Administrative Wizard

The information that you provide on the screen shown in Figure 4-4 defines the administrative account for your Micro Webserver 200's administrator. The Micro Webserver 200 uses this information to verify that the user who is logging in to it has permission to modify its settings. (Throughout the remainder of this chapter, we refer to the user with such permission as the administrator.)

The process of verifying the identify of a user is called authentication. To authenticate a user, the Micro Webserver 200 compares a piece of secret knowledge against the username of the user who shares the secret knowledge. This secret knowledge is called a password. Each username has a password associated with it. The correct combination of the two allows someone to authenticate to the Micro Webserver 200. Enter this information as shown in Figure 4-4.

Figure 4-4: Administrator's Account Creation Panel

Step 1 In the Name box, type the full name of the user who will act as the administrator for this Micro Webserver 200.

The full name includes the first and last name of the user.

Step 2 In the Username box, type the account name that the user identified in the Name box will use to log in to the Micro Webserver 200 to perform administrative tasks.

Note Choose the Username carefully as it appears on the Administrator's home page and in e-mail delivered using this account from your Micro Webserver 200.

Step 3 In the Password box, type the password that will be used to authenticate the user who logs in to the Micro Webserver 200 using the account name identified in the Username box.

The Password box identifies the secret information that is shared between the administrator and the Micro Webserver 200. It is used to authenticate the user logging in to the Micro Webserver 200 against the username. To select a secure password, review the following guidelines:

Include characters from at least three of the following four classes:
- Uppercase letters. For example, A, B, C, ... Z.
- Lowercase letters. For example, a, b, c, ... z.
- Numerals. For example, 0, 1, 2, ... 9.
- Non-alphanumeric characters, punctuation, and symbols. For example, ({}[],.<>;:'"?/|\`~!@#$%^&*()_-+=).
At a minimum, include at least eight characters in your password. The maximum is forty characters. For stronger security, use longer passwords with characters from all four character classes.
Do not include your e-mail name or any part of your full name in your password.
At a minimum, change your password every 45 days.
Allow at least a year to pass before you reuse a password.
Never include common words from any language in your password. Numerous password-cracking programs exist that can try millions of possible word combinations within a few seconds.
To devise complex passwords, use a mnemonic or a similar memorization technique. If you cannot remember your password, it is useless to you.

Note Passwords are case sensitive. Be sure that you do not have the Caps Lock on accidentally.

Step 4 In the Confirm Password box, re-type the password that you typed in the Password box.

The Confirm Password box ensures that you did not mistype the desired password in the Password box. If the value in the Password box does not match the value in the Confirm Password box, you must re-enter the password in both boxes until they match.

Specify the Administrator's Home Directory

A home directory refers to the folder in which a particular user stores all of Web pages and other files that user creates or uses. Home directories are tied to people by their usernames, which means only one username can be used to log in to the Micro Webserver 200, and modify the files that are stored within a particular home directory. See Figure 4-5 for an example of the Administrator's Home Directory Panel.

For example, if the user Pat, whose username is "pat2" has a home directory (also "pat2"), then only people who authenticate themselves to the Micro Webserver 200 using the "pat2" username can modify the files in this directory. Also, with regard to the administrator's directory, only the administrator can access and view the files that are stored under that directory.

Figure 4-5: Administrator's Home Directory Panel

Step 1 In the Directory box, type the full path of the directory that you want to use for the administrator's home directory (for example, /local/cisco/mw200/users/homepages/administrator).

If the directory that you typed in does not exist, it will be created. In addition, you can click Browse to view the current directory structure and select an existing directory. You must prefix the directory path with /local/cisco/mw200/users/homepages.

Step 2 The Micro Webserver 200's time is set to synchronize with the time of your system because the Synchronize checkbox is checked by default. If you do not want to synchronize time, uncheck the checkbox.

Step 3 To continue, click the Next button.

Link Optional E-mail to Administrator's Account

You may choose to link the administrator's existing e-mail account to the Micro Webserver 200 as shown in Figure 4-6. If you decide to establish the link, you must specify your current e-mail server's name by its IP address or host name. In addition, you must enter the domain name for your Micro Webserver 200. For example, in the e-mail address, "pat@www.com," "www.com" is the domain name. Your Micro Webserver 200 will create your Micro Webserver 200 e-mail name with this information. Lastly, the DNS IP address will allow DNS to resolve the IP address and host name for a specific location.

Figure 4-6: E-mail Account Panel

Step 1 Check the box "Establish link to your e-mail account?"

Step 2 Enter your e-mail server name (IP address or host name).

Step 3 Enter your Micro Webserver 200's domain name.

Step 4 Enter the DNS IP address of the DNS running on your LAN. The DNS will resolve the IP address with a host name.

Step 5 To continue, click the Next button.

Add New Users to the System

You can add new users to your Micro Webserver 200 as new readers or as new publisher/readers based upon the Web site publisher/reader scheme selection you made in the previous section, "Select Web Site Publisher/Reader Scheme." See Figure 4-7.

Your options are as follows:

Personal

: If you chose to make your Micro Webserver 200 a personal Micro Webserver 200, you can define a list of users who can read the Web pages that are published on the Micro Webserver 200 using the administrator account.

Departmental

: If you chose to make it a departmental Micro Webserver 200, you can define a list of users who can publish Web pages on the Micro Webserver 200. Reading, by default, is open to everyone, or all users.

Figure 4-7: Add Users Panel

Step 1 In the Name box, type the full name of the user you want to add to the list of valid users for this Micro Webserver 200.

The full name includes the first and last name of the user. The name that you type in this box will be used on the Web page for this user. A Web page for a particular user is called the user's home page.

Step 2 In the Username box, type the account name that the user identified in the Name box will use often (for example, to log in to the Micro Webserver 200).

Step 3 In the Password box, type the password that will be used to authenticate the user who logs in to the Micro Webserver 200 using the account name identified in the Username box.

Step 4 In the Confirm Password box, re-type the password that you typed in the Password box.

Step 5 To add the user whom you have just defined, click the Add User button.

Step 6 For each additional user that you want to add, repeat Step 1 through Step 5.

Note You can edit the defined list of users by clicking Browse Users, clicking the username of the account that you want to edit, and clicking Modify User. In addition, you can delete a user from the defined list by clicking Browse Users, clicking the username of the account that you want to delete, and clicking Delete User.

Step 7 To continue, click the Next button.

Create Default Home Pages for Users

Depending on which Web site publisher/reader scheme you selected earlier, the Administrative Wizard will either create default home pages for previously defined users and the administrator account, or only create a default home page for the administrator account. The following list identifies your options based upon your previous Web site publisher/reader scheme selection:

Personal

: If you chose to make your Micro Webserver 200 a personal Micro Webserver, the Administrative Wizard will create a default home page on the Micro Webserver 200 for the administrator account.

Departmental

: If you chose to make your Micro Webserver 200 a departmental Micro Webserver, the Administrative Wizard will create sample home pages on the Micro Webserver 200 for all users.

Public

: If you chose to make your Micro Webserver 200 a public Micro Webserver, the Administrative Wizard will create a sample home page on the Micro Webserver 200 for the administrator account.

To enable the Administrative Wizard to create new home pages according to the publisher/reader scheme you selected:

Step 1 Click the Yes button on the bottom half of the screen indicating that you do want the Administrative Wizard to create home pages for the users identified previously. See Figure 4-8.

Step 2 To complete the Wizard click the Finish button.

Note Please wait while the Micro Webserver 200 processes your selections. The default Web site creation process may take several minutes.

Figure 4-8: Creating Home Page Panel

Congratulations! You have completed the Micro Webserver 200 Administrative Wizard and have performed the initial administration tasks for your new Micro Webserver 200.

The Micro Webserver 200's default Web site is available for viewing, and an e-mail message is sent to the administrator to acknowledge successful completion of the Micro Webserver 200's default Web site.

Understand the Micro Webserver 200's Default Web Site

The Micro Webserver 200 will automatically create an Administrator's Home Page and send e-mail (if this option was checked) for the administrator who completes administration tasks using the Administrative Wizard. See Figure 4-9. From this Web page, the administrator can access the following: