The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.47 Ian Maude, G0VGS, (ianmaude@btinternet.com) Version 1.47 April 2001 revision 1.0 A reference for SysOps of the DXSpider DXCluster program. ______________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1. Hop control 1.1 Basic hop control 1.2 Isolating networks 2. Filtering (Old Style upto v1.44) 2.1 Spots 2.2 Announcements 2.3 WWV 3. Filtering (New Style v1.45 and later) 3.1 General filter rules 3.2 Types of filter 3.3 Filter options 3.4 Default filters 3.5 Advanced filtering 4. Other filters 4.1 Filtering Mail 4.2 Filtering DX callouts (Depricated) 4.3 Filtering words from text fields in Announce, Talk and DX spots 5. Mail 5.1 Personal mail 5.2 Bulletin mail 5.3 Forward.pl 5.4 The msg command 5.5 Message status 5.6 Filtering mail 5.7 Distribution lists 5.8 BBS interface 6. Databases 6.1 Creating databases 6.2 Importing databases 6.3 Checking available databases 6.4 Looking up databases 6.5 Removing databases 7. Information, files and useful programs 7.1 MOTD 7.2 Downtime message 7.3 Other text messages 7.4 The Aliases file 7.5 Console.pl 7.6 Updating kepler data 7.7 The QRZ callbook 8. CVS 9. The DXSpider command set 9.1 accept/announce (0) 9.2 accept/announce (extended for sysops) (8) 9.3 accept/spots (0) 9.4 accept/spots (extended for sysops) (8) 9.5 accept/wcy (0) 9.6 accept/wcy (extended for sysops) (8) 9.7 accept/wwv (0) 9.8 accept/wwv (extended for sysops) (8) 9.9 announce (0) 9.10 announce full (0) 9.11 announce sysop (5) 9.12 apropos (0) 9.13 bye (0) 9.14 catchup (5) 9.15 clear/spots (0) 9.16 connect (5) 9.17 dbavail (0) 9.18 dbcreate (9) 9.19 dbimport (9) 9.20 dbremove (9) 9.21 dbshow (0) 9.22 debug (9) 9.23 directory (0) 9.24 directory (extended for sysops) (5) 9.25 disconnect (8) 9.26 dx (0) 9.27 export (9) 9.28 export_users (9) 9.29 forward/latlong (8) 9.30 forward/opername (1) 9.31 help (0) 9.32 init (5) 9.33 kill (0) 9.34 kill (5) 9.35 kill full (5) 9.36 links (0) 9.37 load/aliases (9) 9.38 load/baddx (9) 9.39 load/badmsg (9) 9.40 load/badwords (9) 9.41 load/bands (9) 9.42 load/cmd_cache (9) 9.43 load/forward (9) 9.44 load/messages (9) 9.45 load/prefixes (9) 9.46 merge (5) 9.47 msg (9) 9.48 pc (8) 9.49 ping (1) 9.50 rcmd (1) 9.51 read (0) 9.52 read (extended for sysops) (5) 9.53 reject/announce 9.54 reject/announce (extended for sysops) (8) 9.55 reject/spots (0) 9.56 reject/spots (extended for sysops) (8) 9.57 reject/wcy (0) 9.58 reject/wcy (extended for sysops) (8) 9.59 reject/wwv (0) 9.60 reject/wwv (extended for sysops) (8) 9.61 reply (0) 9.62 send (0) 9.63 set/address (0) 9.64 set/announce (0) 9.65 set/arcluster (5) 9.66 set/baddx (8) 9.67 set/badnode (6) 9.68 set/badspotter (8) 9.69 set/beep (0) 9.70 set/clx (5) 9.71 set/debug (9) 9.72 set/dx (0) 9.73 set/dxgrid (0) 9.74 set/dxnet (5) 9.75 set/echo (0) 9.76 set/here (0) 9.77 set/homenode (0) 9.78 set/hops (8) 9.79 set/isolate (9) 9.80 set/language (0) 9.81 set/location (0) 9.82 set/sys_location (9) 9.83 set/logininfo (0) 9.84 set/lockout (9) 9.85 set/name (0) 9.86 set/node (9) 9.87 set/obscount (9) 9.88 set/page (0) 9.89 set/password (9) 9.90 set/pinginterval (9) 9.91 set/privilege (9) 9.92 set/spider (5) 9.93 set/sys_qra (9) 9.94 set/qra (0) 9.95 set/qth (0) 9.96 set/talk (0) 9.97 set/wcy (0) 9.98 set/wwv (0) 9.99 set/wx (0) 9.100 show/baddx (1) 9.101 show/badnode (6) 9.102 show/badspotter (1) 9.103 show/configuration (0) 9.104 show/configuration/node (0) 9.105 show/connect (1) 9.106 show/date (0) 9.107 show/debug (9) 9.108 show/dx (0) 9.109 show/dxcc (0) 9.110 show/files (0) 9.111 show/filter (0) 9.112 show/filter (extended for sysops) (5) 9.113 show/hops (8) 9.114 show/isolate (1) 9.115 show/lockout (9) 9.116 show/log (8) 9.117 show/moon (0) 9.118 show/muf (0) 9.119 show/node (1) 9.120 show/prefix (0) 9.121 show/program (5) 9.122 show/qra (0) 9.123 show/qrz (0) 9.124 show/route (0) 9.125 show/satellite (0) 9.126 show/sun (0) 9.127 show/time (0) 9.128 show/wcy (0) 9.129 show/wwv (0) 9.130 shutdown (5) 9.131 spoof (9) 9.132 stat/db (5) 9.133 stat/channel (5) 9.134 stat/msg (5) 9.135 stat/user (5) 9.136 sysop (0) 9.137 talk (0) 9.138 type (0) 9.139 who (0) 9.140 wx (0) 9.141 wx (enhanced for sysops) (5) ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Hop control Starting with version 1.13 there is simple hop control available on a per node basis. Also it is possible to isolate a network completely so that you get all the benefits of being on that network, but can't pass on information from it to any other networks you may be connected to (or vice versa). 1.1. 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. 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. 1.2. 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 nodes connected to your node. Your node will appear on and otherwise behave normally on every network to which you are connected, but data from an isolated network will not cross onto any other network or vice versa. However all the spot, announce and WWV traffic and personal messages will still be handled locally (because you are a real node on all connected networks), that is locally connected users will appear on all networks and will be able to access and receive information from all networks transparently. All routed messages will be sent as normal, so if a user on one network knows that you are a gateway for another network, he can still still send a talk/announce etc message via your node and it will be routed across. The only limitation currently is that non-private messages cannot be passed down isolated links regardless of whether they are generated locally. This will change when the bulletin routing facility is added. If you use isolate on a node connection you will continue to receive all information from the isolated partner, however you will not pass any information back to the isolated node. There are times when you would like to forward only spots across a link (maybe during a contest for example). To do this, isolate the node in the normal way and put in a filter in the /spider/filter/spots directory to override the isolate. This filter can be very simple and consists of just one line .... $in = [ [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 3] # The last figure (3) is the hop count ]; There is a lot more on filtering in the next section. 2. Filtering (Old Style upto v1.44) Filters can be set for spots, announcements and WWV. You will find the directories for these under /spider/filter. You will find some examples in the directories with the suffix .issue. There are two types of filter, one for incoming information and one for outgoing information. Outgoing filters are in the form CALLSIGN.pl and incoming filters are in the form in_CALLSIGN.pl. Filters can be set for both nodes and users. All filters work in basically the same way. There are several elements delimited by commas. There can be many lines in the filter and they are read from the top by the program. When writing a filter you need to think carefully about just what you want to achieve. You are either going to write a filter to accept or to reject. Think of a filter as having 2 main elements. For a reject filter, you would have a line or multiple lines rejecting the things you do not wish to receive and then a default line accepting everything else that is not included in the filter. Likewise, for an accept filter, you would have a line or multiple lines accepting the things you wish to receive and a default line rejecting everthing else. In the example below, a user requires a filter that would only return SSB spots posted in Europe on the HF bands. This is achieved by first rejecting the CW section of each HF band and rejecting all of VHF, UHF etc based on frequency. Secondly, a filter rule is set based on CQ zones to only accept spots posted in Europe. Lastly, a default filter rule is set to reject anything outside the filter. $in = [ [ 0, 0, 'r', # reject all CW spots [ 1800.0, 1850.0, 3500.0, 3600.0, 7000.0, 7040.0, 14000.0, 14100.0, 18068.0, 18110.0, 21000.0, 21150.0, 24890.0, 24930.0, 28000.0, 28180.0, 30000.0, 49000000000.0, ] ,1 ], [ 1, 11, 'n', [ 14, 15, 16, 20, 33, ], 15 ], #accept EU [ 0, 0, 'd', 0, 1 ], # 1 = want, 'd' = everything else ]; The actual elements of each filter are described more fully in the following sections. 2.1. Spots The elements of the Spot filter are .... [action, field_no, sort, possible_values, hops] There are 3 elements here to look at. Firstly, the action element. This is very simple and only 2 possible states exist, accept (1) or drop (0). The second element is the field_no. There are 13 possiblities to choose from here .... 0 = frequency 1 = call 2 = date in unix format 3 = comment 4 = spotter 5 = spotted dxcc country 6 = spotter's dxcc country 7 = origin 8 = spotted itu 9 = spotted cq 10 = spotter's itu 11 = spotter's cq 12 = callsign of the channel on which the spot has appeared The third element tells us what to expect in the fourth element. There are 4 possibilities .... n - numeric list of numbers e.g. [ 1,2,3 ] r - ranges of pairs of numbers e.g. between 2 and 4 or 10 to 17 - [ 2,4, 10,17 ] a - an alphanumeric regex d - the default rule The fifth element is simply the hops to set in this filter. This would only be used if the filter was for a node of course and overrides the hop count in hop_table.pl. So, let's look at an example spot filter. It does not matter in the example who the filter is to be used for. So, what do we need in the filter? We need to filter the spots the user/node requires and also set a default rule for anything else outside the filter. Below is a simple filter that stops spots arriving from outside Europe. $in = [ [ 0, 4, 'a', '^(K|N|A|W|VE|VA|J)'], # 0 = drop, 'a' = alphanumeric [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 1 ], # 1 = want, 'd' = everything else ]; So the filter is wrapped in between a pair of square brackets. This tells Spider to look in between these limits. Then each line is contained within its own square brackets and ends with a comma. Lets look carefully at the first line. The first element is 0 (drop). Therefore anything we put on this line will not be accepted. The next element is 4. This means we are filtering by the spotter. The third element is the letter "a" which tells the program to expect an alphanumeric expression in the fourth element. The fourth element is a list of letters separated by the pipe symbol. What this line does is tell the program to drop any spots posted by anyone in the USA, Canada or Japan. The second line is the default rule for anything else. The "d" tells us this and the line simply reads... accept anything else. You can add as many lines as you need to complete the filter but if there are several lines of the same type it is neater to enclose them all as one line. An example of this is where specific bands are set. We could write this like this .... [ 0,0,'r',[1800.0, 2000.0], 1], [ 0,0,'r',[10100.0, 10150.0], 1], [ 0,0,'r',[14000.0, 14350.0], 1], [ 0,0,'r',[18000.0, 18200.0], 1], But the line below achieves the same thing and is more efficient .... [ 0, 0, 'r', [ 1800.0, 2000.0, # top band 10100.0, 10150.0, # WARC 14000.0, 14350.0, # 20m 18000.0, 18200.0, # WARC [ ,1 ], 2.2. Announcements # This is an example announce or filter allowing only West EU announces # # The element list is:- # 0 - callsign of announcer # 1 - destination * = all, = routed to the node # 2 - text # 3 - * - sysop, - special list eg 6MUK, ' ', normal announce # 4 - origin # 5 - 0 - announce, 1 - wx # 6 - channel callsign (the interface from which this spot came) $in = [ [ 1, 0, 'a', '^(P[ABCDE]|DK0WCY|G|M|2|EI|F|ON)' ], [ 0, 0, 'd', 0 ] ]; In this example, only the prefixes listed will be allowed. It is possible to be quite specific. The Dutch prefix "P" is followed by several secondary identifiers which are allowed. So, in the example, "PA" or "PE" would be ok but not "PG". It is even possible to allow information from a single callsign. In the example this is DK0WCY, to allow the posting of his Aurora Beacon. 2.3. WWV # This is an example WWV filter # # The element list is:- # 0 - nominal unix date of spot (ie the day + hour:13) # 1 - the hour # 2 - SFI # 3 - K # 4 - I # 5 - text # 6 - spotter # 7 - origin # 8 - incoming interface callsign # this one doesn't filter, it just sets the hop count to 6 and is # used mainly just to override any isolation from WWV coming from # the internet. $in = [ [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 6 ] ]; It should be noted that the filter will start to be used only once a user/node has logged out and back in again. I am not going to spend any more time on these filters now as they will become more "comprehensive" in the near future. 3. Filtering (New Style v1.45 and later) 3.1. 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. 3.2. 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 3.3. Filter options You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter. 3.4. 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. 3.5. 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. 4. Other filters 4.1. 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. 4.2. Filtering DX callouts (Depricated) From version 1.47, this method is replaced by the command set/baddx In the same way as mail, there are some types of spot we do not wish to pass on to users or linked cluster nodes. In the /spider/data directory you will find a file called baddx.pl.issue. Rename this to baddx.pl and edit the file. The original looks like this .... # the list of dx spot addresses that we don't store and don't pass on package DXProt; @baddx = qw FROG SALE FORSALE WANTED P1RATE PIRATE TEST DXTEST NIL NOCALL ); Again, this is simply a list of names we do not want to see in the spotted field of a DX callout. 4.3. Filtering words from text fields in Announce, Talk and DX spots Create a file in /spider/data called badwords. The format is quite simple. Lines beginning with # are ignored so comments can be added. An example file is below ... # Below is a list of words we do not wish to see on the cluster grunge grunged grunging splodge splodger splodging grince fluffle Multiple words can be used on the same line as shown. Obviously these are just examples :-) You can reload the file from the cluster prompt as sysop with load/badwords. 5. 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. 5.1. 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. 5.2. 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. 5.3. 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 5.4. 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. 5.5. 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 > 5.6. Filtering mail This is described in the section on Other filters so I will not duplicate it here. 5.7. 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. 5.8. 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. 6. 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. 6.1. 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. 6.2. 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. 6.3. 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 > 6.4. 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. 6.5. 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. 7. Information, files and useful programs 7.1. 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. 7.2. 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. 7.3. 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: $OPDX.391 January 11, 1999 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1 (New Area Code!) Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, K1XN & Golist, WB2RAJ/WB2YQH & The 59(9) DXReport, W3UR & The Daily DX, K3TEJ, KN4UG, W4DC, NC6J, N6HR, Press Enter to continue, A to abort (508 lines) > The page length will of course depend on what you have it set to! 7.4. The Aliases file You will find a file in /spider/cmd/ called Aliases. First, copy this file to /spider/local_cmd/Aliases and edit this file. You will see something like this ... #!/usr/bin/perl # provide some standard aliases for commands for terminally # helpless ak1a user (helpless in the sense that they never # read nor understand help files) # This file is automagically reloaded if its modification time is # later than the one stored in CmdAlias.pm # PLEASE make this file consistant with reality! (the patterns MUST # match the filenames!) # Don't alter this file, copy it into the local_cmd tree and modify it. # This file will be replaced everytime I issue a new release. # You only need to put aliases in here for commands that don't work as # you desire naturally, e.g sh/dx on its own just works as you expect # so you need not add it as an alias. package CmdAlias; %alias = ( '?' => [ '^\?', 'apropos', 'apropos', ], 'a' => [ '^ann.*/full', 'announce full', 'announce', '^ann.*/sysop', 'announce sysop', 'announce', '^ann.*/(.*)$', 'announce $1', 'announce', ], 'b' => [ ], 'c' => [ ], 'd' => [ '^del', 'kill', 'kill', '^del\w*/fu', 'kill full', 'kill', '^di\w*/a\w*', 'directory all', 'directory', '^di\w*/b\w*', 'directory bulletins', 'directory', '^di\w*/n\w*', 'directory new', 'directory', '^di\w*/o\w*', 'directory own', 'directory', '^di\w*/s\w*', 'directory subject', 'directory', '^di\w*/t\w*', 'directory to', 'directory', '^di\w*/f\w*', 'directory from', 'directory', '^di\w*/(\d+)', 'directory $1', 'directory', ], 'e' => [ ], 'f' => [ ], 'g' => [ ], 'h' => [ ], 'i' => [ ], 'j' => [ ], 'k' => [ ], 'l' => [ '^l$', 'directory', 'directory', '^ll$', 'directory', 'directory', '^ll/(\d+)', 'directory $1', 'directory', ], 'm' => [ ], 'n' => [ '^news', 'type news', 'type', ], 'o' => [ ], 'p' => [ ], 'q' => [ '^q', 'bye', 'bye', ], 'r' => [ '^r$', 'read', 'read', '^rcmd/(\S+)', 'rcmd $1', 'rcmd', ], 's' => [ '^s/p$', 'send', 'send', '^sb$', 'send noprivate', 'send', '^set/home$', 'set/homenode', 'set/homenode', '^set/nobe', 'unset/beep', 'unset/beep', '^set/nohe', 'unset/here', 'unset/here', '^set/noan', 'unset/announce', 'unset/announce', '^set/nodx', 'unset/dx', 'unset/dx', '^set/nota', 'unset/talk', 'unset/talk', '^set/noww', 'unset/wwv', 'unset/wwv', '^set/nowx', 'unset/wx', 'unset/wx', '^sh$', 'show', 'show', '^sh\w*/buck', 'dbshow buck', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/bu', 'show/files bulletins', 'show/files', '^sh\w*/c/n', 'show/configuration nodes', 'show/configuration', '^sh\w*/c$', 'show/configuration', 'show/configuration', '^sh\w*/com', 'dbavail', 'dbavail', '^sh\w*/dx/(\d+)-(\d+)', 'show/dx $1-$2', 'show/dx', '^sh\w*/dx/(\d+)', 'show/dx $1', 'show/dx', '^sh\w*/dx/d(\d+)', 'show/dx from $1', 'show/dx', '^sh\w*/email', 'dbshow email', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/hftest', 'dbshow hftest', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/vhftest', 'dbshow vhftest', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/qsl', 'dbshow qsl', 'dbshow', '^sh\w*/tnc', 'who', 'who', '^sh\w*/up', 'show/cluster', 'show/cluster', '^sh\w*/w\w*/(\d+)-(\d+)', 'show/wwv $1-$2', 'show/wwv', '^sh\w*/w\w*/(\d+)', 'show/wwv $1', 'show/wwv', '^sp$', 'send', 'send', ], 't' => [ '^ta$', 'talk', 'talk', '^t$', 'talk', 'talk', ], 'u' => [ ], 'v' => [ ], 'w' => [ '^wx/full', 'wx full', 'wx', '^wx/sysop', 'wx sysop', 'wx', ], 'x' => [ ], 'y' => [ ], 'z' => [ ], ) You can create aliases for commands at will. Beware though, these may not always turn out as you think. Care is needed and you need to test the results once you have set an alias. 7.5. 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. 7.6. 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. 7.7. 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. 8. CVS 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. THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!!! ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE A TEST INSTALLATION OR ARE WILLING TO HAVE YOUR CLUSTER CRASH ON YOU!!! THIS MUST BE CONSIDERED AT LEAST BETA TESTING AND MAYBE EVEN ALPHA!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! DID I MENTION..... ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES!!! 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. 9. The DXSpider command set Below is a complete list of commands available from the cluster prompt. Most maintenance tasks are automatic but there are some commands that are useful for a sysop. These are listed below in alphabetical order. The number in brackets following the command name is the permissions level needed to use the command. 9.1. accept/announce (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 is passed onto the user. See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this to 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 origin_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone 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 This filter would only allow announces that were posted buy UK stations. You can use the tag 'all' to accept everything eg: acc/ann all but this probably for advanced users... 9.2. accept/announce (extended for sysops) (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 the default 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 9.3. accept/spots (0) accept/announce [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 is passed onto the user. See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this to 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 call_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone origin channel For frequencies, you can use any of the band names defined in SHOW/BANDS and you can use a subband name like: cw, rtty, data, ssb - thus: hf/ssb. You can also just have a simple range like: 0/30000 - this is more efficient than saying simply: freq HF (but don't get too hung up about that) some examples:- 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 but this probably for advanced users... 9.4. accept/spots (extended for sysops) (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 the default 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 9.5. accept/wcy (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 can filter on the following fields:- by eg: G,M,2 origin origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu origin_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone channel There are no examples because WCY Broadcasts only come from one place and you 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. 9.6. accept/wcy (extended for sysops) (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 the default for nodes and users eg:- accept/wcy node_default all set/hops node_default 10 9.7. accept/wwv (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 can filter on the following fields:- by eg: G,M,2 origin origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu 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 broadcasts by stations in the US). See HELP FILTER for information. 9.8. accept/wwv (extended for sysops) (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 the default 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 9.9. announce (0) announce Send an announcement to local users Send an announcement to LOCAL users only, where is the text of the announcement you wish to broadcast 9.10. announce full (0) announce full Send an announcement cluster wide This command will send your announcement across the whole cluster network. 9.11. announce sysop (5) announce sysop Send an announcement to Sysops only 9.12. apropos (0) apropos Search the help database Search the help database for (it isn't case sensitive), and print the names of all the commands that may be relevant. 9.13. bye (0) bye Exit from the cluster This will disconnect you from the cluster 9.14. catchup (5) catchup All|[ ...] Mark a message as sent When you send messages the fact that you have forwarded it to another node is remembered so that it isn't sent again. When you have a new partner node and you add their callsign to your /spider/msg/forward.pl file, all outstanding non-private messages will be forwarded to them. This may well be ALL the non-private messages. You can prevent this by using these commmands:- catchup GB7DJK all catchup GB7DJK 300 301 302 303 500-510 and to undo what you have just done:- uncatchup GB7DJK all uncatchup GB7DJK 300 301 302 303 500-510 which will arrange for them to be forward candidates again. Order is not important. 9.15. clear/spots (0) clear/spots [1|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. 9.16. connect (5) connect Start a connection to another DX Cluster Start a connection process that will culminate in a new connection to the DX cluster . This process creates a new 'client' process which will use the script in /spider/connect/ to effect the 'chat' exchange necessary to traverse the network(s) to logon to the cluster . 9.17. dbavail (0) dbavail Show a list of all the databases in the system The title says it all really, this command lists all the databases defined in the system. It is also aliased to SHOW/COMMAND. 9.18. dbcreate (9) dbcreate Create a database entry dbcreate chain [..] Create a chained database entry dbcreate remote Create a remote database entry DBCREATE allows you to define a database in the system. It doesn't actually create anything, just defines it. The databases that are created are simple DB_File hash databases, they are therefore already 'indexed'. You can define a local database with the first form of the command eg: DBCREATE oblast You can also chain databases with the addition of the 'chain' keyword. This will search each database one after the other. A typical example is: DBCREATE sdx_qsl chain sql_ad No checking is done to see if the any of the chained databases exist, in fact it is usually better to do the above statement first then do each of the chained databases. Databases can exist offsite. To define a database that lives on another node do: DBCREATE buckmaster remote gb7dxc Remote databases cannot be chained; however, the last database in a a chain can be a remote database eg: DBCREATE qsl chain gb7dxc To see what databases have been defined do: DBAVAIL (or it will have been aliased to SHOW/COMMAND) It would be normal for you to add an entry into your local Aliases file to allow people to use the 'SHOW/' style syntax. So you would need to add a line like:- 's' => [ .. .. '^sh\w*/buc', 'dbshow buckmaster', 'dbshow', .. .. ], to allow SH/BUCK g1tlh to work as they may be used to. See DBIMPORT for the importing of existing AK1A format data to databases. See DBSHOW for generic database enquiry 9.19. dbimport (9) dbimport Import AK1A data into a database If you want to import or update data in bulk to a database you can use this command. It will either create or update entries into an existing database. For example:- DBIMPORT oblast /tmp/OBLAST.FUL will import the standard OBLAST database that comes with AK1A into the oblast database held locally. 9.20. dbremove (9) dbremove Delete a database DBREMOVE will completely remove a database entry and also delete any data file that is associated with it. There is no warning, no comeback, no safety net. For example: DBREMOVE oblast will remove the oblast database from the system and it will also remove the associated datafile. I repeat: There is no warning, no comeback, no safety net. You have been warned. 9.21. dbshow (0) dbshow Display an entry, if it exists, in a database This is the generic user interface to the database to the database system. It is expected that the sysop will add an entry to the local Aliases file so that users can use the more familiar AK1A style of enquiry such as: SH/BUCK G1TLH but if he hasn't and the database really does exist (use DBAVAIL or SHOW/COMMAND to find out) you can do the same thing with: DBSHOW buck G1TLH 9.22. debug (9) debug Set the cluster program into debug mode Executing this command will only have an effect if you are running the cluster in debug mode i.e. perl -d cluster.pl It will interrupt the cluster just after the debug command has finished. 9.23. directory (0) directory List messages directory own List your own messages directory new List all new messages directory to List all messages to directory from List all messages from directory subject List all messages with in subject directory List last messages directory - List messages message message List the messages in the messages directory. If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the fields. You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:- DIR TO G1TLH 5 or DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250 You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:- DIR/T G1* 10 DIR/S QSL 10-100 5 9.24. directory (extended for sysops) (5) Works just like the user command except that sysops can see ALL messages. 9.25. disconnect (8) disconnect [ ...] Disconnect a user or node Disconnect any connected locally 9.26. dx (0) dx [by ] Send a DX spot This is how you send a DX Spot to other users. You can, in fact, now enter the and the either way round. DX FR0G 144.600 DX 144.600 FR0G DX 144600 FR0G will all give the same result. You can add some remarks to the end of the command and they will be added to the spot. DX FR0G 144600 this is a test You can credit someone else by saying:- DX by G1TLH FR0G 144.600 he isn't on the cluster The is compared against the available bands set up in the cluster. See SHOW/BANDS for more information. 9.27. export (9) export Export a message to a file Export a message to a file. This command can only be executed on a local console with a fully privileged user. The file produced will be in a form ready to be imported back into the cluster by placing it in the import directory (/spider/msg/import). This command cannot overwrite an existing file. This is to provide some measure of security. Any files written will owned by the same user as the main cluster, otherwise you can put the new files anywhere the cluster can access. For example:- EXPORT 2345 /tmp/a 9.28. export_users (9) export_users [] Export the users database to ascii Export the users database to a file in ascii format. If no filename is given then it will export the file to /spider/data/user_asc. If the file already exists it will be renamed to .o. In fact up to 5 generations of the file can be kept each one with an extra 'o' on the suffix. BE WARNED: this will write to any file you have write access to. No check is made on the filename (if any) that you specify. 9.29. forward/latlong (8) forward/latlong Send latitude and longitude information to another cluster This command sends all the latitude and longitude information that your cluster is holding against callsigns. One advantage of recieving this information is that more locator information is held by you. This means that more locators are given on the DX line assuming you have set/dxgrid enabled. This could be a LOT of information though, so it is not recommended on slow links. 9.30. forward/opername (1) forward/opername Send out information on this to all clusters This command sends out any information held in the user file which can be broadcast in PC41 protocol packets. This information is Name, QTH, Location and Homenode. PC41s are only sent for the information that is available. 9.31. help (0) help Get help on a command All commands can be abbreviated, so SHOW/DX can be abbreviated to SH/DX, ANNOUNCE can be shortened to AN and so on. Look at the APROPOS command which will search the help database for the you specify and give you a list of likely commands to look at with HELP. 9.32. init (5) init Re-initialise a link to an AK1A compatible node This command attempts to re-initialise a link to a (usually) AK1A node that has got confused, usually by a protocol loop of some kind. It may work - but you usually will be better off simply disconnecting it (or better, if it is a real AK1A node, doing an RCMD DISC/F ). Best of luck - you will need it. 9.33. kill (0) kill [ ..] Delete a message from the local system Delete a message from the local system. You will only be able to delete messages that you have originated or been sent (unless you are the sysop). 9.34. kill (5) kill [ ...] Remove or erase a message from the system kill from Remove all messages from a callsign kill to Remove all messages to a callsign You can get rid of any message to or originating from your callsign using this command. You can remove more than one message at a time. As a sysop you can kill any message on the system. 9.35. kill full (5) kill full [] Delete a message from the whole cluster Delete a message (usually a 'bulletin') from the whole cluster system. This uses the subject field, so any messages that have exactly the same subject will be deleted. Beware! 9.36. links (0) links Show which nodes are physically connected This is a quick listing that shows which links are connected and some information about them. See WHO for a list of all connections. 9.37. load/aliases (9) load/aliases Reload the command alias table Reload the /spider/cmd/Aliases file after you have editted it. You will need to do this if you change this file whilst the cluster is running in order for the changes to take effect. 9.38. load/baddx (9) load/baddx Reload the bad DX table Reload the /spider/data/baddx.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst the cluster is running. This table contains the DX Calls that, if spotted, will not be passed on. FR0G and TEST are classic examples. 9.39. load/badmsg (9) load/badmsg Reload the bad message table Reload the /spider/msg/badmsg.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst the cluster is running. This table contains a number of perl regular expressions which are searched for in the fields targetted of each message. If any of them match then that message is immediately deleted on receipt. 9.40. load/badwords (9) load/badwords Reload the badwords file Reload the /spider/data/badwords file if you have changed it manually whilst the cluster is running. This file contains a list of words which, if found on certain text portions of PC protocol, will cause those protocol frames to be rejected. It will all put out a message if any of these words are used on the announce, dx and talk commands. The words can be one or more on a line, lines starting with '#' are ignored. 9.41. load/bands (9) load/bands Reload the band limits table Reload the /spider/data/bands.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst the cluster is running. 9.42. load/cmd_cache (9) load/cmd_cache Reload the automatic command cache Normally, if you change a command file in the cmd or local_cmd tree it will automatially be picked up by the cluster program. Sometimes it can get confused if you are doing a lot of moving commands about or delete a command in the local_cmd tree and want to use the normal one again. Execute this command to reset everything back to the state it was just after a cluster restart. 9.43. load/forward (9) load/forward Reload the msg forwarding routing table Reload the /spider/msg/forward.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst the cluster is running. 9.44. load/messages (9) load/messages Reload the system messages file If you change the /spider/perl/Messages file (usually whilst fiddling/writing ne commands) you can have them take effect during a cluster session by executing this command. You need to do this if get something like :- unknown message 'xxxx' in lang 'en' 9.45. load/prefixes (9) load/prefixes Reload the prefix table Reload the /spider/data/prefix_data.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst the cluster is running. 9.46. merge (5) merge [/] Ask for the latest spots and WWV MERGE allows you to bring your spot and wwv database up to date. By default it will request the last 10 spots and 5 WWVs from the node you select. The node must be connected locally. You can request any number of spots or wwv and although they will be appended to your databases they will not duplicate any that have recently been added (the last 2 days for spots and last month for WWV data). 9.47. msg (9) msg [data ...] Alter various message parameters Alter message parameters like To, From, Subject, whether private or bulletin or return receipt (RR) is required or whether to keep this message from timing out. 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 waitting 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 You can look at the status of a message by using:- STAT/MSG This will display more information on the message than DIR does. 9.48. pc (8) pc Send text (eg PC Protocol) to Send some arbitrary text to a locally connected callsign. No processing is done on the text. This command allows you to send PC Protocol to unstick things if problems arise (messages get stuck etc). eg:- pc gb7djk PC33^GB7TLH^GB7DJK^400^ You can also use in the same way as a talk command to a connected user but without any processing, added of "from to " or whatever. pc G1TLH Try doing that properly!!! 9.49. ping (1) ping Check the link quality between nodes his command allows you to send a frame to another cluster node on the network and get a return frame. The time it takes to do this is a good indication of the quality of the link. The actual time it takes is output to the console in seconds. Any visible cluster node can be PINGed. 9.50. rcmd (1) rcmd Send a command to another DX cluster This command allows you to send nearly any command to another DX Cluster node that is connected to the system. Whether you get any output is dependant on a) whether the other system knows that the node callsign of this cluster is in fact a node b) whether the other system is allowing RCMDs from this node and c) whether you have permission to send this command at all. 9.51. read (0) read Read the next unread personal message addressed to you read Read the specified message You can read any messages that are sent as 'non-personal' and also any message either sent by or sent to your callsign. 9.52. read (extended for sysops) (5) read Read a message on the system As a sysop you may read any message on the system 9.53. reject/announce reject/announce [0-9] Set a reject filter for announce Create an 'reject this announce' line for a filter. An reject filter line means that if the announce matches this filter it is passed onto the user. See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this to 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 origin_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone channel wx 1 filter WX announces dest eg: 6MUK,WDX (distros) some examples:- rej/ann by_zone 14,15,16 and not by G,M,2 You can use the tag 'all' to reject everything eg: rej/ann all but this probably for advanced users... 9.54. reject/announce (extended for sysops) (8) reject/announce [input] [0-9] Announce filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the default for nodes and users eg:- reject/ann by G,M,2 reject/ann input node_default by G,M,2 reject/ann user_default by G,M,2 9.55. reject/spots (0) reject/spots [0-9] Set a reject filter line for spots Create a 'reject this spot' line for a filter. A reject filter line means that if the spot matches this filter it is dumped (not passed on). See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this to 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 call_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone origin channel For frequencies, you can use any of the band names defined in SHOW/BANDS and you can use a subband name like: cw, rtty, data, ssb - thus: hf/ssb. You can also just have a simple range like: 0/30000 - this is more efficient than saying simply: on HF (but don't get too hung up about that) some examples:- rej/spot 1 on hf rej/spot 2 on vhf and not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16) You can use the tag 'all' to reject everything eg: rej/spot 3 all but this probably for advanced users... 9.56. reject/spots (extended for sysops) (8) reject/spots [input] [0-9] Reject spot filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the default for nodes and users eg:- reject/spot db0sue-7 1 by_zone 14,15,16 reject/spot node_default all set/hops node_default 10 reject/spot user_default by G,M,2 9.57. reject/wcy (0) reject/wcy [0-9] Set a reject WCY filter It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you can filter on the following fields:- by eg: G,M,2 origin origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu origin_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone channel There are no examples because WCY Broadcasts only come from one place and you 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. 9.58. reject/wcy (extended for sysops) (8) reject/wcy [input] [0-9] WCY reject filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the default for nodes and users eg:- reject/wcy gb7djk all 9.59. reject/wwv (0) reject/wwv [0-9] Set a reject WWV filter It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you can filter on the following fields:- by eg: G,M,2 origin origin_dxcc eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G) origin_itu origin_zone by_dxcc by_itu by_zone channel for example reject/wwv by_zone 14,15,16 is probably the only useful thing to do (which will only show WWV broadcasts by stations in the US). See HELP FILTER for information. 9.60. reject/wwv (extended for sysops) (8) reject/wwv [input] [0-9] WWV reject filter sysop version This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the default for nodes and users eg:- reject/wwv db0sue-7 1 by_zone 4 reject/wwv node_default all reject/wwv user_default by W 9.61. reply (0) reply Reply (privately) to the last message that you have read reply Reply (privately) to the specified message reply B Reply as a Bulletin to the specified message reply NOPrivate Reply as a Bulletin to the specified message reply RR Reply to the specified message with read receipt You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have "Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present. You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE, NOPRIVATE, B that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND for further details) 9.62. send (0) send [ ...] Send a message to one or more callsigns send RR Send a message and ask for a read receipt send COPY Send a copy of a message to someone send PRIVATE Send a personal message send NOPRIVATE Send a message to all stations All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses. SEND on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that that callsign is connected to. You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands. You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:- SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will receive a read receipt when they have read the message. SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak) SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE 9.63. set/address (0) set/address Record your postal address Literally, record your address details on the cluster. 9.64. set/announce (0) set/announce Allow announce messages Allow announce messages to arrive at your terminal. 9.65. set/arcluster (5) set/arcluster [ ...] Make the node_call an AR- Cluster type node Set the node_call as an AR-Cluster type node 9.66. set/baddx (8) set/baddx Stop words we do not wish to see in the callsign field of a dx spot being propagated Setting a word as 'baddx' will prevent spots with that word in the callsign field of a DX spot from going any further. They will not be displayed and they will not be sent onto other nodes. The word must be wriiten in full, no wild cards are allowed eg:- set/baddx FORSALE VIDEO FR0G To allow a word again, use the following command ... unset/baddx VIDEO 9.67. set/badnode (6) set/badnode Stop spots from this node_call being propagated Setting a callsign as a 'badnode' will prevent spots from that node going any further. They will not be displayed and they will not be sent onto other nodes. The call can be a full or partial call (or a prefix), eg:- set/badnode K1TTT will stop anything from K1TTT (including any SSID's) unset/badnode K1TTT will allow spots from him again. Use with extreme care. This command may well be superceded by FILTERing. 9.68. set/badspotter (8) set/badspotter Stop spots from this callsign being propagated Setting a callsign as a 'badspotter' will prevent spots from this callsign going any further. They will not be displayed and they will not be sent onto other nodes. The call must be written in full, no wild cards are allowed eg:- set/badspotter VE2STN will stop anything from VE2STN. If you want SSIDs as well then you must enter them specifically. unset/badspotter VE2STN will allow spots from him again. Use with extreme care. This command may well be superceded by FILTERing. 9.69. set/beep (0) set/beep Add beeps to terminal messages Add a beep to DX and other terminal messages. 9.70. set/clx (5) set/clx [ ...] Make the node_call a CLX type node Set the node_call as a CLX type node 9.71. set/debug (9) set/debug Add a debug level to the debug set You can choose to log several different levels. The levels are chan state msg cron connect You can show what levels you are logging with the show/debug command. You can remove a debug level with unset/debug 9.72. set/dx (0) set/dxAllow DX messages to arrive at your terminal You can stop DX messages with the unset/dx command 9.73. set/dxgrid (0) set/dxgridAllow grid squares on the end of DX messages Some logging programs do not like the additional information at the end of a DX spot. If this is the case, use the unset/dxgrid command to remove the grid squares. 9.74. set/dxnet (5) set/dxnet [ ...] Make the node_call a DXNet type node Set the node_call as a DXNet type node 9.75. set/echo (0) set/echo Make the cluster echo your input If you are connected via a telnet session, different implimentations of telnet handle echo differently depending on whether you are connected via port 23 or some other port. You can use this command to change the setting appropriately. You can remove the echo with the unset/echo command The setting is stored in your user profile. YOU DO NOT NEED TO USE THIS COMMAND IF YOU ARE CONNECTED VIA AX25. 9.76. set/here (0) set/here Set the here flag Let others on the cluster know you are here by only displaying your callsign. If you are away from your terminal you can use the unset/here command to let people know you are away. This simply puts brackets around your callsign to indicate you are not available. 9.77. set/homenode (0) set/homenode Set your home cluster Tell the cluster system where you normally connect to. Any Messages sent to you will normally find their way there should you not be connected. eg:- SET/HOMENODE gb7djk 9.78. set/hops (8) set/hops ann|spots|wwv|wcy Set hop count Set the hop count for a particular type of broadcast for a node. This command allows you to set up special hop counts for a node for currently: announce, spots, wwv and wcy broadcasts. eg: set/hops gb7djk ann 10 set/hops gb7mbc spots 20 Set SHOW/HOPS for information on what is already set. This command creates a filter and works in conjunction with the filter system. 9.79. set/isolate (9) set/isolate Isolate a node from the rest of the network Connect a node to your system in such a way that you are a full protocol member of its network and can see all spots on it, but nothing either leaks out from it nor goes back into from the rest of the nodes connected to you. You can potentially connect several nodes in this way. You can see which nodes are isolated with the show/isolate (1) command. You can remove the isolation with the command unset/isolate. 9.80. set/language (0) set/language Set the language you wish to use You can select the language that you want the cluster to use. Currently the languages available are en (English) and nl (Dutch). 9.81. set/location (0) set/location Set your latitude and longitude You can set your latitude and longitude manually or alternatively use the set/qra command which will do the conversion for you. set/location 54 04 N 2 02 E 9.82. set/sys_location (9) set/sys_location Set your cluster latitude and longitude In order to get accurate headings and such like you must tell the system what your latitude and longitude is. If you have not yet done a SET/QRA then this command will set your QRA locator for you. For example:- SET/LOCATION 52 22 N 0 57 E 9.83. set/logininfo (0) set/logininfo Show logins and logouts of nodes and users Show users and nodes when they log in and out of the local cluster. You can stop these messages by using the unset/logininfo command. 9.84. set/lockout (9) set/lockout Stop a callsign connecting to the cluster You can show who is locked out with the show/lockout command. To allow the user to connect again, use the unset/lockout command. 9.85. set/name (0) set/name Set your name Tell the cluster what your name is, eg:- set/name Dirk 9.86. set/node (9) set/node [ ...] Make the callsign an AK1A cluster Tell the system that the call(s) are to be treated as AK1A cluster and fed PC Protocol rather normal user commands. From version 1.41 you can also set the following types of cluster set/spider set/dxnet set/clx set/arcluster To see what your nodes are set to, use the show/nodes command. 9.87. set/obscount (9) set/obscount Set the 'pump-up' obsolescence counter From version 1.35 onwards neighbouring nodes are pinged at regular intervals (see SET/PINGINTERVAL), usually 300 seconds or 5 minutes. There is a 'pump-up' counter which is decremented on every outgoing ping and then reset to the 'obscount' value on every incoming ping. The default value of this parameter is 2. What this means is that a neighbouring node will be pinged twice at (default) 300 second intervals and if no reply has been heard just before what would be the third attempt, that node is disconnected. If a ping is heard then the obscount is reset to the full value. Using default values, if a node has not responded to a ping within 15 minutes, it is disconnected. 9.88. set/page (0) set/page Set the number of lines per page Tell the system how many lines you wish on a page when the number of lines of output from a command is more than this. The default is 20. Setting it explicitly to 0 will disable paging. SET/PAGE 30 SET/PAGE 0 The setting is stored in your user profile. 9.89. set/password (9) set/password Set a users password The password for a user can only be set by a full sysop. The string can contain any characters but any spaces are removed (you can type in spaces - but they won't appear in the password). You can see the result with STAT/USER. The password is the usual 30 character baycom type password. 9.90. set/pinginterval (9) set/pinginterval