 | LinkBouncer Documentation |
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Introduction to LinkBouncer
Getting Started - (Installation Procedures)
Running the Setup Wizard
Configuring IIS Using LinkBouncer
Configuring IIS Manually
Files to be Installed
Feature List
Configuration
User Interface
QuickStart
Referer Filters
Advanced
License
Manual Configuration Via Config File
Frequently Asked Questions
Uninstalling
System Requirements
Release Notes
Licensing/Purchasing
Technical Support
Contact Information
As web servers begin hosting more and more data there becomes a need to ensure that such data is not accessible from resources outside of the web server. Ensuring that files on web servers are accessed "in house" by pages on the web server is important because it guanentines that the bandwidth required to download those files is not being stolen. Bandwidth can be stolen from a web server if any web page on the internet links to a file on another web server.
LinkBouncer ensures that files that are accessed from your web server are accessed via web pages on your web server. By making sure that only users who view your web pages can get access to the files on your web server helps reduce the amount of bandwidth required by your web server because it eliminates outside linking and downloading of those files from pages outside of your web server.
Whenever a user tries to access files on your web server they send the web server information about what web page they are trying to access it from. LinkBouncer recieves this information and then determines based upon your settings whether or not to allow this file to be downloaded by an outside source. If access to the file is allowed then the file is sent, otherwise the user is redirect to a web page specified by the user.
LinkBouncer uses a setup wizard to make the installation process as easy as possible. The next four sections will help you run the setup wizard, configure IIS to use LinkBouncer, and provide you a list of files that are installed.
To run the setup wizard for LinkBouncer:
- Double click on the setup file to display the setup program. A screen titled "Welcome to LinkBouncer Setup Wizard" will appear and ask you to verify that you want to install LinkBouncer.
- Click "Next" to continue the setup.
- You will be asked to select a destination or installation directory. Click "Next" to continue setup. (Note: LinkBouncer's default installation destination is "C:\Program Files\LinkBouncer\". However, you can install it in any directory you specify.)
- Click "Install" to confirm that LinkBouncer is to be installed on the computer and finalize the customization of the LinkBouncer installation.
- When the installation is complete, a screen titled "Completing the LinkBouncer Setup Wizard" will appear. The screen includes two checkboxes: "Auto-configure IIS to work with LinkBouncer" and "Launch LinkBouncer." Selecting the Auto-configure box will allow the setup program to prepare IIS to immediately begin working with LinkBouncer. (Note: It is best to restart after the setup is complete.) However, if you choose to leave the Auto-configure box unchecked, you may use the configuration tool later to manually configure or auto-configure LinkBouncer to work with IIS.
- Click "Finish" to close the setup program.
To set up IIS to work with LinkBouncer:
- Open the LinkBouncer configuration tool.
- Click on the QuickStart tab near the top of the window.
- Click the "Add to Webserver" button. (Note: If this button is disabled, it means that IIS is already configured to work with LinkBouncer. To remove the LinkBouncer configuration in IIS click on the "Remove from Webserver" button. This will stop IIS from running LinkBouncer.
IIS can be configured manually to work with LinkBouncer using the following steps:
- Open the Internet Information Services configuration utility. (You can access this utility by opening Control Panel, double-clicking on Administrative Tool, and clicking on Internet Services Manager icon).
- Right-click on the server that LinkBouncer will be installed on and select Properties.
- Under the Internet Information Services tab is a group of options called Master Properties. Click on the "Edit" button and select the ISAPI Filters tab.
- Click on the "Add" button to add LinkBouncer to the list of filters IIS uses.
- In the Filter Properties dialog enter the following information:
- Under Filter Name, enter "LinkBouncer."
- Enter the location of the LinkBouncer DLL file. (Note: The DLL file is is always located in the directory where LinkBouncer was installed "C:\Program Files\LinkBouncer\." To locate the file in Windows Explorer, click "Browse".)
- Click "OK" until you return to the Internet Information Services configuration utility.
- Right-click on the server and select Restart IIS. When the restart is complete, IIS is ready to work with LinkBouncer.
For further step-by-step instructions, visit our Quick Help support area, which shows screenshots of how to install and uninstall an ISAPI plugin with IIS.
The following files are installed during setup and are required to allow LinkBouncer to run properly:
| File Name | Description | | blkref.exe | LinkBouncer Application | | blkref.cfg | LinkBouncer Configuration File | | blkref.dll | LinkBouncer DLL | | blkref.htm | LinkBouncer Help Documentation | | elmsg.dll | LinkBouncer Event Log DLL |
All the settings for LinkBouncer can be configured using the LinkBouncer configuration tool. The configuration tool has several tabs: QuickStart, Advanced, and License. These tabs provide access to all of LinkBouncer's settings, which make it possible for you to configure LinkBouncer to meet the needs of any web server application.
The "Load" button (located at the bottom of the LinkBouncer application) allows you to load new configuration settings from a configuration file. You can save the configured settings to a configuration file using the "Save" and "Save As" buttons. Use the "Reset" button to reset the current configuration to the LinkBouncer default values. No changes will take effect until they are saved. LinkBouncer periodically checks to see if a new configuration file is available. If the configuration file currently available is newer than the one LinkBouncer has loaded, it will load the new one into memory. one into memory.
When LinkBouncer is started, by default the configuration file that is located in the directory where LinkBouncer was installed (usually "C:\Program Files\LinkBouncer\") is started up as well.
QuickStart is a fast and easy way to configure LinkBouncer. QuickStart contains template configurations for compression and settings that allow quick integration with IIS.
QuickStart is a fast and easy way to configure LinkBouncer.
If you want to deny access to specific files on your web server you can use enter in the name of the files separated by commas. An example might be something like "images,cgi-bin". This makes it easy to deny access to a bunch of private files that might otherwise be accessible to users.
This option allows you to allow or deny access based upon whether or not web visitors are referred from another web page or not. In order to block access to your web site when web visitors are referred from another page just uncheck the box specified.
Unlike other ISAPI filters for IIS, you can start or stop LinkBouncer from being loaded by IIS using LinkBouncer's configuration tool. LinkBouncer allows for maximum control within IIS without having to adjust the Internet Services Manager settings or manually configure LinkBouncer to work on IIS. Instead, LinkBouncer can configure itself into or out of IIS with minimal effort on your part. To allow the LinkBouncer filter to be loaded by IIS, click on the "Add to Webserver" button. IIS will start using LinkBouncer the next time IIS is restarted or the next time the computer is restarted. To stop the LinkBouncer filter from being loaded by IIS, click on the "Remove from Webserver" button. LinkBouncer will then be removed from use by IIS the next time IIS is restarted or the computer is restarted.
TODO TODO TODO TODO TODO The most important feature of referer filters is the
Here however, it would be more viable to use PHP or ASP to redirect users instead of using redirection filters. This is because redirection filters are applied on a site wide basis. So, if a user tries to access a page, such as http://www.mysite.com/china/buygood.htm, he or she will be redirected back to http://www.mysite.com/china/. It would be better to use a PHP or ASP file that would individually redirect users who visited http://www.mysite.com/ and send them to /china/ or /india/. For more information on how to use HTTP headers to retrieve the user's country with CountryLocator and PHP or ASP, see the Frequently Asked Questions page for CountryLocator.
The Referer Filters tab lists all of the redirection filters that CountryLocator will use to decide where to redirect users. The "Add", "Edit", "Remove", and "Reset" buttons allow you to modify redirection filters or to create new ones.
To create a new filter item, click on the "Add" button located at the bottom of the screen. The Properties dialog will appear; this is where you will enter all properties of the new filter you want to create. Each filter you create will determine under what circumstances LinkBouncer should operate.
Examples
To redirect all users that are located in Italy to http://www.mysite.it/, enter the following:
Country: Italy (IT)
RedirectTo: http://www.mysite.it/
To edit an item that has already been added, select the item in the list and click the "Edit" button, or just double click on the item. The Properties dialog will appear with the item's information already entered. Change the information that needs changing and click "OK" to modify the item, or click Cancel to discard any changes.
To remove an item from the list of active filters, select the filter and click the "Remove" button. To clear all of the filters from the list, use the "Reset" button.
With the Start/Stop Notification feature you can have LinkBouncer put a notification in the Windows Event Log each time LinkBouncer starts or stops.
This feature allows the generation of log files in the supplied log file directory. The log files contain information on all the operations that LinkBouncer performs. By default, this feature is turned off.
Each time a log file is generated, it is generated in a particular format. This format always begins with the date and time the event occurred, followed by the description of the event. For example:
12/14/2003 17:34:52 New configuration applied
This states that a new configuration was applied on 12/14/2003 at 17:34:52. The most important event that is displayed in the log is:
01/03/2004 00:00:27 127.0.0.1 : Blocked request [setup.exe] from referer [http://www.downloads.com/] redirected to [http://www.mywebsite.com/downloaddotcom.html]
The description for this event shows the ip address of the user and the blocked request. The blocked request shows the file that was trying to be accessed, where the access request came from (the referer), and where the user will be redirected. In the above example somebody tried to access setup.exe from a page at downloads.com and they were redirected to a local page downloaddotcom.html
A log file record is also kept each time LinkBouncer starts up or shuts down. The format for such an event looks like:
12/12/2003 19:08:30 LinkBouncer v0.8 (Beta) started
12/12/2003 19:08:31 LinkBouncer v0.8 (Beta) shutdown
The description of this event displays the date and time of the event, the name of the ISAPI plugin, the version number, and whether or not a start up or shutdown event occurred.
The License tab provides information about the current copy of LinkBouncer, including the version number, the number of LinkBouncer copies that have been used, and the number of copies that can still be used with the current serial number.
It is possible to configure LinkBouncer manually by editing the configuration (.cfg) file for LinkBouncer, which is located in the directory where LinkBouncer was installed. This is recommended for advanced users only. The configuration file can be edited by loading it into notepad. The format is similar to the format for Windows INI files. After changes have been made to the file and the blkref.cfg file is saved, LinkBouncer will automatically reload the configuration file and use its new settings. Entries that take integers look like this: MinFileSize:1000. Entries that take strings look like this: LogDirectory:"logs" or SupportProxyIP:"TRUE".
Logging
LogEnabled:[TRUE/FALSE] default: FALSE
LogDirectory:[string] default: log-blkref\
Event Log Notification
NotifyStartStop:[TRUE/FALSE] default: FALSE
Redirection
AllowEmptyReferer:[TRUE/FALSE]
Redirect:[redirect to string]
[filebeingaccessed string]:[referer string]
Redirect:[redirect to string]
[filebeingaccessed string]:[referer string]
[filebeingaccessed string]:[referer string]
Advanced
SupportProxyIP:[TRUE/FALSE] default: TRUE
To Uninstall LinkBouncer, click on the Uninstall icon that is located in the Program Folder for LinkBouncer in the Start menu. This will run through the uninstall program and uninstall LinkBouncer. If the LinkBouncer filter is currently in use by IIS, the LinkBouncer DLL file that IIS uses will be deleted the next time the system is restarted.
For further step-by-step instructions, visit our Quick Help support area, which shows screenshots of how to install and uninstall an ISAPI plugin with IIS.
LinkBouncer requires Windows NT/2000/XP Professional/2003 .NET with Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.x or 6 and at least 128 MB of RAM.
Version 1.00 - First release of LinkBouncer
For important information on purchasing a copy of LinkBouncer, please contact ISAPILabs at http://www.isapilabs.com/.
All technical support is available via our support page located on the World Wide Web at http://www.isapilabs.com/.
To contact us, please visit our contact page.
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