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!IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ THIS SECTION FIRST
(1) YOU SHOULD USE NOTEPAD OR A SIMILAR TEXT EDITOR TO MANUALLY VIEW/EDIT THIS FILE.
(2) TURN OFF "WORD WRAP" TO INCREASE READABILITY (IN NOTEPAD, GO TO "EDIT", UNCHECK "WORD WRAP" OPTION).
(3) YOU CAN FIND PRELIMINARY LICENSING AND CONTACT INFORMATION AT THE END OF THIS FILE
(4) THIS APPLICATION IS A LIMITED PUBLIC BETA - I WOULD APPRECIATE FEEDBACK SENT TO MY EMAIL ADDRESS
BACKGROUND
----------
This application was written for users of dial-ups connections, dynamic ips and dyndns (http://www.dyndns.org),
who for some inexplicable reason (http://teilhard.global-mind.org, for example) need to "fix" their IPs
to a certain subnet range.
This application will force reconnections of aforementioned Internet connection until it connects to an
acceptable range of IPs.
This application can be run as a service or as standalone.
REQUIREMENTS
------------
* Windows XP
* router on LAN with remote web-administration access
FEATURES
--------
* runs invisibly
* can be run as standalone, or as a service in NT/2000/XP
* directly communicates with router web administration pages to retrieve connection info and connect/disconnect from the Internet
* supports update of multiple hosts on dyndns service
* has moderate error-correction and failover capabilities
* has an embedded webserver which serves both HTML and XML status information
* support for pseudo-remote procedure calls, allowing remote administration of application via webserver
* small and compact
CAVEATS
-------
* still BETA - some bugs may not have been ironed out
* useful for a very limited user base
INSTALLATION / CONFIGURATION
----------------------------
(The original code had no setup.exe - beginning from version 2, a complete setup package is provided)
1. Install the software using the provided setup package.
2. The setup package will create a program group called "iDDu-svc" somewhere in your Start Menu.
3. Use notepad or a similar text-editor to open the file "settings.cfg" in the application directory.
The application directory is USUALLY "C:/Program Files/iDDu-svc/"
4. "settings.cfg" contains all the configuration settings, as well as additional documentation for each setting/feature.
DO NOT RUN THE APPLICATION UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE CONFIGURATION
5. Run the application called "iDDu-svc" inside the program group of the same name "iDDu-svc".
Windows 98/ME Users
-------------------
6. The program will immediately display a Window with two main-panes and a status bar at bottom.
The top pane (textbox) shows statistics about the the router and DynDNS service (such as uptime, downtime and so on).
The bottom pane (textbox) shows the statistics about the webserver and its connections.
You can use this screen to check whether you have accidentally mis-configured the iDDu.
Minimize the screen once you are satisfied that the program is configured and running properly.
WARNING: Closing this window will shut down the application.
To have it startup automatically on Windows (Win98/ME) reboot, you must place the shortcut in your:
WINDOWS START MENU -> Program Files -> Startup
Windows NT/2000/XP Users
------------------------
6. You should first be presented with a small window which will prompt you to install the service or run it as standalone.
RUN AS STANDALONE first to to test the application.
Clicking it will force-run the application as if it were on a Windows 98/ME platform (i.e. no service support).
A new window will appear.
For more information on how to interpret data from this, see the section for Windows 98/ME.
TO INSTALL THE IDDU SERVICE, you must be a user with the proper credentials (LocalSystem) or equivalent.
If you are logged in as Administrator, you may just simply hit the "Install Service" button.
If you are NOT an Administrator (or do not have sufficient privileges), you must login as an Administrator OR...
...type in the appropriate access privileges information in the textboxes provided.
If all goes well, the service should install and the window will change to reflect the new status quo.
Merely click on "Run Service" to start it.
Once the service has been installed, it will restart AUTOMATICALLY on Windows boot-up.
To check and monitor its status, re-run the iDDu-svc program OR go to:
WINDOW CONTROL PANEL (Classic View) -> Administrative Tools -> Services
(It will the service named "iDDu")
OTHER INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS
---------------------------------
BETA-TESTERS: Please email me at the address provided in the contact information at the bottom of this file if you
face problems during this process.
USAGE
-----
(additional usage/configuration information may be found inside the "settings.cfg" file)
Earlier versions of the software (<1.0) had a sophisticated user interface.
All current and newer versions have discarded the user interface in favor of more service-like operations (i.e. no user
intervention required).
Therefore, a user interface will only be displayed if the application is "RUN AS STANDALONE".
This user interface is extremely primitive and only serves to show statistics from the two main components of the
application - the iDDu and the webserver.
For more information, see the INSTALLATION section.
BASICALLY, all you have to do is:
i. Install the software (See INSTALLATION / CONFIGURATION section)
ii. Configure it (See INSTALLATION / CONFIGURATION section AND ALSO the contents of "settings.cfg")
iii. Run it and set it to start up automatically
iv. Forget about it =)
ACCESSING STATISTICS WITH A WEB-BROWSER
---------------------------------------
If the webserver is configured (see documentation in "settings.cfg"), you will able to access it with your browser at the
specified address and port.
Depending on your configuration, you may also be able to remotely administer the application via the
browser as well.
More documentation on XML/HTML status pages and Pseudo-Remote Procedure Calls may be inside "settings.cfg".
FILES LIST
----------
Here is the list of files which were packaged in the original .zip file:
(DO NOT DELETE ANY OF THESE FILES)
/iDDu-svc.exe [main executable]
/readme.txt [this file]
/settings.cfg [configuration file - which also contains documentation]
/TEMPLATE_STATUS.XML [template file used by the embedded webserver - documented in settings.cfg]
/TEMPLATE_favicon.ico [icon file used by the embedded webserver]
Here is a list of the files and directories generated and/or updated during operation:
(these generated files may be deleted to reset all statistics)
/log.txt [running log of all operations]
/CurrentIP.log [current IP in use]
/Failover_Hits.arr [internal storage of failover errors]
/IP_Hits.arr [internal storage of IP history]
/IP_Ranges_Hits.arr [internal storage of IP Ranges history]
/web/*.* [webserver directory and files]
BETA-TESTERS: As this is a BETA edition, ALL OPERATIONS ARE LOGGED IN LOG.TXT - this file increase in size by more than a 1Mb
per day. If you intend to run it for a prolonged period of time, be sure you have the hard disk space, or
make a point to delete it once in a while.
CHANGELOG
---------
20050305005000 CLS_router: Fixed weird bug that caused bad/failed logins to look like it returned
status code 200 OK
20050305103000 CLS_dyndns: Fixed weird bug that caused bad/failed dyndns updates to look like it went good
20050305103100 CLS_router: Disconnect() no longer parses returned data unless specifically flagged
20050313135000 Finished full revamp of iDDu to iDDu-svc - stable BETA version
SOURCE CODE
-----------
This application is licensed under terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
As such, the source code is freely available from the website where you first acquired the executable or available upon request.
Some portion of the code (particularly the VB-NT service) may exist under a difference license.
A short description of the license as well as contact information is provided at the bottom of this document.
TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS/ERRORS
-------------------------------
(This is preliminary documentation only and is more like "hints and tips" than anything else for the moment)
This application has only been tested on Windows XP SP1 and Windows XP SP2.
You might not be able to access the webserver or administer the application remotely if your firewall is blocking its port.
TECHNICAL NOTES
---------------
The authentication mechanism for the web-based administration is highly insecure. Do not trust it with your life! =)
Out-of-date system components will probably not crash the application. It might cause erratic behaviour though.
If you would like to change the software or modify it, I would appreciate you dropping me a line.
A log file is automatically generated in the application directory. Look for "log.txt" there. Careful, it might get extremely
large in a few days time. There is no mechanism for clearing it... yet.
The XML feed from the webserver can be reparsed into a more readable format. This requires programming
expertise. The author has developed a PHP-based XML feed parser for this purpose that is available on
request. It might be bundled in future versions.
LICENSE / CONTACT INFORMATION
-----------------------------
iDDu-svc - intelligent DynDNS updater NT service
Author: Echorunner (eeckart@gmail.com) (penampang.homeip.net)
Copyright (c): 2005 Eeckart, all rights reserved
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
* modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
* License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
* version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
*
* This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
* General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
* License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
* Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
You may contact the author by e-mail at: eeckart@gmail.com
The latest version of the library can be obtained from:
http://penampang.homeip.net/software_repository/
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