StealthNet HowTo (English)
From Planet Peer Wiki
Contents |
Introduction
This Howto was created, to explain the usage of StealtNet - along with its advantages and disadvantages. If you already used other P2P-clients like EMule, a lot of things will be self-explanatory. Even if this is the fact, you'll find useful hints, configuration explanations and other documentation here.
Please note, that RShare/StealthNet needs some time to fully integrate into the network! Give the client about an hour (better 24h) to get acceptable search results.
Downloading and installing of the current StealthNet version
Let's propose, that StealthNet is not yet installed on your system. The first step is to download the current version from Download Section. Install the downloaded setup-file to a directory of your choice (e.g. C:\Program files\StealthNet).
StealthNet requires an installed .NET 2.0 framework from Microsoft! Microsoft download link : Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributable (x86)
Note: To increase the security and anonymity it's recommended to install StealthNet on an encrypted partition. A very good open-source tool to achieve that is TrueCrypt
StealthNet is a .NET application. You'll need Mono to run it under Linux. There will be no GUI under Linux, but the CLI will do a good job instead. The rest of this documentation is obsolete for Linux users. To launch the Linux port of StealthNet, isse "mono StealthNet.exe"
That StealthNet.exe is able to run under Debian 4 or Ubuntu, please install the following packages:
* mono-devel (perhaps "mono" is enough) * libmono-corlib2.0-cil * libmono-system-runtime2.0-cil
Settings
Don't worry - StealthNet is no configuration-monster. Usually the default-settings should work perfectly. Nevertheless, here are the most important settings:
Note: Not all settings will be applied immedately. Some of them require a restart of the program. A list with settings, which requires a restart of StealthNet, can be found here.
Start StealthNet und click on the button "Preferences":
There are some options in the appearing window, that are explained consecutively.
Preferences - Preferences
Like already stated, the default-settings should be working correctly. Nevertheless the most important settings are explained below.
Port
The incoming TCP Port, that StealthNet uses.
The default-port that SN uses is tcp/6097. If you're behind a NAT-router and/or a firewall, please ensure that you configured the NAT or port-forwarding of the StealtNet TCP port to the client StealthNet runs on. If incoming TCP is not possible, SN won't work correctly.
Average Connections Count
This is the number of peer the SN client connects to. The default setting of 5-6 connections should be ok for most installations. If you have a fast broadband connection (greater than 6 MBit/s downstream - 512 kBit/s upstream), you may try 10-13 connections as well.
Down- and Upload-capacity for graph in statistics (KiBit/s)
These values are used for correct scaling of the statistics. They won't limit the maximum or minimum bandwidth.
Down- and Upload Limit (KiBit/s)
These values limit the maximum bandwidth through your node (client).
Each connection gets the amount of bandwidth per second, it used in the previous second, plus a correction-value (positive or negative). This correction-value ensures, that the load keeps constant and that the limit won't exceed, at the same time.
Progress Bars
The visualization of the progress bars in the up- and download tab.
Misc Options
- Synchronize WebCaches: Gets a current list of the valid webcaches from a central-cache.
- Show MessageBoxes: Show or hide dialogboxes for:
- Cancel downloads
- Closing of StealthNet
- New version check
- Use Bytes/s instead of Bit/s: Shows the up- and download speed in Byte/s or Bit/s
- Parse Collections: The content of the ".collection" files (contains download information about an amount of files), will be automatically added to the download-list after it's downloaded.
- Subfolders for Collections: The files inside a collection are stored in a subfolder of the incoming directory. The name of the subfolder is equal to the collection-name. See also FAQ - How does collections work?.
- Start in tray bar: StealthNet will be started minimized in the system-tray.
- Auto-queue downloads every ...: If an active download from the download-list won't be able to find a source for xx minutes, it's put in the queue. Because search-queries are not started periodically and could have long response-times, the default-value of 60 minutes is recommended.
- Add new downloads to the beginning of queue: Newly started downloads are placed at the first position of the queue.
Reset Tray Behavior
When closing StealthNet, the following dialog is shown.
There are two closing options for the StealthNet window:
- Run StealthNet in the background and place it in the system-tray: Answer "Yes"
- Terminate the program: Answer: "No"
By enabling the checkbox "save answer", the chosen option will be stored - thus not showing the dialog again. With "Reset Tray Behavior", the dialog will be shown the next time you close StealthNet.
Preferences - Directories
Usually it's not necessary to change the directories under "Other Directories".
Per default, the incoming-folder is shared at the same time. This behavior cannot be altered. If you wish to add more shared folders, you may add them with the "Add" button.
Note: Shared directory subfolders are automatically shared as well!
Preferences - Misc
Logging
- Write logfile: Enables to write a logfile, that contains StealthNet activities, on a per-day basis into the log-directory.
Language settings
The following languages are currently available:
- English
- French
- German
- Turkey
- Italian
Preview settings
To use the preview function of the download-tab, you may add an executable of a video-player. We recommend to use VLC or MPlayer for best results.
Online-signature
The online-signature is a xml-file (onlinesignature.xml), which is located in the preferences-folder. It contains the data below und is refreshed periodically. These data may be passed for further processing to other tools (e.g. ROST)
Onlinesignature.xml example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <onlinesignature> <software>StealthNet 0.8.5.1 Anonymous File Sharing</software> <connections>11</connections> <downloads>5</downloads> <downloadqueue>0</downloadqueue> <activeuploads>10</activeuploads> <uploads>10</uploads> <sharedfiles>174</sharedfiles> <downloadcapacity>131072</downloadcapacity> <uploadcapacity>131072</uploadcapacity> <downloadlimit>0</downloadlimit> <uploadlimit>0</uploadlimit> <language>de</language> <cumulativedownloaded>58272354337</cumulativedownloaded> <cumulativeuploaded>103884380455</cumulativeuploaded> <downloaded>284112105</downloaded> <uploaded>508876488</uploaded> <downstream>41280</downstream> <upstream>64795</upstream> <cumulativeuptime>5.06:13:24</cumulativeuptime> <uptime>02:07:45</uptime> </onlinesignature>
Saving of search results
To improve the search-results in RShare, StealthNet clients are capable to create a local search-result database. This database contains own, and search-results of other clients, which are randomly routed over your own peer.
The purging of the saved search-results is adjustable with the "keep results for xx days" option in the misc menu.
It's planned to implement an export-function for this database in later StealthNet versions.
List of settings, which requires a restart of StealthNet
| Preferences - Preferences | Restart StealthNet |
| Port | yes |
| Average Connections Count | no |
| Down- and Upload-capacity for graph in statistics (KiBit/s) | no |
| Down- and Upload Limit (KiBit/s) | no |
| Progress Bars | no |
| Misc Options: | |
| Synchronize WebCaches | yes |
| Parse Collections | yes |
| Auto-queue downloads every ... | yes |
| Show MessageBoxes | no |
| Subfolders for Collections | yes |
| Use Bytes/s instead of Bit/s | no |
| Start in tray bar | yes |
| Add new downloads to the beginning of queue | yes |
| Button "Reset Tray Behavior" | no |
| Preferences - Directories | |
| Shared Directories | no |
| Other Directories: | |
| Preferences | yes |
| Log Files | yes |
| Temporary Files | yes |
| Incoming Files | yes |
| Corrupt Files | yes |
| Preferences - Misc | |
| Logging | yes |
| Language selection | yes |
| Preview settings | no |
| Online signature | no |
| Saving of search-results | yes |
Functionality overview
This sections explains the user-interface and the handling of StealthNet.
Connections
If StealthNet successfully establishes a connection to the RShare network, the single connections are presented here.
- The current connections and statistiscs about the peers
- The current data-rate through your own peer is shown on the right side of the statusbar
Important note: If StealthNet is not able to establish a connection to the RShare network, the world-globe in the statusbar remains gray. If everything is all right and several connections are available, the globe gets colored. If there are no connections, please check the port-forwarding (NAT) on you router or firewall. Please consider that it could take a few moments until you get connection to the network. Anonymity needs some patience :-)
Connection to a certain IP-address
Mit a right mouse-click and connect you'll be able to connect to a known peer.
If you know the IP-address and port of a StealthNet friend, you can build an explicit connection. A reason for this could be, if you know someone with a fast and/or reliable Internet connection or if your friend has files-of-interest for you. It's unlikely, that these files are exchanged over this direct connection, but it increases the chances, that there are less nodes between you and your friend for a file transfer.
Search
Although the search function is self-explaniatory, there are some hints for the usage:
You may type partitial or complete filenames in the search form. It could take some moments until the results appear.
Search filter
It is possible to define a search filter before sending a search query. The predefined filtering
can be set to
Search term
Enter the search query here. The minimum length of the search query is 3 characters. It's possible to combine different queries by separating them with a space. The ID3-tags of MP3 files are also searched (album, artist ...).
Note: The search of multiple search terms is just possible within a database search (version 0.8.6.1). Within the network search, the complete string is queried. It's important to remember that, just in case a database query ist restarted within the network.
Search method
If the saving of search results in a local database is activated (see Preferences - Misc), two different search methods are available:
Automatic
First, the local database is searched. If there are less than 25 hits, the search will be automatically continued in the RShare network.
Only network
The search will only be performed in the network.
Only database
The search will only be performed in the local database.
List of current search-queries
After clicking the "search" button, the query is listed here. If the status is "active", the query is currently propagated through the network. If the status is "passive", the query is not propagated, but responses are still processed.
Note: The maximum of ten parallel searches are possible.
Contextmenu with right mouse-click:
- Restart search in network: Restart marked search queries
- Restart all searches in network: All queries are restared
- Stop: Marked queries are stopped
- Remove: Marked queries are removed from the list
- Remove All: All queries are removed from the list
List of search results
The results of you search query are listed here. The filesize and the number of available sources are also
visible here.
Color of the files:
- Red: The file is already shared or is currently downloaded
- Black: 1-2 sources are available
- Bright- to dark-blue: more than 3 sources are found
Note: The column "sources" only shows the number of sources, which have the complete file. It's possible, that there are more "paritital sources" available in the network.
The tiny and rotated exclamation marks represent the file ranking. The ranking is done manually by the uploader and is 100% subjectiv.
Unknown - no ranging available
good
neutral
bad
A file can either be downloaded with a double-click or via the context menu.
Context menu:
- Download: Download of all marked files
- Download to subfolder: Download of all marked files to a subfolder of the incoming folder
- Show Information:
Information
The file-hash can be copied to the clipboard. This functionality is also available in the "shared folder" tab and is very handy to uniquely identiy a file without the need of using the filename. Just tell a fried the hash-value and he will be able to download that file. (See Download by Link/Hash at Downloads).
Sources
The filename of different sources and comments are shown here.
- Copy Link to clipboard
- Copy Link: stealthnet://?hash=BD00A991D....B52B15F3853&name=Cuisine+Thai+-+French.pdf&size=1725817
This copy can be executed directly and can be used to download the file
- Copy Link (HTML): <a href='stealthnet://?hash=BD00A991D....B52B15F3853&name=Cuisine+Thai+-+French.pdf&size=1725817'>Cuisine Thai - French.pdf</a>
This link can be used in HTML pages und executed with a mouse-click.
Downloads
All the downloads are listed here. The downloads are splitted into an active part - the downloadlist and a currently inactive part, the queue.
One of the best ways to visualize the difference is, to sort the downloads via the column "status".
The downloadlist, which can be identified with the status "started", may contain up to 5 files. The remaining files are in the queue and thus paused, until it's their turn to start.
Note: All files, that are partitially downloaded, are provided automatically for uploads (Swarming). Also check out FAQ - What's "swarming"?
Download detail section
The first column shows an icon, that represents another client or node.
The second column shows different colored stars (blue, gray, green ...), which represents the receivestatus:
If the last packet is received in less than 12 minutes, the star is blue.
24 green.
36 yellow.
48 red.
After 48 minutes, the color of the star is gray.
The column type is similar to the star column:
If the last packet is received in less than 12 minutes, the type is 0. The value in the brackets is 0 minutes since the last received command.
24 1 12
36 2 24
48 3 36
After that the type is 4 and the value in the brackets is 48 minutes. If the source hasn't got usable sectors, there is no numerical type, instead the text "no usable sectors" is shown.
The column queue shows the own position in the uploaders-queue of the peer, that provides data (0 indicates, that data is currently received). The max of 2 "type 0-clients" are used concurrently for one download.
The column Sent commands shows the number of sent commands.
The column Received commands shows the number of received commands.
Context-menu with right-click:
Move to Queue
An active download is moved from the download-list to the queue and makes room for the first file in the queue.
Move to Top of Queue
A file is moved to the top/first position of the queue. If a slot if the download-list becomes free, the selected file will become an active download.
Move to Bottom of Queue
A file in the queue, is moved to the bottom/last position of the queue.
Show Information
Shows information like
- Hash-value
- whether a file is downloaded into a subfolder
- Filenames of different sources
- Rankings / Comments
Preview
It is tried to play the downloaded parts of a media-file with the configured media player (see Preferences - Misc)
Cancel
Cancels the download
Download by Link/Hash
Download of a file with the help of a hash value. The download is started when a source is found.
Download by Collection
Usage of a .sncollection file, that contains information about the desired files. Collection files can be created in the tab Shared files.
Copy link to clipboard
Example: stealthnet://?hash=BD00A991D....B52B15F3853&name=Cuisine+Thai+-+French.pdf&size=1725817
Copy link to clipboard (HTML)
Example: <a href='stealthnet://?hash=BD00A991D....B52B15F3853&name=Cuisine+Thai+-+French.pdf&size=1725817'>Cuisine Thai - French.pdf</a>
This copy may be included into HTML-code and downloaded with a click.
Uploads
To review if and what is downloading some of your shared files, the "upload" window may be used. Of course it is not possible to see who is currently downloading (helloooooo - anonymous filesharing)
Note: An active upload cannot be canceled or influence in any other way. The upload window is available for information purposes.
There is a maximum if 10 uploads, everything exceeding that value will be moved to the queue.
Shared Files
The shared files, that are configured in Preferences - Directories are listed here.
When applying a filename filter, this list may be filtered.
Context-menu:
Open File
The file will be opened with the default program for the file-extension
Open Directory
The selected file will be displayed inside the Windows Explorer.
Show information
Shows the following information
- Hash-value
- Filename
- Own rating / comments
Like already explained in the section Search, it's possible to rank or comment the shared files.
To perform the rating, choose one of the twisted exclamation marks. To add a comment, please fill out the field "comment".
To apply the changes, just close this window.
Copy Link to clipboard
Example: stealthnet://?hash=BD00A991D....B52B15F3853&name=Cuisine+Thai+-+French.pdf&size=1725817
This copy can be executed directly and starts the download
Copy Link to clipboard (HTML)
Example: <a href='stealthnet://?hash=BD00A991D....B52B15F3853&name=Cuisine+Thai+-+French.pdf&size=1725817'>Cuisine Thai - French.pdf</a>
Create Collection
Creates a collections-file (.sncollection), that contains all download information about the selected files.
Further information and links
For further information about StealthNet, please visit the following pages:
- RShare/StealthNet forum - The English StealthNet discussion forum on the Planet Peer Board
- rshare.de - Official RShare page
- StealthNet.de - Official page of the StealthNet client
How to Changelog
Version 0.8.6 2009-02-28 Modified the StealthNet HowTo, based on version 0.8.6 -- --Doc Honke 17:29, 28 February 2009 (CEST) Translation by Nightwalker_z 19:00, 24th of March 2009 (CEST)
Version 0.2 2009-02-24 Modified the StealthNet HowTo, based on version 0.8.5.1 -- --Doc Honke 11:54, 24 February 2009 (CEST)
Version 0.1 2007-06-06 Modified the RShare HowTo to match StealthNet -- --Nightwalker_z 19:45, 6 June 2007 (CEST)
Pictures and HowTo: Markus and --Nightwalker_z 19:56, 6 June 2007 (CEST)
