Wildcat! Interactive Net Server

BBSs meet the Internet

Although bulletin board systems (BBSs)aren't as popular as they used to be, the BBS paradigm is still useful for manycompanies as a way to connect with the Internet. These companies need to makefiles available to their users and to the outside world, or they want to hostprivate discussion groups and external email. Thus, Wildcat! Interactive NetServer (WIN Server) is worth a look. Mustang Software has taken the company'sdecade of experience with BBS software and bridged it to the Internet in onepackage.

WIN Server is a good choice for any company that needs to make informationavailable in a BBS-style model. Users of older versions of Wildcat! will findthis version familiar yet much more powerful than its non-Windows predecessors.You can integrate its mail and discussion-group components with your internalemail and net news. At the same time, you can easily make the connection to theInternet, so anyone with a Telnet program or a Web browser can access the sameinformation and the same files as a dial-up user.

Installation
Compared with earlier versions, WIN Server is a dream to install. Followingthe manual, you can set up a new Wildcat! nondedicated one-line server in a halfhour from CD-ROM. To add other lines, designate their COM port and modem types,up to the maximum number of lines you purchased from Mustang (you can purchasemore line licenses later). The Enterprise Edition, which I tested, has fullInternet connectivity, including a Web server, an FTP site, a pay-for-servicesmodule, sample BBS configurations for different types of businesses, support formaking CD-ROMs available for download, an email gateway, and an activity reportgenerator. Different applications control and monitor these features, as Screen 1 shows. The applications are straightforward and well documented in the 500-page Administrator's Guide and the 600-page Reference Guide.

As soon as the server software is running, you can go back to your desk.You can customize almost all features from anywhere: locally on the server,remotely via your LAN, through the Internet, or by dial-up.

Most companies dedicate a BBS computer, but Wildcat! will run nicely in thebackground of a 100MHz Pentium. For two or three phone lines, you don't need todedicate an entire system, and Windows NT provides good crash protection. Thesefeatures make WIN Server Personal Edition ideal for hardware-poor, independentprojects.

My test system was up and running (albeit with little content and no custommenus) in an afternoon full of other tasks. Once Mustang's Auto Update serverwas working, it produced 15MB of new files to download, which refreshed most ofthe product. Auto Update runs over the Internet or via modem dial-up.

Included Modules
Although you can use the program solely through dial-up, Mustang hasn'tneglected the Web aficionado. The company includes Wildcat! Navigator (wcNav),its Web-browser interface. Confusingly, Mustang based wcNav on Microsoft'sInternet Explorer (IE) 2.0 (included with Wildcat!), not Netscape's Navigator.Either browser will work, however. If the Wildcat! system has a connection tothe Internet, wcNav users can surf the Web through WIN Server, too.

WIN Server Enterprise Edition includes wcExchange and wcReports. wcExchangeis a bidirectional, Mail Application Program Interface (MAPI) 1.0-compliantmessage mover. With wcExchange in place, dial-up users can send messages to anyperson on any network WIN Server is connected to. The wcReports module providesscheduled activity and exception reports, so problems come to light before theyget serious.

Other Considerations
WIN Server isn't NT-specific; it was designed for Windows 95, NT 3.51, or NT4.0. Although WIN Server has no way to share user information, security, and thelike with its host operating system, you can manage WIN Server from anyconnected workstation, browse it with familiar tools, and back it up like anyother application. You have to establish a pool of WIN Server modems to supportnon-Point-to-Point Protocol dial-up, separate from your Remote AccessService/Dial-Up Networking modems. The WIN Server server module runs as ataskbar icon, rather than as an NT service, but it never interfered with myWindows applications. If you want to combine your BBS functions with Internetaccess, WIN Server will do the job.