Please note that the following instructions are intended for
someone already familiar with the concept of FIDO networking in
general. If your completely new to fido networking please read
the FidoNet.Man included on the CNet/3 Distribution Disk #2. You
should also read the manual included with TrapDoor. You may also
want to get TrapDoor working, (sending and receiving mail) this
will give you some basic concepts of FIDO, and the terminology. If
your experienced with the operation of FIDO, you will have no
trouble setting up FIDO on CNet v3.0.
Its also is a must to have someone willing to help you test your
installation by sending test messages back and forth. We have
included sample configurations for TrapDoor. And also some
dos/Arexx scripts which will import & export mail automatically.
These configurations and scripts will require some editing by
you.
CNet's CONFIG program is used to configure almost all of the FIDO
networking aspects. The rest of the FIDO configuration is handled
while online, with the command EL (Edit List). There are four parts
of the CONFIG program used to configure fido. There will be an
explanation of each part, describing what you see on your screen,
and a short description of each gadget, or any other items worth
noting. There will also be an example given showing the usage of
each window.
==========
FIDONET...
==========
From the main config window click on the gadget titled Fido-Net...
This will change the window into the main fido-net configuration
window. This is where you will add areas you import or pass-thru,
nodes and points that you deal with on a regular basis. And also
where your netmail routing is configured.
On this window you will see three gadgets on the left labeled NEW,
ADD, and REMOVE. And above these gadgets you will see a small
window which will contain the names of the networks you belong to.
The center of the window contains several string gadgets which allow
you to edit specific parameters for each network. To the far right of
window contains three gadgets labeled Areas, Export-to, and Mail-routing. Clicking on these gadgets will change the current window into yet another window which will allow editing of each of those items.
Following is a description of each gadget, and how to use it.
On the upper left of the screen you will see a small window,
this window is where your network names will be listed. To
edit a network simply click on the network name you wish to edit.
New
===
Click on this gadget anytime you want to add a new network to your
configuration. After clicking on this gadget the string gadget
directly above will become active and will allow you to enter
the name of the network your adding.
Add
===
Click on this gadget to add the current network you have just
configured. To save your changes or additions make sure you
click on the SAVE gadget after exiting the fido-net configuration.
After you click this gadget the network title will be listed
in the small window above these gadgets.
Remove
======
This will remove the current selected network. If you accidentally
hit this gadget you have not lost anything. Click on the OK
gadget at the bottom of the window, and then click on the CANCEL
gadget on the main CONFIG screen. You may then run config again.
First Zone & Last Zone
======================
This string gadget will allow you to enter the First Zone used by the
current network. The actual FIDONET network consists of six Zones.
Zone 1 being the United States, and the Last Zone (Zone 6) being Asia.
Each Fido-Net style network has a range of Zone numbers that it uses
to determine where mail gets sent. These numbers allow CNet to
associate any given Zone number with a particular network. For example
if CNetToss imports a message with a Zone address of 4, it will know
which network the message originated. Ask your boss for the first Zone
& Last Zone numbers in the network. Traplist will also report this when
compiling a nodelist.
FAKE-Net/PointNet
=================
In addition to your node address, you can also specify a point or
"fake" net. If you are a point, you should ask your boss for this.
Most systems no longer require a fake-net. Only the most ancient
FIDO software cannot handle four dimensional addressing.
Your Address
============
Given in the format Zone:Net/Node.Point (1:123/456.0). Again you should
ask your boss for this. To get your own FIDO Net address will require
that you apply for a node number, your boss can help you with this.
Your Echo & Netmail Origins
===========================
By FIDO policy your Echo mail origin must consist of your name,
and a valid (mail'able) address at a minimum. The Netmail origin
in FIDO is not mandatory, but its a good idea to include it anyway.
DO NOT enter your address here. CNetToss will append the address
to the origin line when it exports the message. An example Origin
line might look like:
Future World -- CNet Amiga H.Q. 313-255-2464
CNetToss will append the (Zone:Net/Node.Point). So the actual
origin line after exporting will look something like:
Future World -- CNet Amiga H.Q. 313-255-2464 (1:234/56.7)
Areas...
========
The Areas gadget will change the current window to a window which
allows you to enter the Echo mail areas you deal with. If this
gadget is "GHOSTED" (and the three gadgets below), it is because
you have not selected a network to Edit. To activate these gadget
click on a network name in the small window in the upper left of
the main CONFIG window.
Export-to...
============
The Export-to gadget simply changes the current window into a
window which will allow you to enter the node number and
access levels of nodes and points you deal with.
Mail-routing...
===============
The Mail-routing gadget will change the current window into
a window where you will define how mail gets routed.
Thats it for the gadgets on this window. Below is an example of
adding a the FIDONET network.
First off click on the NEW gadget, this will activate the string
gadget directly above. Now type in the network name. In this
example simply enter the word FIDO. After pressing return, it will
activate the next gadget, which is the First Zone gadget.
In this gadget you would enter the number 1. Press return to move
to the next gadget which is the Last Zone, in this gadget
you should enter the number 6. Pressing return will move you
to the next gadget which allows entering your point-net/fake-net
number. Usually this is the number 0. But your BOSS will inform
you what you should enter here. Press return again to activate
the next gadget which is where your node number will be entered.
Again you will have to ask your boss for this number. Press return
again to edit the Echo Mail origin line. And press return yet one
more time to enter the Netmail origin line. After pressing return
the cursor will disappear. If you need to change any of the data
simply click on what you need to edit. After doing all this you
MUST click on the Add gadget. Failure to do this will result in
all your changes being lost.
===================
AREAS CONFIGURATION
===================
Below is a description of what you see after you click on the
Areas... gadget.
The upper left of the window contains a smaller window in which
the Area (echo) names will be listed for the current network.
Areas are sorted alphabetically. You may use the proportional
gadget just to the right of this window to scroll through the
area names. When you select an area its name will appear
in the string gadget just below this window. This will
allow you to see which area your currently working with.
New
===
Clicking on the New gadget will allow you to enter a new area
or echo name to the current network.
Add
===
Clicking on this gadget will add the current echo to the list above.
Remove
======
This will remove the current selected echo from the current network.
Changes will not take effect until you exit the config program
by clicking on the Save, or Use gadget.
In the center of the window you will see the following string gadgets.
Access Level & Access Flags
===========================
Each AREA (echo) may be given an access level, and access flags. For an
explanation of Access levels & flags refer to the section on AreaFix.
Dupe Table Size
===============
You may set each echoes Dupe Table Size. Echoes with heavy traffic
should have a larger dupe table size. The default value is set in
the Tosser config.
Description
===========
This string gadget allows you to enter a description of the current
echo. This description will be sent in AreaFix replies.
The upper right of the window contains a small window in which
the node numbers of systems that feed you the echo, or that you
feed the echo to. From this window it is possible to turn on
node numbers for current selected echo. If you have not added nodes
in the Export-to's configuration then this window will be empty.
Heres an brief example describing how to add an echo to your system.
Click on the gadget labeled New, this will activate the string
gadget directly above. In this gadget you will want to enter
the actual echo name. Press return to move through the remaining
string gadgets entering information as required. After entering
all the information for the current echo make sure to click on the
Add gadget. If you have already set-up your export-to's, you may
also click on a node number to toggle an echo for the node to receive.
=========================
Export-to's configuration
=========================
The EXPORT-TO's of a network are simply the NODES to which you will
send and/or from which you will receive any of the AREAS. Once you have
entered the AREAS and export-to's (nodes), you can use either of those
windows to configure which AREAS each node will receive. From the
AREAS screen, you do this by clicking on the export-to list. From
the export-to's screen, you do this by clicking on the list of
areas. A '+' will appear next to AREAS that a given export-to will
receive, or next to the export-to's to which a given area will be
sent.
Following is a description of what you see on the Export-to's config
window:
The upper left of the Export-to's window contains a smaller window
in which the node numbers of the systems you feed, or that feed you
Echo mail. When you select a node number, its number will display in
the small string gadget directly below this window. This will allow
you to see which node you are currently working with.
New
===
Selecting this gadget will allow you to add a new node number to
your current list.
Add
===
Selecting this gadget will actually add the current node to the
listing of node numbers above.
Remove
======
Selecting this gadget will remove the current node number selected
from the listing of nodes above.
In the center of the window you will see the following gadgets:
Archiver
========
Selecting this gadget will cycle through the archiver settings.
This will allow you to select which archiving porgram to use
to pack mail for each node. CNetToss will automatically handle
unpacking of mail, this is for the archiving on outbound mail.
You must have the archiver configured in the Archivers... section
of the CONFIG.
Mail Type
=========
Selecting this gadget will cycle through three setting for which
will determine how to handle outbound mail for that node. The
three types of mail are Normal, Crash, and Hold. If you want to
hold the mail for a system, so the node must call you to pick-up
its mail you must select the Hold-switch. If the mail for a
node should leave your system immediately, you should select the
Crash setting. If neither of these cases are true, the normal
setting is what you should use.
Dimension
=========
Most mail systems can now handle 4D mail packets. Although
there are still a few systems out there which cannot. Your
BOSS node will let you know. The default value is 2D.
Access Level & Access Flags
===========================
Each AREA (echo) may be given an access level, and access flags.
For an explanation of Access levels & flags refer to the section
on AreaFix.
AF Password
===========
Each export-to (node) may also be given an Areafix password.
For a node or point to be able to use the AreaFix feature, you
must setup a password for each node you wish to give this access.
Here is a brief description on how to add a node number to your
list of Export-to's.
Click on the gadget titled New, this will activate the string
gadget directly above. Enter the node number in the standard
fido four dimensional format (i.e. 1:123/456.7). Pressing
return will highlight the access level gadget. Enter the
desired access level for that node. Press return to move
to the Access flags gadget. Set those to the desired value.
Pressing return will activate the AF password gadget, enter the
desired password or none, hit enter. Now click on the gadgets to
select Archiver, Mail type, and Dimension. When all looks ok click
on the Add gadget.
NetMail Routing
===============
The MAIL ROUTING of a network allows you to specify where NETMAIL
will go when a user uses the "MAIL @" command. To send netmail
DIRECTLY to the system to which it is addressed, specify "*:*/*.*"
will be routed to "*:*/*.*". Any combination of * (meaning any
number) and actual numbers may be used to get any combination of
routing necessary. Note: CNetToss reads the routing from top
to bottom. You should place more specific routing information at
the top, followed by more general (wildcard) routing statements.
Following is a description of the gadgets on the Route-mail...
window:
On the upper left of the screen you will see a smaller window
titled Route-mail. This window will contain the node numbers or
wildcards routing statements. Below this window are the following
gadgets.
Insert
======
Click on this gadget to insert a node or wildcard routing
statement. You must click on the routing statement in the
small window above. This will then insert your routing
statement on top of the selected item.
New
===
Click on this gadget to add a routing statement to the current
list above. This will then be added to the end of the list when
you select the Add gadget.
Add
===
Clicking on this gadget will add the current routing configuration
to your list.
Remove
======
Click on this gadget to remove the selected item from the listing.
Towards the center-right of the window you will see the following
gadgets:
Route-to
========
Enter the node number to which mail for the current item will
be routed (forwarded).
Mail Type
=========
Selecting this gadget will cycle through three setting for which
will determine how to handle outbound PRIVATE NETMAIL for that node.
The three types of mail are Normal, Crash, and Hold. If you want to
hold the mail for a system, so the node must call you to pick-up
its mail you must select the Hold-switch. If the mail for a
node should leave your system immediately, you should select the
Crash setting. If neither of these cases are true, the normal
setting is what you should use.
Here is an example of how a BASIC system might be configured.
Lets assume that you have a single boss who feeds you both echo
mail and private netmail. You will want to click on the gadget
labeled New, this will activate the string gadget above. In
this gadget you will want to enter "*:*/*.*". Press return to
edit the Route-to gadget, in this gadget you will want to enter
your bosses node number. Now click on the Mail-type gadget and
adjust if needed. When all information looks correct click on the
gadget labeled Add. Thats it for a simple configuration.
=======
AreaFix
=======
AreaFixing allows a node/point to remotely change the areas that they
receive. In order to join or drop an area, the node must have an access
level equal-to or greater than the access level of the AREA. The node
must also have (at least) all of the access flags that the AREA does.
The node must also know the password that you have given to them.
To use AreaFix, the node needs to send your node private netmail
addressed to "AreaFix" with the subject being his PASSWORD.
Each line of the message should contain an AREA name to which
the node would like to be connected. To disconnect an Area
The node should precede the area name with a "-". The node will
be disconnected from the specified echo. A netmail RESPONSE to the
Person sending the AreaFix is always sent, containing a list of areas
which the export-to node has access to. The ones currently connected
will be marked with a "+". If an AreaFix message is sent with the
incorrect password, the message will be forwarded to the sysop's mailbox.
=====================
Setting Up Your Paths
=====================
You should set your inbound, outbound, and nodelist paths using
the Paths... option of CONFIG. Normally, these are mail:inbound/
mail:outbound/ and mail:nodelist/. You may also want to actually
create these directories. While your at it, create a directory called
mail:dupetables. This will be needed later.
=====================
Setting up the Tosser
=====================
You can edit several CNetToss parameters by using the Tosser...
slection via the CONFIG program.
Here is a description of the gadgets on the Tosser window:
INPUT BUFFER
============
This determines the amount of memory in Bytes to use for
reading from the ".PKT" files.
OUTPUT BUFFER
=============
This determines the amount of memory in Bytes to allocate
FOR EACH of your export-to nodes during a toss.
DEFAULT DUPE TABLE SIZE
=======================
This is the default dupe table size CNetToss
will use. CNetToss is able to remember messages that it has seen.
It does this by making a table of the origin addresses and MSGID serial
numbers. You can make this table as large as you want,
but remember that memory will be allocated for EVERY area that you
export-to during a toss. Set this to 0 to disable dupechecking. To
have this feature work, you need to create a directory mail:dupetables/
where the actual data will be stored.
SEND ECHOMAIL FROM UNKNOWN SYSTEMS TO "BAD"
===========================================
If CNetToss detects incoming echo-mail from a node which is not
configured to receive the area (as configured in CONFIG), this
option will cause those messages to be sent to the BAD MESSAGES area.
TRAPDOOR 1.74
=============
If you select this option, CNetToss will use full four-dimensional
filenames. Without this option, CNetToss will generate the MS-DOS
type HEX filenames.
DUPES TO BAD
============
This option can be used to route all "duplicate" echomail and
netmail to the BAD MESSAGES area. If you don't select this
option, the messages will be "skipped" (deleted).
ADJUST OUT-OF-ZONE NETMAIL TO ZONEGATE
======================================
This option is not yet implemented.
IMPORT KLUDGES
==============
Normally, imported messages are stripped of the control messages
that CNet uses to do routing and networking. If you REALLY WANT
to see these lines in your message bases, check this option.
WITHOUT POINTNET, USE 3D ADDRESS IN PATH
========================================
If you are a point, and your boss does not have a pointnet established,
this option tells CNetToss to add your point number to PATH statements
on messages that you export.
==================
CNetToss Operation
==================
CNetToss is a CLI application. It can be run in any script, or
as a DOS pfile from CNet. All output shown on screen is saved
into a file named toss, which is stored in the directory
"sysdata:log/" Four levels of log verbosity are possible, using
the argument "verbosity X", where X is a number from 0 to 3. The
numbers correspond to:
0: Minimal logging (default)
1: Give a summary of toss activity by AREA
2: Detail each netmail that is imported or routed
3: Detail every message that is scanned
To run CNetToss, CNet's CONTROL panel must be active, and a
port loaded (the port may then be closed before CNetToss is
actually ran).
Below is an explantion of how CNetToss operates each time
you use it:
1. UNPACK. Find all packed message files in the inbound
directory which need to be unpacked, and do so.
2. Find all .PKT files in the inbound directory.
3. For each .PKT file, read the messages it contains. If
the message is going to be exported to an export-to node,
add the message to the export-to's buffer. If the message
is to imported locally, member it's position.
4. Import all messages into local message bases. Doing this
all at once speeds up the operation of CNetToss, so that it
only must enter any given message base once.
5. Pack all ".cnet" files in the outbound directory, and add
them to the ".FLO" files. Note that message base posts
and responses are directly added to the ".cnet" files at
the time of posting, so the message bases do NOT need to
be scanned for new messages during export!
===========================
CNET MESSAGE BASE INTERFACE
===========================
In order to import or export any particular fido area to your bbs,
you need to use the EL command on the subboard, and set the "unique
subboard name" to the actual network "TAGNAME" of the AREA (echo).
You must also set the "network affiliation" to match the network that
the subboard belongs to. It is NOT necessary to import every fido
area that your system deals with. This makes it possible to have
subboards "pass through" your system to others without actually
importing their contents. Its also a good idea to turn MCI off
for fido echos. You would not want to import some message which
could be hazardous to your bbs. Some networks allow this. But
remember formatting of a hardrive is possible via Fido echo mail.
To establish a BAD MESSAGES area, create a subboard with the
UNIQUE subboard name of "BAD_MSGS". You must set its network
affiliation to a network, but it does not matter which one.
Without a bad messages area, all bad messages will be deleted.
It is currently your responsibility to insure that a subboard has
enough room for new imported items. New items may be "lost" if
the subboard is full (maximum items/subboard has been reached).
Make sure you run amaint daily. Also you should run repair_sub
two or three times a week.
=======
NETMAIL
=======
The MAIL command has been changed to incorporate the fido NODELIST
and TRAPLIST.LIBRARY. If you do not have this library, it is
available from almost any Amiga fido net site. You need to receive
NODELISTS from the networks that you are a member of, and use a
program like TRAPLIST to compile them. If you don't have TRAPLIST,
you may have to ask another sysop to do this for you. It will not
be possible to send netmail without a compiled nodelist. The
nodelist allows verification of valid network addresses, and
provides information about systems (sysop, city, system name).
The COST variables in the nodelist are also used by CNet. Normally
these values are set to 0, but if you set these, CNet will inform
the user of the cost to send mail to the node, and will subtract
this cost from the user's balance. Privilege flags have been
changed/added to allow exemption from this. A privilege flag has
also been added which determines whether the user's "account
balance" or "net credits" are used.
Note to people upgrading from CNet V2.xx With this level of nodelist
support, the file "sys.fidosites" is now considered obsolete.
When sending netmail, a user may enter ? at the "enter the netmail
address" prompt to "search" the nodelist. CNet will allow a search
for phone#, sysop, city, address, or system name.
Using a new option from the EP (edit preferences) command, users
can select a sysop-definable number of "aliases" for netmail. The
user's "alias" file must contain two columns, the alias, and the full
net address. For example,
john John Hoyt@911:5150/0
peer Peer Hasselmeyer@2:247/4
etc.
A user would then only need to use the command "mail john@" in
order to send mail to John Hoyt in California.
With the proper privilege flag(s), a user is given options to
give messages hold, crash, file attach, or file request
attributes. A new command "FReq" has been added to directly
edit the ".REQ" file of any given node. A note about the
crash setting for Netmail, this WILL NOT route mail to
your normal netmail feed. This will create a packet addressed
directly to the node number specified. This could result in
a long distance phone call. Be cautious of how you have TrapDoor
configured and to who you let send Netmail with the crash setting.
Interfacing with TrapDoor
=========================
The following paragraphs describe the steps needed to interface
TrapDoor v1.83 with CNet/3. It is not an explanation of TrapDoor or
its functions. This section assumes you have a registered version
of TrapDoor v1.83. Its helpful to find someone local to you,
running fido to help with the installation, and to help test
sending test messages back and forth. You want to make sure
your system is working as it should be. You do not want to
hook up to any network full time, until which time your sure
that your system is operating correctly.
Node Setup
==========
As a node you will want to keep TrapDoor running at all times to
receive mail from your boss. And also receive mail from any nodes or
points you may feed. You will first want to get Trapdoor configured
for your system. The documentation for Trapdoor covers this thoroughly,
so it will not be covered here.
After you have TrapDoor working, (sending and receiving mail).
your ready to configure TrapDoor to hand off human callers to
CNet BBS.
The main keywords for TrapDoor you are concerned with are:
BBSCOMMAND
BBSCHAR
DROPBBSSECS
BBSMODE
RINGS
SHARED
Here are the keywords copied exactly from my TrapDoor.cfg used
on my system:
BBSCOMMAND "cnet:bbs trap port 1 baud %B lock %b noscreen"
BBSCHAR "." ; use period as alternate key to run bbs
DROPBBSSECS 20 ;drop to bbs in 20 seconds
BBSMODE SPAWN
RINGS 2 ; set rings to 2 for caller id, 1 otherwise.
SHARED ; open serial port in shared mode.
If you wish you may run TrapDoor on multiple ports.
The TrapDoor Manual explains this. You will need to
adjust the SERIALNAME, SERIALUNIT, and the REXXNAME
keywords. You also will need to edit the BBSCOMMAND
keyword. You will need to adjust the PORT number to
reflect which port you wish to spawn when a human calls.
Finally you will need to have TrapDoor run during your user-startup,
or the script which runs CNet after booting your machine.
You will also want to Re-Configure CNet to NOT automatically
load the port which will be occupied by TrapDoor. When TrapDoor
receives a human caller, it will spawn the bbs. TrapDoor will
remain in memory waiting for the user to log off the system.
The bbs port will remove itself automatically. And TrapDoor will
then take control of the modem.
Point Setup
===========
If you do not feed other nodes, or you will not be polled (called)
automatically by your boss. You will have to manually poll for
your mail. We will attempt to make sure the CNet v3.0 disks
contain some scripts for automating the process of removing
a port, running trapdoor, and after mail has been picked
up, re-running the bbs. We cannot guarantee these scripts
will be available on the Disks due to time constraints.
But they will be available shortly after the release of
CNet v3.0
TrapDoor ,Traplist, and FidoNet.Man are (c) Maximilian Hantsch and
Martin Laubach
Fido and FidoNet are trademarks of Tom Jennings, Fido Software.
