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Version 3.41 NetDialOut
Users Guide
NetDialOut is an alternative to the "Cisco DialOut Utility"
software by Cisco Systems, Inc. Note: If you which to pool modems using a Windows PC as a Modem Server
instead of using a NAS, then you should install NetModem instead. NetModem
is both PC Modem Server software and Client COM Port Redirector software
for Windows. You can download NetModem from http://pcmicro.com/netmodem. NetDialOut is compatible with all versions of Windows XP, Vista,
2008, 2003, 2000, and NT4(sp6).
Features:
This Quick Guide is intended for users familiar with installing Windows
based software. The information below will enable you to get your NetDialOut
software up and running, as quickly as possible. Requirements: Operating System Software:
Software Installation and Configuration Overview:
Before installing the NetDialOut Software:
Run the NetDialOut installer to begin the Installation Wizard. It will take you though the following steps:
The installation should only take a moment to finish. Once it completes, you will automatically be taken to the NetDialOut "Select Ports" window shown below.
NetDialOut can create from 1 to as many as 256 virtual COM ports, which are each redirected by NetDialOut to access shared COM ports located on the NAS or modem server. The first step is to select which virtual COM port(s) you wish have NetDialOut create.
Once you have selected at least one virtual COM port and clicked OK,
the NetDialOut Configuration Window should appear. You can manually
get to this by right-clicking on the NetDialOut system tray icon
in the lower right on your taskbar (by your clock), and selecting "Configure".
The NetDialOut system tray icon looks like this: The NetDialOut Configuration window allows you define the Server IP address and TCP Port for each virtual COM port, and optionally which remote COM port it should redirected to.
The Security options are: None, Use Login/Password and Use Windows
Credentials. The command buttons on the NetDialOut Configuration window are as follows:
Once you have assigned the correct Server IP address and TCP Port to each of the virtual COM ports, you should verify that each virtual COM port can communicate with the NAS or Modem Server by selecting the COM port, and clicking the Test Server Connection Button.
If your virtual COM ports tested with similar results as above, then you have successfuly configured the NetDialOut. If the result says "Connection Failed" then either
the modem server is not accepting connections for some reason, or there
is a firewall blocking access. See the
Troubleshooting Chapter. Once you have successfully configured the virtual COM ports which were created, and you Save or Close the NetDialOut Configuration window, you will be provided with a reminder to install modem drivers which will guide you through the process outlined below.
The NetDialOut virtual COM ports by default do not have any modem devices
(drivers) attached to them.
The Cisco ftp server will ask for a username and password before allowing a driver download. Use Anonymous as the username, and enter your email address as the password. For other brands of NAS or modem servers, refer to the manufacturer of your hardware. Many modem servers are able to use the Windows Standard 56k or 33.6k modem drivers built into Windows, but it is always the best practice to use the actual driver provided by the manufacturer.
Click the "Have Disk" button. DO NOT Click "Next".
Enter the path to your modem drivers .INF file, either by typing
it and click OK, or Browse for it. A list of one or more modem models will be displayed. If there is more
then one choice, be sure to select exactly the same one being used on
the NetDialOut Server computer. Click "Next".
A list of available COM ports is displayed. Click the "Selected ports" option, and click the virtual COM port which you selected in the NetDialOut Configuration window (In this case it is COM4). Click "Next".
Your modem driver should now be installed. Click "Finish".
You should now see the modem driver is "Attached To"
the Client Virtual COM port. If no COM port is listed here, then something
went wrong with the modem driver installation. Assuming the modem driver installed successfully, your installation is now complete. All that is left is to configure your application software to use the new COM port (or to use the Modem Driver attached to that COM port).
You can display the NetDialOut Monitor Status screen by right clicking the NetDialOut system tray icon 
and selecting Status.
Each Virtual COM port created by NetDialOut is Listed under "Ports"
in the Status screen. Baud: The number of times per second that an RS-232 serial signal
can change on this port.
Configure: Opens the NetDialOut Configuration Window. (This button may be removed by the Administrator to prevent users from making changes to the configuration). Help: Opens the Users Guide. About: Displays the copyright and contact information. Client users can monitor the Data Flow occurring on all of the Virtual COM ports by selecting the Trace Tab in the NetDialOut Monitor.
The trace Window normally only displays messages when virtual COM ports are created or removed, or the virtual serial port driver is restarted. When you select the Enable Trace checkbox, you are shown the
serial data moving to and from the client and server along with the
timestamp and name of the COM port. You can also enabled the Hex
Display checkbox to show the data in hexadecimal numeric format
instead of the default ASCII code format, and you can enable Auto
Scroll checkbox to have the window scroll as more data is logged.
There are three color codes used in the trace data:
There are three buttons used to control the log: Clear: Erases the entire log from the window. Save Log: Saves the log file in either ascii format (.log) or binary format (.trc) Open Log: Opens a binary format (.trc) trace file that was previously
saved. Enabling the Trace can be a valuable tool for troubleshooting misconfigured
application software.
Some Cisco Access Servers have an IOS option called AAA, which
stands for Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting. Enabling AAA
on a Cisco Access Server causes it to request a users login/password
credentials when a client PC connects to a modem on the Access Server,
which it then authenticates via a RADIUS authentication server. Many other modem servers support some form of user authentication.
NetModem Server can be used
to authenticate from a Windows PC using Active Directory or a
local domain , and this can be used as a front end to NetDialOut . Doing
this also provides the benifit of an SSL/TLS encripted connection between
the clients and NetModem Server..
Use Login/Password will provide the server with a login and
password each time a virtual COM port is opened. When you select this
security option, a button will appear that says "Change Login/Password".
which
Use Windows Credentials will provide the server with the current user's Windows login information each time a virtual COM port is opened. NetDialOut obtains this information from Windows during the login process. After the NetDialOut is installed, the user will need to logoff and then login again before this option will be functional. Once you have enabled one of the security options in the NetDialOut Configuration, you should run the "Test Server Connection" to make sure that the security handshaking between the client and server are sucessful.
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The NetDialOut Configuration Screen looks different when Use Multiple Server failover enabled. The usual input fields for IP Address and TCP Port, are replaced with the Server List options. These allow you to choose from several different lists of modem servers, and will allow you to edit any one of those lists. Up to 20 Server Lists can be defined, and each server list allows
up to 5 Servers to be specified. |
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In the Edit Server List you can defined up to 5 servers to be specified, in the order you want NetDialOut to connect to. A Server list needs at least two servers defined. Each Server entry must have the IP Address (or hostname) of the Server, and the TCP Port. A Pool Name is optional, if no Pool Name is defined, the default pool will be accessed. When an application opens a COM port that is configured to use multiple servers, NetDialOut first attempts to connect to the first server on the list. If that server is either full or unreachable, the client attempts to connect to the next server on the list. This continues until a server with an available modem is reached, or until all the servers have failed. |
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Each Server List is stored in an ASCII text file in the NetModem Client folder, allowing lists to be pre-installed by the System Administrator. The list files are named as serverX.txt, where X= the list number.
When using multiple servers, you can fine tune how long NetModem Client waits for each server to respond when the Client requests a COM port from a server. By default it waits up to 3 seconds for the server to respond, and if there is no response then it switches to the next server in the list. The settings can be found under the "Advanced" button in the NetModem Client Configuration window. The value is in milliseconds (1/1000th of a second), so the default value of 3000 = 3 seconds maximum. On a slow Network you might need to increase this value, and on a Network in which Several Failover Servers are defined, you might need to decrease the value in order to speed up the search.
10. Troubleshooting and Technical Notes
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11.1..... If
the "Test Server Connection" Fails. |
11.1. If the NetDialOut "Test Server Connection" Fails.
First check that the NetDialOut COM port has the correct IP address
of the NAS or modem server defined, and the correct TCP port which has
been configured for modem pooling on the NAS or modem server.
If that does not solve it...
Find out if the NAS or Modem Server is accepting connections by going
to a Command Prompt, and running TELNET.EXE by typing in the
following and press [Enter] :
telnet 192.168.0.1 7001 (replace 192.168.0.1 with
the IPaddress of the NAS or modem server, and replace 7001 with
the TCP port of the NAS or modem server).
A black empty screen indicates a successful connection.
A "Could not open connection to the host" response
indicates that the Access Server is not accepting incoming connections
on that TCP port.
A "Login:" prompt indicates a sucessful connection,
which requires Security to be enabled in NetDialOut.
11.2. Solving Network Faxing Issues.
Only Class 2 or Class 2.0 fax modems can be
used over a network, due to Class 1 being very timing sensitive.
Most NAS and advanced modem servers support Class 1, Class 2, and Class
2.0. faxing. It's a good idea to check which fax class is supported
with the modem servermodem manufacturer before purchasing a NAS or other
modem server.
The Faxing software you use also needs to be configured for Class 2
or Class 2.0. Keep in mind that Class 2 and Class 2.0 are not the same,
so it's important that the software is configured for a fax class that
is supported by modem(s) located on the NAS or modem server.
Consult your faxing software documentation for information on setting
Class 2 or 2.0 in your faxing software.
There is also some information on this subject found on PC Micro's NetDialOut
Support Site.
11.3. How to stop the NetDialOut Service.
NetDialOut runs as a kernel level driver managed by a Windows Service,
and by default automatically load when Windows starts, even before a
user logs on.
Usually their is no reason to ever stop the service, but this can be
done either from the Windows Control Panel's Services module (found
under Administrave Tools), or by going to a Command Prompt on
the PC it's running on and type in:
net stop netdialout
To restart the service, type in:
net start netdialout
To disable NetDialOut from starting automatically, navigate to the Windows
Control Panel, and under "Administrative Tools > Services"
double-click the Service named "NetDialOut" and change
its "Startup Type" from Automatic to Manual.
The Services can also be stopped or started from here as well.
The NetDialOut service should never be stopped while an application
currently has one of its virtual COM ports open. Stopping the client
service will disable its virtual COM ports, which can result in the
application using those ports to become unstable. If the NetDialOut
service detects that its virtual COM ports are open when the service
is asked to stop, it will display a warning message that Windows should
be rebooted.
Stopping the NetDialOut service will not stop it's system tray icon,
which is NetDialOutMonitor.exe. This can be stopped manually from the
Windows Task Manager under processes if needed.
11.4. Using NetDialOut under Terminal Services or Citrix Metaframe.
Windows Terminal Services, Remote Desktop and Citrix Metaframe are
multi-user environments which can be used with the Site Edition of NetDialOut.
Terminal Services are part of Windows Server (2003,2000,NT 4.0) while
Remote Desktop is a light single-user version of a terminal server included
in Windows XP Professional. Citrix Metaframe is an advanced remote access
infrastructure server for enterprise applications.
When using any of these environments to allow "Thin-Clients"
to access the shared COM ports, you should use the following procedure:
- Install NetDialOut on the Terminal Server, Remote Desktop, or Metaframe
PC.
- Select one virtual COM port in the NeDialOut configuration, and
assign the IP address of the modem server.
- Next Select as many additional Virtual COM ports as needed. (Usually
you will want to select one virtual COM port for each thin-client
user). Up to 256 Virtual COM port can be selected. All the additional
virtual COM ports will default to using the same Server IP address
as you assigned in step 2.
- When you close the client configuration window, you will be guided
to install a modem driver. When you are instructed to select the ports
to assign the modem driver to, select all the Virtual COM ports.
- Assign one of the Virtual COM ports to each thin-client user. This
will allow each user to access the next Shared COM port on the server
though their virtual COM port. This allows up to 256 thin-clients
to access the modem pool.
- Under the Advanced options in the NetDialOut configuration,
disable the "show message if COM port not available"
checkbox. If no COM port is available on the modem server, the thin
client will be informed by an error message in their application software
attempting to use a COM port.
- If the modem server is configured to require User Authentication,
the NetDialOut Security setting may not be set for "Use Windows
Credentials". Instead the "Use Login/Password"
security setting must be used. This is because Terminal Server and
Citrix Metaframe will not allow NetDialOut to access the current users
Windows Credentials.
To configure Windows XP Professional to become a Remote Desktop, you should use the following procedure:
- Right-click My Computer, click Properties, and then
click Remote tab.
- Turn on Remote Desktop by selecting the check box Allow users
to remotely connect to this computer.
- Designate users by clicking the Select Remote Users button.
Remapping COM ports in Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 (all versions except the Web Edition) includes
a command line utility called change.exe which can map any COM
port to a different port number under the current users Terminal Server
session.
For example, a Terminal Services user could enter this command:
change port COM12=COM1
This allows the current user to access COM1 in their application software, which is redirected to COM12 by Windows Server. COM12 could be either a physical COM port, or a virtual COM port created by NetDialOut.
A second Terminal Services user could enter this command:
change port COM13=COM1
Now both users can access COM1 at the same time in their application
software, and they will really be using COM12 and COM13 respectively.
This allows all users to use application software configured for a particular
COM port, and allows legacy applications that only supported COM1-COM4
(or in some cases COM1-COM9) to be used by more then 4 or 9 Terminal
Services users at the same time. However, this will not work with TAPI,
so applications that need to communicate with a Modem Driver name rather
then a COM port value can not take advantage of this feature.
The change port command can be used as part of each users login
script to map COM1 to a specific NetModem Client virtual COM port which
is reserved for that user. For example if COM99 is reserved for a particular
user, the following would be added to that users login script: change
port COM99=COM1
You can run change port without any parameters to display the available
COM ports and the current COM port mappings.
A limitation of the change port command is that the new COM port exists only in memory, and is not written to the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM which is where many application programs look to see which COM ports exist. One solution would be to create a dummy registry entry in this registry folder like this:
In which FAKE could be any unique name, and COM4 could be any unique COMx value. Making changes to the registry should only be done by an IT professional familiar with the precautions involved in registry editing such as backing up the registry first.
Name Type Data FAKE REG_SZ COM4
Limitations under Terminal Server, Remote Desktop, and Citrix Metaframe
- Only one outbound PPP (Point to Point Protocol) connection can be
made at a time from any Windows PC, even under a multi-user operating
system such as Terminal Server, Remote Desktop, and Citrix Metaframe.
This is not a limitation of NetModem, but rather a limitation within
Windows.
For example, A Dial-Up Networking connection to an ISP uses the PPP protocol. This causes the Windows routing table to be changed so that all TCP packets that are sent outside of the local subnet are directed to this PPP connection. If another PPP connection is created, Windows again changes the routing table which causes the first PPP connection to fail. If you need to allow multiple users to be able to make simultaneous PPP connections, you will need to install the NetModem Client on each users PC instead.
- Citrix Metaframe prevents more then one outbound VPN (Virtual Private
Networking) Connection to be made using a modem.
- If a VPN connection is used to connect to the network containing NetModem Client, then it is not possible to make a secondary VPN connection through the NetModem Client. This is due to a limitation in the VPN protocol.
Additional Information on Terminal Services and Remote Desktop can be
found at Microsoft's web site using the following links:
Remote Desktop Frequently Asked Questions:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/rdfaq.mspx
How to deploy Terminal Server under Windows Server 2003:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/quickstart.mspx
How to deploy Terminal Services under Windows 2000 Server:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/dpg/chapt-16.doc
Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services Home Page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/terminalservices/
Windows 2000 Terminal Services Home Page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/technologies/terminal/
11.5. Preventing accidental client configuration changes.
If an Administrator is concerned about the possibility of a client user misconfiguring the virtual com port settings, there are two ways they can prevent the user from making changes to the Client configuration:
- The user can be given a limited account type in Windows.
This is done from the "User Accounts" option in the Windows
control panel.
- If the user requires an Administrator account, then the configure.exe
file can simply be removed from the NetDialOut folder. This is usually
located in c:\program files\NetDialOut\
This will also prevent the configure option from appearing in the system tray menu or on the main window.
12. Request Technical Support
You can request support by emailing support@pcmicro.com. Usual response
time is under 2 hours during normal business hours, Pacific Standard
Time.
If you purchased or are evaluating NetDialOut through another reseller
or a consultant, they may provide an additional level of technical support.
13. Update the License Key
NetDialOut has two licensing methods availabe:
- The Standard version is licensed per Seat,
meaning that each PC running NetDialOut needs a seperate license key.
- The Site Edition version is licensed by the maximum
number of simultanious connections that can be made by all
the users at your site. The NetDialOut Site Edition software can be
installed on an unlimited number of PCs at the site, and the total
number of connections is monitored by the included License Manager
software. The Site Edition does not require a license key for each
PC, as only the License Manager requires a key.
The Standard version of NetDialOut allows a fully functional 30 day
evaluation if no license key is entered into NetDialOut. If you decide
to purchase a license key, you are provided with an electronic license
certificate (PDF file) which contains a license key that can be entered
into the NetDialOut to unlock the 30 day limitation.
To update your NetDialOut Standard version License Key, do the following:
- Open the NetDialOut Monitor window by double clicking on the system
tray icon.
- Select the License button. The current license information
is displayed, including how many days are left if the software is
running in evaluation mode.
- Select the Change button.
- Type in your License Key in the field titled License Key.
- Optionally type in the User Name and Company Name.
- Select OK to accept the new information.
The Site Edition version does not require a licence key in NetDialOut , instead it it requires the IP address of the PC running the License Manager. To select enter the IP address of the License Manager, do the following:
- Open the NetDialOut Monitor window by double clicking on the system
tray icon.
- Select the License button. The current IP address of the
License Manager PC is displayed.
- Enter the new IP address of the License Manager PC
- Select OK to accept the new information.
14. Uninstalling the NetDialOut Software
To Uninstall either the NetDialOut or Server software do the following:
- Navigate to the Windows Control Panel and select the "Add
or Remove Programs" Icon
- Select NetDialOut in the list of installed programs.
- Click the Change/Remove button to begin the Uninstall process.
- Select Uninstall, and click Next.
- After uninstalling NetDialOut,, remember to also remove any modem
drivers that were attached to the virtual COM ports. This can be done
from the "Phone and Modem Options" in the Windows Control
Panel.
Windows does not need to be restarted after installing or uninstalling the NetDialout software.
Copyright © 1997-2008 Odin Software. Portions Copyright © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. Portions Copyright © 1998-2008 The OpenSSL Project. This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.openssl.org). All Rights Reserved. NetDialOut and PC Micro are Trademarks or Registered Trademark of PC Micro Systems, Inc. Windows and Microsoft are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. WinFax and pcAnywhere are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of Symantec. Citrix and Metaframe are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. RC2 and RC4 are Trademarks of RSA Security, Inc. VMWare is a Trademark or Registered Trademark of VMware, Inc.