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Guide to DCN/ICN Core Services

DCN/ICN Core Services

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Index

  1. What is the DCN/ICN?

  2. Who sponsors the DCN/ICN?

  3. Who manages the DCN/ICN?

  4. Who hosts the DCN/ICN services?

  5. What is the security level of the DCN/ICN services?

  6. What are the DCN/ICN core collaboration services?

  7. What are the DCN/ICN core information services?

  8. What are the DCN/ICN Pilot Programs?

DCN/ICN Core Services Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  1. What is the DCN/ICN? The Defense Collaboration Network/International Collaboration Network (DCN/ICN) is an information technology infrasture that uses the Internet to encourage and provide defense-wide and world-wide information and collaboration services concerning all aspects of the Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support (CALS) strategy.

  2. Who sponsors the DCN/ICN? The DCN/ICN is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Logistics Architecture Office (LA). The LA is part of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Logistics and Materiel Readiness). The Point of Contact (POC) is Mr Zack Goldstein. The Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) is Ms. Nona Bond.

  3. Who manages the DCN/ICN? The DCN/ICN is managed by the CALS/IDE Virtual Enterprise. Robert S. Kidwell (e-mail: kidwellr@mantech-wva.com), Vice President of ManTech enterprise Integration Center and Sr Technical Director for CALS and EC/EDI Programs.
  4. Who hosts the DCN/ICN services? The DCN/ICN services are hosted at ManTech Technical Applications Center (TAC) in Fairmont, WV. Comments or questions on services or technical content may be addressed to Joseph P. Brazy (e-mail: brazyj@mantech-wva.com; Phone: 304-368-4136, DCN/ICN Process Leader or Steven L. Mealey (e-mail: mealeys@mantech-wva.com; Phone: 304-368-4164, DCN/ICN Systems Administrator. Technical Support questions may be answered through the Technical Support Link on the sidebar of this page.

  5. What is the security level of the DCN/ICN services? All information content is unclassified. Security of the DCN/ICN services is a top level concern. An initial security policy and architecture has been developed (Preliminary DCN/ICN Security Plan and Architecture). All pilot program user groups will have controlled access to their member DCN/ICN services. Some pilot programs also have a public site. Initial security access requires user identification and a password for each service. Additional security technologies (e.g. Virtual Private Networks) will be demonstrated this year. These technologies have been identified in a DCN/ICN Technology Refreshment Plan (Aug 1999)

  6. What are the DCN/ICN Core Collaboration services? The DCN/ICN core collaboration services include:



    Many of the core services are available on the DCN/ICN Demonstration Page.

  7. What are the DCN/ICN Core Information services? The DCN/ICN core information services include:

    • ManTech CALS Archive - a searchable list of all ManTech CALS Project Deliverbles from 1994 to the present
    • CALS Technology Transfer - a searchable list of technology transfer sites related to CALS interest engineering, manufacturing, and logistics domains
    • CALS Organization White Pages - a searchable list of CALS-interest oganizations
    • CALS Initiatives and Implmentations - a searchable list of national and project level CALS programs and pilot implementations
    • CALS Publications and Repositories - a searchable list of on-line repositories on CALS, Electronic Commerce, STEP and Concurrent Engineering
    • Electronic Publishing - publication of documents to the web


  8. What are the DCN/ICN Pilot Programs and Projects? The DCN/ICN Pilot Programs include:

    1. DoD Business Case Modeling Working Group - Mr. Robert S. Kidwell, Sponsor
    2. DoD Logistics Architecture 2010 - Mr. Dave Cannon, Sponsor
    3. DoD Tri-Service IETM Interoperability Project Working Group - Mr. Eric Jorgensen, Sponsor
    4. Foreign Customs EDI Project - Mr Don Reynolds, Sponsor
    5. International CALS Congress - Mr Robert S. Kidwell, Sponsor
    6. Korea Defense CALS Working Group - Mr Robert S. Kidwell, Sponsor
    7. US Military Service Type Designation Automation System (TDAS) - Mr. Robert Wentz, Sponsor
    8. XML/EDI Central - Mr. Mike Evanoff, Sponsor
    9. Corrosion Information Management & Distribution - Mr. Dave Cannon, Sponsor
    10. NATO CALS Management Board - Mr. Mike Danielson, Sponsor

On-line Text Conferencing

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  1. What is an on-line text conference?

  2. How do I access a DCN/ICN conference?

  3. What are the client computer's system requirements?

  4. What is the first display upon entering a conference?

  5. What are the basic conferencing commands?

Answers to the On-line Text Conferencing FAQs

  1. What is an on-line text conference? An on-line text conference is a text-based collaboration tool for expressing opinions, providing facts, posing and answering questions, recording votes, discussing issues; and documenting decisions. A conference consists of one or more forums (general discussion areas). A forum consists of one or more threads (specific discussion areas). A thread consists of an initial message posted by a user and zero or more responses (messages) posted by any authorized user of the conference.

  2. How do I access a DCN/ICN conference? Access to a conference is controlled by a user identification and password. A user identification and password will be issued to you for the conferencing system, by Ms. Deborah Stultz at (304) 368-4132 (stultzd@mantech-wva.com) after confirmation by the Conference Sponsor. Current conferences are shown in Table 1.

Table T1. Current DCNICN Conference and Conference Sponsors

User Group Conference
Conference Sponsor
DoD Business Case Modeling Working GroupRobert S. Kidwell (kidwellr@mantech-wva.com)
DoD Logistics Architecture 2010David T. Cannon (cannond@mantech-wva.com)
DoD IETM Tri-Service IETM Interoperability Project Working GroupEric Jorgenson (jorgense@oasys.dt.navy.mil)
Foreign Customs EDI ProjectDon Reynolds (reynolds@mantech-wva.com)
International Commission for e-business (ICeb) Robert S. Kidwell (kidwellr@mantech-wva.com)
Korea Defense CALS Working GroupRobert S. Kidwell (kidwellr@mantech-wva.com))
NATO CALS ProjectMike Danielsen (mdanielsen@cals.nato.be)
NSWC Infrastructure ProjectDuane 'Chip' Morris (morrisd@mantech-wva.com)
US Military Service Type Designation Automation System (TDAS)Robert Wentz (wentzb@mantech-wva.com)
XML/EDI CentralMike Evanoff (evanoffm@mantech-wva.com)

Each user group has its own text conference. Access to the conference is available through a Web browser by entering the Uniform Resource Location (URL) of the specified conference from the DCN/ICN Home Page for each user group or from a conferences home page. The current DCN/ICN User Group Home Pages are shown in Table 2.

Table T2. Current DCN/ICN User Group Home Pages

User Group
Home Page (URL)
DoD Business Case Modeling Working Grouphttp://www.dcnicn.com/BCM/default.asp
DoD Logistics Architecture 2010http://www.dcnicn.com/Forums/Index.cfm?cfapp=80
DoD IETM Tri-Service IETM Interoperability Project Working Group)http://www.dcnicn.com/DoDTriServiceIETMWorkingGroup/default.asp
Foreign Customs EDI Projecthttp://www.dcnicn.com/ForeignCustomsEDI/default.htm
International Commission for e-business (ICeb)Currently not available
Korea Defense CALS Working GroupCurrently not available
NATO CALS ProjectCurrently not available
NSWC Infrastructurehttp://www.dcnicn.com/nswc/default.asp
US Military Service Type Designation Automation System (TDAS)http://www.dcnicn.com/TDASCentral/default.asp
XML/EDI Centralhttp://www.dcnicn.com/XMLEDICentral/default.asp

After entering the URL, double-click your mouse on the appropriate conference. A dialog box as shown in Figure T1 will appear requesting your user identification and password.


Figure T1. User Identification and Password Dialog Box

3. What are the client computer's system requirements? Access to the conferences is through a Web browser. Your client Personal Computer should support Netscape's Navigator 4.5 or later or Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. You also need an electronic mail address accessible from the Internet.

4. What is the first display upon entering a conference? The first display is a list of the current Forums. If only one forum exists, the first display is a list of the current threads in the forum with the number of messages in each thread.

5. What are the basic Conferencing Commands? The basic conferencing commands as shown in Figure T2 are:

  • Exit (Exits the conference),
  • New Messages (Display New Messages since your last visit),
  • Search (Search messages by author or keywords in title or message),
  • Options (Set user selected preferences), and
  • Logout/in (Logout or login to the conference).

Figure T2.. Text Conference Commands for On-Line Text Conferencing

These commands appear at the top of the display window in your Web browser as shown in the above figure. For more information on these commands , see the A Brief Guide to the DCN/ICN Text Conferenceconferences on-line tutorial.

File Transfer (File Sharing) Service Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  1. What is a file sharing service?

  2. How do I access the file sharing service?

  3. What are the client computer's system requirements for file sharing service?

  4. How do I retrieve a file from my group's shared file service?

  5. How do I share a file with my group?

Answers to the File Transfer (File Sharing) Service FAQs

  1. What is a file sharing service? A file sharing service is a service for sharing files among two or more on-line users. These files may be word processing documents, presentation documents, spreadsheet documents, database documents, images, audio clips or video-clips. To share these files, users need a file transfer capability and file viewers. The DCN/ICN File Transfer service provides the user with the capability to upload (send) a file to the service or download (receive) a file from the service. File viewers may be one of the following: (1) the same application that created the file; (2) a neutral file format viewer (e.g. Adobe's Acrobat Reader); or (3) a Web-browser "plug-in" viewing/displaying package or audio/video player. For viewing document files we recommend Adobe's Acrobat 4.0 reader available free from Adobe at (www.adobe.com). For viewing images (e.g. gif or jpg files), we recommend LView Pro or Paint Shop Pro [evaluation copies available from TUCOWS (www.tucows.com) or Stroud (www.stroud.com)].

  2. How do I access the file sharing service? Access to a user group file sharing service is controlled by a user identification and password. The same user identification and password as issued for the Text Conferencing Service will be used. Each user group has its own file transfer directory.

    Two methods are currently available for accessing the file transfer service. One method uses your web browser; the second method uses a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client software like WS_FTP or CUteFTP available from Tucows or Stroud. A third method is in development by the DCN/ICN Development team. This method will use your web browser and provide a server side application for uploads and downloads.

    1. Downloads Only -
      For downloads only, you may use your web browser. Please note that this server can be accessed using the FTP feature of web browsers like Netscape 4.5 or later and IE 5.X using the username within the URL. For example a user whose login is johndoe will use the following URL. ftp://johndoe@ftp.dcnicn.com

      After entering the ftp server request with the ftp request string in the browser address field, a dialog box will be displayed requesting your password as shown in Figure F1.

      FTP Password Dialog Box

      Figure F1 Password Dialog Box for Requesting File Transfer

      After entering your password, a list of file transfer directories will be displayed as icons, a text list of directory names or a list of directory names and their size, file type and date modified attributes. You can change the view, by selecting the view menu, and clicking on the desired view (large icons, small icons, list, details). Depending on your pilot program membership, you will be granted access to one or more FTP directories.

    2. Downloads and Uploads -

      For downloads and uploads will need an FTP client like WS_FTP or CUteFTP.

  3. What are the client computer's system requirements for file sharing service? Access to the file transfer services is through a Web browser. Your client Personal Computer should support Netscape's Navigator 4.5 or later or or Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0. or later

  4. How do I download (retrieve) a file from my group's shared file service? Use your web browser to navigate to the the desired directory and file Use your mouse to navigate to the desired subdirectory.
    • If you are using MS Internet Explorer,
      press the right mouse button to select the desired file and select Copy to Folder to copy the file to your local computer.
    • If your are using Netscape Communicator/Navigator,
      press the shift key and select the desired file with the left mouse button. A "Save As" dialog box will appear asking you where you want to store the file on your local computer. Choose a local directory and file-name if needed. The transfer will then begin.


  5. How do I upload (share) a file with my group? There are three methods of sharing files with your group:
    • Use the Text Conference Collaboration Tool and attach a file to an e-mail message
    • Use the new DCN/ICN File Sharing Tool when it's available (o/a March 15, 2000). Contact Technical Support to get status
    • Request assistance from DCN/ICN Technical Support

    Interactive Multimedia Collaboration with NetMeeting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Index

    1. What is interactive multimedia collaboration with NetMeeting?

    2. What are the client computer system requirements for Interactive Collaboration with NetMeeting?

    3. How do I configure NetMeeting?

    4. How is access to the User Location Service controlled?

    5. How do I collaborate with other User Group Members?

    Interactive Multimedia Collaboration with NetMeeting FAQ

    NetMtgDir

    Figure N1. Interactive Collaboration with Microsoft NetMeeting

    1. What is interactive multimedia collaboration with NetMeeting? Interactive multimedia collaboration with NetMeeting is a real-time interactive tool that permits two or more users to conduct on-line text chat, or on-line audio and video interaction for those users with multi-media client computers (microphone, speakers, sound-board, and desktop video camera). Other collaborative features include a white-board (like an electronic chalk board) and file transfers as show in Figure N1. Currently, Microsoft's NetMeeting 2.11 Final Release is available free from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/netmeeting/.. Users with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 or later may already have downloaded NetMeeting as part of Internet Explorer.

    2. What are the client computer system requirements for Interactive Collaboration with NetMeeting? NetMeeting is currently only available for client computers running Windows 95, WIndows 98, Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000.

    3. How do I configure NetMeeting? Configure your NetMeeting software to use the ManTech Internet Location Service (ILS) by selecting the Tools Menu shown in Figure N1 and the options submenu, My Information Tab. You will see a NetMeeting Options Dialog Box like the one shown in Figure N2. Check your personal information (name, e-mail address, and category of information).

      NetMtg Options My Information Tab

      Figure N2. NetMeeting Properties Dialog Box with selected My Information Tab

      Select the Calling Tab in the options box and you will see a "Log on to the directory server when NetMeeting starts" check-box and a Server Name pull-down box. as shown in Figure N3. Enter ils.dcnicn.com into the Server Name pull-down box. This will allow all users of your user group to use the same Internet Location Service to find other members of your group when you want to conduct an interactive collaboration with NetMeeting. The ILS has been setup for the exclusive use of DCNICN user groups and hence avoids the bandwidth congestion and irregular quality of service that may occur with public ILS servers.

      NetMtgOptions Calling Tab

      Figure N3. NetMeeting Options Dialog Box, with selected Calling Tab



    4. How is access to the Internet Location Service controlled? Only specified users of the DCNICN Collaboration server may use the Internet Location Service through a user identification and password. The same user identification and password as issued for the Text Conferencing Service will be used.

    5. How do I collaborate with other User Group Members? From the NetMeeting Call Menu (see Figure N1), you may place an audio call to one other person by selecting the "Place Call" submenu or host a conference for two or more persons by selecting the "Host Conference" submenu. Alternatively, if you do not have a multimedia platform, you can still conduct a text chat (Select chat from the Tools Menu in Figure N1) with one or more other members. For additional information, select NetMeeting's Help Menu. For interactive groups of three or more members, we recommend you schedule a NetMeeting collaboration through your User Group's mail list or through your User Group's Text Conference software.

    This collaboration tool currently has some limitations. These limitations are noted in the Release Notes for Microsoft(R) NetMeeting(TM) 2.11 These Release Notes (V 2.11, Nov. 1998) are available under the Readme selection from the Help Menu. The current limitations include: 

      "This version of NetMeeting enables up to 32 users to share an
  application. However if a computer running NetMeeting 2.0 is in 
  the conference and more than three users are sharing, that computer 
  will not be able to host an application. In addition, you can be 
  connected to only one other person with audio and video at a time.
  The total number of people that can successfully participate in your meeting 
  will vary based upon available network bandwidth and the speed of the
  participant's computers... Windows NT users will be able to share
  applications if they have installed Service Pack 3 for Windows NT 4.0."

    Electronic Mail List Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

    1. What is an electronic mail list?

    2. How do I join a list?

    3. How do I submit e-mail messages to the list?

    4. How do I receive e-mail messages from the list?

    5. How do I leave a list or notify the list my e-mail address has changed?

    6. How do I get information about other electronic mail list commands?

    Answers to the Electronic Mail List FAQs

    1. What is an electronic mail list? An electronic mail list is another text collaboration tool for asynchronous communication among a group of geographically separated users with a common interest. Users send e-mail messages to the list and the messages are distributed to all members of the list on a periodic basis (e.g. once/day). For privacy reasons, each list is closed so that access to messages is restricted to authorized list members.

    2. How do I join a list? You may join a specified list through a list sponsor by providing your name, telephone and electronic mail address to the list sponsor. Current electronic mail lists are available for most pilot programs. See Pilot Program list sponsors that are shown in Table T1.
    3. How do I submit e-mail messages to the list? After approval by the Mail List Sponsor, messages may be submitted (posted) to your mail list by using your electronic mail software package or by using your Web browser to select the User Group Mail List. These lists are available from the ShowMembers button as shown in the demonstration example of Figure E1.

      Show Members Button

      Figure E1. Show Members Button (Demonstration Pilot Program Group)

      A hypertext link from your Pilot Program ShowMembers List will include an exploder list Send to All Name as well as individual e-mail addresses as shown in Figure E2.

      Show Members

      Figure E2. Show Members E-Mail Exploder List

    4. How do I receive e-mail messages from the list? After approval to join by the Mail List Sponsor, you will be added to the mail list and will automatically receive mail when anyone sends a message to the exploder list. Your local electronic mail post office must be operational and your e-mail address current.

    5. How do I leave a list or notify the list my e-mail address has changed? Please send any changes in your status to the list sponsor by e-mail. The list sponsor will confirm the changes via telephone before notifying the mail list manager (Deborah Stultz).

    6. How do I get information about other electronic mail list commands? Send an electronic mail message to the DCNICN Manager with the message "Help" in the body of the message.
Content last modified
Fri, 13 May 2005 10:14:40
by jpb
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