hi=)
2)
first you need an uo installation.
we'd recommend ultima online mondains legacy patched to version 6.0.9.2
if you don't already have one, you can download the installer here :
http://games.mirrors.tds.net/pub/ea-gam ... _setup.exe
if the shard has custom map or similar custom data, install that into the ultima online directory as well.
next you install iris using the installer
http://sience.schattenkind.net/Iris2_Setup.exe
in the iris mainmenu you can click "add shard" to enter adress and port.
this should work out of the box on most shards, if there are problems connecting please report them here in the forum, and include infos on which shard it is so we can test.