Step 1
The remote user initiates a link to the host system by loading a specific web page in the browser. This web page is an ASP script on the web server. The remote user is therefore passing an HTTP request to the ASP script.

Step 2
The ASP script passes the HTTP request from the remote user to the remote gateway application. Although the remote gateway application can reside on the web server, this method allows for the implementation of a firewall to ensure that no remote users can access the internal network directly.

Step 3
The remote gateway application retrieves the HTTP request and passes it internally to the application's script. This script is written in VBScript to allow the software to be customised and maintained easily, so avoiding hard-coding any software into the application itself.

Step 4
The VBScript outputs internally an HTML response back to the remote gateway.

Step 5
The remote gateway passes the HTML response back to the ASP script across the firewall.

Step 6
The ASP script returns the HTML response back to the remote user.

Conclusion
This method allows separation of the external elements of the remote gateway from the internal elements. This promotes greater security as no aspect of the database is exposed externally. Additionally, as long as the web server is visible to the remote gateway across the network (i.e., at a NetBios level), no complicated changes to the network topography are required other than to the firewall to open up the necessary NetBios ports.

Microsoft Windows NT Server, Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003

Pentium based server with 128Mb or more of RAM

Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 4.0 or later

Leased-line/DSL (or otherwise dedicated) connection to the internet allowing inbound connections

Ability to share a folder on your web server with your internal network

A working knowledge of your internet connection, web server, firewall and network (you will either need to share a folder on your web server to your internal network or allow your web server to see your database)

The Active Server Pages (ASP) and images to install in to your website for your remote users
Our Remote Gateway software linking your website to Service Accent
Assistance with installing and adapting our software to your requirements

Q: Our web server runs under Linux/NetWare/MacOS etc. Can the Remote Gateway run on our web server?
A: The internet remote gateway uses relatively simple ASP scripts to facilitate communications between itself and your remote users. You can translate the ASP script in to a language suitable for your platform (e.g., PHP, Perl etc) if desired.

Q: What do you mean by a working knowledge of our firewall? What do we need to know?
A: If your firewall sits between your web server and your internal network, you must open the necessary NetBios ports to allow the ASP component of the Remote Gateway to communicate with the database component of the Remote Gateway.

If your firewall sits in front of your web server and your network, you do not need to do anything special.

Q: We do not or can not host our own web server internally. Can we use a web site hosted by our ISP?
A: Yes you can as our Remote Gateway has the ability to poll your web server (or web site) that your ISP hosts for incoming requests. However, in order to provide a quick response to the remote client, you need to be polling very regularly (every 5 or 10 seconds at most). This means that you will need an always-on connection (e.g., xDSL, Leased Line, cable etc). Bear in mind that this is not a perfect solution as this will always be some latency (i.eg, delay) in the communications between the remote client and the Remote Gateway, but this might be acceptable if there is no alternative.

For detailed descriptions and interactive real-time demos, click here.