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VSOCKS Light


VSOCKS Light Instructions in German

FTPing through VSOCKS Light

You can use FTP through VSOCKS Light, but there are two requirements:
  1. The FTP program must support PASV transfers. This means that all connections are made from your computer to the FTP server because VSOCKS Light does not allow incoming connections.
  2. The FTP program must support the SOCKS protocol, or you must have a 'wrapper' program (such as SOCKSCap or Hummingbird SOCKS Client) on the client computer.
Web browsers which work through VSOCKS Light should also allow you to download files using FTP through VSOCKS Light.
If you want more facilities (eg uploading files) then take a look at LeapWare's LeapFTP program. This works through VSOCKS Light without needing any other software and is a powerful FTP client program as well.
To set up LeapFTP to work through VSOCKS Light, go to the Options -> Preferences -> General menu item, choose the Proxy tab, and set up the settings as in the diagram below (put the IP address of your VSOCKS computer in the Host box).

How do I set up a client computer to use VSOCKS Light

The only changes you need to the network settings for the client computers are:
  • You need to enable the TCP/IP protocol and assign IP addresses etc. That topic is too complex to describe here. See the VSOCKS Light help file if you need a detailed description.
  • In the TCP/IP properties, under DNS Configuration, you need to add the IP address of the PC running VSOCKS Light to the DNS Server Search Order.
You will then need to configure the Internet software you are wanting to use through VSOCKS Light.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 3

To configure Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 to connect to the Internet via VSOCKS Light, simply go to View -> Options -> Connection. Enable Connect Through a Proxy Server, and press Settings. Then in the Servers section, leave all the fields blank, except for the Socks server setting. Put the IP address of the computer running VSOCKS Light here, and in the Port field for the Socks server, type 1080.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5

  1. Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections.
  2. Under Dial-up Settings, choose Never Dial a Connection
  3. Press LAN Settings...
    1. Under Proxy Server, enable Use a Proxy Server, and press Advanced...
    2. Ensure all the boxes are blank, except the Socks: line. This should contain the IP address of the VSOCKS Computer, and 1080 in the Port box.

Netscape Navigator 3

To configure Netscape Navigator 3 to connect to the Internet via VSOCKS Light, go to:
Options -> Network Preferences -> Manual Proxy Configuration.
Press View. Leave all the fields blank, except for the SOCKS Host setting, type the IP address of the computer running VSOCKS Light here, and in the Port field type 1080.

Netscape Navigator 4

To configure Netscape Navigator 4 to connect to the Internet via VSOCKS Light, go to:
Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced  -> Proxies -> Manual Proxy Configuration.
Press View. Leave all the fields blank, except for the SOCKS Host setting, type the IP address of the computer running VSOCKS Light here, and in the Port field type 1080.

Using Other Internet Client Software which doesn't have built in SOCKS server support

To configure other client software you will need something like SOCKSCAP or the 'Hummingbird' SOCKS Client which lets you use any TCP/IP programs via a SOCKS firewall. Both SOCKSCAP and the Hummingbird SOCKS client are FREE.

VSOCKS Light's 'Links' count doesn't go down when I cancel a download

If you cancel an FTP file download from a web browser like Microsoft Internet Explorer 3, the 'Links' count may not go down to zero.
This is because the FTP protocol uses TWO links - one control link, and one data link. When you cancel the download, Internet Explorer closes the data link, but does NOT close the control link. The control link will be closed when IE is closed.
Because of this you should always close your Web Browser when you are finished using it.

VSOCKS Light stays online longer than it should do

This can happen for several reasons. If the status window shows the idle countdown active, and does not show a positive number of active links, then it means that something is triggering VSOCKS so that it thinks that it should stay online longer. VSOCKS has not just decided it doesn't want to hang up.

The common things that can cause VSOCKS to think it should stay online longer are:

  1. If you have 'Monitor RAS Connections' active, then VSOCKS checks the dial-up connection every 10 seconds to see if data has travelled over the link. Windows can sometimes send data over the dial-up link for no apparent reason. (If you use the Windows 'System Monitor' or 'Performance Monitor' you can see this happening). Turning off 'Monitor RAS Connections' will stop this happening
  2. Something is doing a DNS query which VSOCKS has to contact the ISP to answer. There is a file in the VSOCKS directory called DNS.LOG. This records all the DNS queries which VSOCKS is receiving and the computer which sent them. If you have an 'Internet Monitor' program this may issue periodic DNS requests to see if the line is active. Also Windows NT computers often issue DNS requests every 30 seconds or so (for no obvious reason). This may cause VSOCKS to stay online as every so often it will have to ask the ISP to answer the DNS query. Recent versions of VSOCKS have 'DNS caching' so that once VSOCKS has received the answer once, it will remember it for the next 24 hours without having to ask the ISP again. This should reduce the problem due to repeated DNS queries. However, VSOCKS only remembers a successful response, so if the other software has decided to look up an invalid address every 30 seconds, VSOCKS will ask the ISP for the address every 30 seconds until it gets a valid response (which it won't get).

    The best way around this is to find the software which is issuing the DNS queries (unfortunately it isn't easy to find) and stop it from doing so. (We do not know a way of making Windows NT stop issuing queries.)

    Another way around the problem is to:

    1. Turn OFF "Dial On DNS" in the VSOCKS settings.
    2. Put the value of something like your company's home page, or a commonly used web site into the "DOMAINS.LST" file in the VSOCKS directory.
    3. Make that website the 'start page' for your web browser.
    If you do this VSOCKS will dial out whenever you start the web browser, and will then stay dialed out as long as you keep changing pages within the 'idle timeout' time of VSOCKS.

How do I use ICQ/NetMeeting/RealAudio with VSOCKS Light

Unfortunately you cannot you these programs through VSOCKS Light.
VSOCKS Light supports TCP/IP protocols (FTP, HTTP, TELNET etc). Programs like ICQ, NetMeeting and RealAudio use UDP protocols as well. These are not supported by VSOCKS Light.
You can still use these programs on the computer which is running VSOCKS Light, but you cannot use them on other computers which are connecting to the Internet through VSOCKS Light.