Clients running Explorer Client can connect to a server that does not necessarily lie in the local network to which the clients are connected. Configurations of this type are very useful when the clients are in more than one geographical location. For example, at an Internet Café or a chain of hotels with several establishments connected together only using the internet. In this case, once registered, the client can go to any of the hotel chain’s establishments, because every one is connected to the same server.

To configure the clients in this way, it is sufficient to enter the address of the remote server, which is running Explorer Manager, in Explorer Client’s configuration window. If the remote server is connected to the internet through a router, it will be necessary to configure the router to turn on port 9393 on the computer which is running Explorer Manager.

Let us look at a practical example to make the configuration clearer :

Suppose the computer running Explorer Manager is in Rome and is connected to the internet with the fixed IP address 85.23.67.124. If a fixed IP address is not available, it will still be possible to use a dynamic DNS service, for example www.dyndns.com, with which to get a name of the type name-company.dyndns.org to use in place of the fixed IP address.

The clients are partly in the same location as the server, and partly in another location in the city of Florence. The first group can be configured simply in the normal way, by using the automatic configuration procedure which is executed when Explorer Client starts up, while for the second group it will be necessary to enter the server address manually, specifying the IP 85.23.67.124 (or the name name-company.dyndns.org).

At this point, a user who is registered at the location in Rome will be enabled to navigate also in the locations in Florence, because the navigation workstations are connected to the same server. Clearly, the location in Florence also has to be administered somehow by an operator who, for example, deals with re-charges and new registrations. This operator could, for example, be connected on a navigation workstation which communicates with the server via Explorer Client’s chat. If the user Jane Smith finds herself in the Florence location and asks the operator for a re-charge, the latter only has to accept the re-charge amount and communicate, via chat or other means, with the operator in Rome who will carry out the re-charge. There is a similar situation for new registrations : the Florence operator can accept the details of the new customer and communicate them to the Rome operator, who immediately registers the new user on Explorer Manager and transmits the login name and password of the new customer to the Florence operator.