Starting with version 1.13 there is simple hop control available on a per -node basis. Also it is possible to isolate a network completely so that you -get all the benefits of being on that network, but can't pass on information -from it to any other networks you may be connected to (or vice versa). +
One of the more important things a cluster sysop needs to do is to get +information to his users. The simplest way to do this is to have a banner +that is sent to the user on login. This is know as a "message of the day" +or "motd". To set this up, simply create a file in /spider/data called motd +and edit it to say whatever you want. It is purely a text file and will be +sent automatically to anyone logging in to the cluster. +
+
If for any reason the cluster is down, maybe for upgrade or maintenance but +the machine is still running, a message can be sent to the user advising them +of the fact. This message lives in the /spider/data directory and is called +"offline". Simply create the file and edit it to say whatever you wish. +This file will be sent to a user attempting to log into the cluster when +DXSpider is not actually running.
-
In /spider/data you will find a file called hop_table.pl. This is the file -that controls your hop count settings. It has a set of default hops on the -various PC frames and also a set for each node you want to alter the hops for. -You may be happy with the default settings of course, but this powerful tool -can help to protect and improve the network. The file will look something -like this ... +
You can set other text messages to be read by the user if they input the file +name. This could be for news items or maybe information for new users. +To set this up, make a directory under /spider called packclus. +Under this directory you can create files called news or newuser +for example. In fact you can create files with any names you like. These can +be listed by the user with the command .... +
+
+
+show/files
+
+They can be read by the user by typing the command ....
-#
-# hop table construction
-#
-
-package DXProt;
-
-# default hopcount to use
-$def_hopcount = 5;
-
-# some variable hop counts based on message type
-%hopcount =
-(
- 11 => 10,
- 16 => 10,
- 17 => 10,
- 19 => 10,
- 21 => 10,
-);
-
-
-# the per node hop control thingy
-
-
-%nodehops =
-
- GB7ADX => { 11 => 8,
- 12 => 8,
- 16 => 8,
- 17 => 8,
- 19 => 8,
- 21 => 8,
- },
-
- GB7UDX => { 11 => 8,
- 12 => 8,
- 16 => 8,
- 17 => 8,
- 19 => 8,
- 21 => 8,
- },
- GB7BAA => {
- 11 => 5,
- 12 => 8,
- 16 => 8,
- 17 => 8,
- 19 => 8,
- 21 => 8,
- },
-};
+type news
If the file they want to read is called news. You could also set +an alias for this in the Alias file to allow them just to type news
-
Each set of hops is contained within a pair of curly braces and contains a -series of PC frame types. PC11 for example is a DX spot. The figures here -are not exhaustive but should give you a good idea of how the file works. +
You can also store other information in this directory, either directly or +nested under directories. One use for this would be to store DX bulletins +such as the OPDX bulletins. These can be listed and read by the user. +To keep things tidy, make a directory under /spider/packclus called +bulletin. Now copy any OPDX or similar bulletins into it. These +can be listed by the user in the same way as above using the show/files +command with an extension for the bulletin directory you have just created, +like this ....
-
You can alter this file at any time, including whilst the cluster is running. -If you alter the file during runtime, the command load/hops will -bring your changes into effect. +
+
+show/files bulletin
+
++
An example would look like this .... +
+
+
+sh/files
+bulletin DIR 20-Dec-1999 1715Z news 1602 14-Dec-1999 1330Z
+
+You can see that in the files area (basically the packclus directory) there is a +file called news and a directory called bulletin. You can +also see that dates they were created. In the case of the file news, +you can also see the time it was last modified, a good clue as to whether the +file has been updated since you last read it. To read the file called +news you would simply issue the command .... +
+
+
+type news
+
+To look what is in the bulletin directory you issue the command .... +
+
+
+show/files bulletin
+opdx390 21381 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx390.1 1670 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx390.2 2193 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx391 25045 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx392 35969 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx393 15023 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx394 33429 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx394.1 3116 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx395 24319 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx396 32647 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx396.1 5537 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx396.2 6242 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx397 18433 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx398 19961 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx399 17719 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx400 19600 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx401 27738 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx402 18698 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx403 24994 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx404 15685 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx405 13984 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx405.1 4166 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx406 28934 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx407 24153 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+opdx408 15081 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx409 23234 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
+Press Enter to continue, A to abort (16 lines) >
+
+You can now read any file in this directory using the type command, like this .... +
+
+
+type bulletin/opdx391
+Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 391
+The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
+DX Bulletin No. 391
+BID: $OPDX.391
+January 11, 1999
+Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
+Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio
+Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1 (New Area Code!)
+Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX
+Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, K1XN & Golist, WB2RAJ/WB2YQH
+& The 59(9) DXReport, W3UR & The Daily DX, K3TEJ, KN4UG, W4DC, NC6J, N6HR,
+Press Enter to continue, A to abort (508 lines) >
+
+The page length will of course depend on what you have it set to!
-
It is possible to isolate networks from each other on a "gateway" node using the -set/isolate <node_call> command. -
-
The effect of this is to partition an isolated network completely from another -nodes connected to your node. Your node will appear on and otherwise behave -normally on every network to which you are connected, but data from an isolated -network will not cross onto any other network or vice versa. However all the -spot, announce and WWV traffic and personal messages will still be handled -locally (because you are a real node on all connected networks), that is locally -connected users will appear on all networks and will be able to access and -receive information from all networks transparently. All routed messages will -be sent as normal, so if a user on one network knows that you are a gateway for -another network, he can still still send a talk/announce etc message via your -node and it will be routed across. -
-
The only limitation currently is that non-private messages cannot be passed down -isolated links regardless of whether they are generated locally. This will change -when the bulletin routing facility is added. -
-
If you use isolate on a node connection you will continue to receive all -information from the isolated partner, however you will not pass any information -back to the isolated node. There are times when you would like to forward only -spots across a link (maybe during a contest for example). To do this, isolate -the node in the normal way and put in a filter in the /spider/filter/spots -directory to override the isolate. This filter can be very simple and consists -of just one line .... +
You will find a file in /spider/cmd/ called Aliases. First, copy this file to +/spider/local_cmd/Aliases and edit this file. You will see something like this ...
-$in = [
- [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 3] # The last figure (3) is the hop count
-];
+
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+
+# provide some standard aliases for commands for terminally
+# helpless ak1a user (helpless in the sense that they never
+# read nor understand help files)
+
+# This file is automagically reloaded if its modification time is
+# later than the one stored in CmdAlias.pm
+
+# PLEASE make this file consistant with reality! (the patterns MUST
+# match the filenames!)
+
+# Don't alter this file, copy it into the local_cmd tree and modify it.
+# This file will be replaced everytime I issue a new release.
+
+# You only need to put aliases in here for commands that don't work as
+# you desire naturally, e.g sh/dx on its own just works as you expect
+# so you need not add it as an alias.
+
+
+
+package CmdAlias;
+
+%alias = (
+ '?' => [
+ '^\?', 'apropos', 'apropos',
+ ],
+ 'a' => [
+ '^ann.*/full', 'announce full', 'announce',
+ '^ann.*/sysop', 'announce sysop', 'announce',
+ '^ann.*/(.*)$', 'announce $1', 'announce',
+ ],
+ 'b' => [
+ ],
+ 'c' => [
+ ],
+ 'd' => [
+ '^del', 'kill', 'kill',
+ '^del\w*/fu', 'kill full', 'kill',
+ '^di\w*/a\w*', 'directory all', 'directory',
+ '^di\w*/b\w*', 'directory bulletins', 'directory',
+ '^di\w*/n\w*', 'directory new', 'directory',
+ '^di\w*/o\w*', 'directory own', 'directory',
+ '^di\w*/s\w*', 'directory subject', 'directory',
+ '^di\w*/t\w*', 'directory to', 'directory',
+ '^di\w*/f\w*', 'directory from', 'directory',
+ '^di\w*/(\d+)', 'directory $1', 'directory',
+ ],
+ 'e' => [
+ ],
+ 'f' => [
+ ],
+ 'g' => [
+ ],
+ 'h' => [
+ ],
+ 'i' => [
+ ],
+ 'j' => [
+ ],
+ 'k' => [
+ ],
+ 'l' => [
+ '^l$', 'directory', 'directory',
+ '^ll$', 'directory', 'directory',
+ '^ll/(\d+)', 'directory $1', 'directory',
+ ],
+ 'm' => [
+ ],
+ 'n' => [
+ '^news', 'type news', 'type',
+ ],
+ 'o' => [
+ ],
+ 'p' => [
+ ],
+ 'q' => [
+ '^q', 'bye', 'bye',
+ ],
+ 'r' => [
+ '^r$', 'read', 'read',
+ '^rcmd/(\S+)', 'rcmd $1', 'rcmd',
+ ],
+ 's' => [
+ '^s/p$', 'send', 'send',
+ '^sb$', 'send noprivate', 'send',
+ '^set/home$', 'set/homenode', 'set/homenode',
+ '^set/nobe', 'unset/beep', 'unset/beep',
+ '^set/nohe', 'unset/here', 'unset/here',
+ '^set/noan', 'unset/announce', 'unset/announce',
+ '^set/nodx', 'unset/dx', 'unset/dx',
+ '^set/nota', 'unset/talk', 'unset/talk',
+ '^set/noww', 'unset/wwv', 'unset/wwv',
+ '^set/nowx', 'unset/wx', 'unset/wx',
+ '^sh$', 'show', 'show',
+ '^sh\w*/buck', 'dbshow buck', 'dbshow',
+ '^sh\w*/bu', 'show/files bulletins', 'show/files',
+ '^sh\w*/c/n', 'show/configuration nodes', 'show/configuration',
+ '^sh\w*/c$', 'show/configuration', 'show/configuration',
+ '^sh\w*/com', 'dbavail', 'dbavail',
+ '^sh\w*/dx/(\d+)-(\d+)', 'show/dx $1-$2', 'show/dx',
+ '^sh\w*/dx/(\d+)', 'show/dx $1', 'show/dx',
+ '^sh\w*/dx/d(\d+)', 'show/dx from $1', 'show/dx',
+ '^sh\w*/email', 'dbshow email', 'dbshow',
+ '^sh\w*/hftest', 'dbshow hftest', 'dbshow',
+ '^sh\w*/vhftest', 'dbshow vhftest', 'dbshow',
+ '^sh\w*/qsl', 'dbshow qsl', 'dbshow',
+ '^sh\w*/tnc', 'who', 'who',
+ '^sh\w*/up', 'show/cluster', 'show/cluster',
+ '^sh\w*/w\w*/(\d+)-(\d+)', 'show/wwv $1-$2', 'show/wwv',
+ '^sh\w*/w\w*/(\d+)', 'show/wwv $1', 'show/wwv',
+ '^sp$', 'send', 'send',
+
+ ],
+ 't' => [
+ '^ta$', 'talk', 'talk',
+ '^t$', 'talk', 'talk',
+ ],
+ 'u' => [
+ ],
+ 'v' => [
+ ],
+ 'w' => [
+ '^wx/full', 'wx full', 'wx',
+ '^wx/sysop', 'wx sysop', 'wx',
+ ],
+ 'x' => [
+ ],
+ 'y' => [
+ ],
+ 'z' => [
+ ],
+)
+
+You can create aliases for commands at will. Beware though, these may not +always turn out as you think. Care is needed and you need to test the +results once you have set an alias. +
+
In later versions of Spider a simple console program is provided for the sysop. +This has a type ahead buffer with line editing facilities and colour for spots, +announces etc. To use this program, simply use console.pl instead of client. +
+
To edit the colours, copy /spider/perl/Console.pl to /spider/local and edit the +file with your favourite editor. +
+
Spider has a powerful and flexible show/satellite command. In order for +this to be accurate, the kepler data has to be updated regularly. In +general, this data is available as an email or via cluster mail. +Updating it is simple. First you need to export the mail message as a +file. You do this with the export command from the cluster prompt +as the sysop. For example ... +
+
+
+export 5467 /spider/perl/keps.in
would export message number 5467 as a file called keps.in in the +/spider/perl directory. +
Now login to a VT as sysop and cd /spider/perl. There is a command in +the perl directory called convkeps.pl. All we need to do now is +convert the file like so ...
-
There is a lot more on filtering in the next section. +
+
+./convkeps.pl keps.in
+
+Now go back to the cluster and issue the command ... +
+
+
+load/keps
+
+That is it! the kepler data has been updated. +
+
The command sh/qrz will only work once you have followed a few +simple steps. First you need to get a user ID and password from qrz.com. +Simply go to the site and create one. Secondly you need to copy the file +/spider/perl/Internet.pm to /spider/local and alter it to match your user +ID and password. You also at this point need to set $allow=1 to complete +the setup. Many thanks to Fred Lloyd, the proprieter of +qrz.com for allowing this access.