Host Options Dialog Box

The Host Options dialog box is accessed from the Tools menu, from the Options command. It contains information for configuring your Webspace Server. The Host Options dialog box with example settings is shown in the following figure.

The Host Options dialog box displays the following tabs:

Session Startup

The Session Startup tab displays the following items:

Item Description
Apply Group Policy Select to apply Group Policy to a user's session at startup. Using Group Policy and its extensions, administrators can:
  • Manage registry-based policy.
  • Assign scripts.
  • Redirect folders.
  • Manage applications
  • Specify security options.
Display Progress Messages Select to allow various progress messages to be shown to users during session startup, after a user is authenticated. Displayed messages include:
  • A user's personal settings are being loaded.
  • Group Policy is being applied.
  • Network drives are being connected.
  • Logon scripts are being run.
Always in Front Select so that session startup progress messages will be displayed in front of all other windows. Clear to permit other windows to be placed in front of the progress messages.
Logon Scripts: User-specific Enable to permit a user-specific executable file to be run during the individual logon process.
Important: Authenticated users must have read and execute access to the logon script files. User-specific logon scripts are specified using the functionality provided by the operating system.
Logon Scripts: Global Specifies the path of an executable file to be run for all users that log on to the server.
Important: Authenticated users must have read and execute access to the logon script files.
Maximum Sessions Per User Allows you to specify the maximum number of sessions that a user may run concurrently. Clear the check box next to this field to allow each user to have an unlimited number of sessions. The default is to have an unlimited number of user sessions.
Maximum Sessions on this Host Specifies the maximum number of sessions allowed on this server. When the entered maximum sessions are reached on the Webspace Server, additional sessions are denied access. For example, if the maximum number of sessions is 25, the user who initiates the 26th session will be prevented from logging on. The default is 25 sessions per Webspace Server.
Important: In a relay server setting, Webspace checks the maximum sessions setting on the relay server AND its dependent application servers. The value entered for the Maximum sessions on the relay server is the maximum number of sessions that can be run concurrently on all dependent application servers assigned to that relay server.
Minimum Available Physical Memory Specifies the minimum number of megabytes of physical memory that must be available for a session to start. When the available physical memory falls below the entered number (MB), additional users cannot log on. The default is 128 MB.
Minimum Available Virtual Memory Specifies the minimum percentage of virtual memory that must be available for a session to start. When the available virtual memory falls below the entered percentage value, additional users cannot log on. The default is 10 percent (%).

Session Shutdown

The Session Shutdown tab displays the following items:

Item Description
Timeouts: Session Lets you set a limit on how many minutes a session may run on a server. By default, this option is disabled.
Timeouts: Idle Lets you specify a limit to the number of minutes of idle time allowed on a server, since the last mouse or keyboard input event was received in a session. By default, this option is disabled.
Idle Action Select Disconnect to disconnect users when the idle limit has been reached, or select Log to log off users when the idle limit has been reached.
Warning Period Lets you specify the number of minutes before a session or idle limit is reached when users are warned that they are about to be disconnected or logged off. This option may be selected if either Session or Idle is enabled. However, the Warning Period must be less than the session limit and idle limit settings. Values less than or equal to zero provide no warning period.
Grace Period Lets you specify the number of minutes necessary to provide for a graceful shutdown of the application and all of its processes when a session is being closed. The Grace Period defaults to a value of 1 minute and should ONLY be changed at the instruction of GE Customer Support personnel.
Disconnected Sessions Terminate: Immediately Select so that sessions will terminate as soon as their clients disconnect.
Disconnected Sessions Terminate: After Lets you specify how many minutes sessions should remain running after their clients disconnect. For example, if the network connection is lost or if users unintentionally disconnect from Webspace, their session state is preserved for the length of time entered here.
Shared Account Allows you to create an account that be shared by multiple users. If an administrator designates an existing user name as a shared account while that user is disconnected from his or her session, the session will remain running on the server until the termination limit has been reached. The session will then be terminated. Before specifying a shared account, verify in the Webspace Admin Console that there are no connected or disconnected sessions using that account.
Note: Webspace does not support the use of domain names (for example, NORTH\johnq) for shared accounts.

Client Access

The Client Access tab displays the following items:

Item Description
Clipboard Enables client clipboard support. Any clipboard data from the browser session is available only within the WorkSpace application. In order to copy the contents to other applications on the local disk of the client machine you must create a shell script within an object inside your WorkSpace picture that launches Notepad.exe, on the Webspace Server. After you do this, you can use this object to launch Notepad in run mode from the web session. Paste the contents into Notepad, and save this file to the local disk of web session computer.
Sound Enables client sound support. Webspace supports sound capability for any application that uses PlaySound, sndPlaySound, or waveOut. It is not required that sound cards and/or speakers be installed on Webspace Servers. The client machine, however, does require a sound card and speakers. Audio support is disabled by default on the Webspace sessions.
Important: Be aware that client sound capability requires the loading of Webspace libraries into session processes. This can affect the startup of a process, make some processes incompatible with Webspace, or have fatal consequences during suspend/resume operations. Use caution when enabling this setting.
Drives Enables client file access.
Hide Lets you specify the drives letter(s) of client drives you would like to hide. For example: A, B, G-J. Hidden drives are inaccessible to the user through the Webspace session.
Assign consecutive letters starting at... Lets you remap client drives by listing client drives sequentially starting at a given drive letter.
Increment By... Lets you remap client drives by incrementing client drive letters by a fixed value.
Universal Printer Driver Enables the use of the Universal Printer Driver that can print to any client printer. When only the Universal Printer Driver is enabled, only the Universal Printer Driver will be used as a printer driver. No native drivers will be used. This is the default setting. The Universal Printer Driver uses a standard printing properties dialog box and may not offer some of the more advanced printing options other drivers do. The Universal Printer Driver can be used when the native driver is not available. When neither the Universal Printer Driver nor Windows Printer Drivers is enabled, no printers will be configured, and client printing is disabled.
Note: A printer named Preview PDF is configured in each session when the Universal Printer Driver is enabled. Documents printed to this printer are automatically converted to a .pdf file and displayed on the client computer. Users can save, print, or email the document at their discretion. A PDF reader, such as Adobe Reader, is required on the client computer in order to use the Universal Printer Driver's PDF conversion feature.
Windows Printer Driver Enables printers to be configured using already installed native drivers. When only the Windows Printer Drivers option is enabled, only native printer drivers that are installed on the Webspace Server will be used. If a printer's native driver is not installed, that printer will not be configured. To allow Webspace to automatically install native printer drivers that ship with Microsoft Windows click the Automatically install drivers. The Windows Printer Driver option is preferred when configuring proxy printers, if they are available and if settings allow them to be used. When both the Universal Printer Driver and the Windows Printer Drivers are enabled, and a printer's native driver is installed on the Webspace Server, the printer's native driver will be used to configure the printer. If it is not installed on the Webspace Server, the printer is configured to use the Universal Printer Driver. When Windows Printer Drivers and Automatically install drivers are enabled, only native printer drivers that are installed on the Webspace Server or those that are included with Windows will be used. If a printer's native driver is not installed and it is not included with Windows, that printer will not be configured. When neither the Windows Printer Drivers nor Universal Printer Driver is enabled, no printers will be configured, and client printing is disabled.
Automatically Install Drivers Allows Webspace to automatically install native printer drivers that ship with Microsoft Windows. The Automatically Install Drivers option is only available when the Windows Printer Driver option is selected.
Automatically Update Clients Lets you automatically update a Webspace Desktop Client when a user connects to a Webspace Server that is running a newer version.
Note: The Automatically Update Clients option on the Client Access tab of the Webspace Admin Console is only available for the Windows Desktop Client. It does not apply to other clients such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Serial and Parallel Ports Allows applications running on the host to access client machines' serial and parallel ports. Serial and parallel ports are disabled by default. Be aware that Client Serial and Parallel Ports requires the loading of Webspace libraries into session processes. This can affect the startup of a process, make some processes incompatible with Webspace, or have fatal consequences during suspend/resume operations. As such, when Serial and Parallel Ports is enabled, a message box opens and asks for confirmation.
Video Replay This feature is currently not supported for Webspace 6.2.
Open Files on Client This feature is currently not supported for Webspace 6.2.
Use Client Time Zone Select this option to run Webspace sessions in the time zone of the client computer.

Security

The Security tab displays the following items:

Item Description
Transport Lets you select the protocol to use for communication between clients and Webspace Servers. When selecting the Encrypted transport, an Certificate file must be specified.
Port Lets you change the port on which this Webspace Server is listening.
Encryption Lets you specify the type of encryption of the data that is transmitted between the client and the server. Encryption includes:
  • The client's user name and password, which are supplied during logon
  • Any application data submitted by the client or returned by the server.
After you have selected an encryption type, all succeeding Webspace sessions will be encrypted. Sessions that are active when the feature is enabled will not be encrypted. A user must log off, then onto the Webspace Server for his or her session to be encrypted.
Certificate Lets you specify the full path of the certificate that is required to use the Encrypted transport. You can obtain a certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) such as Verisign or Thawte, or you can create your own certificate authority and then sign your server certificates from this authority. When the Encrypted transport is selected, all connections to that Webspace Server use the Encrypted transport and the selected encryption algorithm, including connections from Webspace sessions. Consult the documentation from the CA of your choice using the following information as a guide to obtain a server certificate from a CA that is trusted by the client operating system. In order for a certificate to work in Webspace:
  • A private key is required.
  • The certificate must be in PEM format.
Consult Microsoft documentation for details.
Use Certificate for Web Connections to IIS (uncheck to remove instantly) This feature is currently not supported for Webspace 6.2.
Generate Certificate This feature is currently not supported for Webspace 6.2.
Notify Users When Connections are Secure Enable to notify users with a message when connections between client and server are secure. This option is only available when the Encrypted transport mode is selected.

Log

The Log tab displays the following items:

Item Description
Folder Specifies a folder to which log files will be written and in which there are subfolders where backed up logs will be stored. The default location is: C:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy Webspace\Log. Webspace Server does not support storing logs directly in a network folder.
Output Level Specifies the level of information written to the log file, with numbers 1 to 6 capturing ever greater detail, and 0 capturing no output. The default level is 2.
Maintenance Lets you select which action will be performed on log files that have reached the specified age or size. The action applies to the current log file as well as to those which are inactive.
Files More than ... days old Specifies how many days old log files can become before being deleted or moved to the Backup subdirectory of the Log folder. The setting applies to the current log file as well as to those which are inactive.
or... MBs in size Specifies at what size, in megabytes, log files are to be deleted or moved to the Backup subdirectory of the Log folder. The setting applies to the current log file as well as to those which are inactive.

Configuration tab

The Configuration tab displays the following items:

Item Description
Application Host Click the Dependent Host option, and the specify the name or IP address of the Relay Server. The Relay Server manages the communication between Webspace Clients and a set of dependent application servers.
Note: The Independent Host and Farm Host options are currently not supported.
Application Host Manager Select the Relay Load Balancer option to enable the Webspace server to become a Relay Server for load balancing.
Note: The Farm Manager option is currently not supported.
Backup License Manager This feature is currently not supported for Webspace 6.2.

Authentication

The Authentication tab displays the following items:

Item Description
Standard Authentication Allows users to log on with their user name and password every time they connect to the server. Users are added to the server's INTERACTIVE group and have the same access rights they would have if they logged on to the server at its console. This is the default setting.
Note: To make the "Cache Passwords on the Client" option available for selection, you must have the Standard Authentication option selected.
Cache Passwords on Client Allows users to log on without having to enter their user name and password every time they connect to the server. Available only when Standard Authentication is enabled. With this option enabled, the Login dialog box will display a "Remember me on this Computer" check box. If a user selects this check box on the first login from the client, the next time that user logs in from that same computer, the Logon dialog box will show the User Name and Password dialog box pre-populated with the previous login. All the user needs to do to continue is click Sign In. Passwords are encrypted on the server, transmitted over the network, and stored on client computers in user-private directories. Users are added to the server's INTERACTIVE group and have the same access rights they would have if they logged on to the server at its console. The cached password is saved in the following directory: C:\Documents and Settings\<user name> folder\Application Data\Proficy\Proficy Webspace\<server name>.dat
Integrated Windows Authentication Allows users who sign in from Windows computers that are members of the same domain as the Webspace Server without having to re-enter their user name and password every time they connect to the server. When Integrated Windows Authentication is the only option enabled, users' passwords are never transmitted over the network. Users are added to the INTERACTIVE group, and passwords are cached on the server by default. If both Standard authentication and Integrated Windows authentication are enabled, the Webspace Server attempts to log in the user with Integrated Windows authentication first, and then Standard authentication, if Windows authentication fails.
Tip: For Webspace auto login to work, be sure to enable the Integrated Windows Authentication option, and add the SHOWIFIXLOGIN=0 line in the Fixuserpreferences.ini file in the iFIX Local folder under the WebspacePreferences section.
Require two-factor Authentication This feature is currently not supported for Webspace 6.2.
OpenID Connect authentication This feature is currently not supported for Webspace 6.2.