HotLine - installing the server

HotLine, Installing the Server

By: Chris Kaminski 

Date: Aug 23, 2001

Version: 1.85

Windows and Mac version available

The hotline server allows you to run your very own hotline site. The server is easy to configure and the security model is a breeze to set up. HotLine server is even easy to set up behind a firewall or NAT based broadband router – see NAT Configuration.

Before installing the hotline server, you will need to decide a few things. Are you going to allow guests or is this a private hotline community? Do you want to broadcast your location to the world through a Hotline tracker? If on a home network, what computer should it be installed on? This tutorial assumes that you will be setting up a private community for a few friends with GUEST access turned off.

Click your OPTIONS button. From the general tab, you should probably turn on all logging. A quick look at your logs later will help tell you if your Hotline system is functioning correctly.  I suggest keeping the default port number at 5500.  This will make diagnosing initial problems ieaser should any come up.  Lastly,  you may want to limit the number to simultaneous downloads - 100 will tax your internet connection heavily.   I suggest setting is screen to 5500,5,1,1.

 

The Info tab will allow you to configure the name of your server as it will appear to the outside world.

The trackers tab allows you to tell the world about your new HOTLINE server. Click the check box to enable broadcasting your server. You should check out http://tracker.sunwave.com/ if you want to be listed.

The IP tab is used if you have more than one NIC in your computer. This is most often the case if you are installing HotLine server on a computer that runs ICS, Wingate, or other connection sharing software. Simply put your Internet IP address in the box. If your computer is behind a NAT router or is connected directly to the Internet, ignore this tab.

The next thing that needs to be configured is SECURITY. This is a very important piece of HotLine and care should be taken when altering security settings. Security is managed through the HotLine client when you are logged in as admin. From the server menu, select the ‘connect as admin’ button or connect to your new HotLine server from another computer and log in as admin.

 

The default install gives some fairly heavy rights to the GUEST account. In this example we are setting up a private community for our friends, so we should delete the guess account. Next, add logins for your friends and assign the security rights to them.

 

If you have a home network, you need to decide where to install the HotLine server. If you have a computer running ICS or other internet sharing software, that same computer is an obvious choice because no additional configuration is needed. If installing Hotline behind a NAT based broadband router, you will need to configure the router as here.

Follow the links below to learn more

 

HotLine - installing the server