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- <TITLE>The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.47: Hop control</TITLE>
+ <TITLE>The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.48: Routing and Filtering</TITLE>
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-<H2><A NAME="s1">1. Hop control</A></H2>
+<H2><A NAME="s1">1. Routing and Filtering</A></H2>
-<P>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).
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.1">1.1 Introduction</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>In fact DXSpider has had a simple system for some time which is called
+<I>isolation</I>. This is similar to what, in other systems such as
+<B>clx</B>, is called <I>passive mode</I>. A more detailed explanation
+of <I>isolation</I> is given further below. This system is still available
+and, for simple networks, is probably all that you need.
+<P>
+<P>The new functionality introduced in version 1.48 is filtering the node
+and user protocol frames on a "per interface" basis. We call this
+<I>route filtering</I>. This is used <B>instead of</B>
+<I>isolation</I>.
<P>
-<H2><A NAME="ss1.1">1.1 Basic hop control</A>
+<P>What this really means is that you can control more or less completely
+which PC protocol frames, to do with user and node management, pass to
+each of your partner nodes. You can also limit what comes into your
+node from your partners. You can even control the settings that your
+partner node has for the routing information that it sends to you
+(using the <I>rcmd</I> command).
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.2">1.2 Route Filters</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>The first thing that you must do is determine whether you need to do route filtering <B>at all</B>. If you are a "normal" node with two or three partners
+and you arranged in an "official" non-looping tree type network, then <B>you do
+not need to do route filtering</B> and you will feel a lot better for not
+getting involved. If you are successfully using <I>isolation</I> then you
+also probably don't need to use route filtering.
+<P>
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>
+Anyway, without further discouragement, let me start the process
+of explanation.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.3">1.3 The node_default filter</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>
+The generic commands are:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+reject/route node_default <filter_option>
+
+or
+
+accept/route node_default <filter_option>
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>where filter_option is one of the following ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+call <prefixes>
+call_dxcc <numbers>
+call_itu <numbers>
+call_zone <numbers>
+channel <prefixes>
+channel_dxcc <numbers>
+channel_itu <numbers>
+channel_zone <numbers>
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>Please be careful if you alter this setting, it will affect
+<B><I>ALL</I></B> your links!
+<P>
+<P>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:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+acc/route node_default call_dxcc 61,38
+acc/route node_default call gb7djk
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>GB7DJK uses the first of these. The DXCC countries can be obtained from the
+<I>show/prefix</I> command.
+<P>
+<P>The example filters shown control <I>output</I> <B>TO</B> all your
+partner nodes unless they have a specific filter applied to them (see
+next section).
+<P>
+<P>It is also possible to control the <I>incoming</I> routing
+information that you are prepared to accept <B>FROM</B> 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:
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+rej/route node_default input call_dxcc 61,38 and not channel_dxcc 61,38
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>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:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+set/debug filter
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>After you have got tired of that, to put it back the way it was:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+unset/debug filter
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.4">1.4 General route filtering</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>Exactly the same rules apply for general route filtering. You would
+use either an accept filter or a reject filter like this ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+reject/route <node_call> <filter_option>
+
+or
+
+accept/route <node_call> <filter_option>
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>
+<P>Here are some examples of route filters ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+rej/route gb7djk call_dxcc 61,38 (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)
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>In practice you will either be opening the default filter out for a
+partner by defining a specific filter for that callsign:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+acc/route gb7baa all
+acc/route gb7baa input all
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>or restricting it quite a lot, in fact making it very nearly like an <I>isolated</I> node, like this:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+acc/route pi4ehv-8 call gb7djk
+rej/route pi4ehv-8 input call_dxcc 61,38
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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).
+<P>
+<P>It is possible to do <B>much</B> more complex rules, there are up to 10
+accept/reject pairs per callsign per filter. For more information see the
+next section.
+<P>
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.5">1.5 General filter rules</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>There are 3 basic commands involved in setting and manipulating filters. These
+are <EM>accept</EM>, <EM>reject</EM> and <EM>clear</EM>. 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.
+<P>
+<P>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 ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+
+accept/spots .....
+reject/spots .....
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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.
+<P>There is also a command to clear out one or more lines in a filter. They are ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+clear/spots 1
+clear/spots all
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>There is clear/xxxx command for each type of filter.
+<P>
+<P>and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+
+show/filter
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>
+<P>For now we are going to use spots for the examples, but you can apply the same
+principles to all types of filter.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.6">1.6 Types of filter</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>There are two main types of filter, <EM>accept</EM> or <EM>reject</EM>. 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)
+<P>
+<P>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 <EM>accept</EM> filter ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>then you will <EM>ONLY</EM> get VHF spots <EM>from</EM> or <EM>to</EM> CQ zones
+14, 15 and 16.
+<P>
+<P>If you set a reject filter like this ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+reject/spots on hf/cw
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>Then you will get everything <EM>EXCEPT</EM> 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 ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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!
+<P>
+<P>You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your own
+understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+reject/spots 1 on hf/cw
+reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<P>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 <EM>APART</EM> 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 ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+(on 50000/1400000 and by_zone 14,15,16) or call_zone 14,15,16
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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'.
+<P>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 ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>would redefine our earlier example, or
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+clear/spots 1
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+clear/spots all
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.7">1.7 Filter options</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the
+various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.8">1.8 Default filters</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>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 ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+accept/spot node_default by_zone 14,15,16,20,33
+set/hops node_default spot 50
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.9">1.9 Advanced filtering</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to experiment.
+<P>
+<P>The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf spots from EU
+can be written with a mixed filter, for example ...
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+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)
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>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 <EM>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</EM>. Each filter slot actually has a 'reject' slot and
+an 'accept' slot. The reject slot is executed BEFORE the accept slot.
+<P>
+<P>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.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.10">1.10 Basic hop control</A>
</H2>
<P>In /spider/data you will find a file called hop_table.pl. This is the file
If you alter the file during runtime, the command <EM>load/hops</EM> will
bring your changes into effect.
<P>
-<H2><A NAME="ss1.2">1.2 Isolating networks</A>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.11">1.11 Hop Control on Specific Nodes</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>You can set a callsign specific hop count for any of the standard filter
+options so:-
+<P>
+<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
+<PRE>
+set/hops gb7djk spot 4
+set/hops node_default route 10
+set/hops gb7baa wcy 5
+</PRE>
+</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
+<P>all work on their specific area of the protocol.
+<P>
+<P>The <EM>set/hops</EM> command overrides any hops that you have set otherwise.
+<P>
+<P>You can set what hops have been set using the <EM>show/hops</EM> command.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss1.12">1.12 Isolating networks</A>
</H2>
<P>It is possible to isolate networks from each other on a "gateway" node using the
<EM>set/isolate <node_call></EM> command.
<P>
<P>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
+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
another network, he can still still send a talk/announce etc message via your
node and it will be routed across.
<P>
-<P>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.
-<P>
-<P>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 ....
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-$in = [
- [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 3] # The last figure (3) is the hop count
-];
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>
-<P>There is a lot more on filtering in the next section.
+<P>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 <EM>acc/spot >call< all</EM>ilter in the
+to override the isolate.
<P>
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