NAME

       XPAInet - XPA Communication Between Hosts

SYNOPSIS

       XPA uses standard inet sockets to support communication between two or more host
       computers.

DESCRIPTION

       When the Communication Method is set to inet (as it is by default), XPA can be used to
       communicate between different computers on the Internet.  INET sockets utilize the IP
       address of the given machine and a (usually random) port number to communicate between
       processes on the same machine or between different machines on the Internet.  These
       standard Internet sockets are also used by programs such as Netscape, ftp. etc.

       XPA supports a host-based Access Control mechanism to prevent unauthorized access of XPA
       access points by other computers on the Net.  By default, only the machine on which the
       XPA server is running can access XPA services. Therefore, setting up communication between
       a local XPA server machine and a remote client machine requires a two-part registration
       process:

       •   the XPA service on the local machine must be made known to the remote machine

       •   the remote machine must be given permission to access the local XPA service

       Three methods by which this remote registration can be accomplished are described below.

       Manual Registration

       The first method is the most basic and does not require the remote client to have xpans
       running.  To use it, the local server simply gives a remote client machine access to one
       or more XPA access points using xpaset and the -acl sub-command. For example, consider the
       XPA test program "stest" running on a local machine.  By default the access control for
       the access point named "xpa" is restricted to that machine:

         [sh]$ xpaget xpa -acl
         *:* 123.456.78.910 gisa
         *:* localhost gisa

       Using xpaset and the -acl sub-command, a remote client machine can be given permission to
       perform xpaget, xpaset, xpaaccess, or xpainfo operations.  For example, to allow the
       xpaget operation, the following command can be issued on the local machine:

         [sh]$ xpaset -p xpa -acl "remote_machine g"

       This results in the following access permissions on the local machine:

         [sh]$ xpaget xpa -acl
         XPA:xpa 234.567.89.012 g
         *:* 123.456.78.910 gisa
         *:* localhost gisa

       The remote client can now use the local server's xpans name server to establish
       communication with the local XPA service. This can be done on a call-by-call basis using
       the -i switch on xpaset, xpaget, etc:

         [sh]$ xpaget -i "local_machine:12345" xpa
         class: XPA
         name: xpa
         method: 88877766:2778
         sendian: little
         cendian: big

       Alternatively, the XPA_NSINET variable on the remote machine can be set to point directly
       to xpans on the local machine, removing the need to override this value each time an XPA
       program is run:

         [csh]$ setenv XPA_NSINET 'karapet:$port'
         [csh]$ xpaget xpa
         class: XPA
         name: xpa
         method: 88877766:2778
         sendian: little
         cendian: big

       Here, '$port' means to use the default XPA name service port (14285).  not a port
       environment variable.

       Access permission for remote client machines can be stored in a file on the local machine
       pointed to by the XPA_ACLFILE environment variable or using the XPA_DEFACL environment
       variable. See <A HREF="./acl.html">XPA Access Control for more information.

       Remote Registration

       If xpans is running on the remote client machine, then a local xpaset command can be used
       with the -remote sub-command to register the local XPA service in the remote name service,
       while at the same time giving the remote machine permission to access the local service.
       For example, assume again that "stest" is running on the local machine and that xpans is
       also running on the remote machine.  To register access of this local xpa on the remote
       machine, use the xpaset and the -remote sub-command:

         [sh]$ ./xpaset -p xpa -remote 'remote_machine:$port' +

       To register the local xpa access point on the remote machine with xpaget access only,
       execute:

         [sh]$ ./xpaset -p xpa -remote 'remote_machine:$port' g

       Once the remote registration command is executed, the remote client machine will have an
       entry such as the following in its own xpans name service:

         [csh]$ xpaget xpans
         XPA xpa gs 88877766:2839 eric

       The xpa access point can now be utilized on the remote machine without further setup:

         [csh]$ xpaget xpa
         class: XPA
         name: xpa
         method: 838e2f68:2839
         sendian: little
         cendian: big

       To unregister remote access from the local machine, use the same command but with a '-'
       argument:

         [sh]$ xpaset -p xpa -remote 'remote_machine:$port' -

       The benefit of using remote registration is that communication with remote access points
       can be mixed with that of other access points on the remote machine.  Using Access Point
       Names and Templates, one XPA command can be used to send or receive messages to the remote
       and local services.

       XPANS Proxy Registration

       The two methods described above are useful when the local and remote machines are able to
       communicate freely to one another. This would be the case on most Local Area Networks
       (LANs) where all machines are behind the same firewall and there is no port blocking
       between machines on the same LAN.  The situation is more complicated when the XPA server
       is behind a firewall, where outgoing connections are allowed, but incoming port blocking
       is implemented to prevent machines outside the firewall from connecting to machines inside
       the firewall. Such incoming port blocking will prevent xpaset and xpaget from connecting
       to an XPA server inside a firewall.

       To allow locally fire-walled XPA services to register with remote machines, we have
       implemented a proxy service within the xpans name server. To register remote proxy
       service, xpaset and the -remote sub-command is again used, but with an additional -proxy
       argument added to the end of the command:

         [sh]$ ./xpaset -p xpa -remote 'remote_machine:$port' g -proxy

       Once a remote proxy registration command is executed, the remote machine will have an
       entry such as the following in its own xpans name service:

         [csh]$ xpaget xpans
         XPA xpa gs @88877766:2839 eric

       The '@' sign in the name service entry indicates that xpans proxy processing is being used
       for this access point. Other than that, from the user's point of view, there is no
       difference in how this XPA access point is contacted using XPA programs (xpaset, xpaget,
       etc.) or libraries:

         [csh]$ xpaget xpa
         class: XPA
         name: xpa
         method: 88877766:3053
         sendian: little
         cendian: big

       Of course, the underlying processing of the XPA requests is very much different when xpans
       proxy is involved. Instead of an XPA program such contacting the XPA service directly, it
       contacts the local xpans.  Acting as a proxy server, xpans communicates with the XPA
       service using the command channel established at registration time. Commands (including
       establishing a new data channel) are sent between xpans and the XPA service to set up a
       new message transfer, and then data is fed to/from the xpa request, through xpans, from/to
       the XPA service. In this way, it can be arranged so that connections between the fire-
       walled XPA service and the remote client are always initiated by the XPA service itself.
       Thus, incoming connections that would be blocked by the firewall are avoided. Note that
       there is a performance penalty for using the xpans/proxy service.  Aside from extra
       overhead to set up proxy communication, all data must be sent through the intermediate
       proxy process.

       The xpans proxy scheme requires that the remote client allow the local XPA server machine
       to connect to the remote xpans/proxy server. If the remote client machine also is behind a
       port-blocking firewall, such connections will be disallowed. In this case, the only
       solution is to open up some ports on the remote client machine to allow incoming
       connections to xpans/proxy. Two ports must be opened (for command and data channel
       connections). By default, these two ports are 14285 and 14287. The port numbers can be
       changed using the XPA_NSINET environment variable. This variable takes the form:

         setenv XPA_NSINET machine:port1[,port2[,port3]]

       where port1 is the main connecting port, port2 is the XPA access port, and port3 is the
       secondary data connecting port. The second and third ports are optional and default to
       port1+1 and port1+2, respectively.  It is port1 and port3 that must be left open for
       incoming connections.

       For example, to change the port assignments so that xpans listens for registration
       commands on port 12345 and data commands on port 28573:

         setenv XPA_NSINET myhost:12345

       Alternatively, all three ports can be assigned explicitly:

         setenv XPA_NSINET remote:12345,3000,12346

       In this case 12345 and 12346 should be open for incoming connections.  The XPA access port
       (which need not be open to the outside world) is set to 3000.

       Finally, note that we currently have no mechanism to cope with Internet proxy servers
       (such as SOCKS servers). If an XPA service is running on a machine that cannot connect
       directly to outside machines, but goes through a proxy server instead, there currently is
       no way to register that XPA service with a remote machine.  We hope to implement support
       for SOCKS proxy in a future release.

SEE ALSO

       See xpa(n) for a list of XPA help pages