Start with downloading The Palace Server which can be found in the PalacePlanet download section. You will need a reg code to be able to run your palace. Here is one you can use freely: 6DV3K-PVY6F-RF2VT-QFG8S

It acts as a local server on your computer which allows you to run palace off your computer regardless of your internet connection. People will be able to visit you while you are online and connect using your ip number. This is the starting point for most palaces. If you want your palace to be more secure and open night and day you should check out the hosting options. Click "hosting" in menu and start building your palace straight onto a commercial host. Getting your Palace hosted is also a good option for people who have trouble getting anyone on theyr own local server.

The Palace Authoring Tool existed in the days when Communities.com still supported The Palace. It was an applet which ran through your browser. As the Communities.com site for The Palace does not exist anymore, this utility has long since been unavailable. Experienced palace owners will tell you that it was pretty useless anyway

Ipstcrae is the programming language used by The Palace. Basically, it adds interactivity and function to your palace. You can get away with running a simple palace with little or no iptscrae knowledge if: a) your palace has no welcome messages, interactive scripts, music, animation or games b) you have someone in your team who knows lots and lots about iptscrae and can do all the programming for you c) you learn on the job with tutorials and raiding iptscrae libraries.

Check the Palace Planet Links and Manuals section for tutorials and script archives.

With the resurgence of Instant Palace and the compatibility of jpgs with the latest client, jpgs are becoming increasingly popular. Mac clients are able to view jpgs in their true splendour whereas the PC clients tend to convert them to the grainy 8-bit format. Using jpgs also means that you don't have to wrestle with strange colour conversions due to using the wrong colour palettes. Jpgs are also smaller than gifs. The downside is that older clients won't be able to download your backdrops.

Palace backdrops are 512x384 pixels in size. Any smaller or bigger and you might have problems with the program crashing when you enter the room.

The menu allows you to browse for your room graphic from any directory in your computer. However, the only directory the program looks for the graphics in is the 'media' subdirectory of the folder in which your server is installed. (Are you confused yet??) On a windows system the default directory is:
C:/Program Files/Communities.com/PalaceServer/palace/media

For Pro servers, Linux, Windows NT, FreeBSD you can usually find it in: [youreroot]/palace/media

Sound formats you can use are *.au, *.wav, *.mid and modified *.mp3s. With a little trick, you can also feature real audio.

This depends on whether you're an owner, wizard or member.

Members:
Members are basically just visitors to a palace with no special privellages. You can only create a room in a palace that allows you to do so. The command for this is 'newroom, to get a list of the memberroom commands type 'help in your newly created room. Not all Palaces support his and the room only exists for the time that you are present. Palaces that offer this service usually have a special Roommaker room.

Wizard and Owner
Wizards can only create new rooms if authoring is on.
Go to the operator menu and click on NEW ROOM. And voila... you have a new room. For more authoring info please read the Palace server manual (click the Server link in the top oval menu)

Pounding refers to a method of attacking a Palace Server by using a
program that sends bad data to your server. Although this is
generally harmless, it does create connection problems for your users
and can, sometimes, cause your Palace Server to "crash"

Are all Palace Servers affected by pounding?

That depends on the platform on which you run your Server and what
version of the Personal Server you are using. A basic rule of thumb
is that any UNIX Personal Server, version 4.1 or later, is impervious
to pounding and you have nothing to fear from a pounding attack. If
you run a version earlier than 4.1 however, your Palace IS vulnerable
and we strongly recommend an upgrade. The Windows 95 Personal Server
is also vulnerable.

I suspect my Palace Server has been pounded. How can I tell?

If you run one of the versions that are vulnerable to pounding, all
the information you need to identify pounding, as well as the person
doing it, is available in your server logs.

There are several clues as to whether your server has been pounded.
The first clue is many, connection attempts, in sequence. A typical
log will show many lines like the following:

02/24/1999 15:05:42 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
00000028H
02/24/1999 15:05:42 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
00000029H
02/24/1999 15:05:42 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
0000002aH
02/24/1999 15:05:43 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
0000002bH
02/24/1999 15:05:43 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
0000002cH
02/24/1999 15:05:43 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
0000002dH
02/24/1999 15:05:43 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
0000002eH
02/24/1999 15:05:43 {PHHIABFFH} {PHHIABFFH} UsrID 209.30.86.134
0000002fH

You will notice several things about these log entries: first, what
appears to be valid login information really isn't. "PHHIABFFH" is
simply what the server reports when it can't resolve a legitimate
login. In the case of pounding, it's really not a Palace Client being
used, so there is no real data.

Secondly, it is important to note that simply because you may have
several entries similar to the ones above, it does NOT necessarily
mean you have been pounded. What provides the positive proof of
pounding is that you will notice the exact same IP address is trying
to connect several times a second. But this is only half the proof
you need.

You should also see a corresponding set of more log entries, similar
to below:

15:05:42 - Guest 49 terminated - [0 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}
15:05:42 - Guest 50 terminated - [0 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}
15:05:43 - Guest 51 terminated - [0 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}
15:05:43 - Guest 52 terminated - [0 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}
15:05:43 - Guest 53 terminated - [1 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}
15:05:44 - Guest 54 terminated - [0 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}
15:05:45 - Guest 55 terminated - [0 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}
15:05:45 - Guest 56 terminated - [0 seconds elapsed] (209.30.86.134 )
[40 Users]{PHHIABFFH}

These entries show that, around the same time, Guests with sequential
numbers, and the exact same IP as the other entries, are being
terminated.
This information, along with the other set of log entries, provides
proof positive that your Palace Server has been pounded.

My logs show proof that my Server has been pounded. What can I do to
stop it?

The first thing you can do is to use the `banip command to prevent
this sort of attack from "loading up" your Palace Server. In the
above example, you should issue a:

`banip 209.30.86.* command. Notice the use of an asterisk (*) at the
end, instead of "134". This is called a wildcard, and will ensure
that this person will stay out (only if the person is using a non-
registered client), even if they hang up and redial into their
Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Is there anything else I can do?

If you are having repeated problems from this IP address, you should
contact the ISP involved and file a formal complaint. Be sure to
include your logs, showing dates, times and IP at the time of the
attack.

How do I figure out who their ISP is?

If you use your Web browser and go to
www.arin.net/whois/arinwhois.html, you will find a form, where you
can enter the IP in question in order to find out who the ISP is. In
the example above, the IP is 209.30.86.134, so we would enter just
the first 3 groups of digits (209.30.86). In this case, we get the
information

FlashNet Communications (NETBLK-FLASHNET-1)
2805 West 7th Street
Fort Worth, TX 76107
US Netname: FLASHNET-1
Netblock: 209.30.0.0 - 209.30.255.255
Maintainer: FLSH
Coordinator: FlashNet Network Operations (FN-ORG-ARIN) noc@...
(817) 589-2390

The above information is all the contact information you need.

Issue 1: People can't get to your server anymore with the IP address you give them.

Issue 2: When you finally do get guests there, media pictures and sounds won't download from your server to them anymore.

Both of these issues are directly related to a quirk most DSL service providers use, and NEVER tell you about, because it is supposed to be transparent, called NAT or Network Address Translation protocol. This is the key to both problem issues.

Cable connections and standard dial-up modems do not use this NAT protocol. Hence the marked absence of these Palace Server problems in these other two environments.

Almost all Broadband and DSL connections use what is called PPPoE or Point-to-Point-Protocol-over-Ethernet, a TCP/IP broadband connection type generated by the software from your computer when the network connection is first installed. When this OS software fires up the connection to your DSL provider, the NAT IP Address Translator ALSO kicks in.

To understand what NAT does, you must visualize your own computer as being on a LAN ethernet connection to your DSL modem, where your DSL modem is given one IP address and your computer connected to it is given ANOTHER, DIFFERENT, internal IP address.

In essence NAT, which is on the DSL provider side, does the following when it gets the call from your computer software to make a DSL connection:

1 NAT dynamically assigns, on every boot, a new IP address to the DSL modem. Classically, this IP address starts in the 60s range with 62.xxx.xxx.xxx or 67.xxx.xxx.xxx or some low range of numbers in the first three digits of the quartet. THIS DSL MODEM IP ADDY IS THE ONLY ONE THAT GOES OUT TO THE WORLD, AND THE ONLY IP ADDY PEOPLE CAN USE TO GET TO YOU!

2 NAT then turns around and "translates" the DSL modem IP addy into an internal IP addy that it assigns to your machine. Classically, this IP address starts with higher range, three-digit numbers like 169.xxx.xxx.xxx or 203.xxx.xxx.xxx.

This IP addy translation protocol is meant to help protect you against hackers, since your "real" internal machine IP addy is not known to the outside world.

What NO ONE TELLS YOU, HOWEVER, IS IF YOU ARE RUNNING A SERVER, LIKE PALACE SERVER FROM YOUR OWN COMPUTER, USING THE INTERNAL IP ADDY AS YOUR ADDRESS, GETS YOU NOWHERE OUTSIDE YOUR OWN COMPUTER!

Palace Server code was written in a time when the only IP addy you ever had to worry about was the one assigned to your machine, the internal machine IP addy generated by your dial-up ISP. So in the Server code, to handle ever-changing dynamically assigned IP addresses from service providers, the code uses a variable [currentIPAddress] to go and find the IP addy assigned to your machine. It found it, published it, and everything worked just peachy-keen.

Now, in the age of DSL and NAT, YOU CAN ONLY USE THE DSL MODEM IP ADDY TO GET THE SERVER TO WORK. BUT THE PALACE SERVER CODE IS STILL LOOKING INSIDE YOUR MACHINE AT THE INTERNAL IP ADDY, AND NOT AT THE DSL MODEM IP ADDY. SO NOTHING GOOD IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

So now, two things become important:

How do you find out what the DSL MODEM IP addy is.
and ----
How do you get your Palace Server to look at and use that DSL modem addy.

Without some software being re-written, it is basically a manual operation, but very easy to pull off.

To find the DSL IP addy on Windows XP:

Click Start Button => Select Control Panel => Double click on Network Connections => Double click on the Broadband connection you see there => Click the Details tab => and record the "Client IP Address" you see there. (Note: this Details window does not let you copy and paste the addy, so you have to record it the old world way with pad and pencil.) USE THIS IP ADDRESS TO GET GUESTS TO YOUR PALACE IN THE "Connect to:" WINDOW of their Palace Client File => Connect to a Palace => Connect input field.

Another way to get the DSL IP addy is to create a link on your desktop to:
Whatismyip.com
Connecting to this web site gives you the IP addy you are sending to the world. Low and behold, it is the DSL IP addy, NOT the internal machine IP addy that Palace Client shows it connects to when going to your own server. You can easily copy and paste the numbers displayed at the web site into your connect to thingy or send to guests.

FINALLY -- THE ISSUE OF MEDIA NOT DOWNLOADING TO GUESTS IS EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM!

In your Palace Server, go to Options => Preferences => Network tab. There you will see a grayed out field under "Use an external media and avatar server." In that grayed out field you will see the following:

http://[currentIPAddress]:9990/palace/media/

Note that the default pathname there, pointing to your server media, uses the variable [currentIPAddress]. This means the server is looking to your internal IP addy, which is USELESS, and not to the DSL Modem IP addy.

To download pics and sounds to your guests again, flawlessly:

Click a check mark into the box "Use an external media and avatar server"
The gray default field clears for you to enter your new pathname.
Enter the IDENTICAL pathname, except this time PASTE IN THE DSL Modem IP Addy in place of the variable [currentIPAddress].

The new pathname will look like this:

http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:9990/palace/media

where the string of Xs is your actual DSL Modem IP addy.

Click OK. Leave your Server running, open your Client and go to your Server Palace. Guests will now be able to download pics and sounds flawlessly again. Palace Server will retain this new addy pathname until you change it again.

The only drawback to this is, you will have to re-enter a new DSL IP addy everytime you reboot your machine, because each time you reboot a new DSL addy is assigned.

Perhaps some Palace Server Guru will write an optional Add-in sometime for DSL users that will insert a new variable, one that looks for the DSL addy and not the "current IP address" of the machine.

As I see it, the manual fix is a small price to pay to get the wonderful sucker working normally again!

I want to thank all of you who contributed other fix suggestions for these problems. All of them apply in one way or another to folks specific problems. It pleases me to make this contribution back to the community of people I have come to care for and respect a lot.

Oh btw. Also found out that some DSL modems are NOT compatible with Windows XP. Check with your provider to verify your modem is, if you are running XP. Also found out that some modems generate the PPPoE from hardware in the modem, not from your software OS. In these instances, the internal IP addy works normally and the NAT protocol does not affect its use. Go figure.

Ok getting pretty tired now. Hope this will save some the grief I experienced in resolving these DSL issues.


Uni


Please use the user questions forum if you want to ask questions regarding this explenation:
user questions forum