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Help Document |
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The FirstClass Server/FCServer folder
The FCServer (Windows) or FirstClass Server (Mac OS) folder contains the server and FirstClass Tools applications, as well as all supporting files.
If you installed Internet Services and/or Voice Services on the same machine as the server, the Internet Services and/or Voice Services files will also be in this folder. Otherwise, they will be in a similarly named folder on the Internet Services/Voice Services machine.
The following folders and files are included in this folder:
• FCS.EXE (Windows) or FirstClass Server (MAC OS)
The server application.
• FCTOOLS.EXE (Windows) or FirstClass Tools (Mac OS)
The application you use to license and configure your server, and configure sessions.
• ADMIN.FC
A settings file that you can use to log into the server as administrator.
• ReadMe.TXT (Windows) or ReadMe (Mc OS)
A text file containing documentation changes and last-minute information about the server and Internet Services.
• FCP
A folder containing FCP files.
Internet Services
The following folders and files are also included in this folder if you installed Internet Services on this machine:
• Fcinstrv.exe (Windows) or FirstClass Internet Services (Mac OS)
The Internet Services application.
• InetSvcs.fc
The settings file for Internet Services.
• Config
A folder contain configuration files for Internet Services.
Voice Services (Windows only)
The following folders and files are included in this folder if you installed Voice Services on this machine:
• vservice.exe (Application)
• BTCALL.cfg (Brooktrout config file. Text editable, used in initializing Brooktrout cards.)
• BT_CPARM.cfg (Brooktrout Parameters file)
• Fcp (Flexible communications protocol file)
• vs
The vs folder contains the following files and folders:
• Config (VSsvcs file for debugging levels)
• Country (Country codes - used for lookup to display accurate caller location)
• Naarea (North American area codes - used for lookup to display accurate caller location)
• Prompts (Voice prompts. Ensure the exact path is configured on the Voice Services Administration form)
• Callans.fc (Call answering settings file)
• Vservice.fc (Configuration and gateway settings file)
• V180-16.pex (Firmware)
• V18c-164.pex (Firmware)
Gateways
To create a gateway:
1 Open the Gateway folder on your administrator Desktop.
2 Choose Admin > Add > Gateway Settings.
3 Configure the gateway using the Gateway Settings form.
4 Click OK.
To force a manual gateway connection:
1 Double-click Gateways on the administrator Desktop.
2 Double-click the gateway for which you want to force a connection.
3 Click Connect Now.
4 Close the form to make the gateway log into the remote server.
To set up replication for a conference:
1 Make sure the conference you want to replicate exists with the same name on both servers.
2 Shift-click the conference on the administrator Desktop.
3 Choose Admin > Give Alias.
4 Type the gateway's user ID at "User ID".
5 Click Give Alias.
To set up self-serve replication:
1 Double-click Private Conferences on the administrator Desktop.
2 Choose File > New > New Conference.
3 Choose File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac OS) with the new conference selected.
4 Type the name you want for this conference (for example, Self-Serve) at "Name".
5 Select "Protected".
6 Close the Info form and save your changes.
7 Choose Conferencing > Permissions with the conference still selected.
8 Enter Other Sites at "Who" and choose Contributor at "Access".
This allows gateways to access this conference.
9 Enter All Users at "Who" and choose Disallowed at "Access".
This prevents users from contributing to this conference.
10 Add the gateway at "List of subscribers".
11 Close the Permissions form and save your changes.
12 Make the appropriate conferences available for replication by doing the following for each:
13 Select the conference.
14 Choose Conferencing > Add to Desktop.
15 Drag the resulting conference alias from the administrator Desktop to the self-serve conference.
16 Give an alias of the self-serve conference to all gateways.
17 Notify the administrators of other servers to which your server will replicate.
18 Send them a message asking them to log in as the gateway account, then drag the aliases of any conferences they want to replicate from the self-serve conference to their gateway Desktop.
Note
Whenever you create new conferences or delete old ones, update your self-serve conference and keep other administrators informed of the changes.
To set up your Internet account:
1 Open the Gateways folder on your administrator Desktop.
2 Open the Internet Service Account.
3 Configure your account using the Service Account form.
4 Click OK.
To configure Directory synchronization:
1 Double-click Multi-Site Setup on the administrator Desktop.
2 Double-click Multi-Site Setup in the Multi-Site Setup folder.
3 Fill in the Multisite Setup form.
4 Click OK to save your changes and to close the form.
To force an immediate Directory synchronization with a specific gateway:
1 Double-click Gateways on the administrator Desktop.
2 Double-click the gateway to the remote server.
3 Click Manual Sync on the Multisite tab.
4 Click Connect on Close to force the gateway to run as soon as you close the form.
5 Close the form.
Directory synchronization begins after the gateway has performed any other necessary tasks, such as message delivery and conference replication.
Routes
You can only have a route if you have a gateway to another FirstClass server which in turn has a gateway or route to the server that is your final destination.
Before you add a route, you must obtain the serial number and site name of the final remote server from the administrator of the server which you gateway with. You should also know how the servers in your FirstClass network interact with each other. We recommend that you prepare a map of your network.
To add a route:
1 Choose Admin > Add > Route.
2 Fill in the Route form.
3 Close the form.
Working with multiple volumes
Registering user accounts on other volumes
When you register a user, you can store the user's Mailbox on a volume other than the master volume. The volume must have a status of full use.
Note
If you do this for one user, Mailboxes for all subsequent users you register will also be stored on this volume. To store Mailboxes on a different volume, you must repeat this procedure.
To register users on another volume
1 Choose Admin > System Profile.
2 Select the volume on which you want to store users' Mailboxes at "Create users and conferences on volume" on the Users tab.
3 Close the form and save your change.
4 Add users in the normal way.
Moving existing users to a new volume
If you are not concerned about losing an existing user's private mail, you can delete the existing user account, then reregister the account on the new volume. You can also move an existing account while preserving the user's private mail.
To move an existing user account to a new volume and keep that user's mail:
1 Switch to the new volume for registering users.
2 Add an account for the user on the new volume.
3 Open the user's Desktop on the old volume.
4 Select the Mailbox.
5 Choose Conferencing > Add to Desktop to add an alias to the Mailbox on your administrator Desktop.
6 Open the user's Desktop on the new volume.
7 Drag the Mailbox alias from your administrator Desktop to the Desktop on the new volume.
8 Drag all mail from the user's old Mailbox to the new one.
All messages will be marked Unread.
Creating conferences on other volumes
When you create a conference, you can store it on a volume other than the master volume. The volume must have a status of full use.
Usually, conferences take up very little space, because the items they contain are actually stored in the Mailboxes of the users who created the items. However, if an item is received from another server through a gateway or from the Internet, it is stored on the conference's volume. Therefore, replicated conferences might use up a significant amount of disk space, and you might want to put them on a volume other than the master volume. For example, if you have a gateway to an Internet news server, you would probably put all newsgroups on a separate volume.
Conferences you create in the Conferences or Private Conferences folders are automatically stored on the master volume.
To create a conference on another volume:
1 Double-click MultiVol Conferences on your administrator Desktop.
2 Open the volume on which you want to create the conference.
3 Choose File > New > New Conference.
A new conference is created in MultiVol Conferences. The underline indicates that this is an original object, not a copy or alias.
4 optional
Change the conference name and icon.
5 Make an alias for the new conference and move this alias to the desired location.
6 optional
Grant subscriptions to the appropriate users, if this is a private conference.
Changing the status of additional volumes to full use
To change the status of additional volumes to full use (thus making them secondary volumes):
1 Double-click Volumes on your administrator Desktop.
Names of browse-only volumes appear in italics in the volume list.
Note
If you mount a new volume on your computer (for example, if you connect to a network drive), close and reopen the Volumes folder to refresh the list.
2 Select the volume you want to make full use.
3 Choose File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac OS).
4 Select "Full use".
5 Close the Info form and save your change.
Disk volume information for Mac OS system software
This only applies to HFS file systems.
Each file on a Mac OS disk is stored in a block. The minimum size taken up by a file is one block. For example, even a 10-character text file takes up one block on disk.
When the Mac OS operating system addresses the blocks, it uses a 16-bit integer to number them. This means that there can be at most 65536 blocks on a volume. In addition, the size of a block must be a power of 2 (for example, 512 bytes, 1 KB, 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, and 16 KB).
To find the block size for a given volume size, divide the volume size by 65536, and then take the next power of 2 number. For example, to calculate the block size for a volume with a size of 440 MB:
round to 2^n(440 MB/65536)
= round to 2^n(440*1024*1024/65536)
= round to 2^n(7040)
= 8 KB
This means that the 20 byte text file on this volume would actually consume 8 KB on disk.
Because you cannot adjust the block sizes, you must choose your volume sizes appropriately. We recommend 256 MB volumes, which will give you 4 KB block sizes. If you have a large drive (for example, 3 gigabytes), we recommend that you partition it into multiple 256 MB volumes.
Volume recognition bug
In Mac OS systems earlier than version 7.5.3, there was a bug that could cause the Mac OS to fail to recognize volumes that had more than 32,000 files on them. This only applies to HFS volumes.
When a Mac OS is shut down properly, every volume is marked OK. When a Mac OS is started up, volumes marked OK are automatically mounted on the desktop. If a volume is not marked OK, the system software checks the volume and then mounts it. In the case of an unexpected shutdown (for example, a crash or power failure), none of the volumes will be marked OK and the system software will have to check each one. This is why a restart after a crash takes longer.
The bug is in the actual checking code. If there are more than about 32,000 files, in the case of an unexpected shutdown, the checker will occasionally report that the volume is bad, even though the volume is actually OK. The closer you get to 32,000 files, the more this will occur.
If this happens, a dialog at startup appears with the message: "This disk is unrecognizable". Use Central Point Disk Tools or Norton Utilities to recover the volume at this point.
You should upgrade the disk drivers to stop this from happening. Download the Drive Setup application from Apple's website, and click Update. This only works on Apple drives, and you cannot update a drive that you have booted from. You only have to update the boot drive. All other drives are automatically updated at the same time.
MDM (modem) files
An MDM file is a text file that stores information about a particular type of modem.
FirstClass provides many predefined modem (MDM) files. You can probably find an MDM file for your modem in the FCPO/SERVER/MODEMS folder (Windows) or FirstClass Post Office/Server/Modems folder (Mac OS).
You can configure most of the parameters in the MDM file using FirstClass Tools. The configuration specified in FirstClass Tools overrides the value specified in the MDM file.
To configure the other parameters, you can modify the MDM file directly with a text editor.
The most common reason for changing an MDM file is to increase the Long Timeout period (MLTO). You might need to do this if you are using a slow communications link (for example, if you are making calls over a great distance, such as across the Atlantic). You will probably not need to change the other parameters.
You might need to create an MDM file if the modem you are using is not available in the list of modems in the Modem.FCP dialog (Windows) or in the list of modems displayed in FirstClass Tools (Mac OS).
On Mac OS, before you create an MDM file, use the Custom Install option to install the Extra Modems folder. This folder is created in FirstClass Post Office/Server/Modems.
On both platforms, it's worth your time to check the Conferences/Software Libraries/Modem Settings conference on FirstClass.com. It contains many MDM files, and you could spare yourself the effort of creating new files.
Modifying MDM files
Syntax rules
FirstClass allows both single quotes (') and double quotes (") as string delimiters. The provided MDM files use single quotes because some AT&T-based modems use double quotes in their commands.
The following special characters are used in MDM files:
• \r (return)
• \n (linefeed).
Because the strings in the MDM files use the backslash (\) as the escape character, when you want to indicate a backslash as part of the string, you must use two backslashes. For example, the string \\Q3 will be sent to the modem as \Q3.
MDM file parameters
With the syntax rules described in the previous section, use the following parameters in an MDM file.
MNAME
The complete name of this modem, as opposed to the truncated DOS filename. This parameter, required because MDM files for Windows clients have DOS filenames, displays the modem name on the MODEM.FCP form and the Session Information form.
MDMATT
The Attention string, typically +++. This variable allows the use of TIES strings (an alternative format for the Attention string) although few modems use them.
MDMDIAL
The Dial string, typically ATD%s\r. The client uses this string when dialing a server. The %s is replaced with the phone number in the settings file or the Gateway Configuration form, together with the tone or pulse modifiers.
MDMTONE and MDMPULSE
The tone and pulse dial modifiers. Some modems do not support these modifiers. For such modems, these parameters must be blank. These parameters correspond to the "Phone" fields on the Modem.FCP and Session Information forms.
MDMHUP
The Hangup string, typically ATH\r.
MDMANS
The Answer string, typically ATA\r.
MDMRESET
The modem Reset string. Common Reset strings are AT&F\r and ATZ\r. The AT&F\r string performs a hardware reset, reverting to factory settings. The ATZ\r string reverts to settings saved with the AT&W command.
MDMINIT
The Initialization (INIT) string. This string can be up to 40 characters. The INIT string is used to turn off the extended functions of the modem, including flow control, data compression, error correction, DTR hangup, and carrier detection, thus allowing these functions to be controlled by the modem configuration defined on the Modem.FCP form and the Session Information form.
If you use ATZ\r as the Reset string, the Initialization string must contain at least the following commands, which are required by FirstClass:
ATS0=0V1E0
where
• S0=0 disables autoanswer
• V1 returns nonnumeric (text) results
• E0 disables echo.
For most modems based on Rockwell hardware (for example, Hayes Supra or Cardinal), you could use the following INIT string:
ATS0=0V1E0X4W1&K0&Q0N0M0&C0&D0\r
This string contains the standard configuration plus the following optional commands:
• X4 enables the return of result codes to the user
• W1 enables the extensions to the result codes
This causes the details of the connect type to appear in the connection progress display on the client and server.
• %K0 disables flow control
• &Q0 disables error correction and compression
• N0 disables the speed negotiation function
• M0 disables the modem speaker
• %C0 disables carrier detection
• %D0 disables DTR hangup.
MDMOPT
The Option string is similar to the Dial string. It is typically AT%s\r. The %s will be replaced by the optional commands listed below:
MDMHWHS
Enables flow control, error correction, and data compression. For the Hayes ULTRA, it would be &K3&Q5N1, meaning turn on hardware handshaking, compression, error correction (autoreliable mode), and begin at the highest speed available and fall back to lower speeds if required. This command corresponds to the "H/W handshake" field on the Modem.FCP and Session Information forms.
MDMSPKR
Enables the modem speaker during dialing and negotiation. It corresponds to the "Speaker" field on the Modem.FCP form.
MDMCD
Enables carrier detection. It corresponds to the "Carrier detect" field on the Modem.FCP and Session Information forms.
MDMDTR
Enables DTR hangup. It corresponds to the "DTR hangup" field on the Modem.FCP and Session Information forms.
These commands are sent to the modem only if they are configured in the modem connection file.
MBAUD
The speed to use if hardware handshaking is not enabled. For a high-speed modem, this parameter is usually set to 9600 bps. For lower-speed modems, the parameter is usually set to the highest rate the modem supports. This parameter corresponds to the "Baud rate" field on the Modem.FCP and Session Information forms.
MHWHSBAUD
The speed to use if hardware handshaking is enabled. This speed is typically two to four times higher than the rate specified in MBAUD. Do not change this parameter in the MDM file, but instead change it in the modem connection file.
To find the baud rate value:
1 Set the baud rate to 2400, using a standard terminal emulation package such as the Windows Terminal application.
2 Type AT and press Enter/Return.
The modem should respond with OK.
3 Change the baud rate to 9600 and type the AT command again.
4 Repeat this process for baud rates of 19200 and 56000, until the modem no longer responds.
For a 14400 baud modem, this could occur at a rate as high as 56000. Most of the predefined MDM files use 19200, because most serial ports are limited to this speed.
MAUTOSPEED
The Autospeed string. This string specifies whether to use the autospeed feature on hardware handshaking connections. This parameter corresponds to the "Auto speed" field on the Session Information form.
MLT0
The Long Timeout string. This string specifies how long (in 60ths of a second) to wait for a CONNECT signal after sending the Dial command. If the connection will take a long time (for example, for calls over a great distance), you might wish to increase the Long Timeout period.
MST0
The Short Timeout string. This string specifies how long (in 60ths of a second) to wait for an OK from the modem after sending most commands.
MGT0
The Guard Timer string. This string specifies how long (in 60ths of a second) to wait after sending the Attention string before sending any more commands.
MDELAY
Some modems, especially internal and shared modems, take awhile to wake up. This string specifies how long (in 60ths of a second) to wait for the modem to wake up before sending it commands.
MCOMMENTS
General comments about the modem.
About external folders
You can use external folders to give users access to the folders on any storage device available to the server machine. They are useful if you have large numbers of files (for example, on a CD-ROM) that you want to make available to your users. It's easier to drag files into a folder on your hard drive than to upload them all to a conference.
When users open an external folder, they actually see the contents of the folder outside the FirstClass system. Users can do the following with external folders:
• view folder contents
• view text files, preview certain types of picture or sound files, and download files
• search the filenames and content of text documents.
External folders work equally well for remote and network sessions.
External folders are read only. You cannot upload files to an external folder from within FirstClass.
Approving volumes for external folders
Before you create external folders, you must approve the volumes containing the external information.
Note
During FirstClass installation, an external folder named Hard Disk is placed on the administrator's Desktop. This folder links to the master volume. We do not recommend that you give all your users access to this external folder because the master volume can contain private or non-relevant information.
To make a volume available for external folders:
1 Double-click Volumes on the administrator's Desktop.
The names of unapproved volumes appear in italics. If you mount a new volume on your computer (for example, if you connect to a network drive), you must close and reopen this folder to refresh the list.
2 Select the volume you want to approve.
3 Choose File > Get Info (Mac OS) or Properties (Windows).
4 Select "Limited use".
5 Close the form and save your change.
6 FirstClass marks this volume as available for external folders.
Creating external folders
To create an external folder:
1 Double-click Volumes on the administrator's Desktop.
2 Double-click the volume containing the folder to which you want to link.
3 Navigate through the volume and select the folder to which you want to link.
4 Choose Conferencing > Add to Desktop to create a link to the folder on the administrator's Desktop.
5 Close the Volumes form.
6 Open the Model Desktop of the user group or individual user who needs access to this folder.
7 Drag the link to the Model Desktop and update the Desktop.
Linking external folders to CD-ROMs
If you are considering linking an external folder to a CD-ROM, be aware of the following:
• The link is specific to the disk in the CD-ROM drive at the time you make the link. If you put in another disk, users won't be able to use the link.
• CD-ROM access is slower than access to normal hard disk drives.
Here are some tips to minimize performance problems:
• Avoid multi-CD changers. They generally take several seconds to change disks. If you have two users accessing different disks, the changer shuffles continuously, consuming most of the server's resources, and the server stops running during the time between loading and unloading the CD-ROM.
• Buy the fastest CD-ROM you can afford.
• If you have a very large system, consider purchasing a large hard disk, copying the CD-ROM to the hard disk, then linking to the hard disk. Although this approach is expensive, it gives you the best possible performance. It also allows you to omit any resources on the CD-ROM that are of no interest.
Linking external folders to file servers
If you create external folders that link to a file server, be sure the file server is available when your FirstClass Server is running.
If the file server shuts down, a dialog may appear to notify you of a problem. If this happens, click OK to continue.