The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.50 Ian Maude, G0VGS, (g0vgs@gb7mbc.net), and Charlie Carroll, K1XX, (k1xx@ptcnh.net) March 2003 revision 0.6 A reference for SysOps of the DXSpider DXCluster program. ______________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1. Routing and Filtering 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Route Filters 1.3 The node_default filter 1.4 General route filtering 1.5 General filter rules 1.6 Types of filter 1.7 Filter options 1.8 Default filters 1.9 Advanced filtering 1.10 Basic hop control 1.11 Hop Control on Specific Nodes 1.12 Isolating networks 1.13 A DXSpider Filtering Tutorial 2. Other filters 2.1 Filtering Mail 2.2 Filtering words from text fields in Announce, Talk and DX spots 2.3 Stopping (possibly bad) DX Spots from Nodes or Spotters 3. Mail 3.1 Personal mail 3.2 Bulletin mail 3.3 Forward.pl 3.4 The msg command 3.5 Message status 3.6 Filtering mail 3.7 Distribution lists 3.8 BBS interface 4. Scripts 5. Databases 5.1 Creating databases 5.2 Importing databases 5.3 Checking available databases 5.4 Looking up databases 5.5 Removing databases 6. Information, files and useful programs 6.1 MOTD 6.2 MOTD_NOR 6.3 Downtime message 6.4 Other text messages 6.5 The Aliases file 6.6 Console.pl 6.7 Updating kepler data 6.8 The QRZ callbook 6.9 Connecting logging programs 7. Java Web applet 8. Web based statistics 9. Security 9.1 Registration 9.2 Passwords 10. CVS 10.1 CVS from a Linux platform 10.2 CVS from a Windows platform 10.3 accept (0) 10.4 accept/announce [input] [0-9] (8) 10.5 accept/announce [0-9] (0) 10.6 accept/route [0-9] (8) 10.7 accept/spots [input] [0-9] (8) 10.8 accept/spots [0-9] (0) 10.9 accept/wcy [input] [0-9] (8) 10.10 accept/wcy [0-9] (0) 10.11 accept/wwv [input] [0-9] (8) 10.12 accept/wwv [0-9] (0) 10.13 announce (0) 10.14 announce full (0) 10.15 announce sysop (5) 10.16 apropos (0) 10.17 blank [] [] (0) 10.18 bye (0) 10.19 catchup all|[ ...] (5) 10.20 chat (0) 10.21 clear/announce [input] [0-9|all] (8) 10.22 clear/announce [1|all] (0) 10.23 clear/route [input] [0-9|all] (8) 10.24 clear/route [1|all] (0) 10.25 clear/spots [input] [0-9|all] (8) 10.26 clear/spots [0-9|all] (0) 10.27 clear/wcy [input] [0-9|all] (8) 10.28 clear/wcy [1|all] (0) 10.29 clear/wwv [input] [0-9|all] (8) 10.30 clear/wwv [1|all] (0) 10.31 connect (5) 10.32 dbavail (0) 10.33 dbcreate (9) 10.34 dbcreate chain [..] (9) 10.35 dbcreate cmd (9) 10.36 dbcreate remote (9) 10.37 dbimport (9) 10.38 dbremove (9) 10.39 dbshow (0) 10.40 debug (9) 10.41 delete/usdb ... (9) 10.42 delete/user ... (9) 10.43 demonstrate (9) 10.44 directory (0) 10.45 directory - (0) 10.46 directory (0) 10.47 directory all (0) 10.48 directory from (0) 10.49 directory new (0) 10.50 directory own (0) 10.51 directory subject (0) 10.52 directory to (0) 10.53 directory- (5) 10.54 disconnect [ ...] (8) 10.55 dx [by ] (0) 10.56 echo (0) 10.57 export (9) 10.58 export_users [] (9) 10.59 filtering... (0) 10.60 forward/latlong (8) 10.61 forward/opernam (1) 10.62 help (0) 10.63 init (5) 10.64 join (0) 10.65 kill (5) 10.66 kill - (0) 10.67 kill - (5) 10.68 kill [ [ ...] (0) 10.70 kill expunge [ (5) 10.72 kill full [ [ (5) 10.75 kill from (0) 10.76 kill to (0) 10.77 leave (0) 10.78 links (0) 10.79 load/aliases (9) 10.80 load/badmsg (9) 10.81 load/badwords (9) 10.82 load/bands (9) 10.83 load/cmd_cache (9) 10.84 load/forward (9) 10.85 load/keps (5) 10.86 load/keps [nn] (5) 10.87 load/messages (9) 10.88 load/prefixes (9) 10.89 merge [/] (5) 10.90 msg [data ... ] (9) 10.91 pc (8) 10.92 ping (1) 10.93 rcmd (1) 10.94 read (0) 10.95 read (0) 10.96 read- (5) 10.97 reject (0) 10.98 reject/announce [input] [0-9] (8) 10.99 reject/announce [0-9] (0) 10.100 reject/route [0-9] (8) 10.101 reject/spots [input] [0-9] (8) 10.102 reject/spots [0-9] (0) 10.103 reject/wcy [input] [0-9] (8) 10.104 reject/wcy [0-9] (0) 10.105 reject/wwv [input] [0-9] (8) 10.106 reject/wwv [0-9] (0) 10.107 reply (0) 10.108 reply (0) 10.109 reply b (0) 10.110 reply noprivate (0) 10.111 reply rr (0) 10.112 save [-d -t -a] "" [...] (9) 10.113 send [ ...] (0) 10.114 send copy (0) 10.115 send noprivate (0) 10.116 send private (0) 10.117 send rr (0) 10.118 set/address (0) 10.119 set/announce (0) 10.120 set/anntalk (0) 10.121 set/arcluster [..] (5) 10.122 set/baddx .. (8) 10.123 set/badnode .. (8) 10.124 set/badspotter .. (8) 10.125 set/badword .. (8) 10.126 set/bbs [..] (5) 10.127 set/beep (0) 10.128 set/clx [..] (5) 10.129 set/debug (9) 10.130 set/dx (0) 10.131 set/dxcq (0) 10.132 set/dxgrid (0) 10.133 set/dxitu (0) 10.134 set/dxnet [..] (5) 10.135 set/echo (0) 10.136 set/email ... (0) 10.137 set/here (0) 10.138 set/homenode (0) 10.139 set/hops ann|spots|route|wwv|wcy (8) 10.140 set/isolate (9) 10.141 set/language (0) 10.142 set/location (0) 10.143 set/lockout (9) 10.144 set/logininfo (0) 10.145 set/name (0) 10.146 set/node [..] (5) 10.147 set/obscount (8) 10.148 set/page (0) 10.149 set/password (0) 10.150 set/password (9) 10.151 set/pinginterval (9) 10.152 set/privilege [ (0) 10.154 set/qra (0) 10.155 set/qth (0) 10.156 set/register ... (9) 10.157 set/spider [..] (5) 10.158 set/sys_location (9) 10.159 set/sys_qra (9) 10.160 set/talk (0) 10.161 set/usdb (9) 10.162 set/usstate (0) 10.163 set/wcy (0) 10.164 set/wwv (0) 10.165 set/wx (0) 10.166 show/baddx (1) 10.167 show/badnode (1) 10.168 show/badspotter (1) 10.169 show/badword (1) 10.170 show/chat [] [] (0) 10.171 show/configuration [] (0) 10.172 show/configuration/node (0) 10.173 show/connect (1) 10.174 show/contest (0) 10.175 show/date [|] (0) 10.176 show/db0sdx (0) 10.177 show/debug (9) 10.178 show/dx (0) 10.179 show/dxcc (0) 10.180 show/dxqsl (0) 10.181 show/dxstats [days] [date] (0) 10.182 show/files [ []] (0) 10.183 show/filter (0) 10.184 show/hfstats [days] [date] (0) 10.185 show/hftable [days] [date] [prefix ...] (0) 10.186 show/hops [ann|spots|route|wcy|wwv] (8) 10.187 show/isolate (1) 10.188 show/lockout |all (9) 10.189 show/log [] (8) 10.190 show/moon [ndays] [|] (0) 10.191 show/muf [][long] (0) 10.192 show/newconfiguration [] (0) 10.193 show/newconfiguration/node (0) 10.194 show/node [ ...] (1) 10.195 show/prefix (0) 10.196 show/program (5) 10.197 show/qra (0) 10.198 show/qra [] (0) 10.199 show/qrz (0) 10.200 show/registered [] (9) 10.201 show/route ... (0) 10.202 show/satellite [ ] (0) 10.203 show/station all [] (6) 10.204 show/station [ ..] (0) 10.205 show/sun [ndays] [|] (0) 10.206 show/time [|] (0) 10.207 show/usdb [call ..] (0) 10.208 show/vhfstats [days] [date] (0) 10.209 show/vhftable [days] [date] [prefix ...] (0) 10.210 show/wcy (0) 10.211 show/wcy (0) 10.212 show/wm7d (0) 10.213 show/wwv (0) 10.214 show/wwv (0) 10.215 shutdown (5) 10.216 spoof (9) 10.217 stat/channel [] (5) 10.218 stat/db (5) 10.219 stat/msg (1) 10.220 stat/msg (1) 10.221 stat/route_node (5) 10.222 stat/route_node all (5) 10.223 stat/route_user (5) 10.224 stat/route_user all (5) 10.225 stat/user [] (5) 10.226 sysop (0) 10.227 talk > [] (0) 10.228 talk [] (0) 10.229 type / (0) 10.230 uncatchup all|[msgno> ...] (5) 10.231 unset/announce (0) 10.232 unset/anntalk (0) 10.233 unset/baddx .. (8) 10.234 unset/badnode .. (8) 10.235 unset/badspotter .. (8) 10.236 unset/badword .. (8) 10.237 unset/beep (0) 10.238 unset/debug (9) 10.239 unset/dx (0) 10.240 unset/dxcq (0) 10.241 unset/dxgrid (0) 10.242 unset/dxitu (0) 10.243 unset/echo (0) 10.244 unset/email (0) 10.245 unset/here (0) 10.246 unset/hops ann|spots|route|wwv|wcy (8) 10.247 unset/isolate (9) 10.248 unset/lockout (9) 10.249 unset/logininfo (0) 10.250 unset/password ... (9) 10.251 unset/privilege (0) 10.252 unset/prompt (0) 10.253 unset/register ... (9) 10.254 unset/talk (0) 10.255 unset/usstate (0) 10.256 unset/wcy (0) 10.257 unset/wwv (0) 10.258 unset/wx (0) 10.259 who (0) 10.260 wx (0) 10.261 wx full (0) 10.262 wx sysop (5) ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Routing and Filtering 1.1. Introduction From DXSpider version 1.48, major changes were introduced to the way node connections are treated. This is part of an ongoing process to remove problems with loops and to enable talk and other functions to propagate across the whole of the worldwide cluster network. In fact, in a Spider network, it would be useful, perhaps even necessary to have loops. This would give real resilience to the network, meaning that if a link dropped, the information flow would simply come in and go out via a different route. Of course, we do not have a complete network of Spider nodes, there are other programs out there. Some of these do not have any protection from loops. Certainly AK1A does not handle loops well at all. It is therefore necessary to have some form of protection for these nodes. In fact DXSpider has had a simple system for some time which is called isolation. This is similar to what in other systems such as clx, is called passive mode. A more detailed explanation of isolation is given further below. This system is still available and, for simple networks, is probably all that you need. The new functionality introduced in version 1.48 allows filtering the node and user protocol frames on a "per interface" basis. We call this route filtering. This is used instead of isolation. What this really means is that you can control more or less completely which user and node management PC protocol frames pass to each of your partner nodes. You can also limit what comes into your node from your partners. It is even possible to control the settings that your partner node has for the routing information that it sends to you (using the rcmd command). 1.2. Route Filters Initially when route filters were being tested we generated a "default" filter. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that this might suit the UK cluster network but didn't really fit anybody else. However using a default filter is an appropriate thing to do. How, is explained further on. The first thing that you must do is determine whether you need to use route filtering at all. If you are a "normal" node with two or three partners and you arranged in an "official" non-looping tree type network, then you do not need to do route filtering and you will feel a lot better for not getting involved. If you are successfully using isolation then you also probably don't need to use route filtering. To put it simply, you should not mix Isolation and Route Filtering. It will work, of sorts, but you will not get the expected results. If you are using Isolation sucessfully at the moment, do not get involved in Route Filtering unless you have a good supply of aspirin! Once you have started down the road of Route Filtering, do not use Isolation either. Use one or the other, not both. You will only require this functionality if you are "well-connected". What that means is that you are connected to several different parts of (say) the EU cluster and, at the same time, also connected to two or three places in the US which, in turn are connected back to the EU. This is called a "loop" and if you are seriously looped then you need filtering. I should at this stage give a little bit of background on filters. All the filters in Spider work in basically the same way. You can either accept or reject various options in order to create the filter rules you wish to achieve. Some filters are user settable, others can only be altered by the sysop. Route filtering can only be done by the sysop. Anyway, without further discouragement, let me start the process of explanation. 1.3. The node_default filter All normal systems should have a default routing filter and it should usually be set to send only the normal, unlooped, view of your "national" network. Here in the UK that means nodes from the UK and Eire, in EU it is more complex as the networks there grew up in a more intertwined way. The generic commands are:- reject/route node_default or accept/route node_default where filter_option is one of the following ... call call_dxcc call_itu call_zone channel channel_dxcc channel_itu channel_zone Please be careful if you alter this setting, it will affect ALL your links! Remember, this is a default filter for node connections, not a per link default. For the default routing filter then you have two real choices: either a "national" view or the "safe" option of only your own callsign. Examples of each (for my node: GB7DJK) are:- acc/route node_default call_dxcc 61,38 acc/route node_default call gb7djk GB7DJK uses the first of these. The DXCC countries can be obtained from the show/prefix command. The example filters shown control output TO all your partner nodes unless they have a specific filter applied to them (see next section). It is also possible to control the incoming routing information that you are prepared to accept FROM your partner nodes. The reason this is necessary is to make sure that stuff like mail, pings and similar commands a) go down the correct links and b) don't loop around excessively. Again using GB7DJK as an example a typical default input filter would be something like: rej/route node_default input call_dxcc 61,38 and not channel_dxcc 61,38 What this does is accept node and user information for our national network from nodes that are in our national network, but rejects such information from anyone else. Although it doesn't explicitly say so, by implication, any other node information (not from the UK and Eire) is accepted. As I imagine it will take a little while to get one's head around all of this you can study the effect of any rules that you try by watching the debug output after having done:- set/debug filter After you have got tired of that, to put it back the way it was:- unset/debug filter 1.4. General route filtering Exactly the same rules apply for general route filtering. You would use either an accept filter or a reject filter like this ... reject/route or accept/route Here are some examples of route filters ... rej/route gb7djk call_dxcc 61,38 (send everything except UK+EIRE nodes) rej/route all (equiv to [very] restricted mode) acc/route gb7djk call_dxcc 61,38 (send only UK+EIRE nodes) acc/route gb7djk call gb7djk (equiv to SET/ISOLATE) In practice you will either be opening the default filter out for a partner by defining a specific filter for that callsign:- acc/route gb7baa all acc/route gb7baa input all or restricting it quite a lot, in fact making it very nearly like an isolated node, like this:- acc/route pi4ehv-8 call gb7djk rej/route pi4ehv-8 input call_dxcc 61,38 This last example takes everything except UK and Eire from PI4EHV-8 but only sends him my local configuration (just a PC19 for GB7DJK and PC16s for my local users). It is possible to write much more complex rules, there are up to 10 accept/reject pairs per callsign per filter. For more information see the next section. 1.5. General filter rules Upto v1.44 it was not possible for the user to set their own filters. From v1.45 though that has all changed. It is now possible to set filters for just about anything you wish. If you have just updated from an older version of DXSpider you will need to update your new filters. You do not need to do anything with your old filters, they will be renamed as you update. There are 3 basic commands involved in setting and manipulating filters. These are accept, reject and clear. First we will look generally at filtering. There are a number of things you can filter in the DXSpider system. They all use the same general mechanism. In general terms you can create a "reject" or an "accept" filter which can have up to 10 lines in it. You do this using, for example ... accept/spots ..... reject/spots ..... where ..... are the specific commands for that type of filter. There are filters for spots, wwv, announce, wcy and (for sysops) connects. See each different accept or reject command reference for more details. There is also a command to clear out one or more lines in a filter. They are ... clear/spots 1 clear/spots all There is clear/xxxx command for each type of filter. and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ... show/filter For now we are going to use spots for the examples, but you can apply the same principles to all types of filter. 1.6. Types of filter There are two main types of filter, accept or reject. You can use either to achieve the result you want dependent on your own preference and which is more simple to do. It is pointless writing 8 lines of reject filters when 1 accept filter would do the same thing! Each filter has 10 lines (of any length) which are tried in order. If a line matches then the action you have specified is taken (ie reject means ignore it and accept means take it) If you specify reject filters, then any lines that arrive that match the filter will be dumped but all else will be accepted. If you use an accept filter, then ONLY the lines in the filter will be accepted and all else will be dumped. For example if you have a single line accept filter ... accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16) then you will ONLY get VHF spots from or to CQ zones 14, 15 and 16. If you set a reject filter like this ... reject/spots on hf/cw Then you will get everything EXCEPT HF CW spots. You could make this single filter even more flexible. For example, if you are interested in IOTA and will work it even on CW even though normally you are not interested in CW, then you could say ... reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:- accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota which achieves exactly the same thing. You should choose one or the other until you are comfortable with the way it works. You can mix them if you wish (actually you can have an accept AND a reject on the same line) but don't attempt this until you are sure you know what you are doing! You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your own understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ... reject/spots 1 on hf/cw reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16) What this does is to ignore all HF CW spots and also rejects any spots on VHF which don't either originate or spot someone in Europe. This is an example where you would use a line number (1 and 2 in this case), if you leave the digit out, the system assumes '1'. Digits '0'-'9' are available. This make it easier to see just what filters you have set. It also makes it more simple to remove individual filters, during a contest for example. You will notice in the above example that the second line has brackets. Look at the line logically. You can see there are 2 separate sections to it. We are saying reject spots that are VHF or above APART from those in zones 14, 15 and 16 (either spotted there or originated there). If you did not have the brackets to separate the 2 sections, then Spider would read it logically from the front and see a different expression entirely ... (on 50000/1400000 and by_zone 14,15,16) or call_zone 14,15,16 The simple way to remember this is, if you use OR - use brackets. Whilst we are here CASE is not important. 'And BY_Zone' is just the same as 'and by_zone'. As mentioned earlier, setting several filters can be more flexible than simply setting one complex one. Doing it in this way means that if you want to alter your filter you can just redefine or remove one or more lines of it or one line. For example ... reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb would redefine our earlier example, or clear/spots 1 To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ... clear/spots all 1.7. Filter options You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter. 1.8. Default filters Sometimes all that is needed is a general rule for node connects. This can be done with a node_default filter. This rule will always be followed, even if the link is isolated, unless another filter is set specifically. Default rules can be set for nodes and users. They can be set for spots, announces, WWV and WCY. They can also be used for hops. An example might look like this ... accept/spot node_default by_zone 14,15,16,20,33 set/hops node_default spot 50 This filter is for spots only, you could set others for announce, WWV and WCY. This filter would work for ALL nodes unless a specific filter is written to override it for a particular node. You can also set a user_default should you require. It is important to note that default filters should be considered to be "connected". By this I mean that should you override the default filter for spots, you need to add a rule for the hops for spots also. 1.9. Advanced filtering Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to experiment. The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf spots from EU can be written with a mixed filter, for example ... rej/spot on hf/cw acc/spot on 0/30000 acc/spot 2 on 50000/1400000 and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16) Note that the first filter has not been specified with a number. This will automatically be assumed to be number 1. In this case, we have said reject all HF spots in the CW section of the bands but accept all others at HF. Also accept anything in VHF and above spotted in or by operators in the zones 14, 15 and 16. Each filter slot actually has a 'reject' slot and an 'accept' slot. The reject slot is executed BEFORE the accept slot. It was mentioned earlier that after a reject test that doesn't match, the default for following tests is 'accept', the reverse is true for 'accept'. In the example what happens is that the reject is executed first, any non hf/cw spot is passed to the accept line, which lets through everything else on HF. The next filter line lets through just VHF/UHF spots from EU. 1.10. Basic hop control 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 ... # # 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, }, ); 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. SHould any of the nodecalls include an ssid, it is important to wrap the whole call in single quotes, like this ... 'DB0FHF-15' => { 11 => 5, 12 => 8, 16 => 8, 17 => 8, 19 => 8, 21 => 8, }, If you do not do this, you will get errors and the file will not work as expected. 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. 1.11. Hop Control on Specific Nodes You can set a callsign specific hop count for any of the standard filter options so:- set/hops gb7djk spot 4 set/hops node_default route 10 set/hops gb7baa wcy 5 all work on their specific area of the protocol. The set/hops command overrides any hops that you have set otherwise. You can show what hops have been set using the show/hops command. 1.12. Isolating networks It is possible to isolate networks from each other on a "gateway" node using the set/isolate command. The effect of this is to partition an isolated network completely from another node 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. 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 use an acc/spot >call< all filter to override the isolate. 1.13. A DXSpider Filtering Tutorial There is now an excellent primer/tutorial on filtering written by Jim Samuels, W3BG with an introduction by Dave Hawes N3RD that I strongly suggest you read. You can read it here The DXSpider User Filtering Primer 2. Other filters 2.1. Filtering Mail In the /spider/msg directory you will find a file called badmsg.pl.issue. Rename this to badmsg.pl and edit the file. The original looks something like this .... # the list of regexes for messages that we won't store having # received them (bear in mind that we must receive them fully before # we can bin them) # The format of each line is as follows # type source pattern # P/B/F T/F/O/S regex # type: P - private, B - bulletin (msg), F - file (ak1a bull) # source: T - to field, F - from field, O - origin, S - subject # pattern: a perl regex on the field requested # Currently only type B and P msgs are affected by this code. # # The list is read from the top down, the first pattern that matches # causes the action to be taken. # The pattern can be undef or 0 in which case it will always be selected # for the action specified package DXMsg; @badmsg = ( ); I think this is fairly self explanatory. It is simply a list of subject headers that we do not want to pass on to either the users of the cluster or the other cluster nodes that we are linked to. This is usually because of rules and regulations pertaining to items for sale etc in a particular country. 2.2. Filtering words from text fields in Announce, Talk and DX spots From version 1.48 onwards the interface to this has changed. You can now use the commands set/badword to add words that you are not prepared to see on the cluster, unset/badword to allow that word again and show/badword to list the words that you have set. If you have a previous /spider/data/badwords, the first time you start the node, it will read and convert this file to the new commands. The old style file will then be removed. 2.3. Stopping (possibly bad) DX Spots from Nodes or Spotters There are a number of commands that control whether a spot progresses any further by regarding it as "bad" in some way. A DX Spot has a number of fields which can be checked to see whether they contain "bad" values, they are: the DX callsign itself, the Spotter and the Originating Node. There are a set of commands which allow the sysop to control whether a spot continues:- set/baddx set/badspotter set/badnode These work in the same as the set/badword command, you can add any words or callsigns or whatever to the appropriate database. For example, to stop a spot from a particular node you do: set/badnode gb7djk gb7dxc a bad spotter: set/badspotter b0mb p1rat nocall and some bad dx: set/baddx video wsjt You can remove a word using the appropriate unset command (unset/baddx, unset/badspotter, unset/badnode) or list them using one of show/baddx, show/badspotter and show/badnode. 3. Mail DXSpider deals seamlessly with standard AK1A type mail. It supports both personal and bulletin mail and the sysop has additional commands to ensure that mail gets to where it is meant. DXSpider will send mail almost immediately, assuming that the target is on line. However, only one mail message is dealt with at any one time. If a mail message is already being sent or recieved, then the new message will be queued until it has finished. The cluster mail is automatically deleted after 30 days unless the sysop sets the "keep" flag using the msg command. 3.1. Personal mail Personal mail is sent using the sp command. This is actually the default method of sending mail and so a simple s for send will do. A full list of the send commands and options is in the command set section, so I will not duplicate them here. 3.2. Bulletin mail Bulletin mail is sent by using the sb command. This is one of the most common mistakes users make when sending mail. They send a bulletin mail with s or sp instead of sb and of course the message never leaves the cluster. This can be rectified by the sysop by using the msg command. Bulletin addresses can be set using the Forward.pl file. 3.3. Forward.pl DXSpider receives all and any mail sent to it without any alterations needed in files. Because personal and bulletin mail are treated differently, there is no need for a list of accepted bulletin addresses. It is necessary, however, to tell the program which links accept which bulletins. For example, it is pointless sending bulletins addresses to "UK" to any links other than UK ones. The file that does this is called forward.pl and lives in /spider/msg. At default, like other spider files it is named forward.pl.issue. Rename it to forward.pl and edit the file to match your requirements. The format is below ... # # this is an example message forwarding file for the system # # The format of each line is as follows # # type to/from/at pattern action destinations # P/B/F T/F/A regex I/F [ call [, call ...] ] # # type: P - private, B - bulletin (msg), F - file (ak1a bull) # to/from/at: T - to field, F - from field, A - home bbs, O - origin # pattern: a perl regex on the field requested # action: I - ignore, F - forward # destinations: a reference to an array containing node callsigns # # if it is non-private and isn't in here then it won't get forwarded # # Currently only type B msgs are affected by this code. # # The list is read from the top down, the first pattern that matches # causes the action to be taken. # # The pattern can be undef or 0 in which case it will always be selected # for the action specified # # If the BBS list is undef or 0 and the action is 'F' (and it matches the # pattern) then it will always be forwarded to every node that doesn't have # it (I strongly recommend you don't use this unless you REALLY mean it, if # you allow a new link with this on EVERY bull will be forwarded immediately # on first connection) # package DXMsg; @forward = ( ); Simply insert a bulletin address and state in the brackets where you wish that mail to go. For example, you can see here that mail sent to "UK" will only be sent to the UK links and not to PA4AB-14. To force the cluster to reread the file use load/forward NB: If a user tries to send mail to a bulletin address that does not exist in this file, they will get an error. 3.4. The msg command The msg command is a very powerful and flexible tool for the sysop. It allows the sysop to alter to and from fields and make other changes to manage the cluster mail. Here is a full list of the various options ... MSG TO - change TO callsign to MSG FRom - change FROM callsign to MSG PRrivate - set private flag MSG NOPRrivate - unset private flag MSG RR - set RR flag MSG NORR - unset RR flag MSG KEep - set the keep flag (message won't be deleted ever) MSG NOKEep - unset the keep flag MSG SUbject - change the subject to MSG WAittime - remove any waiting time for this message MSG NOREad - mark message as unread MSG REad - mark message as read MSG QUeue - queue any outstanding bulletins MSG QUeue 1 - queue any outstanding private messages These commands are simply typed from within the cluster as the sysop user. 3.5. Message status You can check on a message from within the cluster by using the command stat/msg. This will give you additional information on the message number including which nodes have received it, which node it was received from and when etc. Here is an example of the output of the command ... G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z > stat/msg 6869 From: GB7DJK Msg Time: 26-Jan-2001 1302Z Msgno: 6869 Origin: GB7DJK Size: 8012 Subject: AMSAT 2line KEPS 01025.AMSAT To: UK Got it Nodes: GB7BAA, GB7ADX Private: 0 Read Confirm: 0 Times read: 0 G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z > 3.6. Filtering mail This is described in the section on Other filters so I will not duplicate it here. 3.7. Distribution lists Distribution lists are simply a list of users to send certain types of mail to. An example of this is mail you only wish to send to other sysops. In /spider/msg there is a directory called distro. You put any distibution lists in here. For example, here is a file called SYSOP.pl that caters for the UK sysops. qw(GB7TLH GB7DJK GB7DXM GB7CDX GB7BPQ GB7DXN GB7MBC GB7MBC-6 GB7MDX GB7NDX GB7SDX GB7TDX GB7UDX GB7YDX GB7ADX GB7BAA GB7DXA GB7DXH GB7DXK GB7DXI GB7DXS) Any mail sent to "sysop" would only be sent to the callsigns in this list. 3.8. BBS interface Spider provides a simple BBS interface. No input is required from the sysop of the cluster at all. The BBS simply sets the cluster as a BBS and pushes any required mail to the cluster. No mail can flow from Spider to the BBS, the interface is one-way. Please be careful not to flood the cluster network with unnecessary mail. Make sure you only send mail to the clusters that want it by using the Forward.pl file very carefully. 4. Scripts From 1.48 onwards it will become increasingly possible to control DXSpider's operation with scripts of various kinds. The directory /spider/scripts is where it all happens and is used for several things. Firstly it contains a file called startup that can be used to call in any changes to the cluster from the default settings on startup. This script is executed immediately after all initialisation of the node is done but before any connections are possible. Examples of this include how many spots it is possible to get with the sh/dx command, whether you want registration/passwords to be permanently on etc. An example file is shown below and is included in the distribution as startup.issue. # # startup script example # # set maximum no of spots allowed to 100 # set/var $Spot::maxspots = 100 # # Set registration on # set/var $main::reqreg = 1 # # Set passwords on # set/var $main::passwdreq = 1 # As usual, any text behind a # is treated as a comment and not read. To use this file, simply rename it from startup.issue to startup. In our example above there are three options. The first option is the amount of spots that a user can request with the sh/dx command. Normally the default is to give 10 spots unless the user specifies more. Without this line enabled, the maximum a user can request is 100 spots. Depending on your link quality you may wish to enable more or less by specifying the number. The other 2 options are dealt with more fully in the security section. Secondly, it is used to store the login scripts for users and nodes. Currently this can only be done by the sysop but it is envisaged that eventually users will be able to set their own. An example is included in the distibution but here is a further example. # # G0FYD # blank + sh/wwv 3 blank + sh/dx blank + t g0jhc You abt? blank + The lines in between commands can simply insert a blank line or a character such as a + sign to make the output easier to read. Simply create this script with your favourite editor and save it with the callsign of the user as the filename. Filenames should always be in lower case. Commands can be inserted in the same way for nodes. A node may wish a series of commands to be issued on login, such as a merge command for example. Thirdly, there are 2 default scripts for users and nodes who do not have a specifically defined script. These are user_default and node_default 5. Databases Spider allows the creation of local or remote databases. It supports chained databases, allowing several different databases to be scanned with one simple command. Importing of databases is limited at present to the standard AK1A databases such as OBLAST and the DB0SDX QSL database but will expand with time. 5.1. Creating databases Creating a database could not be more simple. All the commands are sent from the cluster prompt as the sysop user. To create a database you use the command dbcreate. It can be used in 3 different ways like so .. dbcreate To simply create a database locally, you just tell the command the name of the database. This does not create the actual database, it simply defines it to say that it exists. dbcreate chain [...] This creates a chained database entry. The first database will be scanned, then the second, the third etc... dbcreate remote This creates a remote entry. the first name field is the database name at the remote node, then the remote switch, then the actual node_call of the remote node, for example... dbcreate buckmaster remote gb7dxc Remote databases cannot be chained, however, the last database in a chain can be a remote database. 5.2. Importing databases The only databases that Spider can currently import are the standard AK1A databases such as OBLAST or the DB0SDX qsl and address database. This will be added to with time. To import such a database, first put the file somewhere useful like /tmp and then issue the following command ... dbimport oblast /tmp/OBLAST.FUL This will update the existing local oblast database or create it if it does not exist. 5.3. Checking available databases Once a database is created, you will want to check that it has been added. To do this use the dbavail command. This will output the available databases. For example ... dbavail DB Name Location Chain qsl Local buck GB7ADX hftest GB7DXM G0VGS de GB7MBC 3-Feb-2001 1925Z > 5.4. Looking up databases To look for information in a defined database, simply use the dbshow command, for example ... dbshow buckmaster G0YLM will show the information for the callsign G0YLM from the buckmaster database if it exists. To make things more standard for the users you can add an entry in the Aliases file so that it looks like a standard show command like this ... Now you can simply use show/buckmaster or an abreviation. 5.5. Removing databases To delete an existing database you use the dbremove command. For example ... dbremove oblast would remove the oblast database and its associated datafile from the system. There are no warnings or recovery possible from this command. If you remove a database it ceases to exist and would have to be created from scratch if you still required it. 6. Information, files and useful programs 6.1. MOTD 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. 6.2. MOTD_NOR This message of the day file lives in the same directory as the standard motd file but is only sent to non-registered users. Once registered they will receive the same message as any other user. 6.3. Downtime message 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. 6.4. Other text messages 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 .... 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 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 .... 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: $OPDX.391 January 11, 1999 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1 (New Area Code!) Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, K1XN & Golist, WB2RAJ/WB2YQH & The 59(9) DXReport, W3UR & The Daily DX, K3TEJ, KN4UG, W4DC, NC6J, N6HR, Press Enter to continue, A to abort (508 lines) > The page length will of course depend on what you have it set to! 6.5. The Aliases file You will find a file in /spider/cmd/ called Aliases. This is the file that controls what a user gets when issuing a command. It is also possible to create your own aliases for databases and files you create locally. You should not alter the original file in /spider/cmd/ but create a new file with the same name in /spider/local_cmd. This means that any new Aliases files that is downloaded will not overwrite your self created Aliases and also that you do not override any new Aliases with your copy in /spider/local_cmd/. You must remember that any files you store in /spider/local/ or /spider/local_cmd override the originals if the same lines are used in both files. The best way of dealing with all this then is to only put your own locally created Aliases in the copy in /spider/local_cmd. The example below is currently in use at GB7MBC. # # Local Aliases File # package CmdAlias; %alias = ( 'n' => [ '^news$', 'type news', 'type', ], 's' => [ '^sh\w*/buck$', 'show/qrz', 'show', '^sh\w*/hftest$', 'dbshow hftest', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/qsl$', 'dbshow qsl', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/vhf$', 'dbshow vhf', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/vhftest$', 'dbshow vhftest', 'dbshow', ], ) Each alphabetical section should be preceded by the initial letter and the section should be wrapped in square brackets as you can see. The syntax is straightforward. The first section on each line is the new command that will be allowed once the alias is included. The second section is the command it is replacing and the last section is the actual command that is being used. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that in the first section, the new alias command has a '^' at the start and a '$' at the end. Basically these force a perfect match on the alias. The '^' says match the beginning exactly and the with similar commands. I have 3 different types of alias in this file. At the top is an alias for 'news'. This is a file I have created in the /spider/packclus/ directory where I can inform users of new developments or points of interest. In it's initial form a user would have to use the command type news. The alias allows them to simply type news to get the info. Second is an alias for the show/qrz command so that those users used to the original show/buck command in AK1A will not get an error, and the rest of the lines are for locally created databases so that a user can type show/hftest instead of having to use the command dbshow hftest which is not as intuitive. This file is just an example and you should edit it to your own requirements. Once created, simply issue the command load/alias at the cluster prompt as the sysop user and the aliases should be available. 6.6. Console.pl 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. 6.7. Updating kepler data 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 ... ./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. 6.8. The QRZ callbook 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. 6.9. Connecting logging programs There appear to be very few logging programs out there that support telnet especially the popular ones like LogEQF, Turbolog etc. This can make it difficult to connect to your own cluster! The way to do it is to make the logging program think it has a TNC attached to a com port on the logging PC and 'push' a linux login out to it. This is achieved very simply by the use of agetty. All that is required is to add a line in /etc/inittab to have the client ready for a connection on the com port of your choice. Remember that in Linux, the com ports start at ttyS0 for com1, ttyS1 for com2 etc. c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 9600 ttyS1 Add this after the standard runlevel lines in /etc/inittab. The above line works on ttyS1 (com2). Now as root, issue the command telinit q and it should be ready for connection. All that is required is a 3 wire serial lead (tx, rx and signal ground). Tell you logging program to use 8n1 at 9600 baud and you should see a Linux login prompt. Login as normal and then telnet from there to the cluster. 7. Java Web applet In the spider tree will be a directory spider-web. This is a neat little java web applet that can be run from a website. The applet must run on the same machine as the cluster. The included README file is shown below. I should comment here that the applet is precompiled, that is, ready to go. It was compiled using JDK1.3.1. If your version is earlier than this then it may not work. Should that be the case you need to recompile or update your JDK. To recompile do the following ... cd /spider/spider-web rm *.class /usr/bin/javac spiderclient.java I have used /usr/bin/javac as an example, your path to javac may be different. Spider-WEB v0.6b Completely based on a clx web client written in Java by dl6dbh (ftp://clx.muc.de/pub/clx/clx-java_10130001.tgz) The webserver has to run on the same machine as your DxSpider software! It is assumed that you have Java installed. You need JDK1.3.1 at least. Installation instructions (Performed as root): Put all the files in the spider-web directory into a newly created directory under the DocumentRoot of your websever for instance 'client'. In my case this is: /home/httpd/html/client/ although ymmv. For Suse the correct path should be /usr/local/httpd/htdocs/client/ for example. Move spider.cgi to the cgi-bin directory of your webserver, in my case that is /home/httpd/cgi-bin/ although ymmv. For Suse the correct path should be /usr/local/httpd/cgi-bin/ for example. Change the permissions of the files to ensure they are correct, obviously you will need to use the correct path the the files according to your system: chmod 755 /home/httpd/html/cgi-bin/spider.cgi chmod -R 755 /home/httpd/html/client/ By default the spider.cgi script should pick up your hostname (As long as this is set correctly). If it does not or your hostname differs from the name that you attach to the public address that you are using, then edit spider.cgi : # Uncomment and set the hostname manually here if the above fails. # $HOSTNAME = "gb7mbc.spoo.org" ; $PORT = "8000" ; telnet (see Listeners.pm) NOTE: If you can start the console but cannot connect to the cluster from it, then it is possible that the machine you are on cannot resolve the hostname of your cluster machine. If this is the case, you need to set your hostname manually as above. You also need to set the $NODECALL variable. This prints the name of your choosing (probably your cluster callsign) on the html page. You now can connect to Spider-Web via http://yourserver/cgi-bin/spider.cgi 8. Web based statistics From version 1.50, you can use the freeware software MRTG to produce really nice graphical statistics on your web site. For an example try http://www.gb7mbc.net/mrtg/stats.html. The following should help you get it all working. First you need to download the latest version of MRTG from http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/webtools/mrtg/. You will also need the following files.. libpng-1.0.14.tar.gz zlib-1.1.4.tar.gz gd-1.8.3.tar.gz Login to your machine as the root user, put all the downloaded files in /usr/local/src/ (or wherever you prefer) and untar and compile them. All the information to compile and install these sources come with them. After compilation and installation, you will find MRTG in /usr/local/mrtg-2. Now copy all the files in /usr/local/src/mrtg-2.9.22/images/ to /spider/html/mrtg/ You now need to make 2 symbolic links like below... ln -s /usr/local/mrtg-2/bin/mrtg /usr/bin/mrtg ln -s /usr/local/mrtg-2/lib/mrtg2 /usr/lib/mrtg2 Now login to the cluster with your sysop callsign and run the command "mrtg all". Now you are nearly there! Login as the sysop user and change to the /spider/html/mrtg/ directory. Now run the command indexmaker as shown below... indexmaker --output stats.html --columns=1 --title "MRTG statistics for GB7DJK" ../../mrtg/mrtg.cfg Changing the callsign for your own cluster callsign of course! And finally you need to login as the root user and create one last symbolic link. Where this points will depend on where your html documents are kept. For RedHat systems you use... ln -s /home/sysop/spider/html/mrtg /home/httpd/html/mrtg and for SuSE systems... ln -s /home/sysop/spider/html/mrtg /usr/local/httpd/htdocs/mrtg If you now point your browser to your website as below it should all be happening! http://www.xxx.xxx/mrtg/stats.html Of course, to get the stats to update, you need to add some information in the spider crontab file as below... # Update stats for mrtg on website 00,05,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * run_cmd('mrtg all') This will update the site every 5 minutes. 9. Security From version 1.49 DXSpider has some additional security features. These are not by any means meant to be exhaustive, however they do afford some security against piracy. These two new features can be used independently of each other or in concert to tighten the security. 9.1. Registration The basic principle of registration is simple. If a user is not registered by the sysop, then they have read-only access to the cluster. The only thing they can actually send is a talk or a message to the sysop. In order for them to be able to spot, send announces or talks etc the sysop must register them with the set/register command, like this ... set/register g0vgs The user g0vgs can now fully use the cluster. In order to enable registration, you can issue the command ... set/var $main::reqreg = 1 Any users that are not registered will now see the motd_nor file rather than the motd file as discussed in the Information, files and useful programs section. Entering this line at the prompt will only last for the time the cluster is running of course and would not be present on a restart. To make the change permanent, add the above line to /spider/scripts/startup. To read more on the startup file, see the section on Information, files and useful programs. To unregister a user use unset/register and to show the list of registered users, use the command show/register. 9.2. Passwords At the moment, passwords only affect users who login to a DXSpider cluster node via telnet. If a user requires a password, they can either set it themselves or have the sysop enter it for them by using the set/password command. Any users who already have passwords, such as remote sysops, will be asked for their passwords automatically by the cluster. Using passwords in this way means that the user has a choice on whether to have a password or not. To force the use of passwords at login, issue the command ... set/var $main::passwdreq = 1 at the cluster prompt. This can also be added to the /spider/scripts/startup file as above to make the change permanent. Of course, if you do this you will have to assign a password for each of your users. If you were asking them to register, it is anticipated that you would ask them to send you a message both to ask to be registered and to give you the password they wish to use. Should a user forget their password, it can be reset by the sysop by first removing the existing password and then setting a new one like so ... unset/password g0vgs set/password g0vgs new_password 10. CVS 10.1. CVS from a Linux platform CVS stands for "Concurrent Versions System" and the CVS for DXSpider is held at Sourceforge. This means that it is possible to update your DXSpider installation to the latest sources by using a few simple commands. A graphical interface to CVS for Windows is explained in the next section. Please be aware that if you update your system using CVS, it is possible that you could be running code that is very beta and not fully tested. There is a possibility that it could be unstable. I am of course assuming that you have a machine with both DXSpider and Internet access running. BEFORE YOU EVEN CONSIDER STARTING WITH THIS MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR ENTIRE SPIDER TREE!! Assuming you are connected to the Internet, you need to login to the CVS repository and then update your Spider source. There are several steps which are listed below ... First login as the user sysop. Next you need to connect to the CVS repository. You do this with the command below ... cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.DXSpider.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/dxspider login You will get a password prompt. Simply hit return here and your machine should return to a normal linux prompt. What happens next depends on whether you have an existing installation that you want to update with the latest and greatest or whether you just want to see what is there and/or run it on a new machine for testing. If you are installing Spider from CVS then change directory to /home/sysop If you are wanting to update Spider then cd to /tmp The next step will create a brand new 'spider' directory in your current directory. cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.DXSpider.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/dxspider co spider This command is all on one line. Hopefully your screen should show you downloading files. The -z3 simply compresses the download to improve speed. When this has finished, you will have exactly the same as if you had untarred a full tarball PLUS some extra directories and files that CVS needs to do the magic that it does. Now if you are doing a new installation, that's it. Carry on as if you have just downloaded and untarred the lastest tarball. If you want to upgrade your current installation then do this ... tar cvfz /tmp/s.tgz spider cd / tar xvfzp /tmp/s.tgz This is assuming you downloaded to the /tmp directory of course. NOTE: the 'p' on the end of the 'xvfz' is IMPORTANT! It keeps the permissions correct. YOU WERE LOGGED IN AS THE USER SYSOP WEREN'T YOU????? Remember to recompile the C client (cd /spider/src; make) At this point the files have been upgraded. You can (usually) restart the cluster in your own time. However, if you attempt to use any new commands or features expect it to be fatal! At least your cluster will have been restarted then so it will be too late to worry about it! Now the magic part! From now on when you want to update, simply connect to the Internet and then, as the user sysop ... cd /spider cvs -z3 update -d and your files will be updated. As above, remember to recompile the "C" client if it has been updated (CVS will tell you) and restart if any of the perl scripts have been altered or added, again, CVS will tell you. You will find any changes documented in the /spider/Changes file. 10.2. CVS from a Windows platform After the initial setup, an update to your DXSpider software is no more than a couple of clicks away. This section is intended to explain and illustrate the use of the WinCVS application to update your DXSpider software. The current stable version of WinCVS is Ver. 1.2. You can get this software at: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/cvsgui/WinCvs120.zip Pick your download mirror and then install WinCVS after the download is complete. In this next section I have included a series of links to .jpg files to take advantage of the picture and 1000 words equivalency. The .jpg files are in the C:\spider\html directory. If someone using a Linux system is reading this section from boredom, the files are in /home/sysop/spider/html. One aside, a Linux user can also get a copy of gcvs and do your updates graphically as opposed to from the command line. The following descriptions are almost identical between WinCvs and gcvs. The following screen shots have duplicate links, depending upon whether you are viewing this information under the Windows or Linux operating system. When WinCVS is installed, running, and you are connected to the internet, the initial screen looks like: initial.jpg If you want, you can also look at these .jpg files with another viewer that might provide some better clarity to the image. On the left is the directory tree for your hard disk. Notice that the spider directory has a gray highlight. To start configuring WinCVS, click on Admin at the top of the screen and then Preferences. This should get you: pref-gen.jpg In the top line for CVSROOT, enter: anonymous@cvs.DXSpider.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/dxspider login and select "passwd" file on the cvs server for Authentication on the General tab. Next, move to the right to the Ports tab. pref-ports.jpg In here, check the box on the second line down for the "pserver" port. Enter a port number of 2401. Finally, go to the WinCvs tab all the way to the right. pref-wincvs.jpg Enter Notepad as the viewer to open files. For the HOME folder, put "C:\spider" and click OK because the configuration is now complete. You are now ready to upgrade your copy of DXSpider. Click on the greyed Spider folder shown in the directory tree on the left of the WinCVS display. Two things should happen. The Spider folder will be selected and the greyed-out arrow located just below the word Query in the top line will turn to solid green. For anyone using gcvs under Linux, the green arrow is located on the extreme left of the display, under the word File. A gcvs screen looks like: gcvs.jpg Click on the now green arrow to start the download process. An Update Settings box will be displayed to which you can simply say OK. update-OK.jpg For future reference, the Update Settings box is the place where you can enter information to revert to a prior version of DXSpider. Information on reverting to a Before Date is contained in the WinCVS manual. After a short period of time, a series of file names will scroll by in the lower pane of the WinCVS window. Eventually you should see *****CVS exited normally with code 0***** appear in the lower pane. You're done. The updated files are in place ready for you to stop and then restart your DXSpider. After the restart, you're running with the latest version of DXSpider. completed.jpg To paraphrase from the CVS section... Now the magic part! From now on when you want to update, simply connect to the Internet and start WinCVS. Click on the greyed-out Spider directory in the left screen Click on the green down arrow Click OK on the Update Settings dialog box Restart your Spider software 10.3. accept (0) accept Set a filter to accept something Create a filter to accept somethingThere are 2 types of filter, accept and reject. See HELP FILTERING for moreinfo. 10.4. accept/announce [input] [0-9] (8) accept/announce [input] [0-9] Announce filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as thedefault for nodes and users eg:- accept/ann by G,M,2 accept/ann input node_default by G,M,2 accept/ann user_default by G,M,2 10.5. accept/announce [0-9] (0) accept/announce [0-9] Set an 'accept' filter line for announce Create an 'accept this announce' line for a filter. An accept filter line means that if the announce matches this filter it ispassed onto the user. See HELP FILTERING for more info. Please read thisto understand how filters work - it will save a lot of grief later on.You can use any of the following things in this line:- info eg: iota or qsl by eg: G,M,2 origin origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu or: G,GM,GW origin_zone origin_state eg: VA,NH,RI,NH by_dxcc by_itu by_zone by_state channel wx 1 filter WX announces dest eg: 6MUK,WDX (distros) some examples:- acc/ann dest 6MUK acc/ann 2 by_zone 14,15,16 (this could be all on one line: acc/ann dest 6MUK or by_zone 14,15,16) or acc/ann by G,M,2 for american states acc/ann by_state va,nh,ri,nh You can use the tag 'all' to accept everything eg: acc/ann all but this probably for advanced users... 10.6. accept/route [0-9] (8) accept/route [0-9] Set an 'accept' filter line for routing Create an 'accept this routing PC Protocol' line for a filter. An accept filter line means that if a PC16/17/19/21/24/41/50 matches this filter it is passed thru that interface. See HELP FILTERING for more info. Please read thisto understand how filters work - it will save a lot of grief later on.You can use any of the following things in this line:- call the callsign of the thingy call_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) call_itu or: G,GM,GW call_zone call_state eg: VA,NH,RI,NH origin really the interface it came in on origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu or: G,GM,GW origin_zone origin_state eg: VA,NH,RI,NH some examples:- acc/route gb7djk call_dxcc 61,38 (send only UK+EIRE nodes) acc/route gb7djk call gb7djk (equiv to SET/ISOLATE) you can now use 'by' as a synonym for 'call' so: by = call by_dxcc = call_dxcc and so onYou can use the tag 'all' to accept everything eg: acc/route all 10.7. accept/spots [input] [0-9] (8) accept/spots [input] [0-9] Spot filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as thedefault for nodes and users eg:- accept/spot db0sue-7 1 by_zone 14,15,16 accept/spot node_default all set/hops node_default 10 accept/spot user_default by G,M,2 10.8. accept/spots [0-9] (0) accept/spots [0-9] Set an 'accept' filter line for spots Create an 'accept this spot' line for a filter. An accept filter line means that if the spot matches this filter it ispassed onto the user. See HELP FILTERING for more info. Please read thisto understand how filters work - it will save a lot of grief later on.You can use any of the following things in this line:- freq eg: 0/30000 or hf or hf/cw or 6m,4m,2m on same as 'freq' call eg: G,PA,HB9 info eg: iota or qsl by call_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) call_itu or: G,GM,GW call_zone call_state eg: VA,NH,RI,ME by_dxcc by_itu by_zone by_state eg: VA,NH,RI,ME origin channel acc/spot 1 on hf/cw acc/spot 2 on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16) You can use the tag 'all' to accept everything, eg: acc/spot 3 all for US states acc/spots by_state VA,NH,RI,MA,ME but this probably for advanced users... 10.9. accept/wcy [input] [0-9] (8) accept/wcy [input] [0-9] WCY filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as thedefault for nodes and users eg:- accept/wcy node_default all set/hops node_default 10 10.10. accept/wcy [0-9] (0) accept/wcy [0-9] set an 'accept' WCY filter It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you canfilter on the following fields:- by eg: G,M,2 origin origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu or: G,GM,GW origin_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone channel There are no examples because WCY Broadcasts only come from one place andyou either want them or not (see UNSET/WCY if you don't want them).This command is really provided for future use.See HELP FILTER for information. 10.11. accept/wwv [input] [0-9] (8) accept/wwv [input] [0-9] WWV filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as thedefault for nodes and users eg:- accept/wwv db0sue-7 1 by_zone 4 accept/wwv node_default all set/hops node_default 10 accept/wwv user_default by W,K 10.12. accept/wwv [0-9] (0) accept/wwv [0-9] set an 'accept' WWV filter It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you canfilter on the following fields:- by eg: G,M,2 origin origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu or: G,GM,GW origin_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone channel for example accept/wwv by_zone 4 is probably the only useful thing to do (which will only show WWV broadcastsby stations in the US).See HELP FILTER for information. 10.13. announce (0) announce Send an announcement to LOCAL users only is the text of the announcement you wish to broadcast 10.14. announce full (0) announce full Send an announcement cluster wide This will send your announcement cluster wide 10.15. announce sysop (5) announce sysop Send an announcement to Sysops only 10.16. apropos (0) apropos Search help database for Search the help database for (it isn't case sensitive), and printthe names of all the commands that may be relevant. 10.17. blank [] [] (0) blank [] [] Print nn (default 1) blank lines (or strings) In its basic form this command prints one or more blank lines. However ifyou pass it a string it will replicate the string for the width of the screen (default 80) and then print that one or more times, so: blank 2 prints two blank lines blank - prints a row of - characters once. blank abc prints 'abcabcabcabcabcabc....'This is really only of any use in a script file and you can print a maximumof 9 lines. 10.18. bye (0) bye Exit from the cluster This will disconnect you from the cluster 10.19. catchup all|[ ...] (5) catchup all|[ ...] Mark a message as sent 10.20. chat (0) chat Chat or Conference to a group It is now possible to JOIN a group and have network wide conferencing to thatgroup. DXSpider does not (and probably will not) implement the AK1A conference mode as this seems very limiting, is hardly used and doesn't seemto work too well anyway.This system uses the existing ANN system and is compatible with both otherDXSpider nodes and AK1A clusters (they use ANN/). You can be a member of as many "groups" as you want. To join a group type:- JOIN FOC (where FOC is the group name) To leave a group type:- LEAVE FOC You can see which groups you are in by typing:- STAT/USER and you can see whether your mate is in the group, if he connects to thesame node as you, by typing:- STAT/USER g1tlh To send a message to a group type:- CHAT FOC hello everyone or CH #9000 hello I am back See also JOIN, LEAVE, SHOW/CHAT 10.21. clear/announce [input] [0-9|all] (8) clear/announce [input] [0-9|all] Clear a announce filter line A sysop can clear an input or normal output filter for a user or thenode_default or user_default. 10.22. clear/announce [1|all] (0) clear/announce [1|all] Clear a announce filter line This command allows you to clear (remove) a line in a annouce filter or to remove the whole filter.see CLEAR/SPOTS for a more detailed explanation. 10.23. clear/route [input] [0-9|all] (8) clear/route [input] [0-9|all] Clear a route filter line A sysop can clear an input or normal output filter for a user or thenode_default or user_default. 10.24. clear/route [1|all] (0) clear/route [1|all] Clear a route filter line This command allows you to clear (remove) a line in a route filter or to remove the whole filter.see CLEAR/SPOTS for a more detailed explanation. 10.25. clear/spots [input] [0-9|all] (8) clear/spots [input] [0-9|all] Clear a spot filter line A sysop can clear an input or normal output filter for a user or thenode_default or user_default. 10.26. clear/spots [0-9|all] (0) clear/spots [0-9|all] Clear a spot filter line This command allows you to clear (remove) a line in a spot filter or to remove the whole filter.If you have a filter:- acc/spot 1 on hf/cw acc/spot 2 on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16) and you say:- clear/spot 1 you will be left with:- acc/spot 2 on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16) If you do: clear/spot all the filter will be completely removed. 10.27. clear/wcy [input] [0-9|all] (8) clear/wcy [input] [0-9|all] Clear a WCY filter line A sysop can clear an input or normal output filter for a user or thenode_default or user_default. 10.28. clear/wcy [1|all] (0) clear/wcy [1|all] Clear a WCY filter line This command allows you to clear (remove) a line in a WCY filter or to remove the whole filter.see CLEAR/SPOTS for a more detailed explanation. 10.29. clear/wwv [input] [0-9|all] (8) clear/wwv [input] [0-9|all] Clear a WWV filter line A sysop can clear an input or normal output filter for a user or thenode_default or user_default. 10.30. clear/wwv [1|all] (0) clear/wwv [1|all] Clear a WWV filter line This command allows you to clear (remove) a line in a WWV filter or to remove the whole filter.see CLEAR/SPOTS for a more detailed explanation. 10.31. connect (5) connect Start a connection to another DX Cluster Start a connection process that will culminate in a new connection to theDX cluster . This process creates a new 'client' process which willuse the script in /spider/connect/ to effect the 'chat' exchangenecessary to traverse the network(s) to logon to the cluster . 10.32. dbavail (0) dbavail Show a list of all the Databases in the system Title says it all really, this command lists all the databases definedin the system. It is also aliased to SHOW/COMMAND. 10.33. dbcreate (9) dbcreate Create a database entry 10.34. dbcreate chain [..] (9) dbcreate chain