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1989-02-15
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6KB
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141 lines
What is this "HOME BBS" stuff?
Tom Hogan, WB7DCH
As the Pacific Northwest HF GateWay, all messages addressed to
WP @ WD6CMU which originate in BC, WA, OR, and parts of ID pass
through my station. Like other HF sysops that value their amateur
privileges, I read everything that crosses my system. What I read
tells me that a lot of the users out there really don't
understand what "Home BBS" is all about.
In order to understand the need for accuracy in the information
that we are asked to provide by current versions of BBS software,
we need first to understand what happens to the data. Each time
we enter our Home BBS, Zip or Postal code, Name, or QTH into any
BBS to which we are connected, the data is saved. Once per day,
this user data, along with any other new user data collected by
that BBS, is put into a message to the master "White Pages"
server, WP @ WD6CMU. These messages look like this:
4974 PF 167 WP KE7OM WD6CMU 1101/0226 WP Update
R:881101/0035z @:N7HFZ North Bend, Wa #:10362 Z:98045
R:881101/0000z @:KE7OM North Bend, WA #:7393 Z:98045
On 881031 WB7UOI @ KE7OM zip 98037 DENNIS LYNNWOOD, WA.
As these messages make their way toward WD6CMU in California,
major hub BBSs and HF GateWays along the way collect this data
as these messages pass through. These systems, if they have the
WP Cache Server function enabled, will also collect data from WP
responses passing through and from message headers on every
message that passes through. These systems will also answer
queries to WP if any of the data is available in the system. If
all of the data is not available in a particular system, the
query will be passed along to the next system in a direction
toward WD6CMU. When finally a complete response can be generated
(maybe only by the master WP server @ WD6CMU) it is sent back to
the station making the original request.
By way of explanation, I generated the following message to WP:
4903 P 43 WP WB7DCH WD6CMU 1030/2330 Query
wa7fus ?
k0hoa ?
n7hfz ?
w6hth ?
w7xyz ?
[A WP query is a message addressed to WP. Each line of the message
is the callsign, a space, and a question mark. WP returns a line
containing all information about that callsign.]
Since I am a WP Cache Server, my system immediately returned the
following message:
4904 P 235 WB7DCH WP 1030/2331 WP Reply
On 881023 WA7FUS @ KE7OM zip 98032 Peter ?
On 881029 K0HOA @ K0HOA zip ? Dave Colorado Springs, Co. 80918
On 881030 N7HFZ @ N7HFZ zip 98045 Steve North Bend, Wa
On 881030 W6HTH @ W6HTH zip 96822 ? Honolulu, Hawaii
[ From WP @ WB7DCH ]
My system then sent along a copy of my original query to W9ZRX
who happened to be the next HF GateWay. W9ZRX is not a WP Cache
Server so,without replying, he sent my query to the California
GateWay, N6VV. As N6VV is a WP Cache Server, he sent back the
following partial reply, which is everything he happened to know
at the time (notice that he didn't have some of the Name
information):
4919 PY 343 WB7DCH WP 1031/0254 WP Reply
R:881031/0245z @:W9ZRX [*** IndyGate ***] #:41953 Z:46074
R:881031/0228z @:N6VV Pleasant Hill, CA #:23507 Z:94523
On 880929 WA7FUS @ KE7OM zip 98032 ? ?
On 881030 K0HOA @ K0HOA zip 80918 ? Colorado Springs, Co. 80918
On 881030 N7HFZ @ N7HFZ zip 98045 ? North Bend, Wa
On 881030 W6HTH @ W6HTH zip 96822 ? Honolulu, Hawaii
[ From WP @ N6VV ]
N6VV then sent along a copy of the original query to the next
station toward WP. The query finally arrived at WP @ WD6CMU who
generated the following response:
4957 P 445 WB7DCH WP 1031/1632 Reply to WP query
R:881031/1140z @:W9ZRX [*** IndyGate ***] #:42026 Z:46074
R:881031/0755z @:N6VV Pleasant Hill, CA #:23549 Z:94523
R:881031/0731z @:WA6RDH Dixon, Ca. #:6958 Z:95620
R:881031/0314z @:WD6CMU OSKbox, Richmond CA #:17283 Z:94805
WA7FUS QTH KE7OM North Bend, WA ZIP 98032
K0HOA QTH K0HOA Colorado Springs, CO ZIP 80918
N7HFZ QTH N7HFZ Deer Park WA ZIP 98045
W6HTH QTH W6HTH Honolulu, HI ZIP 96822
W7XYZ no record, sorry.
73 DE WD6CMU "White Pages"
Now, who learned what from all this activity? Do you remember my
saying earlier that WP Cache Servers collect information from
passing message headers? Here's what happened:
As my original query went toward WP, N6VV learned that WB7DCH and
W9ZRX are BBSs; and WP learned that WB7DCH, W9ZRX, and N6VV are
BBSs. On the return trip, WA6RDH learned that WD6CMU is a BBS;
N6VV learned that WD6CMU and WA6RDH are BBSs; and WB7DCH learned
that WD6CMU, WA6RDH, N6VV, and W9ZRX are BBSs. Needless to say,
everyone along the return path learned about WA7FUS, K0HOA,
N7HFZ, and W6HTH.
What we have been describing here is what is known as a
distributed database. Now that you understand a little of how
distributed databases work, one very good question remains: "What
keeps all of the WP Cache Servers from getting saturated with
data?" Notice that on each line of a WP Response message is the
date on which the information was "learned". The information on
each user is "aged out" of each local database, usually in 60 to
90 days. This keeps the size of the local database at each WP
Cache Server to a manageable size. The master WP Server retains
the data for a longer period of time.
The message to users should be clear: each time we log onto a new
BBS we should make sure that the data we enter about ourselves is
correct and consistant with what we have entered before. We
should occasionally send a query to WP @ WD6CMU to find out what
the network knows about us. If the data we get back is incorrect
or incomplete, we should do ourselves a favor and enter the
correct data the next time we log onto a BBS.
The message to sysops is less clear but equally important.
Since each WP Cache Server in the network collects data from
message headers by parsing these headers as messages pass
through, sysops should be sure that their message headers are in
one of the standard header formats.
What is this "Home BBS" stuff? It's pretty important stuff. It's
our way of informing the network who we are and where we are. It
lets us change our Home BBS and, more importantly, change our
home QTH and let the network and our friends know about it.
Enjoy! de tom@wb7dch