LinkScan 6.1 has an extensive list of enhancements

San Jose, CA, December 7, 1999. Electronic Software Publishing Corporation (Elsop) introduces LinkScan version 6.1.

"The dynamic nature of the World Wide Web means that hyperlinks can become outdated rapidly as sites relocate to different servers and, as structure and content are updated. Experience has shown that as many as 20 percent of hyperlinks can become outdated in just a few months. Even maintaining the integrity of the links within a given site can be a problem, especially if more than one person is involved in updating the pages, " said Kenneth Churilla, president and co-founder of Electronic Software Publishing.

LinkScan is the industrial strength link checking and website management tool for Unix, Linux, Windows 98 and Windows NT operating systems. It is the most accurate, fastest and most scaleable product available and it is highly customizable. It also does HTML checking. LinkScan creates two types of publication quality SiteMaps and it is professionally supported. The following are new in LinkScan 6.1:

LinkScan can now import a simple list of links for validation. This feature may be used to validate large numbers of links that have, for example, been exported from a database management system or other application program. The support for validating hyperlinks embedded in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) documents has been greatly improved.

We have enhanced LinkScan with a new Extraheader command. Adding this command to linkscan.cfg will force LinkScan to send the additional header with each HTTP request. For example, This may be used to send language preferences to the server.

The flexible, but sometimes confusing, array of options associated with LinkScan/QuickCheck have been simplified. QuickCheck will now always attempt to retrieve the page status information from an existing Linkscan database (very fast). If this fails, QuickCheck will fetch the document via HTTP and validate the links in real-time (slower). LinkScan checks the file dates to determine which to use and warns the user of possible error conditions.LinkScan/QuickCheck will now display the HTTP Request and Response Headers associated with document retrieval.

LinkScan checks websites through either the file system or the web server. Both processes are necessary. The file system process is ten times faster than the web server process and it enables LinkScan to identify orphan files. Checking links through the web server enables LinkScan to check active elements such as CGI's, image maps, external links and Server Side Includes. Having both capabilities also enables the user to mirror their production server on either their workstation and/or a development server.

Some of LinkScan performance features include:

  • Benchmarked at over 40,000 links checked per hour
  • Can easily check websites with 50,000 or more external links
  • Quickly tests sites with over 250,000 pages
  • Multi-threaded processing can check over 60 links concurrently
  • Unique blend of File System & HTTP navigation for link testing
  • scaleable to any size web site and multiple sites of any size
  • Support of server aliases and server redirections
  • Facility for web access via a Proxy Server
  • Analyze dynamic pages created by CGIs, ASPs, and RDBMSs
  • Smart Probing of remote links for ultra-high accuracy
  • History of problem links helps avoid over testing external links
  • Control features for reduced processing of duplicate links
  • Efficient interactive processing produces reports rapidly

    LinkScan is being used by such large and diverse organizations as Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Silicon Graphics, the University of Cambridge (UK), the United States Department of Defense, Goethe Institut, the California Institute of Technology, StorageTek, HBO, Shell Canada, Australia's Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Rueters, iafrica.com, Computer Associates, Candle Corp., the US National Security Agency, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwest Airlines, Brown University, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the MITRE Corporation, the Ford Motor Company, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Walgreens Pharmacy, the Boeing Company, Business Week, the Swedish EPA, Molecular Simulations Inc., 3Com Corporation, the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Ericsson, Finnish National Gallery, KPMG and the White House.

    LinkScan operates on all Unix Servers (including AIX, BSDI, FreeBSD, Digital Unix, HP/UX, IRIX, Linux, and SunOS/Solaris flavors), Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 with Perl 5. Free fully functional evaluation copies of LinkScan 6.1 may be downloaded from the company's website at: http://www.elsop.com/

    LinkScan Server Version 6.1 is a free upgrade to owners of any version from 4.0 to 6.0.

    Kenneth R. Churilla
    President
    Electronic Software Publishing Corporation