Configuring remote access to mapped Windows shares with IAG

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Applies To: Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG)

When allowing remote access to internal file structures with Whale Communications Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) 2007, you can configure local drive mapping to map Windows network shares to network drives on remote client endpoints. Users can then connect to the shares directly from the client endpoint, and depending on policy configuration, users can then download and upload files to and from those drives. Local drive mapping is supported on client endpoints running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. For Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, some additional configuration steps are required. We recommend that you only enable this feature for client endpoints that comply with your corporate client policies.

Mapping local drives

You map a Windows share by adding a local drive mapping application to a portal for each share. You can specify how each share is accessible to remote users. Do this as follows:

To map a Windows share

  1. In the IAG Configuration console, select the required portal trunk, and in Applications, click Add to run the Add Applications Wizard.

  2. To add the local drive mapping application, in the Add Applications Wizard, select Client/Server and Legacy Applications, and then click Local Drive Mapping.

  3. In the Server Settings page, define mapping parameters and complete the wizard.

    Click Help for more information about wizard settings.

  4. On the Configuration console, on the toolbar, click the Activate configuration icon, and then on the Activate Configuration dialog box, click Activate. When the configuration is activated, the message "IAG configuration activated successfully" appears.

Configuring support for Windows 2003 and Windows XP

To enable local drive mapping on client endpoints that run Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows 2000 operating systems you must add the application Local Drive Mapping Setup (Windows XP/2003) to the portal, as follows:

To configure Windows operating system support

  1. In the IAG Configuration console, select the required portal trunk, and in Applications, click Add to run the Add Applications Wizard.

  2. In the Select Application page of the wizard, select Client/Server and Legacy Applications.

  3. To enable access to a Windows share for client endpoints running Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, click Local Drive Mapping Setup (Windows XP/2003)..

  4. In the Step 5 - Portal Link page of the wizard, select Add Link on Portal and Toolbar to make the setup application available on the portal home page. This step is not required on client endpoints running Windows 2000 Server.

Important

Running local drive mapping setup disables server message block (SMB) over TCP/IP. In order to enable local drive mapping on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, relevant client endpoints must connect to the portal and run the local drive mapping setup application once. At the end of the application, users are prompted to restart the client endpoint. Note that to run the application, users must be logged on to the local client endpoint with Administrator privileges in order to enable registry changes. Note that running this application might decrease SMB performance (there is no direct hosting) and might impact applications that rely on SMB over TCP/IP. Do not define the local drive mapping setup application as a prerequisite for the local mapping application, or users will be prompted to restart the client endpoint each time they access the mapped share.

  1. On the Step 4 - Server Settings page of the wizard, specify the server name, share name, and drive letter of the mapped share. Do not enable Launch Automatically on Start. If you enable this setting, users are prompted to restart the client endpoint each time they access the site.

  2. On the Step 5 - Portal Link page of the wizard, select Add Link on Portal and Toolbar to specify that the share is available on the portal home page. Otherwise, the share is accessible by using Windows Explorer.

  3. On the Configuration console, on the toolbar, click the Activate configuration icon, and then on the Activate Configuration dialog box, click Activate. When the configuration is activated, the message "IAG configuration activated successfully" appears.

    After adding the application to the portal trunk and activating the configuration, the share is accessible to remote users as soon at they log on to the portal home page.