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- iServer 2.6 ∙ Internal Help File
- ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- This is a context sensitive help file that is intended to be used with the
- ISERVCFG.EXE program, and not directly viewed with a file reader.
-
- Please run ISERVCFG.EXE and press F1 from anywhere for detailed help.
- ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Press Ctrl-C to abort...
- []IRS
- With iServer you can make your system automatically respond to messages
- addressed to certain functions. They can be very powerful for responding
- to queries or running programs much like an automated full internet server.
-
- For example, you could have an entry setup that when someone posted a
- message to "help@yoursite.com" that it returns a help file to the poster
- of the message.
-
- You can also setup a function to respond to a message automatically with
- a text file, but then also leave the message to the receiver, rather than
- delete it. For example, you could have "comments@yoursite.com" that would
- send a "thank you for your comments" text file immediately, but then leave
- the comments for you to review later.
-
- You can also run programs on demand, for example you could setup an
- entry that when someone posted to "add-to-faq@yoursite.com", that it
- would run a program that could take their original message, and add it
- to another text file.
-
- When a program is shelled from iServer, it will create a file called
- "REQUEST", this file will contain all the info about who the message
- was from, to, subject, etc, along with the original text of the message.
- When the shelled program returns, iServer will check for the existance
- of a file called "RESPONSE", if it exists it will be posted back to
- the original sender of the request.
-
- For example:
-
- User posts to "add-to-faq@yoursite.com" you could run a program,
- even a batch file, like this:
-
- @echo off
- type REQUEST >> \THEFAQ.TXT
- copy THANKYOU.TXT RESPONSE
-
- This would copy the original message into a growing text file, and
- send them back a "thank you" message.
-
- Another example:
-
- You can get iServer to run other maintenance or utility programs
- when it sees messages to another user. For example, if you are
- using Transx, you could get iServer to watch for messages to
- "transx@yoursite.com" and run TRANSX.EXE when it saw an incoming
- message for that program.
-
- There is one last function type, that allows a message to trigger
- another program to run after it. For example, you could setup
- iServer so if it saw a message to "AreaFix", it would run your
- areafix manager after it was done. The reason that you would want
- to run it after iServer is completed rather than right away, is
- to avoid any sharing problems between the two applications
- scanning the same netmail message area.
-
- With these four options of the response function, you can automate
- basically any part of your system with lots of infobots and custom
- run-on-demand programs.
-
- In addition, you can govern the format of the "REQUEST" file by
- editing the "RESPOND.MSG" file in your iServer directory.
-
- Limited to 3 responds in unregistered version.
- []RPE
- When people post your system at "someone@yoursite.com", the "someone"
- part is called a "Trigger", you can setup some automated features or
- information packages on what are called "Infobots" What the Infobot
- does is dependant on the "Type" that you have specified.
-
- Trigger
-
- ■ This is the trigger part of the name that you want to use for
- your automated feature.
-
- Type
-
- ■ You have four different types of Infobots available:
-
- Return message This returns a textfile as a message to the sender
- of the infobot request then deletes the original
- message received.
-
- Reply and forward This returns a textfile as a message to the sender
- of the infobot request and leaves the original
- message present.
-
- Run program This creates a template file called "REQUEST" in the
- iServer directory that contains information about the
- sender of the message, it then executes an external
- program, and upon returning, if there is a file
- called "RESPONSE" it will post that to the sender of
- the original message. The original message is
- deleted in this process.
-
- Delay Run Program This is causes the external program to be run after
- iServer has completed scanning the netmail directory.
- iServer does not deleate the trigger message at this
- time, and leaves that upto the called program to do
- after it has finished processing it.
-
- File
-
- ■ This is either the textfile name to send to the requester, or if the
- Type is "Run", it is the program to execute.
-
- Subject
-
- ■ Whatever is in here will replace the old subject on any returned
- messages. If it is blank, the original subject will be used when
- creating the reply.
-
- For example, if someone posted a message:
-
- To: triggername (the @yoursite.com is removed at the gateway)
- Fm: bobuser@elsewhere.com (the requester of the information)
- Sb: Info please (the original subject)
-
- And you had a trigger called "triggername", that returned a textfile
- and replaced the subject with "Your request", you would see the headers
- of the new message look something like this:
-
- To: bobuser@elsewhere.com (the requester of the information)
- Fm: servername (the @yoursite.com is added at the gateway)
- Sb: Your request (the new subject replaced)
-
- This feature is great for setting up information services, such as:
-
- help@yoursite.com
- comments@yoursite.com
- info@yoursite.com
- prices@yoursite.com
-
- Limited to 3 responds in unregistered version.
- []T
- Tables are much like "Infobots" in the fact that they can return,
- forward or execute programs when triggered. The difference is that
- instead of looking for a "triggername@yoursite.com", iServer can
- scan "Tables" of names to search for a match.
-
- Its main purpose is to be able to put userid names into classes of
- functions. For example, say you had a number of users that abused
- your system, and you did not want to accept mail for them, you could
- simply put all of their names into a table, and have any mail that
- came in searched against that table. If there was a match, you could
- return the mail to the sender.
-
- Here's the setup for the above example:
-
- Table : BADUSERS
- Type : Return
- File : \path\BADUSER.TXT
-
- Now anytime a message came in that was addressed to a user that was
- in the BADUSERS table, it would return a textfile "BADUSER.TXT" to
- the sender of the message.
-
- To put user names into a table, use the included program "TABLE.EXE"
- The usage for TABLE.EXE is as follows:
-
- TABLE <tablename> <+|-><username>
-
- For example to add the user "Bob User" to the BADUSERS table, you
- would type: TABLE BADUSERS +Bob User
-
- To remove Joe Smith from the same table, you would use this command
- line instead: TABLE BADUSERS -Joe Smith
-
- Another idea for a table is having a vacation notice. You could
- have "TABLE.EXE VACATION +User name" as an option from your BBS as
- a "run an external program menu option". The user could run it to
- put themselves on a "vacation list", then you'd have a table entry
- like this:
-
- Table : VACATION
- Type : Reply and Forward
- File : \path\VACATION.TXT
-
- This would return a message to the sender letting them know that
- the receiver might be a while before responding, and because the
- Type is "Reply and Forward", the original message will be left for
- them when they return.
-
- Registered use only.
- []TE
- Table
-
- ■ This is the name of the table file to scan. It will be located in
- your main iServer directory with a .TBL extension.
-
- Type
-
- ■ You have three different types of Infobots available:
-
- Return message This returns a textfile as a message to the sender
- of the infobot request then deletes the original
- message received.
-
- Reply and forward This returns a textfile as a message to the sender
- of the infobot request and leaves the original
- message present.
-
- Run program This creates a template file called "REQUEST" in the
- iServer directory that contains information about the
- sender of the message, it then executes an external
- program, and upon returning, if there is a file
- called "RESPONSE" it will post that to the sender of
- the original message. The original message is
- deleted in this process.
-
- File
-
- ■ This is either the textfile name to send to the requester, or if the
- Type is "Run", it is the program to execute.
-
- Registered use only.
- []RTE
- Restrict
-
- ■ This is the site or function that you want to restrict. It will be
- searched for in the destination address, as well as the subject.
-
- ■ Partial matches are also found, therefore restricting "SUBSC" also
- restricts "SUBSCRIBE", etc..
-
- Flag override
-
- ■ If you wish users with a certain flag to be able to access this site
- still, you can do so by placing the flag required here. This is great
- for allowing certain users access to certain sites while restricting
- others from posting to it.
-
- ■ To erase a flag that is already set, simply replace the flag with
- spaces and hit enter.
-
- Limited to 3 restricts in unregistered version.
- []ME
- Trigger
-
- ■ This is the name you want to trigger on. It must be exactly the
- way the messages arrive at your system.
-
- Trigger on
-
- ■ This can be "To" or "From". For "To", it means that you want to
- look at who the message is to, and if it matches, consider the message
- to be destined for the public base.
-
- ■ Note that for inbound messages, your domain name is not included, for
- example if you subscribed to a mailing list from the account name
- "ml1@yoursite.com" the trigger should be "ml1" if using the "To" method.
-
- ■ If all the messages come "From" a specific user, you can use the second
- method, and look at who the message is from. For example, if all the
- messages were posted from "list-owner@remotesite.com", you would put
- that full name as the Trigger.
-
- For example:
-
- From : mcc-owner@uti.com
- To : fakename
-
- Basename
-
- ■ This is the path of the public base that the mail should be merged
- into. Currently only JAM is supported, and the format should follow
- the same as the main message base path.
-
- Outbound
-
- ■ This parameter controls whether or not the mail base will be scanned
- for outgoing messages. This is good for news letters and other such
- lists that you do not want users being able to reply to. You can of
- course specify the area as Read-Only in your BBS setup (suggested) but
- by selecting this here, iServer will bypass the scanning of this area,
- thus increasing processing speed.
-
- ■ If you do allow replies, any found will be exported as standard
- internet email.
- []M
- Another great feature of iServer, is its ability to take mailing lists
- and merge them into a public reading base. This is great if you want
- to subscribe to a popular mailing list, and make it available to all
- your users without them all having to subscribe to it themselves, and
- receiving multiple copies of the same messages.
-
- You could subscribe to the mailing list with a psuedo-name, and use
- this merge function to detect mail to this psuedo-name and import
- it into the public base.
-
- For example: 1) Subscribe to a list using a fake user name
- "ml1@yoursite.com"
-
- 2) Mail comes into "ml1" and merge sees it and
- imports it into a public base you define.
-
- More information regarding the field setup in merge is available
- by pressing "Insert" to insert a new merge, and then pressing "F1"
- for help on the field options.
- []RS
- This is one of the most powerful features of iServer that will allow
- you to setup subscription levels, or simply restrict access to certain
- functions if your gateway is long distance, or does not accept certain
- types of functions or requests.
-
- Any outgoing messages that have any of the names listed in the restrict
- section or any partial matches thereof in "to" address or the first word
- in the subject line, will be considered to be restricted. You may
- override certain restricts with a user flag if you wish.
-
- Example: SUBSC A2 (Restricts "SUBSC" unless user has flag A2)
- LISTSERV A2 (Restricts "LISTSERV" unless user has flag A2)
- FTP (Restricts "FTP" always)
-
- Since you can use a flag to override certain sites, it is excellent as
- a tool to help promote finacial support of your internet email services.
-
- Limited to 3 restricts in unregistered version.
- []I
- Messages addressed to "ignored" names will remain in the netmail folder
- as if iServer had never seen them. It is good for leaving requests
- upto other programs, or if you wish your personal mail to be leave in
- your netmail folder, you can place your name in an "ignore".
-
- Example: ALLFIX
- AREAFIX
- PETE ROCCA
- []A
- By default, encodeded files (such as UUENCODE, BASE64, MIME, etc) are
- bounced when attempting to be exported, however you can override this
- for certain users or users with certain flags, or disable the
- restrictions for all users, using any of the following 3 methods.
-
- Example: PETE ROCCA
- A2
- ALL
-
- This would allow "PETE ROCCA", users with flag "A2", or "ALL" users,
- respectively, to post encoded files. You can use a combination of
- these settings to tailor the restrictions to exactly your requirements.
- []UE
- One of the nice features of iServer, is that it allows your users to
- change their handle on the BBS to something that is more appropriate
- for internet email addresses. For example, the user "Pete Rocca" might
- change his handle to "rocca"
-
- What is special about allowing iServer to do it, instead of your BBS
- is that it allows you to restrict certain handles from being used, as
- well as giving you the option to only allow users to change it once,
- since if the user is constantly changing their address, all the mail
- to their old address will be returned to sender since the old name no
- longer exists on your system.
-
- Userid selected flag
-
- ■ This is the flag that you wish to have turned on once the user has
- selected an alias.
-
- Min userid length
-
- ■ This is the minimum number of characters allowed in the userid.
-
- Max userid length
-
- ■ This is the maximum number of characters allowed in the userid.
-
- Bad handles
-
- ■ This is a list of names or partial names that you do not want users
- to be able to select. The list is partially matched, so an entry
- of "ROOT" would also restrict "ROOTED", "DEROOT", etc..
-
- Some good defaults include:
-
- ROOT POSTMASTER WWW
- ADMIN SYSOP FTP
-
- Once you have these options set, and you wish to allow your users
- to use the handle option, you should present them with an option
- to run ISERVER with the parameters "/USERID c:\path_to_dropfiles"
- For example you would make menu option to shell:
-
- C:\ISERVER\ISERVER.EXE /USERID C:\RA
-
- If you do use this option, don't forget to set the Internet email
- area on your BBS to use "Handles" instead of "Real names"...
-
- Also, a good way to run it so that it gets run only once, is to make
- a menu option that is "Autoexecute=Yes" with the "Not flag" of whatever
- flag you are to have set, that way if a user does not have the flag
- set, it will run the "ISERVER.EXE /USERID" program automatically.
- []SA
- Normally you would only process messages to your site address you are
- using for your email, however if you wish to utilize some of the other
- features in iServer, such as InfoBots and message bouncing for your
- other addresses, you can list those akas that you wish iServer to process.
- []PL
- If you are using the USERS.BBS type of userbase, then you can restrict
- the number of messages a user below a certain security level can post
- in a give period. iServer will keep a record of these posts in the
- LIMIT.DAT file which is located in the iServer directory, once a user
- exceeds the number of messages in this database, their messages are
- bounced back with the LIMIT.BAD template file.
-
- When you wish to reset the counters, simply delete the LIMIT.DAT file.
- For example, if you wanted to restrict users to a single message a day
- you would specify "1" for the number of posts to restrict, and then
- delete this file in your midnight maintenance. Likewise, if you wanted
- to restrict to 100 messages a month, you would specify "100" and delete
- the LIMIT.DAT file in your monthly maintenance.
-
- If you do not wish to restrict any users, simply leave the values at
- zero, and iServer will not use the limiting features.
- []MRM
- Sometimes it is desired to remap one address to another, such as mapping
- a fake account "postmaster@yoursite.com" to "sysop@yoursite.com", this
- way you can provide a generic userid and have it mapped into another
- account, without having to create and maintain a special account on the
- BBS for the original name.
-
- You might also use this function to remap commonly misspelled versions
- of your own name, or multiple accounts you might want to have presented
- as valid.
-
- Some examples...
-
- Remap mailbox: POSTMASTER -> SYSOP
- Remap mailbox: PETER ROCCA -> PETE ROCCA
- Remap mailbox: ROCCAP -> PETE ROCCA
- []GI
- Domain
-
- ■ This is your domain name. If you are feeding from a private gateway,
- your gateway will assign you a name. If you are feeding from your zone
- fidonet gateway then your domain is as such:
-
- f<node>.n<net>.z<zone>.fidonet.org
-
- For example, if your Site Address was 1:2401/305, your domain would be
- f305.n2401.z1.fidonet.org
-
- If your address has a point, simply preceed the address with p<point>
- for example 1:2401/305.10 would be p10.f305.n2401.z1.fidonet.org
-
- Server Name
-
- ■ This option allows you to specify what name the server will use to
- bounce messages, and for response functions.
-
- ■ It is only cosmetic, so what you choose is not extreamly important,
- however some good suggestions are:
-
- mail-daemon
- mail-server
- server
-
- Site Address
-
- ■ This is the fidonet address that you will be receiving the internet
- email to. For basic setups, this will be your main fidonet address,
- however see the documentation on how to setup an optimal system that
- will not conflict with your regular netmail.
-
- Uucp Address
-
- ■ This is the fidonet address of your gateway that will handle the
- email for you. If you are using the free zone 1 gateway then the
- address should be 1:1/31, however if you are using a private gateway,
- you should ask your gateway what address to put in here.
-
- Uucp Secondary
-
- ■ Most people will not need this function. What it does is allow you
- to have to inbound UUCP feeds merged into the same email stream. For
- example if you had two feeds you could place the fidonet address of
- the secondary feed here and have both of them converge in the same email
- base.
-
- ■ It should be noted that all outbound mail will be destined to the
- main Uucp Address.
-
- Serial & Registration
-
- ■ This is where you place the serial and registration codes once you have
- registered iServer.
- []ARM
- Sometimes it is desirable to remap mail going from one address to another.
- This is good if you have users manually posting netmail to an incorrect
- gateway that you would like redirected.
-
- Some examples...
-
- Remap address: 1:1/31 -> 1:2401/305.1000
- Remap mailbox: 1:2235/10.999 -> 1:2401/305.1000
-
- You can also use it to redirect other kinds of mail, perhaps you have
- two fidonet addresses, but would like them to converge into one area.
- []SO
- Import mail to all@yoursite.com
-
- ■ If you wish to have mail that is addressed to all@yoursite.com imported
- into the internet email base with the public flag, rather than have the
- mail returned to sender then set this option to "Yes"
-
- Convert "site!user" to "user@site"
-
- ■ Some UUCP providers will send you mail that looks like it's
- backwards. If it looks like "site.com!user" instead of "user@site.com",
- you may switch it around to the more preferred addressing method.
-
- Delete fidonet information
-
- ■ If your email messages contain information in the fidonet control
- lines, and you do not wish them to be imported into the BBS, you
- can disable it with this function.
-
- ■ Some have reported that ProBoard locks up when importing large
- JAM kludges into the board, if this happens to you, you should
- consider deleting the fidonet information.
-
- Retry underbars with periods
-
- ■ Some gateways incorrectly remap email -> user names by inserting
- underbars in names rather than periods. If your gateway does this
- and you want to increase the chance of mail being imported to the
- user correctly, select "Yes".
-
- For example the gateway might map:
-
- pete_rocca@mbcc.com instead of
- pete.rocca@mbcc.com
-
- With this option on, iServer will try both variations to see if the
- user exists.
-
- Cache tables at startup
-
- ■ If you are using "Tables" that you have setup in the Advanced Setup
- section, you can have the option to cache them at startup.
-
- ■ If you do not have very many table hits, it is a good idea to leave
- this off, however if you use the tables a lot, caching at startup
- will make iServer run much quicker.
-
- Convert outbound addresses to lowercase
-
- ■ If you wish, you can convert all outbound addresses to be converted
- to lowercase. For example "USER@SITE.COM" would be coverted to
- "user@site.com" This is usually a cosmetic preference option.
-
- Set the "Keep/Sent" flag on netmail
-
- ■ When posting the outbound netmail, you can have the option to set
- the "Keep/Sent" flag. Usually most will have this option turned off.
-
- Set the "Direct" flag on netmail
-
- ■ When posting the outbound netmail, you can have the option to set
- the "Direct" flag, this is usually best left on unless you are
- routing your mail to your provider (ie 1:1/31)
-
- Check for dumb outbound messages
-
- ■ iServer can check for outbound messages that are not addressed to
- a valid name, even before they leave your site. Addresses that do not
- have the "@" or "!" symbol cannot be processed by most gateways, so
- rather than sending this mail to the gateway, iServer can bounce it
- back to the user immediately.
-
- Always export "UUCP" in header
-
- ■ By default iServer attempts to put the destination address into
- the netmail "To" header. If it cannot fit, it addresses the message
- "To: UUCP" and puts the address on the first line.
-
- ■ If you wish to always use the "To: UUCP" method, you can do so by
- selecting this option.
-
- Delete mail from base once exported
-
- ■ Once iServer exports the message, it marks it as "sent" so it will not
- need to be processed again, however it leaves the message in the
- message base as many people like to be able to see what messages they
- have sent. If you wish to remove the message from the BBS immediately
- after processing it, select "Yes"
- []FPC
- Netmail path
-
- ■ This is the path to the netmail folder that your mailer uses for
- its *.MSG files.
-
- User base
-
- ■ This is the filename of the file that stores all of the user
- information. There are two Types available; RA and Text. For RA
- it is the full path and filename of your USERS.BBS file. For text,
- it is the path and filename of an ASCII text file containing valid
- user names.
-
- Message base
-
- ■ This is the full path and filename of the path of the message base
- on the BBS. Right now only JAM is supported, other formats will soon
- follow, including PCBoard.
-
- Example: C:\MAIL\JAM\EMAIL Type:JAM
-
- Would use the JAM base that created:
-
- C:\MAIL\JAM\EMAIL.JDT
- C:\MAIL\JAM\EMAIL.JDX
- C:\MAIL\JAM\EMAIL.JHR
- C:\MAIL\JAM\EMAIL.JLR
-
- Log file
-
- ■ This is the name of the logfile that iServer will use to log mail
- traffic and events. If you do not wish to use a log file, put NUL
- for the filename.
-
- Update semaphore
-
- ■ When iServer modifies the netmail folder, it can notify other tasks
- to rescan the folder to see the changes. Depending on what mailer
- you are using these file names will change.
-
- ■ For FrontDoor the names of the files are FDRESCAN.NOW and FMRESCAN.NOW
- and are located in your FD semaphore directory.
-
- Example: C:\FD\FDRESCAN.NOW
- C:\FD\FMRESCAN.NOW
-
- Consult your mailer documentation for the correct semaphore file names
- for you to use.
- []EXIT
- This allows you to exit the configuration program. If you have made any
- changes, it will prompt you to save any changes before exiting back to
- the system prompt.
- []MAIN
- ┌──iServer───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
- └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
-
- What does it do?
-
- ■ iServer will import email from a fidonet netmail format directly
- into your RemoteAccess system as internet email. No longer will
- your users have to know anything about addressing to "UUCP" at some
- obscure netmail address.
-
- ■ Of course, it will also export outbound mail from your BBS and
- prepare then in a netmail fashion, ready to be gated out.
-
- A complete solution!
-
- ■ iServer is not only a tosser for your mail, but a powerful server
- engine as well. iServer can automatically bounce mail addressed
- to unknown users on your system, or respond to inbound messages
- automatically. With iServer and its request/respond system, you
- can build powerful applications to interface with your basic email
- system, such as info-bots, listserv and ftpmail.
-
- ■ Outbound messages can be restricted on site, or user security
- settings and the number of messages posted per user. You also
- have the option to restrict file transfers via email, such as
- UUENCODED, BASE64 or MIME formatted messages. iServer integrates
- completely and seemlessly with your BBS system, using it's data
- files for user verification, as well as obtaining user security
- information for its message restricting features.
-
- Overview...
-
- ■ Seamless integration with RemoteAccess
- ■ Direct import/export of email
- ■ Powerful server response engine
- ■ Bounce messages to unknown users
- ■ Merge mailing lists as usegroups
- ■ Restrict certain sites, functions or encoded files
- ■ Custom templates for bounce messages
- ■ Dumb address checking
- ■ Disclaimer message support
- ■ Excellent author support
-
- ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
- └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- []