choose "Network" and proceed as with the Network Browser above.
    
    
  • From the Shortcuts popup menu, choose "Connect to Server", enter the ShareWay machine's IP address or host name and log in.
    
    
• AFP Engage! - If Open Door's AFP Engage! is installed on a client machine, access to ShareWay IP can be initiated through the "Browse AFP Servers" window. This window provides a list of AFP servers registered with SLP. Accessing a ShareWay IP server is as easy as double-clicking a name in the list. A single-user license for AFP Engage! 2.0 is included with each license for ShareWay IP Standard.

Non-SLP Methods of Access

These methods of accessing ShareWay are available to all clients with AppleShare Client 3.7 or later.

• AFP Engage! - If Open Door's AFP Engage! is installed on a client machine, access to ShareWay IP can be initiated through AFP URLs of the form
  
  afp://username@ShareWayIPAddress/volumename/pathname
  
  - username@ - needed if guest access to the AFP server is disabled
  - ShareWayIPAddress - the IP address of ShareWay IP as displayed in its status window, or the ShareWay IP machine's hostname (plus TCP port number if not default)
  - volumename - the name of the volume on the ShareWay Macintosh
  - pathname - an optional path on that server
  
  For example, to connect as a guest with ShareWay using its default TCP port, the URL would look like: afp://afp.opendoor.com/. To connect as user "kingsford" and open the Applications folder on drive G3HD, with ShareWay using a TCP port number of 8548, the URL would look like: afp://kingsford@afp.opendoor.com:8548/G3HD/Applications/.
  
  
• Chooser - On any client Macintosh, select the Chooser from the Apple menu, and select the AppleShare icon. Click on the "Server IP Address..." button, and enter the IP address of ShareWay IP, as displayed in ShareWay IP's status window. If there is no "Server IP Address..." button, you are using an old version of AppleShare Client. When you click on the "Connect" button, ShareWay IP's server will be accessed and the standard AppleShare login process will be begun.
  
  NOTE: If the IP address used by the ShareWay Macintosh has been assigned a hostname, then ShareWay IP can be accessed using that name, as well as with the ShareWay Macintosh's IP address. The hostname assigned will generally be displayed in the AFP URL in the status window, when ShareWay is running.
  
  
• Aliases - Access to ShareWay IP can be initiated through an alias to that server. To create an alias, mount the server using one of the methods described above. When the server's icon is on your desktop, create an alias to it from the Finder's File menu. To initiate future access to that server, just double-click the alias.
  
  NOTE: There are a number of known problems with aliases connecting to AppleShare servers over TCP/IP. If you have trouble connecting to a server with an alias, try to connect again. After connecting successfully, create a new alias to the server to use in the future.

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