Last Updated: 12/28/2000	contents | prev | next

Overview

WebSentinel is a versatile and powerful security add-on tool for Macintosh-based web servers which support the WebSTAR API v1.2 or later. Using WebSentinel on your site provides more flexibility and power to manage users and secure areas with a complete Mac OS user interface.

WebSentinel provides you with many different security features not offered with the built-in security implementation included with your web server. First and foremost, WebSentinel's administration interface is a robust tool allowing you to manage user access with the simplicity of Macintosh drag and drop. Similar to other web server security implementations, WebSentinel uses realms to define areas of your site you wish to protect. Each realm can have a simple match string or even a complex GREP expression to define the protected area. Additionally, you can define custom "No Access" pages for each individual realm, or even configure HTML-based login forms, allowing a high level of customization for your site. And advanced options for users allow expiration on a given day, after a number of days, or even after a number of requests for a given realm. WebSentinel also offers "Administration Group" and special "Workstation" user capabilities, bringing even more flexability to how a web site security is managed.

Figure 1.1: Overview of the WebSentinel Admin application.

In addition to the provided WebSentinel Admin application, you may also manage user access through any forms-capable web browser. The web-based administration system uses simple HTML interface, but allows the flexibility of management from any Internet connected location so you do not need local network access to your web server.

Figure 1.2: Adding a User with the web-based administration.

WebSentinel also provides a unique feature allowing you to store user information in external databases, so if you wish to manage your site's access privileges within a database such as Verona or FileMaker Pro (via an optional plug-in) you may do so. WebSentinel's remote data storage feature provides many new opportunities for managing your site, whether you are an Internet Service Provider or simply managing a company intranet.

This documentation assumes that you have general Macintosh knowledge and already have an operational web site. If you have not yet done so, please read over your web server's documentation, in particular any chapters covering the addition of plug-ins to your server.

WebSentinel was designed to work with web servers that support W*API v1.2 plug-ins. As of this writing, compatible servers include StarNine's WebSTAR, Social Engineering's Quid Pro Quo, Tenon's WebTen, and Sonic System's Web Server. Some older versions of the above listed servers may not be compatible with WebSentinel, and we recommend that you use the latest available version to ensure maximum compatibility.