****** MultiNode Batch File Setup for 3 Nodes ******
*** 2 "Live" nodes and 1 "Local Only" node ***
Copyright 1991 by Mark Lewis
and
the Spirit of Support -=FBBS=-
FIDONet 1:275/20
(804) 498-0065
All Right Reserved in Time and Space
first things first <sigh>......
**** LEGALITIES ****
i/we at the Spirit of Support -=FBBS=- do not guarrantee that the batch
files and sample screen dumps contained in this .ZIP will work _perfectly_
on your system. the .BAT files and samples in this archive are provided
as is without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. the only
thing guarranteed about the files included in this archive is that they
will take up diskspace. if you find that they do not serve your purposes,
delete them. it's that easy. if they break themselves on your system, you
own both parts and cannot hold the Spirit of Support -=FBBS=-, the SysOp(s),
or myself liable for any damages to you or your system. this includes
downtime and is not limited to any monies lost due to downtime. also, these
.BAT files and the associated utilities mentioned *CAN NOT* and will not
cause *ANY* damage to your hardware or equipment!
***** REGISTRATION *****
now, don't take this part the wrong way<grin>.... if you find that these .BAT
files and/or samples help you in your quest to become a multinode system, all
we ask is that you NetMail Mark Lewis or Jim Putt at 1:275/20.0 and let them
know that you are using the basics outlined or the files included in this
archive file. this way they will know that others are interested in what they
can provide and will encourage them to continue the development of this and
other items/programs that may help you in the development of you system for
the use of your members. after all, what's the cost of a phone call compared
to what you can make and/or provide for the members of your BBS?
now that that is over with... on to the real stuff....
*** the REAL stuff ***
you will, in most cases, need to modify these files. before doing so,
make sure you are working on a *copy* not the originals. i cannot provide
help on code that has been modified without knowing what modifications
were done and how they are being implemented. the first modification most
likely needed will be the drive and systems directories for RA and FD.
the included BBS.BAT runs everything from our C: drive whereas our test
site unit runs everything from D: drive. if you stick with the "basics"
and use <DRIVE:>\RA and <DRIVE:>\FD as your system directories, you will
find modification much easier.
you will need a few utilities for these .BAT files to work correctly...
a copy of DTR.COM and AT.COM will prove invaluable to help in the control
of your modem at 'critical' times.... like making sure the phone is
offhook when tossing mail or updating the bulletins and such. another
utility that makes 'life easier' is DVCOMAND. i found it in DVCO12.ZIP
a couple of months ago. if you can't find a copy, let me know and i'll
make it available as soon as possible <<grin>>. in this setup, DVCOMAND
is used to delay operation of the .BAT file at key points.... it can also
be used to open other windows in the background for 'event processing'
which opens a lot of ideas for me<grin>.
Oh Yeah!! you'd better also have a copy of IMAIL if you expect the
tossing/scanning of echomail to work without any modification to the
BBS.BAT file<<grin>>. you should also have IMAIL set up and operating in
a single node environment first. i haven't tried any other mail processing
utilities like GEcho or TosScan but, you should be able to modify the
BBS.BAT where necessary to handle any other mail processing utilities you
might want to use.
i highly recommend that you print out a copy of BBS.BAT and read through
it so you can understand what is happening where and when. it's only about
9 (nine) pages and there are some loopbacks that take place and are
confusing at times if you don't have a printout to follow<<grin>>... one,
in particular, that was fun to do, was the ability for node 2 to toss mail
if a packet came in on node 1 while node 2 was online with a user and this
has been expanded so that node 3 has this ability also. note that the
inbound/outbound mail tossing/scanning takes place As Soon As Possible...
in other words, the inbound mail packets will sit in your inbound
directory until all the nodes are free of callers... then, and only then,
will the LAST node out toss the inbound mail. in the case of outbound
mail, the BBS.BAT looks for the ECHOMAIL.BBS and NETMAIL.BBS files in your
BBS's messagebase directory... if they, either one or both exist, then
your mail processor's scanning function should be run. in the case of both
inbound and outbound mail waiting for processing, the inbound mail packet
is tossed before the outbound packet is created.
ok.... now on to the rest of the setup....
first, name or rename the individual node directories to N1 or N2, etc...
ie: D:\RA\N1 for RA node 1 and D:\FD\N1 for FD node 1... put the
CONFIG.RA file from your main RA directory into each node's
<DRIVE:>\RA\N? directory. this is necessary if you want to have different
system prompts and echomail addresses for each node. you can share the
CONFIG.RA between nodes if you like. in the case of sharing the CONFIG.RA,
you won't need to put a copy in each node (N?) directory. in our setup,
we have a different POINT number for each of our nodes. and this, plus a
few node specific prompts, causes us to go with the seperate copies of
CONFIG.RA.
the following are the things that need to be changed in RACONFIG for each
node, in the case of seperate CONFIG.RA's, you will have to be in the
specific directory for the node you are modifying before you run RACONFIG. also, note that any changes to the message areas, protocals, or files areas are "global" for the nodes as these files are shared in this set up... with this in mind, you could have different file areas and message areas for each node, but that kind of setup is not what this package was created for, although it is very easily accomplished once you stop and think about it<<GRIN>>...
1) your address ie: 1:275/20.0 for your node 1 and 1:275/20.1 for node 2...
if you want to run your other node(s) as POINTS off
of your main node. otherwise you can get another node
number and use that... ie: 1:306/23 and 1:306/28...
(hope you don't mind the plug, Josh<<grin>>)
2) the modem port and the baud rate.
note that in this BBS.BAT file, we use the command line over-rides to specify the port, baud, and speed in use for each node.
3) the logfile names.....i made a directory and put *ALL*
logfiles there.. ie: D:\LOGS <grin>.. each node, FD
included, must have it's own logfile....
ie: node 1 - FDN1.LOG and RAN1.LOG..
makes it easy, hunh?? <<grin>>
4) the RA system directory stays the same 'cause that's
where all the other configuration files are... RA looks in the current directory for it's needed configuration files and if it cannot find them, then it looks at the environment variable(s) set in the N?.BAT startup file.
now, as we/i have only used FrontDoor, this is the only one i can comment
on.... in FD's SETUP do the same as above except that the FD system
directory becomes the nodes directory.... ie: before.. FD system dir was
D:\FD.... for nodes 1 & 2 it now becomes D:\FD\N1 and D:\FD\N2
respectively. all the config files for FD are put in each FD nodes
directory.. you may be able to share the .EXE's and .OVR's but this
method works, albeit a li'l space consuming but it works.... the inbound
(file), outbound (packet), nodelist, and netmail directories are all
shared... each node has it's own ROUTE.FD and node 2 doesn't send or poll
for *any*thing but can receive mail or files and can also handle FREQs...
node 1 is your 'master' node, if you will.... it does everything including
all system maintainence. you may also have to tell each node to use the
address of the other as an AKA if you run into problems with the second
node not receiving mail destined for node 1 and visa versa...
now, put the N1, N2, and N3 .BAT files in your path and the BBS.BAT in
your main RA directory. make sure your DV, FD, RA, and IMAIL directories
are in your path. in DV, create PIF files for each node starting them
with the .BAT file for that node.... below is my DV PIF file for my
node 1....note that i do NOT specify a directory.... let the .BAT file
