  Using your FirstClass Desktop as a network file system
You can mount your FirstClass Desktop as a remote drive and access FirstClass containers and uploaded files (non-FirstClass documents, such as Microsoft Word documents) in read/write mode from a network directory on your hard disk, using the Internet Services Common Internet File System protocol (CIFS), also referred to as Server Message Block protocol (SMB).
With this capability you can cut out unnecessary steps to access and work on documents by using your FirstClass system as a file server and eliminating the need for an external file server.
These diagrams represent the old way of working with non-FirstClass documents and the new way of working with them using CIFS:
 When you use CIFS, you do not need to log in with a FirstClass client but you must authenticate using FirstClass credentials (user ID and password). Since CIFS is an Internet protocol, you also require Internet connectivity on both your local machine and the Internet Services machine.
To use CIFS, you must complete two processes:
 NoteYou must have a firm understanding of how file sharing works on your operating system.
Why use CIFS
There are many benefits to using CIFS in a collaborative environment such as FirstClass. For instance, CIFS lets you
• maintain and work on several non-FirstClass documents in a container on your FirstClass Desktop without having to upload and download the documents from your hard disk, thus eliminating the need for an external file server (for example, Novell)
• share and access non-FirstClass documents from a local network directory without requiring a FirstClass client
• protect your documents through FirstClass security, conference permissions (if using a conference), and your regular FirstClass Network Store backup routine (since the containers and documents reside on the FirstClass server).
Let's take a look at a couple of different scenarios where you would use CIFS in your work environment.
Example 1
Roy Allen has a team of five people who work on the same non-FirstClass documents in one conference aliased to each person's FirstClass Desktop. Although most of his staff have the FirstClass client loaded on their machines, a couple do not. Roy wants his team to have access to, and work on, the same non-FirstClass documents on a daily basis. However, he does not want to attach the files to a message or have his team continuously upload and download them to their hard disks to edit (since uploaded files open as read only in the FirstClass client). Also, he wants his users to be able to access these files with or without using the FirstClass client.
To accomplish this task, Roy confirms that the FirstClass administrator on his site has enabled the CIFS protocol. Then he asks each of his staff to map their FirstClass Desktops locally. When Lyn, one of Roy Allen's staff, accesses the conference containing the working non-FirstClass documents using CIFS this is what she sees:
 which contains the same contents as Roy's Sales and service conference:
 With this access, Lyn can double-click any of the documents and they will open in the appropriate application in edit mode. She can then make changes to the documents and save them without having to first download them, make the changes, and upload them again into the conference.
Using this approach, Roy Allen's staff can easily access the documents they need to work on without having to use the FirstClass client. Also, they can open the documents in read/write mode directly from the container without having to download the documents to their local hard disks. Since only one person can work on a document at any one time, they don't have to worry about different document versions or unexplained content. Roy Allen can permission the document conference as he chooses and be confident that, since the documents reside on the FirstClass server, they are properly protected and backed up.
Example 2
Husky's subadministrator, Lyn, creates and edits all of the html documents for the company web site. To work on these documents, she maintains a separate conference on her Desktop (Web files in progress) where she makes changes before placing them into the WWW folder where they are served out to the web site. As subadministrator, the WWW container is already aliased to her Desktop.
In the past, to work on her documents, Lyn had to download them to her local desktop where she would open them in her html editor. After she made her changes, she had to upload the files from her local drive into her FirstClass conference and then drag her files into the WWW container to update the web site.
Using CIFS and locally mapping her FirstClass Desktop, Lyn can open the FirstClass conference that contains the documents on her hard disk. She can then drag them directly into an html editor where she can work on the files and save them. The updates are automatically saved in the conference containing her files, just like a local document. After she finishes her updates, she can simply drag the html documents directly into the WWW conference on her hard disk without having to upload or download them, allowing her to easily make changes to the company web site.
This is what Lyn sees when she views the conference containing her html documents on her hard disk:
 which contains the same contents as Lyn's conference:
 Disabling file sharing on your Internet Services machine
Before activating the Internet Services CIFS/SMB module, you must deactivate any other file sharing server running on your Internet Services machine. Use these steps to disable file sharing on
On Microsoft Windows 2000 operating systems
To disable file sharing:
1 Go to Control Panel.
2 Open Administrative Tools.
3 Open Computer Management.
4 Highlight Device Manager in the left-hand pane.
5 Choose View > Show hidden devices.
A new entry named Non-Plug and Play Drivers should appear in the right-hand pane.
6 Expand the Non-Plug and Play Drivers files and double-click the NetBIOS over Tcpip driver.
7 Select the General tab.
8 Select Do not use this device (disable) from the Device usage dropdown menu.
9 Restart your machine.
On Microsoft Windows XP operating systems
To disable file sharing:
1 Go to Control Panel.
2 Click Performance and Maintenance (Windows XP Category view).
If you display the Classic Windows XP view, go to step 3.
3 Click Administrative Tools.
4 Open Computer Management.
5 Highlight Device Manager in the left-hand pane.
6 Choose View > Show hidden devices.
A new entry named Non-Plug and Play Drivers should appear in the right-hand pane.
7 Expand the Non-Plug and Play Drivers files and double-click the NetBIOS over Tcpip driver.
8 Select the General tab.
9 Select Do not use this device (disable) from the Device usage dropdown menu.
10 Restart your machine.
On Microsoft Windows NT4
To disable file sharing:
1 Go to Control Panel.
2 Double-click Devices.
3 Highlight NetBIOS Interface and click Startup.
4 Click Disabled.
5 Restart your machine.
On Macintosh OS X and Linux Operating Systems
These operating systems do not automatically enable file sharing servers. On Mac OS X (server or workstation), file sharing is automatically installed but disabled by default. On Linux operating systems, file sharing is not automatically installed and, if it is installed, disabled by default. On both systems, file sharing must be disabled to allow Internet Services to access the CIFS port.
To disable file sharing on a Mac OS X server:
Go to System Preferences > Sharing > Services > Windows Sharing and clear the Windows Sharing checkbox:
 To disable file sharing on a Mac OS X workstation:
Go to Workgroup Manager > Sharing > protocols > Windows File Settings and clear the Share this item using SMB checkbox:
 To disable file sharing on a Linux server:
Go to Main Menu > System Settings > Server Settings > Samba Server and delete any entries on the configuration form:
 Activating the CIFS module on your Internet Services machine
After you have properly configured your Internet Services machine for your particular operating system, you can activate the CIFS module. To do this, open the File tab on the Basic Internet Setup form and select the "Enable CIFS/SMB" option.
You can configure advanced options on the CIFS tab on the Advanced Web & File form, such as standard timeouts, port numbers, and some security option checkboxes. Use standard server permissions to ensure the security of your FirstClass containers and uploaded files.
Mapping to a FirstClass Desktop on your local machine
You mount a FirstClass Desktop on your machine in the same way that you map a network drive.
NoteInternet Services does not accept CIFS connections from Mac OS X machines.
Go to the volumes or drive location on your machine (for example, My Computer or Windows Explorer).
Once you have chosen a drive to map you must put in the correct path, which is either the IP address or domain name of the Internet Services machine (or clustered Internet Services machine supporting the CIFS protocol) pointing to the FirstClass Desktop. For example:
On Windows XP
 After you've mapped your drive to the destination user's Desktop, you will be prompted for a user ID and password. For example:
 Once you've successfully logged in you should have all of your Desktop objects listed on your drive. For example:
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