PC-to-UNIX Connectivity
over IP for Windows Desktops

Overview | Features

Features

Complete Solution Saves Time and Money

ViewNow UNIX is the complete, all-in-one PC connectivity solution for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT users who want to communicate with UNIX workstations and servers. Now it’s easy to access and share UNIX applications, files, and printing through Telnet VT terminal emulation, NFS Client, web browser access to X applications, and FTP file transfer. The integrated ViewNow UNIX suite of stable, best-of-breed applications ensure superior performance, centralized administration, and lower cost of ownership.

Telnet and VT Emulation

ViewNow UNIX offers a robust set of terminal emulators including Telnet with DEC VT series support (VT52, 100, 220, 320, 340 ReGIS Graphics, and 420), async communications, WYSE (50 and 60), ASCII and ANSI. Built-in NDS support simplifies setup and administration, and provides better host connections. Advanced emulation features include graphical drag-and-drop keyboard remapping, customizable menus and toolbar, auto-resizeable fonts, hotspots, and a button pad. Administrators can design customized scripts to automate a wide variety of functions. So now it’s easy to control multiple emulation sessions, automate system login, extract host data, and communicate with other PC applications via Object Linking and Embedding (OLE).

Enhanced Usability

Proven graphical user interfaces provide point-and-click simplicity that makes UNIX host access and X applications easy for all Windows users. With ViewNow UNIX, PC users can easily cut and paste information between UNIX and Windows applications. Users simply select a text block or graphic, copy it, and then paste it into a Windows application or into a UNIX application. Intelligent copy-and-paste even lets users move tabular data from the emulation screen into desktop spreadsheets. Client networking applications are integrated with Windows user interfaces. So once users learn the operating system, they’ve learned how to perform networking tasks. Context-sensitive help is available on every user interface control so users can learn quickly and be more productive.

For network printing, ViewNow UNIX includes a print client (LPR) and a print server (LPD).

Unsurpassed NFS Performance and Reliability

ViewNow UNIX includes a high-performance NFS client that allows users to access resources on NFS servers quickly and easily across the network. The industry-standard Network File System (NFS) protocol provides a common mechanism for sharing files between multivendor systems, including UNIX, IBM mainframe, VMS, and OS/2 platforms. ViewNow NFS Client provides the performance advantages of NFS v3, plus the reliability and Windows integration that users need to seamlessly access directories, files, printers, disks, CD-ROM, Zip drives, and other network devices. The NFS Client in ViewNow UNIX is based on NetManage’s award-winning InterDrive NFS technology, which has been recognized for its outstanding reliability and performance – especially in high-traffic networks. This technology was recently awarded "Editor’s Choice" by Network Computing magazine, citing "rock-solid stability and rich configuration options" under rigorous test conditions. Our ViewNow NFS Client will continue to perform where other NFS products fail. In fact, the client has been tested using over 5,000 simultaneous connections.

Web-Browser Access to X

PC users now have easy access to memory-intensive X applications running on a central UNIX system. ViewNow UNIX offers "Broadway", or Web-enabled X, a leading-edge technology that lets Windows users access and run X applications from their favorite Web browser. From the user’s perspective, it appears as though the X application is running right on the local desktop. Using a Web browser plug-in, X applications can be remotely configured, managed, and accessed through the browser. Network administrators can create customized Web pages with links to X applications. Users then simply click on a pre-defined link to launch the appropriate X application.

This eliminates the tedious task of configuring each user desktop for specific X applications – and minimizes training time.

FTP for UNIX File Transfer

ViewNow UNIX includes two FTP file transfer applications: FTP Client and FTP Client Add-in. FTP Client provides a double-pane view that allows users to drag-and-drop between long directory trees to copy files between local and remote systems, or between two remote systems. The FTP Client Add-in application is integrated into Windows Explorer so users don’t have to learn a different interface.

Also included is the FTP Server that allows a Windows desktop PC to be set up as a file server. The FTP Server is integrated with Windows domain security and allows user restrictions to be set by user name or IP address. Users can be authenticated through a local password or NIS authentication.

The FTP Server Connection Monitor gives network managers greater control by enabling monitoring and troubleshooting of FTP server traffic.

Easy Application Launch

LaunchNow™ allows users to fast-start host sessions and X applications. The LaunchNow menu includes specific configuration data, enabling users to select sessions, destinations, or applications. From any ViewNow application, simply choose LaunchNow to see a list of applications that can be activated. LaunchNow can be displayed as an icon on the toolbar to provide LaunchNow features without activating a ViewNow application.

Host Access Manager

The Host Access Manager is the central configuration tool for ViewNow desktop products. It provides users and administrators with a convenient interface to configure host settings.

It can also be used for Workspace management, allowing the network administrator to import Workspaces into a user environment or export Workspaces for sharing or trouble- shooting. Objects created in Host Access Manager are available from other ViewNow applications or on the user desktop through the use of LaunchNow. Shortcuts can be assigned to session objects, allowing for easy execution from anywhere on the desktop.

Remote Access Manager

The Remote Access Manager is a powerful, remote configuration tool for the system administrator. It provides a consistent, integrated approach to managing user accounts, workspaces and access privileges across a diverse spectrum of resources. The administrator can remotely create and configure host access templates for individual users and groups.

This single-point, remote configuration significantly reduces the cost of managing multiple distributed desktops.

Wizards and Diagnostics

ViewNow UNIX provides Policy Templates that simplify user access controls. Migration Wizards make it easy to migrate from previous NetManage software or upgrade from competitive products. And extensive diagnostic tools are available to diagnose problems and to monitor, audit, and report on user access and network performance.

Quick Connect

Quick Connect eliminates multiple steps and allows users to quickly and directly access a UNIX host. Connection types and options are pre-configured so that the host connection is made simply by double-clicking the Quick Connect icon in Host Access Manager.