LinkScan Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What Operating Systems is LinkScan compatible with?
  2. What web servers is LinkScan compatible with?
  3. Why does Linkscan require Perl?
  4. Why does LinkScan produce the error: "The License Key is Invalid"?
  5. Why don't the LinkScan CGI's work on my computer?
  6. How do I exclude certain parts of a website?
  7. How do I scan a site that requires password or cookie based authentication?
  8. How do I use Perl Regular Expressions?
  9. How do I schedule regular scans of a site automatically?
  10. How do I obtain the latest version of Linkscan?
  11. How do I obtain a new Linkscan License Key?
  12. What support is available for LinkScan?
  13. Where can I obtain LinkScan purchasing information?

  1. 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
    • FreeBSD and derivations
    • HP-UX
    • Linux, all major distributions
    • Mac OS X
    • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0/95/98/ME/2000/2003
    • Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7
    • Solaris/SunOS

  2. 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

    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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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 [email protected] - 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 [email protected] and we will send a new Key by return.

  5. 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?

  6. 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)

  7. 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

    1. 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.

    2. The second command may be used to pre-load LinkScan with persistent cookies prior to the initiation of the scan.

    3. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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:

  10. 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 [email protected]. We maintain a complete archive of all released LinkScan versions and specific files can be supplied on request via e-mail or FTP.

  11. 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 [email protected].

  12. What support is available for LinkScan?

    Please see http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/support.html for details on our free and comprehensive support services.

  13. Where can I obtain LinkScan purchasing information?

    Please see http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/order.cgi for full details.