Network Utilities

The IP tools page is used to provide a rudimentary set of network tools that can be used from the web interface including ping and traceroute. The results are displayed below the Select tool region in the same format as if the commands were run directly by the root user from the system console.

The ping command is used to establish basic network connectivity between the system and a specified host.

To use ping, choose 'Ping' from the Tool drop-down menu and enter a destination IP address or hostname into the IP addresses or hostnames text field. Click the Run button to display the results of the ping command, and to determine whether communication to the specified host can be established.

Traceroute is used to display the routing path to a specified host. A routing path is presented as a number of hops (I.e. network node to network node). Generally, a larger number of hops is indicative of a slower connection speed between. The traceroute command can take a while to complete, depending on the connectivity between the destination host and the local system.

To use traceroute, choose 'Traceroute' from the Tool drop-down menu and enter a destination IP address or hostname into the IP addresses or hostnames text field. Click the Run button to display the results of the traceroute command, and to determine the routing path to the specified host.

Note - It is possible to ping or traceroute to multiple hosts by separating each IP address or hostname using the comma (',') character.

Whois Lookup

The whois page is used to display ownership information for a specified IP address or domain name.

Enter the IP address or hostname into the IP addresses or domain names text-field and click the Run button. The results are displayed below the Whois lookup region in the same format as if the command were run directly by the root user from the system console. The output is dependent on the item being queried, typically showing the owner of the IP block for the IP address in question, including company names, addresses, etc. If you are querying a domain name, the owner of the name will be shown.

Secure Shell

The shell page used to access the system console via a Java-based SSH shell. This allows direct system administration, maintenance, setup and backup to be performance via the web interface.

To use this feature, SSH access must first be enabled using the Preferences | remote access configuration page. Additionally, the client web browser must have a suitable Java runtime environment installed (version 1.2.2 and above) and Java must be enabled.

Once SSH has been enabled and the shell has loaded, a valid username and password should be entered to proceed. There are two valid user accounts:

• root - The 'root' user is the system's super user account, as configured during the installation process. Authenticating as 'root' will provide full access to the system shell.
• setup - The 'setup' user is a user with privileges to run the system setup application. Authenticating as 'setup' will cause the shell to login to the setup application.

Enter the appropriate username and password into the Username and Password fields on the SSH User Authentication dialog. Click the Login button or hit the Enter key to proceed. Alternatively, login can be cancelled by clicking the Cancel button.

Note - Shell access to the system is only recommended for users with Linux or Unix experience.

Warning - Accessing the SSH client and logging into the system allows the user to modify any and all files. This can result in loss of connectivity, reduced security, or the need to reinstall the system.