Installation of the Software

Softvision Explorer consists of four software modules :

Explorer Manager 2.5 : server programme to control connections and manage users.

Explorer Manager 2.5 : allows customers to navigate and protects the machine it is installed on.

Explorer Printer Monitor 1 : allows monitoring of customers’ print jobs.

Explorer Coins 1 : allows a computer with an electronic coin acceptor to be set up as a re-charge workstation.

The installation programme SoftvisionExplorer.exe allows for two types of installation : SERVER and CLIENT installation. The first installs Explorer Manager and is run on machines set up as servers, while the second installs Explorer Client and must be run on all navigation workstations.
The other two modules are installed by the installation programmes ExplorerPrinterMonitor.exe and ExplorerCoins.Exe. The first is to be installed on computers that are physically connected to a printer, while the second is installed on computers fitted with electronic coin acceptors.
Where a firewall is present it is necessary to enable port 9393 (otherwise the Firewall must be disabled). This port is used by clients and the printer monitor to communicate with the server.

Hardware and Software Configuration

Softvision Explorer is normally used in an Intener Cafè. In this situation there is a server running Explorer Manager, and a certain number of computers running Explorer Client, on which the customers navigate. All the computers are connected to the network through a router or switch. Generally the router includes an ADSL modem which makes the connection to the internet, but any other device may be used for the connection, for example an Ethernet modem, USB modem etc.
The following diagram illustrates this configuration :

For the configuration of the router/modem and network cards there are no particular instructions : any address space which is assigned statically or by the router’s DHCP server may be used.
The configuration we have just seen is normally used by the Standard version of Softvision Explorer. An interesting feature of this configuration is that the server does not necessarily need to be present in the local network, but may also be remote.

Use of Softvision Explorer Professional for Hot Spot Management

The Professional version of Softvision Explorer can manage internet access for computers or other devices like handhelds, mobile phones etc., using wireless connections. These devices do not require any software to access Hot Spots that are managed by Softvision Explorer. For the programme to do this, the server must be fitted with an extra network card for connection to two different networks, called
LAN 1 and LAN 2 : the first is connected to the internet, while the second is connected to an Access Point (or Wireless Router) which manages the wireless connection.
The following scheme shows how this is done :

The first network (LAN 1) has an address space 192.168.0.x, while the second network (LAN 2) has addresses of the type 192.168.1.x. So the two networks have different address spaces and the components of LAN 2 networks cannot use directly the connections to the internet provided by LAN 1.
In the “Hotspot Configuration” page, from the Preferences, the two network cards connected to LAN 1 and LAN 2 must be selected,  while in the "Wireless Device" page the type of wireless device used to make the Wi-Fi connection must be specified, choosing between the two types available : Access Point or Wireless Router. The following instructions refer to the Access Point case. For information on the Wireless Router configuration see the page Configuration with Wireless Router.

After selecting the use as Access Point, you must specify whether you wish to use the DHCP server in the programme. If you decide not to use this server, you will have to use either one that is present in the Access Point, or one that is implemented by other software installed on the computer.
Also you must make sure that the server is not running Web servers like IIS or other services which use port 80.
Now let us see how all the components in the previous scheme should be configured :

ADSL Modem Router
This router, connected to LAN 1, supplies the internet connection to the server, to which it is connected by the first network card.
The configurations should be made as follows :
- Indirizzo IP : 192.168.0.1
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0

The router’s routing table (static routes) must also be changed by entering the rule :
- IP Address : 192.168.1.1
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
- Gateway : 192.168.0.2 (address of the network card for the server connected to LAN 1)

In this way we instruct the router that packets with address 192.168.1.x are to be sent to the server.
Modification of the routing tables, unavailable in some routers, can be avoided by activating the “Use internal NAT” option, found in the LAN’s configuration options. Please note that this function is available only for Windows XP and Vista with the firewall active.

Access Point
The Access Point’s LAN port should be configured as static (Static IP) in the following way :
- IP Address : 192.168.1.1
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
- Gateway : 192.168.1.2 (address of the network card for the server connected to LAN 2)

Server network cards
Network card connected to LAN 1 network :
- IP Address : 192.168.0.2
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
- Pre-defined gateway : 192.168.0.1 (address of the ADSL Modem Router)
- DNS : addresses of your internet provider’s DNS servers

Just as an example, the value 192.168.0.2 has been entered as the IP of this card. This address can be set to any value between 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.254

Network card connected to LAN 2 network: 
- IP Address : 192.168.1.2
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
- Pre-defined gateway : no value 

N.B. All the IP addresses used in the previous configuration are freely customizable, as long as they are consistent with the other network components. For example, you could set the first network card to  IP address 192.168.1.5, but clearly in this case the Access Point network configuration also requires changing, using a different address space to 192.168.1.x (e.g. 192.168.2.1 for the Access Point and 192.168.2.2 for the second network card).

Combined configurations

Up to now we have looked at two configurations : one for wired workstations only and the other for Wi-Fi terminals that do not require Explorer Client. Combined configurations are also possible, in which wired workstations are present on LAN 1 and both Wi-Fi users and wired workstations (not necessarily running Windows) are present on LAN 2.

The advantage of LAN 2 connections is that the internet traffic generated can be controlled by Explorer Manager using the firewall’s functions, and bandwidth limitations can be implemented by the programme’s User Groups function. Another advantage is that, for LAN 2 connections the traffic log is directly implemented by the server and not the customer, as happens for LAN 1 workstations. This implies that the traffic generated by any applications used by the customer is logged and not only that generated by Internet Explorer, as happens with wired workstations on LAN 1. Users connected through LAN 2 can therefore use alternative browsers like Firefox, Opera etc., email programmes, FTP or any other programmes that use the internet.

Use of Linux for wired workstations on LAN 2

Another advantage of wired workstations connected on LAN 2 is that they do not necessarily have to use Explorer Client, the aim of which is to allow user authentication and to protect the machine against damage by users (erasure of system files etc.)
If alternative systems are used to protect the machine, you can decide not to install Explorer Client and carry out authentication using any Web browser that accesses the page http://192.168.1.2/login.htm . Following authentication, users are connected to the internet and can then use any application installed on their computer (browser, chat etc.)
This mode of navigation also opens the door to the use of Linux as the operating system for LAN 2.
Linux is an inherently secure operating system which is well suited for this purpose.  In fact it is sufficient to create an account with greatly reduced privileges to ensure a reasonable degree of protection for the machine. The user can carry out authentication using the browser and access the internet with any installed Linux programme.
Using the Linux operating system offers an important economic advantage. In fact this solution will save the expense of both the Windows operating system and the Explorer Client customer licences.
The software configuration of Linux is reduced to the wireless network card configuration, which must be made to obtain the IP and DNS servers automatically.