WRP application modes

Whenever Winsock applications make requests from client machines that are running the WinGate Internet Client (WGIC), the request is intercepted and sent to the Winsock Redirector Service on the WinGate server for handling.

The WGIC uses the Winsock Redirector Protocol (WRP) to communicate with the Winsock Redirector Service in WinGate. To assist the Winsock Redirector Service in determining how it should handle a Winsock application request, the applications on the client can be set to run in one of three different modes that WRP will recognize.

WRP application modes

• Local network access only

  When you set a client application to Local access mode in the WGIC, you are effectively disabling the Winsock Redirector Service in WinGate from handling the application requests for this program.

  Applications in Local network access mode will be ignored by the WGIC and so must have an alternative connection method to complete their requests. This makes Local network access mode ideal for client applications that are having issues running through WGIC.

  In many cases, you may wish to use the speed and simplicity of WinGate NAT for client applications (those that request outgoing Internet connections only). Any applications that you want to use NAT must be changed to run in Local access mode on the User Application tab.

  Note

  The WinGate NAT/ENS must be enabled on the WinGate server for it to work.

  In Local Access Mode, an application will use the NAT (so long as the TCP/IP default gateway setting on the client points to the WinGate computer, and the application is not configured to use proxies). Remember that the NAT only provides connectivity for client applications (not server applications).

• Mixed access

  Mixed access mode is a safe but functional mode for any server applications on the WGIC machine (e.g. Web server, FTP server).

  This allows client applications to make any outgoing connections with WRP, but the server application on the client machine will only allow incoming connections from computers on the same network.

  Mixed access mode is automatically allocated to any server applications that attempt to listen to a system port (anything below 1024). This is a safety mechanism of the WGIC, as it requires you to explicitly set the application to Global access mode before it is visible to anyone on the Internet.

• Global access

  Global access mode is used when there is a server application running on the WGIC machine behind the WinGate server, that needs to be able to receive requests from the Internet (such as a Web or FTP server). It effectively removes any safety restrictions that the WGIC may impose on the application.

  Typically you will need to do this for Web Servers (they usually listen on port 80) and FTP servers (they usually listen on port 21).

  Read more on handling WGIC Server applications in Global Access mode

Setting the mode

You can configure which application access mode will be used for each application from the WGIC applet on the client machine. Or alternatively if you are using the WinGate Policy system, you can create policies based around the registered Winsock Redirector service events. When configuring policies based on these events, you can utilize the Application control policy item to control the WRP mode that the Winsock Redirector service will use for the client Winsock application making the request through WinGate.

Read more about controlling WGIC applications in WinGate