Rover Gateway is your company's secure point for controlling mobile access to your vital business information. Use the intuitive control panel to define your company's unique set of menus and business information sources. Create accounts for mobile users and provide them secure access to that information. Your mobile workforce will thank you as they make better, more informed decisions while on the go.

Your Rover Gateway saves all its configuration and connector related files in your gateway data directory. It is recommended that you backup the data directory any time you want to capture a working gateway configuration. You can copy saved data directory contents to restore a gateway to a previous configuration by stopping the Rover Gateway service at any time.

If you don't know where your gateway data directory is see the FAQ http://support.roverapps.com/entries/20203251-why-can-t-i-find-my-gateway-data-directory.

Control Panel – Start

The Rover Gateway Control Panel lets you manage your site content and users. You can access the Rover Gateway control panel at any time by selecting "Manage Rover Gateway" from the Rover Gateway Start Menu or by typing http://localhost:1456 in your browser address bar. The Rover Gateway Management Console runs in your browser.

Port 1456 is the inbound port used for control panel access. To manage the Rover Gateway from a remote computer you will need access to this port from the remote computer. 

Control Panel - Log In

Note: Username and Password are case sensitive.

The Username and Password used to log in to the control panel for the first time are the Username and Password used to register your Rover Gateway during installation.

To reset your password, select 'Need to reset your password?'.

A new password will be e-mailed to the Gateway Administrator account used to register the gateway.

Control Panel

The control panel has 10 tabs.

• Home – Provides information to help you get started using the control panel.
• Site – Use to make files, reports and other vital business information available to your mobile users.
• Users – Use to securely create and manage user accounts.
• Network – Use to manage network access to your Rover Gateway.
• Devices - Use to manage devices allowed to access your Rover Gateway.
• Policies - Use to manage policies that enhance the security of the information available to your mobile users.
• Licenses - Use to manage user licenses available to your mobile users.
• Connectors - Use to review stock an add on connectors used by your Rover Gateway
• Help – Use for tips and to ask questions about getting the most out of your Rover Gateway.
• About – Provides information about your Rover Gateway.

Site Home

By default the Rover Gateway returns its Site menu when the Retriever Client connects to a gateway. If specified, the gateway can return a specific menu item instead of the generic menu. This is done by setting the site_home parameter in the RoverGateway.ini file for your Rover Gateway. It is set to /node/1/ by default. This refers to the site menu. Each menu item defined on the gateway can specify a Gateway URL mount point. This serves as an alias to reference that specific menu item. The alias is used so you can refer to the same item possibly configured on multiple Rover Gateways that may be assigned as a different physical node # on each gateway. To return a specific menu item instead of the site menu set the site_home paramter to the menu item's node # or alias. Each new gateway should have a Welcome menu defined as /node/2/ by default on the gateway. To test this feature using the "Welcome" menu item set site_home = /node/2/ or its alias which should be /apps/Welcome/. The Rover Gateway needs to be stopped in order to edit the ini file and then restarted to use the new ini values. It is recommended that you save a copy of the RoverGateway.ini before making any changes in case you need to go back to the default settings.

The following sections provide details about using each tab.

Control Panel - Home

The Home tab provides a Status on the overall health of your Rover Gateway and any News about your Rover Gateway. The News items show the date and time of the posted item. News items can be deleted if no longer needed. The Status messages are also color coded. Green messages tell you everything is running as expected. Yellow messages indicate something could be improved. Red message indicate a problem that should be corrected.

If a newer version of the Rover Gateway is available you will see a status message with information on how to get the latest version.

Control Panel – Site

Overview

The Rover Gateway presents a menu to the Rover Retriever. On the left of the Site Page is a preview of how the menu might appear on a mobile device.

By adding items to the menu, you make company information available to mobile users. The menu can have as many items as you like, but it's usually better to break long menus into smaller submenus.

The Rover Retriever client can connect to multiple Rover Gateways. The title of your Rover Gateway will appear in the Rover Retriever Sites List. The gateway was given a name when it was registered. This name is used by default as the gateway title.

A default icon is displayed on the client along with the gateway name. If you want to use a custom icon to represent your gateway instead of the Rover Gateway default icon you can generate a 48x48.png and save it as 'siteicon.png' in the Rover Gateway Data Directory. If you are not sure where the Rover Gateway Data Directory is located see, http://support.roverapps.com/entries/20203251-why-can-t-i-find-my-gateway-data-directory-and-log-files.

Adding menu items to your gateway

All menu items require at least a Title and Gateway URL mount point, or alias.

The Title is displayed in the site menu and selected by the user to access a menu item. The Gateway URL mount point is used by a connector to access a menu item. See the Platform Connector Turorial, http://support.roverapps.com/entries/20944208-tutorial-platform-connector, to see an example of calling the Gateway URL mount point from a connector.  

Selecting ‘Add item to this menu…’ allows you to make the following available to your mobile users.

• The contents of a file
  • You can publish any file or folder that the gateway can access to your remote users.
  • See more details below...
• Files and subfolders in a folder or network share
  • You can publish any file or folder that the gateway can access to your remote users.
  • See more details below...
• A submenu
  • A menu node lets you organize your site content. Menus can contain any kind of item, including other menus.
  • See more details below...
• The output of a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script
  • A CGI item provides output from an external script conforming to the CGI specification.
  • See more details below...
• Intranet Tunnel access to company Web resources
• Intranet Tunnel provides the ability to access selected Intranet sites

• Note: Android clients require 3.x OS to support this feature.

• Note: iOS clients require 5.x OS to support this feature.

• See more details below...
• See Tutorial...
• Static Web content from a directory
• Static HTML content served from a directory on the Rover Gateway
• See more details below...
• See Tutorial...

If what you want isn't on the list above, there may be a Rover Connector for it. Connectors are software add-ons for Rover Gateway that provide access to information from popular applications and systems.

Find a connector...

Menu Items

Individual menu items can be edited by selecting the menu item you wish to edit. Once selected the Description of the menu item is displayed to the right of the menu under the heading label - Description.

Select ‘Change setup for this item…’ to edit the selected menu settings.

Selecting a submenu changes the menu view to a submenu view. To navigate back to the previous menu view use the navigation links at the top of the page. Select the menu name to restore the view of that menu.

How to Add Menu Items

Files and subfolders in a folder or network share

Select ‘Choose…’ to browse for a file or folder to publish. Selecting a folder allows the mobile user to see the contents of the folder and sub folders. Selecting a file gives mobile access to just the file selected.

You must use Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names to access network resources. The format must look similar to the following:

If the network resource requires user authorization to access you may also need to change the account the Rover Gateway Service uses to log on. By default the Rover Gateway uses the Local System account, which has no users and therefore will not be able to access network resources that require user authorization. You can select to have Windows Authorization enforced for the file or folder resource selected. If Windows Authorization is selected you can use the Rover Gateway Service account or the user account. If you select to use the user account make sure you configure the user account as a Windows Authenticated account.

The title will be displayed in the mobile menu.

Select ‘Save item setup’ to add this item to the current menu.

Menu

Enter the title of the submenu.

Select ‘Save item setup’ to add this submenu to the current menu.

CGI

Select ‘Choose file…’ to browse for a CGI Script to publish.

The title will be displayed in the mobile menu.

Select ‘Save item setup’ to add this item to the current menu.

Intranet Tunnel

Enter the URL of the Intranet site. The site content must be supported by the client's browser. Confirm the sites will work on the mobile device browser before attempting connection through the Intranet Tunnel. for example, sites that use ActiveX or Flash will require specific support from the client browser to run.  

The title will be displayed in the mobile menu.

Select ‘Save item setup’ to add this item to the current menu.

Static Web Content

Select ‘Choose…’ to browse for the base directory containing the static HTML content.

Enter the filename for the index page for the HTML content. For example, index.html

All content referenced from the index file should be located in the "static" folder located in the base directory. 

The title will be displayed in the mobile menu.

Select ‘Save item setup’ to add this item to the current menu.

Rover Connector

If what you want isn't on the list above, there may be a Rover Connector for it. Connectors are software add-ons for Rover Gateway that provide access to information from popular applications and systems.

Find a connector...

Control Panel – Users

Create user accounts for your mobile employees so they can securely access company information from their Rover Retriever-enabled iPhones and iPads. You'll need to provide their name, user name, and password. Please be sure that each user has Rover Retriever installed on their mobile device.

You can also select a current user to change their logon credentials or delete their account.

For more details on configuring users see the User Tutorial.

For details on user-level security see the Security Tutorial.

 

How to Auto Discover Windows User Accounts

User accounts can be automatically created for Windows Authenticated users. To enable this feature check the "Automatically create accounts for users with valid Windows credentials.

The Windows Guest User Account must be disabled for the auto discover feature to work. For more information on the Windows Guest User Account see:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Turn-the-guest-account-on-or-off

With this feature enabled and the Windows Guest User Account disabled the Rover Gateway will automatically create a user account for any Windows authenticated users the first time they try to login to the Rover Gateway from a Rover Retriever client. The auto discover user accounts will use the device permission defined here by default. The new user accounts are set to allow 1 new device by default. If you want to require admin approval for all auto discovered accounts simply change the setting.

The first time an auto discover user logs in a new user account will be created for that user. Any changes can be made to that individual account to alter his/her configuration once the account has been created.

Note: If a user account is deleted it will not be allowed to be added back through the auto discover process. Deleting an account signals the Rover Gateway to disable that account. If you need to add that user back the account must be added through the control panel.

If a user account and device approval is not created for a user attempting to login, verify the Windows user account is valid from the Rover Gateway. If Windows Authentication requires Domain\user then the user must enter the full information when logging into Rover Retriever. Try creating at least one Windows Authenticated user manually to verify The Rover Gateway Windows Authentication is working before attempting to Auto Discover accounts.

Control Panel – Network

There are two ways for a client to interact with a gateway:

• Directly via existing VPN tunnels or to cloud/DMZ hosted gateways
• Indirectly via the RoverLink-Relay service

 

RoverLink Relay allows secure exchanges between mobiles and gateways behind a firewall. The mobile devices never become network nodes, increasing security and reducing the need to manage devices. Information is fully encrypted in transit and at rest on the devices for best-in-class protection of your data.

RoverLink  Direct

 

This option can improve performance for mobiles that are already on the corporate LAN through local WiFi connections or VPN tunnels. 

This option also enables corporations to deploy load-balanced clusters of gateways in DMZ’s for high-volume situations, or where a DMZ deployment is preferred.

RoverLink Direct Cloud

This is the same as the above RoverLink, but with the gateway deployed in a cloud next to a SaaS application. These typically are used by ISV customers that have a SaaS offering and use the auto-generated user (via external authentication integration) and the fact that cloud-based solutions are directly reachable to provide secure mobile access to their offering.

In all cases, it must be noted that it is possible for a single users Retriever application to access one or more of the above scenarios depending on how a given gateway is defined. So they might access a cloud-based SaaS for Accounting using Direct, but access a line-of-business solution behind the firewall via RoverLink Relay.

Any one gateway might be accessed via RoverLink direct by employees with VPN solutions, or via RoverLink Relay by an external partner.

The bottom line is RoverLink 2 lets the mobile clients use the most effective path to reach a gateway, all with tight security.

Access Code

A user can connect by installing the Rover Retriever app on their device and entering your gateway's Access Code -- a six-digit number that identifies your gateway -- along with their username and password. You can request a new access code by clicking the link, but only the most recent one can be used by new users.

Configure RoverLink Relay

To set up RoverLink Relay, click the "Enable RoverLink Relay" checkbox. You can test the connection using the "Test your gateway's relay URL" link. This will open a new browser window to simulate a connection to your gateway.

All mobile users, whether they connect via Direct or Relay, must have a user account on the gateway.  You can create these manually, or they can be created automatically when a user logs in with their Windows username and password.

A user can connect by installing the Rover Retriever app on their device and entering your gateway's  Access Code -- a six-digit number that identifies your gateway -- along with their username and password. You can request a new access code by clicking the link, but only the most recent one can be used by new users.

Port 443 is the outbound port used by a gateway to communicate with the RoverLink Relay service over SSL.  There is no inbound port for used for RoverLink Relay.

For more information on testing/configuring your RoverLink Relay connection see http://support.roverapps.com/entries/20337791-why-can-t-i-connect-to-roverlink-services-from-rover-gateway. 

 

Configure RoverLink Direct

 

To set up RoverLink Direct, click the "Enable RoverLink Direct" checkbox. You will need to enter your gateway's hostname and a port on which devices will connect to the gateway. 

You should enter a hostname that devices connected to your local network (via local WiFi or VPN) can resolve to the gateway computer's IP address. It should be an address that would open correctly if typed in to the device's browser. When you first turn on Direct, the gateway will guess an appropriate hostname, but due to wide variety in network configurations, you may have to correct its guess.

You also need to select a suitable port. Ports 80 and 8080 are common selections, but you will need to choose one that isn't already used by other services that may be running on the same machine as your gateway.

When you've configured the hostname and port, click the "Save" button. You can then test the connection by clicking the "Test direct gateway access" link. This will open a new browser window to simulate a connection to your gateway.  You can also test mobile connectivity by entering the URL (http://<selected hostname>:<selected port>) into a Web browser on a device that is on your local network.

A user can connect by installing the Rover Retriever app on their device and entering your gateway's  Access Code -- a six-digit number that identifies your gateway -- along with their username and password. You can request a new access code by clicking the link, but only the most recent one can be used by new users.

SSL support

SSL support (https access) can be enabled on direct portal access.  Using SSL requires a certificate and a private key, neither of which can be generated by the gateway -- they must be provided by the gateway admin.

By default, SSL will be enabled if the gateway finds files called *rovergateway-ssl.cer* and *rovergateway-ssl.key* in the gateway's data directory. If different filenames or locations are needed, add these lines to *rovergateway.ini*:

    portal_ssl_certificate = <full path to portal cert>    

    portal_ssl_private_key = <full path to portal private key>     

    portal_ssl_certificate_chain = <full path to portal certificate chain>

to configure the portal-side SSL.  The certificate chain files are optional in both cases, but if a certificate file is specified, a corresponding private key file must also be provided.

Roversite file

Network Recommendations:

Rover client apps automatically switch between RoverLink Direct and RoverLink Relay as needed if both are enabled. However, if your situation only requires one or the other, we recommend disabling the option that you are not using. It is possible to enable or disable either method "on the fly", but doing so may disrupt users whose devices are already configured to expect a different setup, so we recommend that you select an approach and test it before rolling out to large numbers of users.

Control Panel – Devices

Manage devices your mobile employees can use to access Rover Gateway. User's can be allowed to use any mobile device or require admin approval before using a new device. If admin approval is required the user will recieve a warning message the first time they try to access a Rover Gateway telling them admin approval is required before they can login to the Gateway. The Admin would then have the opportunitiy to Approve or Block the mobile device through the Devices tab. New user's will show the status of "Pending" until "Approved" or "Blocked". The device model and ID are displayed along with the user information.

Note: Some Android OS versions assign new device IDs if the application is uninstalled. The new device ID will cause the device to appear as a new device and require approval again. For this reason it is recommended to install updated versions of the Rover Retriever application without uninstalling the previous version.

If a device is "Blocked", the next time a user attempts to login with that device they will receive an error saying the device is no longer allowed to access the gateway.

Control Panel – Policies

Policies allow the Gateway admin to control security and data sharing rules enforced by the Rover Retriever.

Policies include:

• Mobile access requires PIN entry:
  • Only if enabled by user
  • Whenever application is activated
  • After 1 minute inactive
  • After 5 minutes inactive
  • After 15 minutes inactive
  • After 1 hour inactive
  • After 4 hours inactive
• Mobile access requires Password entry every:
  • 15 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • 1 hour
  • 2 hours
  • 4 hours
  • 8 hours
  • 24 hours
  • 2 days
  • 4 days
• Users may email item content to others:
  • Yes
  • No
• Users may open item content with other device apps:
  • Yes
  • No
• Users may save images to device's photo library:
  • Yes
  • No
• Hosts to which the gateway may provide proxy access:
• If using the Intranet Tunnel service list the IP addresses or Domains the Rover Gateway is allowed to provide access for.

Control Panel – Licenses

The Licenses tab shows the Gateway admin the current licenses available for the Rover Gateway. The "Check now for license updates" button will check for any updates to your current licenses. The gateway checks periodically for new updates but if you believe you should have more licenses than being shown you can force the gateway to check now.

Gateways come with 10 free trial licenses. Before you can purchase licenses your Rover Gateway must first be affiliated with a business account. Once you create a business account you can affiliate multiple Rover Gateways with the business account. This allows you to manage your licenses from one account and allow multiple Rover Gateways to use the licenses from the license pool.

If this is your first Rover Gateway, start by registering a new business account.

If you already have an existing business account you can join new Rover Gateways to an existing business account.

Once your gateway is affiliated with a business account you will see the available licenses and the contact information for your registered agent. In most cases the Rover Gateway admin will also be the registered agent for the business account.

Licenses - Register business account

This account will be used to manage licenses for one or multiple Rover  Gateways. The simplest scenario is a company with one Rover Gateway and the same person manages the Rover Gateway and the Business Account. However, the business account is setup to handle the more complex case of a company with multiple Rover Gateways and admins. Notifications are sent to the Rover Gateway admins any time the Business Account owner makes a change that affects their Rover Gateway. Whoever manages the Business Account will need to provide a credit card to purchase license seats for gateways.

This Business Account will be used to purchase licenses, allow gateways to join the Business Account, allow gateways to leave the Business Account.

The default AccountID is generated using your company name. In this example the company My Co., Inc. gets the default AccountID of myco. If you plan on having multiple Business Accounts for you company you may wish to make the AccountID more specific. Instead of myco you could use myco_sales or myco_marketing.

The other information used by default assumes the Rover Gateway admin is also going to be the Business Account owner. If this is not the case just change the contact information to the person who will be the Business Account owner.

Once the Buinsess Acccount has been created you will be able to purchase licenses for any Rover Gateway affiliated with the account.

Licenses - Purchase Licenses

If you are not currently logged into the Rover Store you will be prompted to login. Use the Account ID and Password you used when creating your Business Account.

To purchase licenses you just need to select the total number of users you wish to purchase licenses for.

When you are starting a license plan this number is the total number of users you wish to purchase licenses for.

If you are adding licenses to an existing license plan this number is still the total number of users you wish to have licenses for. You will only be charged for the difference between the current number of licenses and the new total number.

If you want to add 5 new users and you currently have 50 licenses, you would enter 55 as the new Number of users.

If you want to remove 5 users and you currently have 50 licenses, you would enter 45 as the new Number of users. Since seats are pre-paid the reduced number of users would take effect at your next scheduled bill date. 

You will see the number of gateways and users currently affiliated with this business account. The "View account status" will show details about previous transactions you have performed with this business account.

These licenses can renew monthly or annually. Annual seats may come with a discounted price. Annual and Monthly licenses are pre-paid for the full amount at the time of purchase. The total charge and then next bill date (either next month for monthly or next year for Annual) are displayed based on the users and billing period you select.

Enter the credit card information and select "Submit Order" to purchase the licenses.

Once the order is confirmed the Rover Gateway will have access to the new licenses. The Rover Gateway checks in periodically to recieve updated licenses. To see the licenses immediately select the "Check now for license updates" from the Licneses tab on the Rover Gateway Control Panel.

Licenses - Join existing account

Selecting the "Join an existing account" link from the Rover Gateway allows a Rover Gateway to join an existing Business Account. If approved the Rover Gateway is allowed to use licenses from the Business Account license pool.

If you are not currently logged into the Rover Store you will be prompted to login. Use the Account ID and Password you used when creating your Business Account.

 

Licenses - Remove from business account

Selecting the "Remove this gateway from the business account" link from the Rover Gateway allows a Rover Gateway to leave an existing Business Account. If approved the Rover Gateway is no lnger allowed to use licenses from the Business Account license pool.

If you are not currently logged into the Rover Store you will be prompted to login. Use the Account ID and Password you used when creating your Business Account.

 

Control Panel – Connectors

Review Stock and Add On Connectors available for use. Add-on connectors can be installed through the buttons provided, through setup programs provided by the connector or by manually copying connector files to the Rover Gateway. Installed connectors are shown under the Add-on connectors section. 

Control Panel - Help

Rover Apps provides several options for helping you get the most out of your Rover Gateway.

• For general use questions, access to FAQs, and customer forums, go to Rover Apps Support.
• You can also email our support team. You'll get a confirmation email that will help you get set up with our support system.

Control Panel - About

 

Customize your Rover Gateway Site Icon

 

The Rover Retriever client displays an icon for your gateway in the Sites list. This icon is generated by default if not provided.

 

 

To use a custom icon instead, simply add your icon to the Rover Gateway Data Direcory with the file name siteicon.png. The custom icon should be size 48 x 48. See the About tab for the location of your Rover Gateway Data Directory.