What Operating Systems is LinkScan compatible with?
LinkScan was designed to be compatible with Unix and Microsoft
Windows operating systems with Perl Version 5 or later installed.
LinkScan has been validated under many different operating
environments including:
- AIX
- BSDI BSD/OS
- Digital Unix
- FreeBSD
- IRIX
- HP-UX
- Linux, all major distributions
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP
- Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME
- Solaris/SunOS
What web servers is LinkScan compatible with?
LinkScan was designed to be compatible with any HTTP 1.0
or HTTP 1.1 compliant web server. It has been tested
extensively with many servers including:
- Apache
- LinkScan WebServer
- Microsoft IIS and PWS
- Netscape Enterprise et al
- O'Reilly Website
The LinkScan WebServer is a small HTTP server is included with
LinkScan and it may be used to execute the LinkScan CGI scripts. It does
not include all of the features incorporated in other packages
but it has been designed for simplicity of installation/configuration.
See the LinkScan WebServer Reference
Manual for details.
Why does Linkscan require Perl?
We elected to implement Linkscan using Perl because it offers
enormous cross-platform portability. It also offers several
important benefits for individual users including an open system
architecture and advanced customization features that are easily
invoked using the power of Perl Regular Expressions.
See LinkScan and Perl for more Perl references.
Why does LinkScan produce the error: "The License Key is Invalid"?
When you try and scan a website with LinkScan it fails with
an error message similar to:
** Error: The LinkScan license key is invalid
Mail this line to key@elsop.com - 1000000001:xxxxxx:yyyyyy
Please ensure that you entered the LinkScan License Number and
License Key correctly. Windows users: may select the
Configure button on the main LinkScan Window. Unix Users:
should check the configuration file linkscan.sys with
any text editor.
Also check that you have logged in using the hostname and username
for which your License Key was generated.
If LinkScan still produces this error, you will need a new License Key.
Please e-mail the actual error message to
key@elsop.com and we will send a new Key by return.
Why doesn't the Exam/Results button work (Windows Systems)
When you click the Exam/Results button, LinkScan sends a signal to
Windows instructing it to send your default browser to the
specified URL. Sadly, various software packages interfere with the
your normal Windows settings, usually in an attempt to control your
desktop. This drives us crazy too! The following steps may help you
regain control of these settings:
Open My Computer
Select: Tools | Folder Options | File Types
Now hunt for this entry:
URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol
Select that entry and click Advanced
- Edit the Action (or create a new Action) for:
open
Edit the settings for open
For Microsoft Internet Explorer set:
Application used to perform action: "C:\...\iexplore.exe" -nohome
Include the quotes and adjust the path to point at the MSIE
executable on your system
Use DDE: CHECKED
DDE Message: "%1",,-1,0,,,,
Application: IExplore
DDE Not Running: [leave blank]
Topic: WWW_OpenURL
For Netscape set:
Application used to perform action: "C:\...\netscape.exe" -h "%1"
Include the quotes and adjust the path to point at the Netscape
executable on your system
Use DDE: CHECKED
DDE Message: %1
Application: NSShell
DDE Not Running: [leave blank]
Topic: WWW_OpenURL
Save those settings
Although many vendors seem to feel they have the right to re-configure
your Windows system, we do not. LinkScan doesn't modify any of your
Systems Settings or Windows Registry Keys.
Why don't the LinkScan CGI's work on my computer?
LinkScan is supplied with three Perl CGI scripts:
- linkmap.cgi
- linkscan.cgi
- quick.cgi
The computer on which you installed LinkScan must be
running a web server that is configured to allow execution of
these scripts. You may need to consult your web server
documentation, but the following notes will help you resolve
the majority of issues that may arise.
Windows Users: Configuring existing web servers
(e.g. IIS, PWS, Apache) to allow the execution of Perl CGI
scripts can be tricky if you are not familiar with the server
administration tools. For those users, we recommend the use of
LinkScan WebServer, the HTTP server included with LinkScan which
has been designed to simplify this process. From the main
LinkScan window, select File Setup on the menu bar to
invoke the Setup Wizard. Select the option to Use the
LinkScan WebServer. If you are already running another HTTP
server on your computer, be sure to change the URL for this
computer to something like http://localhost:81/ to
avoid conflicts on Port 80.
The following checklist may be helpful in resolving problems
with the LinkScan CGI scripts specifically and, in fact, CGI
scripts in general.
Is your server configured to permit the execution of
CGI scripts? For example, Apache normally requires ExecCGI
and ScriptAlias directives configured.
Does your server require that CGI scripts be installed
in a special cgi-bin directory?
Are the file permissions correctly set on the LinkScan
CGI scripts? Typically, 755 (world read and execute) is required
on the script itself and 711 (world execute) is required on the
directory containing the script. Also, for security reasons, most
servers will refuse to execute CGI's owned by 'nobody'.
Are the 'shebang' headers of the LinkScan CGI scripts
pointing at a valid Perl 5 executable?
If the LinkScan CGI scripts are installed in some
directory other than the LinkScan directory (e.g. cgi-bin),
do you have a .linkscan file containing a single line
with the absolute pathname to the LinkScan directory?
Whenever a CGI script fails with a 500 Server Error
or similar error, you should inspect the web server error
log which normally contains additional diagnostic information
describing the reason for thr error. We strongly
recommend that you also try executing the CGI script from the
command line (if it crashes when invoked from a shell prompt
you can be certain it will crash when your web server attempts
to execute it). Go to the directory in which linkscan.cgi is
installed and enter:
./linkscan.cgi
This should produce a few screens of HTML output. Then
create an Environment Variable called LinkScan and
set it to any non-blank, non-zero value. Repeat the above
command and linkscan.cgi should output some plain text.
Any fatal errors should be resolved before trying to
execute the script via your web server and browser.
Finally, you may need to check your network and browser
configuration for any firewall or proxy server related
issues. Perhaps your browser is not communicating with
the server you intended?
How do I exclude certain parts of a website?
Q: I have a number of hidden files (e.g. .htaccess) in my web
directories which LinkScan reports as orphaned. How can I make LinkScan
ignore these files?
A: Add the following entries to the "linkscan.cfg" file in the
appropriate LinkScan Project directory.
Exclude \.
Exclude \S+/\.
Q: I used LinkScan to create a Site Map called "sitemap.html"
in my main web directory. How can I make LinkScan ignore the old Site
Map so that it doesn't try to make a map of the map?
A: Add the following entry to the "linkscan.cfg" file in the
appropriate LinkScan Project directory.
Exclude sitemap\.html
Q: I have a sub-directory called "test" in my main web
directory containing test files and work-in-progress. How can I
make LinkScan ignore all the files in my "test" directory?
A: Add the following entry to the "linkscan.cfg" file in the
appropriate LinkScan Project directory.
Exclude test/
Q: I want to Exclude references to 'test/' and 'TEST/'.
A: Add the following entry to the "linkscan.cfg" file in the
appropriate LinkScan Project directory to make the pattern matching
case insensitive.
Exclude (?i)test/
Q: I want to Exclude references to 'test/' and 'test'.
A: Add the following entry to the "linkscan.cfg" file in the
appropriate LinkScan Project directory.
Exclude test(/|$)
Q: How can I Exclude all of the files in a given directory
except, say, index.html?
A: Add the following entry to the "linkscan.cfg" file in the
appropriate LinkScan Project directory.
Exclude dirname/(?!index\.html)
How do I scan a site that requires password or cookie based authentication?
The following are examples of commands that can be added to
linkscan.cfg in order to test URL's and websites that require
password or cookie based authentication:
Auth www.example.com "" username password
Cookie www.example.com ID=12345
Extrahome http://www.example.com/login.jsp??username=xxxxxx&password=yyyyyy
- The first command tells LinkScan to use HTTP Basic
Authentication when accessing the site http://www.example.com/.
Note: the double-quote characters are required to specify the
Realm. If the Realm is left empty (i.e. ""), LinkScan will
use the specified username and password to authenticate with any
realm on that server.
- The second command may be used to pre-load LinkScan with
persistent cookies prior to the initiation of the scan.
- The third command tells LinkScan to submit the login.jsp
form using the POST method.
Also see the LinkScan Reference Manual;
How to handle authentication schemes.
How do I use Perl Regular Expressions?
Perl is supplied with extensive documentation. Enter
perldoc perlre at a shell or DOS prompt to display
the section covering Perl Regular Expressions. HTML versions
are available at many locations including this version of
Perl Regular Expressions.
How do I schedule regular scans of a site automatically?
Most customers configure LinkScan to scan their website
automatically on a periodic basis (e.g. nightly or weekly).
For step-by-step instructions see the following section of
the LinkScan Reference Manual:
How do I obtain the latest version of Linkscan?
The latest version of LinkScan is always available from
http://www.elsop.com/download/.
Prior versions are not maintained on-line. However, customers
that need access to a specific version are invited to write
to linkscan@elsop.com.
We maintain a complete archive of all released LinkScan versions
and specific files can be supplied on request via e-mail or FTP.
How do I obtain a new Linkscan License Key?
Customers who have purchased a LinkScan License may
obtain a new Key at any time (e.g. if server or login
names have changed) via
http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/newkey.cgi.
Those working with LinkScan Evaluation Licenses may
request a new or updated Key by writing to
key@elsop.com.
What support is available for LinkScan?
Please see
http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/support.html for
details on our free and comprehensive support services.
Is LinkScan Year 2000 compliant?
The short answer is, yes! For more details, please see our
compliance statement at:
http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/year2000.html.
Where can I obtain LinkScan purchasing information?
Please see
http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/order.cgi for full details.
