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System requirements and technical advice
This page specifies the overall system requirements for the Front Arena community sites.
If you have questions or comments about anything on this page please contact
.
 Internet connection
In general a broadband internet connection is recommended. A broadband connection is mandatory for using FASTweb. Needless to say, you will also appreciate a fast broadband connection if you often download software packages or publication sets from the site.
Note that in order to avoid performance bottlenecks on our server, we have imposed a bandwidth limitation on FTP uploads/downloads, including downloads of component releases.
Computer CPU/RAM
The performance of most site features is mostly dependent on internet connection speed. Note however that performance of FASTweb is also strongly dependent on the client PC. We recommend a Pentium 4 PC with at least 512MB RAM.
Screen resolution
We recommend a minimum screen resolution of 1280x960. This is particularly important for FASTweb where some of the on-screen forms are quite wide.
Browser
 Browser requirements (General)
In general we recommend the following platform:
Other browsers, versions and platforms may work but with certain limitations.
FUAC does not work in Firefox.
Here are some notes about required browser features:
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Active scripting (.asp page) support is mandatory for viewing the site
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Javascript support is required for viewing some online documentation, e.g. PRIME help
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ActiveX is optional for using the editor in Front Forums
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Pop-ups from www.frontarena.com (e.g. file uploads) should be allowed by your pop-up blocking software
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Macromedia Flash support is occasionally required for multimedia content
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Cookies are used, see privacy notes below
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Java applet support is required for FUAC
Browser requirements (FASTweb)
FASTweb is based on tools provided by a third party supplier. It is officially only supported on certain browsers and OS platforms. If you want to know whether your combination of browser and OS platform is supported, please contact
who will consult the supplier's compatibility matrix.
For example, the following browsers are currently supported on most versions of Windows 2000/2003/XP:
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Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 6+
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Netscape 7.2
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Mozilla 1.7
Firefox is not officially supported, but it is based on Mozilla/Gecko and we have found that it works well.
Note that FASTweb is not supported using IE 5.5 and not supported on Windows NT.
Here are some notes about required browser features:
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Javascript support is mandatory
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Pop-ups from fastweb.frontarena.com (e.g. FAST menus) should be allowed by your pop-up blocking software
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Cookies are used, see privacy notes below
Note: Java applet support is NOT required like it was in earlier versions.
Firewall
You should not have any firewall restrictions that prevent access to the following sites or any active content on these sites:
- www.front.com www.frontarena.com
- fast.front.com fast.frontarena.com
- fastweb.front.com fastweb.frontarena.com
- ftp.front.com ftp.frontarena.com
Your firewall must allow all Javascript to the above sites, including external Javascript files (extension .js).
You should not have any firewall restrictions based on our IP address.
The IP address for fastweb.front.com is 217.151.193.124
The IP address for all other sites is 217.151.192.253
FTP access
An ftp client is recommended to make use of our ftp site for uploads/downloads. Alternative http options for uploads/downloads are also available.
We do not recommend any particular ftp client software.
Note that ftp support in your browser is required for downloads of component releases and publication sets, since your browser will be redirected to an ftp address in the background.
Our ftp server accepts passive ftp connections.
Secure ftp is currently not supported, please enquire.
The following technical restrictions currently apply to FTP uploads/downloads, including downloads of component releases:
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Max 20 simultaneous connections (max 2 connections per IP address, but note that some FTP clients use 2 connections for a single session)
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Bandwidth has been limited to 2MB/s in each direction (shared between all connections)
File size is currently not limited, but please note that our disk space might be! If you need to transfer amounts of data (say over 1GB) please check with
before starting your upload.
Cookies and privacy
See www.frontarena.com/cookies and www.frontarena.com/cookies/kbase (member login required)
If you have questions or comments about anything on this page please contact
.
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