1 The DXSpider Installation Manual v1.50
2 Iain Philipps, G0RDI (g0rdi@77hz.com), Ian Maude, G0VGS,
3 (g0vgs@gb7mbc.net) and Charlie Carroll, K1XX,
5 March 2003 revision 0.7
7 A reference for SysOps of the DXSpider DXCluster program.
8 ______________________________________________________________________
16 1.3 Installing the software
17 1.4 Setting callsigns etc
18 1.5 The client program
19 1.6 Starting up for the first time
21 2. Linux quick installation guide
22 3. Setting up the AX25 Utilities
25 3.3 Installing the RPM's
32 3.10 Getting it all running
35 4.1 Allowing ax25 connects from users
36 4.2 Allowing telnet connects from users
37 4.3 Setting up telnet connects (from 1.47 onwards)
38 4.4 Setting up for AGW Engine (1.47 onwards)
39 4.5 Setting up node connects
40 4.6 Connection scripts
41 4.7 Starting the connection
43 4.9 Autostarting the cluster
45 5. Microsoft Windows Installation
50 5.5 Additional packages
53 6. Installing the software
55 6.2 The AGW packet engine
56 6.3 Setting up the initial user files
57 6.4 Connecting to other clusters
59 7. General Information
63 ______________________________________________________________________
67 \e[1m1. Linux Installation
\e[0m
69 \e[1m1.1. Introduction
\e[0m
71 This section describes the installation of DX Spider v1.50 on a RedHat
72 Linux Distribution. Wherever possible I will try to include
73 differences for other distributions.
76 I am assuming a general knowledge of Linux and its commands. You
77 should know how to use
\e[4mtar
\e[24m and how to edit files using your favourite
81 The crucial ingredient for all of this is Perl. Earlier versions of
82 Spider required perl 5.004, however it is now
\e[4mSTRONGLY
\e[24m recommended
83 that you use at least version 5.6.1 as this is the version being used
84 in the development of Spider.
87 In addition to the standard Red Hat distribution you will require the
88 following modules from http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/ , please
89 note however that with later versions of perl, some of these modules
90 may be included with the distribution. Get the modules anyway and try
91 to install as below. If they complain, they are probably already a
92 part of your perl distribution.
96 o Data-Dumper-2.101.tar.gz
\e[4mthis
\e[24m
\e[4mis
\e[24m
\e[4mincluded
\e[24m
\e[4min
\e[24m
\e[4mperl
\e[24m
\e[4m5.6.1
\e[24m
\e[4mand
\e[24m
\e[4mabove
\e[0m
98 o TimeDate-1.10.tar.gz
100 o IO-1.20.tar.gz (
\e[4mfor
\e[24m
\e[4mperl
\e[24m
\e[4m5.00403
\e[24m
\e[4mand
\e[24m
\e[4mlower
\e[24m)
102 o Net-Telnet-3.03.tar.gz
106 o Time-HiRes-01.20.tar.gz
108 o Digest-SHA1-2.01.tar.gz
111 Copy the CPAN modules listed above to a convenient place on your
112 computer. One good place would be /usr/local/packages, and the
113 instructions which follow will assume that that's where you have put
117 Log in as 'root', and make sure you're at '/root' before you continue.
118 Here are exactly the commands you must issue next: -
122 # tar xvfz /usr/local/packages/TimeDate-1.10.tar.gz
129 # tar xvfz /usr/local/packages/Net-Telnet-3.03.tar.gz
136 # tar xvfz /usr/local/packages/Curses-1.06.tar.gz
143 # tar xvfz /usr/local/packages/Time-HiRes-01.20.tar.gz
144 # cd Time-HiRes-01.20
150 # tar xvfz /usr/local/packages/Digest-SHA1-2.01.tar.gz
151 # cd Digest-SHA1-2.01
159 Only if you need to do these (because your perl is old):-
163 # tar xvfz /usr/local/packages/IO-1.20.tar.gz
167 # make install UNINST=1
170 # tar xvfz /usr/local/packages/Data-Dumper-2.101.tar.gz
171 # cd Data-Dumper-2.101
180 Do not fall into the trap of thinking they're all the same, just
181 because they nearly are! Pay particular attention to the instructions
182 of
\e[4mIO
\e[24m, above.
186 \e[1m1.2. Preparation
\e[0m
188 I will assume that you have already downloaded the latest tarball of
189 the DXSpider software and are ready to install it. I am assuming
190 version 1.50 for this section but of course you would use the latest
194 Login as root and create a user to run the cluster under.
\e[4mUNDER
\e[24m
\e[4mNO
\e[0m
195 \e[4mCIRCUMSTANCES
\e[24m
\e[4mUSE
\e[24m
\e[4mROOT
\e[24m
\e[4mAS
\e[24m
\e[4mTHIS
\e[24m
\e[4mUSER!
\e[24m. I am going to use the name
196 \e[4msysop
\e[24m. You can call it anything you wish. Depending on your security
197 requirements you may wish to use an existing user, however this is
206 For SuSE distributions, the command would be ..
214 Now set a password for the user ...
220 # Retype new UNIX password:
221 passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully
225 \e[1m1.3. Installing the software
\e[0m
227 Now to unpack the DX Spider distribution, set symbolic links and group
228 permissions. Copy the tarball to /home/sysop and do the following.
233 # tar xvfz spider-1.50.tar.gz
234 # ln -s ~sysop/spider /spider
235 # groupadd -g 251 spider (or another number)
239 If you do not have the command
\e[4mgroupadd
\e[24m available to you simply add a
240 line in /etc/group by hand.
244 # vi /etc/group (or your favorite editor)
248 You also need to add some others to the group, including your own
249 callsign (this will be used as an alias) and root. The finished line
250 in /etc/group should look something like this
252 spider:x:251:sysop,g0vgs,root
255 The next step is to set the permissions on the Spider directory tree
260 # chown -R sysop.spider spider
261 # find . -type d -exec chmod 2775 {} \;
262 # find . -type f -exec chmod 775 {} \;
266 This last step allows various users of the group
\e[4mspider
\e[24m to have write
267 access to all the directories. This is not really needed just yet but
268 will be useful when web interfaces start to appear.
271 Finally, you need to fix the permissions on the ax25_call and
272 netrom_call programs. Check where they are with the
\e[4mlocate
\e[24m command
273 and alter the permissions with the
\e[4mchmod
\e[24m command like this ..
277 # chown root ax25_call netrom_call
278 # chmod 4775 ax25_call netrom_call
282 \e[1m1.4. Setting callsigns etc
\e[0m
284 Now login to your machine as the user you created earlier. In my case
285 that user is called
\e[4msysop
\e[24m. Once logged in, issue the following
293 $ cp perl/DXVars.pm.issue local/DXVars.pm
295 $ vi DXVars.pm (or your favourite editor)
299 Using the distributed DXVars.pm as a a template, set your cluster
300 callsign, sysop callsign and other user info to suit your own
306 This is the call sign of your cluster. Here in the UK we have
307 separate callsigns for our cluster nodes. If you can't use a different
308 callsign I suggest you use an SSID of '-2' for the node callsign
317 This is the sysop user callsign, normally your own.
320 \e[1mPLEASE USE CAPITAL LETTERS FOR CALLSIGNS
\e[0m
323 Note that this a perl file which will be parsed and executed as part
324 of the cluster. If you get it wrong then perl will complain when you
325 start the cluster process. It is important only to alter the text of
326 any section. Some of the lines look a little odd. Take this line for
329 $myemail = "ianmaude\@btinternet.com";
332 There appears to be an extra slash in there. However this has to be
333 there for the file to work so leave it in.
336 DON'T alter any file in /spider/perl, they are overwritten with every
337 release. Any files or commands you place in /spider/local or
338 /spider/local_cmd will automagically be used in preference to the ones
339 in /spider/perl EVEN while the cluster is running!
342 Save the new file and change directory to ../perl ....
350 Now type the following command which creates the basic user file with
359 \e[1m1.5. The client program
\e[0m
361 In earlier versions of Spider, all the processes were Perl scripts.
362 This was fine but with a lot of users your computer memory would soon
363 be used up. To combat this a new client was written in "C". This
364 client only works for
\e[4mincoming
\e[24m connects at the moment. Before you can
365 use it though it has to be "made". CD to /spider/src and type
\e[4mmake
\e[24m.
366 You should see the output on your screen and hopefully now have a
367 small C program called
\e[4mclient
\e[24m. Leave it in this directory.
371 \e[1m1.6. Starting up for the first time
\e[0m
373 We can now bring spider up for the first time and see if all is well
374 or not! It should look something like this ...
379 DXSpider DX Cluster Version 1.50
380 Copyright (c) 1998 Dirk Koopman G1TLH
382 loading band data ...
383 loading user file system ...
384 starting listener ...
385 reading existing message headers
387 orft we jolly well go ...
391 If all is well then login on another term or console as
\e[4msysop
\e[24m and cd
392 to /spider/src. Now issue the following command ...
400 This should log you into the cluster as the sysop under the alias
401 callsign we set earlier. In this case the callsign is G0VGS. The
402 cluster callsign is set in the DXVars.pm file in /spider/local. In
403 this case we will assume that this was set as GB7MBC. You should
404 therefore see this when you login ....
408 G0VGS de GB7MBC 19-Nov-1999 2150Z >
412 If you do, congratulations! If not, look over the instructions again,
413 you have probably missed something out. You can shut spider down
414 again with the command ....
422 and both the cluster and the client should return to Linux prompts.
426 \e[1m2. Linux quick installation guide
\e[0m
428 This section is designed for experienced Spider sysops who want to
429 install Spider from scratch. It is simply a check list of things that
430 need to be done without any explanations. The name in brackets at the
431 end of each line is the user that should be doing that process.
436 o Get the additional CPAN modules and install them (root)
438 o Create the "sysop" user and set a password (root)
440 o Put the Spider tarball in sysop and untar it (root)
442 o ln -s sysop/spider /spider (root)
444 o groupadd -g 251 spider (root)
446 o Add any more users you need to the group entry in /etc/group (root)
448 o Set the permissions on the spider tree (root)
450 o Fix permissions on ax25_call and netrom_call (root)
452 o Login as the sysop user
454 o cd to /spider (sysop)
456 o mkdir local (sysop)
458 o mkdir local_cmd (sysop)
460 o cp perl/DXVars.pm.issue local/DXVars.pm (sysop)
462 o cd to /spider/local and edit DXVars to set your details (sysop)
466 o ./create_sysop.pl (sysop)
468 o ./cluster.pl (sysop)
471 Spider should now be running and you should be able to login using the
477 o Enter the correct line in ax25d.conf (root)
479 o Enter the correct line in /etc/services (root)
482 o Enter the correct line in /etc/inetd.conf (root)
484 o killall -HUP inetd (root)
487 Spider should now be able to accept logins via telnet, netrom and
493 o Start the cluster (sysop)
495 o set/node and type for links (sysop)
497 o Write any connect scripts (sysop)
499 o Edit /spider/crontab as required (sysop)
501 o Edit any other files as necessary (sysop)
503 o Set filters, hops and forwarding files (sysop)
507 o Enter the correct line in /etc/inittab (root)
510 \e[1m3. Setting up the AX25 Utilities
\e[0m
512 The aim of this section is not to fully cover the installation and
513 configuration of all the possible ax25 modules. I will attempt to
514 cover a simple installation and configure 2 serial ports as if they
515 had TNC's on them. I will also show what additional configuration the
516 DXSpider program requires.
519 Please bear in mind that I am basing this section on a RedHat 7.1
520 distribution, if you are using SuSe or any other distibution then your
521 mileage may vary. I will be happy to make any changes and additions
522 if you email me any errors or distribution specific requirements.
525 You would probably benefit from reading the AX25-HOWTO which is much
526 more comprehensive and an interesting configuration program is also
527 available called ax25-config which may help you to configure things.
530 The following files are extracts from the working files at GB7MBC and
531 are in daily use. However, there are many ways that you can configure
532 the ax25 utils, this is just the one I use, it does not mean it is
533 necessarily the best or for that matter, the right way!
536 \e[1m3.1. Getting Started
\e[0m
538 There are 2 things you need to do initially. You need to get the 3
539 files required for the ax25 installation and you need to make some
540 changes to the kernel configuration.
543 The first thing is to get the versions of the ax25 utils that match
544 your kernel. You may also wish to get a node package of some kind.
545 There are 2 main node packages in use of which I shall keep to the
546 original by Tomi Manninen, OH2BNS as this is included in the ax25 rpms
547 as standard. The other is AWZNode by IZ5AWZ.
548 NB: The AX25 stuff in 2.4 kernels appears to have been broken until
549 2.4.18. I strongly suggest you get at least this kernel.
552 For 2.4 kernels you need these files...
556 o libax25-0.0.7-7.i386.rpm
558 o ax25-tools-0.0.6-13.i386.rpm
560 o ax25-apps-0.0.4-9.i386.rpm
563 \e[1m3.2. The kernel
\e[0m
565 First you need to add Amateur Radio Support to your kernel. This is a
566 main menu item and should be easily found. Within this header you
567 will find lots of options. For our purposes you need to enable
568 Amateur Radio AX.25 Level 2 Protocol, NET/ROM and the Serial Port KISS
569 Driver. For the purposes of this document I will work under the
570 assumption that you include them in the kernel fully, ie not as
571 modules. If you need to look at compiling your kernel for ax25 more
572 fully, I would refer to the excellent AX25-HOWTO
575 I should say at this stage that NET/ROM is not mandatory. If you do
576 not use it simply ignore any instruction concerning it.
579 Now recompile your kernel in the normal way and reboot your system.
582 \e[1m3.3. Installing the RPM's
\e[0m
584 Now install the RPM's you downloaded, libax25 first, then ax25-tools,
589 rpm -ivh libax25-0.0.7-7.i386.rpm
590 rpm -ivh ax25-tool-0.0.6-13.i386.rpm
591 rpm -ivh ax25-apps-0.0.4-9.i386.rpm
595 \e[1m3.4. Configuration
\e[0m
597 You will find the configuration files in /etc/ax25. These consist of
612 These are the main files. You will find other files but they do not
613 have any use unless you are wanting to use that particular protocol,
614 Rose or axip for example.
617 NOTE:- before we start it is important to realise that every interface
618 requires a different SSID. You should be able to follow this in the
622 \e[1m3.5. axports
\e[0m
624 This file sets up the ax25 ports you want to use. An example is below
625 for a standard TNC2 ...
629 #portname callsign baudrate paclen window description
630 2m gb7mbc-2 19200 256 2 2m port on 144.900MHz
631 4m gb7mbc-4 19200 256 2 4m port on 70.325MHz
635 Note that the portnames have to be unique.
638 The file headings are as follows ...
641 portname - The name you will refer to the port by
642 callsign - The ax25 callsign you want to assign to the port
643 baudrate - The speed you communicate between TNC and computer
644 paclen - The maximum packet length for ax25 connections
645 window - The ax25 window parameter. This is like 'maxframe'
646 description - A textual description of the port
650 \e[1m3.6. nrports
\e[0m
652 This file sets up the netrom ports you want to use. An example is
653 below and includes a port for both cluster and node. You will see why
654 we need 2 ports later ...
658 #portname callsign alias paclen description
659 netrom gb7mbc-8 BARE 236 Node Netrom Port
660 netrom2 gb7mbc-9 MBCDX 236 Cluster Netrom Port
664 Note that the portnames have to be unique.
667 The file headings are as follows ...
671 portname - The name you will refer to the port by
672 callsign - This is the callsign that NET/ROM traffic from this
674 alias - The NET/ROM alias this port will be assigned
675 paclen - The maximum size of NET/ROM frames transmitted
676 description - A textual description of the port
680 \e[1m3.7. nrbroadcast
\e[0m
682 This file sets up the netrom broadcast qualities. An example is below
687 #axport min_obs def_qual worst_qual verbose
692 The file headings are as follows ...
695 axport - The port name in axports that you wish to broadcast
697 min_obs - The minimum obsolescence value for the port
698 def_qual - The default quality for the port
699 worst_qual - The worst quality for the port. Any routes under
700 this quality will be ignored
701 verbose - This flag determines whether you will only broadcast
702 your own node (0) or all known nodes (1)
706 \e[1m3.8. ax25d.conf
\e[0m
708 This file controls any incoming ax25 and NET/ROM connections and
709 steers them to the relevant program. There are lots of configuration
710 options you can set here, however they are well covered in the
711 AX25-HOWTO. For our purposes I will show a typical set of parameters.
712 An example is below ...
717 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
719 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
722 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
724 default * * * * * * 0 root /usr/sbin/node node
727 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
729 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
732 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
734 default * * * * * * 0 root /usr/sbin/node node
737 parameters 1 10 * * * 3 *
739 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
742 parameters 1 10 * * * 3 *
744 default * * * * * * 0 root /usr/sbin/node node
748 There are a few things to take note of here. Firstly, all ax25
749 sections are wrapped in [ ] and all NET/ROM sections are wrapped in <
750 >. Secondly you should be able to see that anyone who forgets to set
751 their callsign in a TNC and tries to connect with the standard NOCALL
752 set into their TNC will not connect, the 'L' means 'lockout'. Lastly
753 and importantly, notice the order of the sections. They are all done
757 You should be able to see that the normal line for access to the
758 cluster is like this ..
762 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
766 however, if you wish your users to be able to use SSID's on their
771 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %s ax25
775 For most purposes this is not desirable. The only time you probably
776 will need this is when you need to allow other cluster nodes that are
777 using SSID's in. In this case it would probably be better to use the
778 first example and then add a specific line for that node like this:
782 GB7DJK-2 * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client gb7djk-2 ax25
783 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
787 \e[1m3.9. node.conf
\e[0m
789 For those of you that wish to run the node, you need to set up the
790 node.conf file. There are a couple of additional files, node.perms is
791 very similar to the way ftp permissions are set up in NOS systems and
792 node.motd is the message anyone logging into the node will get. The
793 node.conf file sets all the parameters of the node as you would
794 expect. An example is below ...
798 # /etc/ax25/node.conf - LinuxNode configuration file
802 # Idle timeout (seconds).
806 # Timeout when gatewaying (seconds).
810 # Visible hostname. Will be shown at telnet login.
812 HostName gb7mbc.ampr.org
820 #LocalNet 44.139.8.48/32
822 # Command aliases. See node.conf(5) for the meaning of the uppercase
823 # letters in the name of the alias.
825 ##Alias CAllbook 'telnet %{2:44.17.0.53} 1235 %1 s'
826 #Alias CONVers 'telnet %{2:oh2ti} 3600 "/n %u %{1:139}\n/w *"'
827 #Alias CLuster 'c hkiclh'
828 Alias CONV "telnet lurpac 3600"
829 Alias BBS "c 70cm gb7crv"
830 Alias DXC "telnet localhost 9000"
831 Alias MUD "telnet homer 4000"
832 ##Alias TEMP "finger temp@mary.g6phf"
833 ##Alias TNOS "c ip1 gb7mbc-5"
834 ##Alias TUtor "telnet gb7mbc 3599"
840 # External commands. See node.conf(5) for the meaning of the uppercase
841 # letters in the name of the extcmd.
843 # Flags: 1 Run command through pipe
846 #ExtCmd TPM 3 nobody /usr/bin/finger finger tpm
847 #ExtCmd ECho 1 nobody /bin/echo echo \%U \%u \%S \%s \%P \%p \%R \%r \%T \%t \%\% \%0 \%{1:foobar} \%{2} \%3 \%4 \%5
851 NodeId "\nBARE:GB7MBC-1"
852 #NodeId \033[01;31m***\033[0m
854 # Netrom port name. This port is used for outgoing netrom connects.
862 # The escape character (CTRL-T)
866 # Resolve ip numbers to addresses?
873 #NodePrompt "%s@%h \%i> "
874 NodePrompt "\nBARE:GB7MBC-1 \%i > "
875 #NodePrompt "\a\033[36m%U\033[0m de \033[01;32m#LNODE\033[0m:\033[01;33mOH2BNS-10\033[0m> "
879 This should be fairly obvious I hope.
882 \e[1m3.10. Getting it all running
\e[0m
884 Ok, now we have all the relevant files configured, the next step is to
888 The first thing to do is attach the TNC's. Your TNC's should be in
889 KISS mode and connected to the serial ports involved.
892 You now use the 'kissattach' command to connect the TNC's to the
897 kissattach /dev/ttyS0 2m 44.131.96.199
898 kissattach /dev/ttyS1 4m 44.131.96.199
902 Assuming that 44.131.96.199 is your IP address. The devices ttyS0 and
903 ttyS1 are com1 and com2 respectively. Now we can set some parameters
908 kissparms -p 2m -t 150 -l 150 -s 50 -r 50
909 kissparms -p 4m -t 150 -l 150 -s 50 -r 50
913 The command 'man kissparms' will give you the explanation of the
917 Now we need to attach the NET/ROM ports in the same way ...
924 All of the above can be put in a file and called from
925 /etc/rc.d/rc.local. Put all the above commands in a file called
926 rc.ax25 and put a line in rc.local to call it.
929 Now you can start the daemons that set everything in motion ...
938 All should now be running. All that remains is to get the node
939 working for telnet connections. If nothing else, this will allow you
940 to connect to the node yourself to check on connection status etc.
941 There are 2 files that need to be edited.
944 First edit /etc/services and add
948 node 3000/tcp #OH2BNS's Node Software
952 Assuming you want it to run on port 3000
955 Now cd /etc/xinetd.d and edit a new file called node. It should look
961 # unencrypted username/password pairs for authentication.
967 server = /usr/sbin/node
968 log_on_failure += USERID
974 You now need to restart the xinetd daemon. First find out what the
983 You will get a reply something like this ...
987 root 592 0.0 0.1 2256 620 ? S Feb07 0:00 xinetd -stayalive -reuse -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid
991 The PID or Process ID is 592 in this case so now we can issue the
1000 All should now be operational and you should be able to log into the
1001 node by using a telnet session to the relevant port, like so ...
1005 telnet localhost 3000
1009 If that works, you are just about there. you should (assuming you
1010 have radios connected to the TNC's) be able to connect out to other
1011 stations and receive incoming ax25 and netrom connections.
1014 \e[1m4. Configuration
\e[0m
1016 \e[1m4.1. Allowing ax25 connects from users
\e[0m
1018 This is dealt with in the previous section
1021 \e[1m4.2. Allowing telnet connects from users
\e[0m
1024 >From version 1.47 there is a new (more efficient) way of doing this
1025 (see next section) but, if you prefer, the method of doing it
1026 described here will continue to work just fine.
1029 Allowing telnet connections is quite simple. Firstly you need to add
1030 a line in /etc/services to allow connections to a port number, like
1035 spdlogin 8000/tcp # spider anonymous login port
1039 Then add a line in /etc/inetd.conf like this ....
1041 spdlogin stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /spider/src/client login telnet
1045 Once this is done, you need to restart inetd like this ....
1053 Now login as
\e[4msysop
\e[24m and cd spider/src. You can test that spider is
1054 accepting telnet logins by issuing the following command ....
1058 ./client login telnet
1062 You should get a login prompt and on issuing a callsign, you will be
1063 given access to the cluster. Note, you will not get a password login.
1064 There seems no good reason for a password prompt to be given so it is
1068 Assuming all is well, then try a telnet from your linux console ....
1072 telnet localhost 8000
1076 You should now get the login prompt and be able to login as before.
1079 \e[1m4.3. Setting up telnet connects (from 1.47 onwards)
\e[0m
1081 >From version 1.47 you can choose to allow the perl cluster.pl program
1082 to allow connections directly (i.e. not via the /spider/src/client
1083 interface program). If you are using Windows then this is the only
1084 method available of allowing incoming telnet connections.
1087 To do this you need first to remove any line that you may previously
1088 have set up in /etc/inetd.conf. Remember to:-
1096 to make the change happen...
1099 Having done that, you need to copy the file
\e[4m/spider/perl/Listeners.pm
\e[0m
1100 to
\e[4m/spider/local
\e[24m and then edit it. You will need to uncomment the line
1101 containing "0.0.0.0" and select the correct port to listen on. So that
1102 it looks like this:-
1112 As standard, the listener will listen on all interfaces
1113 simultaneously. If you require more control than this, you can
1114 specify each interface individually:-
1119 ["gb7baa.dxcluster.net", 8000],
1120 ["44.131.16.2", 6300],
1125 This will only be successful if the IP addresses on each interface are
1126 static. If you are using some kind of dynamic IP addressing then the
1127 'default' method is the only one that will work.
1130 Restart the cluster.pl program to enable the listener.
1133 One important difference with the internal listener is that no echoing
1134 is done by the cluster program. Users will need to set 'local-echo' on
1135 in their telnet clients if it isn't set automatically (as per the
1136 standards). Needless to say this will probably only apply to Windows
1140 \e[1m4.4. Setting up for AGW Engine (1.47 onwards)
\e[0m
1142 AGW Engine is a Windows based ax25 stack. You can connect to an AGW
1143 engine from Linux as well as Windows based machines.
1146 In order to enable access to an AGW Engine you need to copy
1147 \e[4m/spider/perl/AGWConnect.pm
\e[24m to
\e[4m/spider/local
\e[24m and edit it. Specifically
1153 o set $login and $passwd to the values set up in your AGW
1154 installation. If you haven't set any there, then you should not
1158 o You can connect to a remote AGW engine (ie on some other machine)
1159 by changing $addr and $port appropriately.
1161 o Restart the cluster.pl program
1165 \e[1m4.5. Setting up node connects
\e[0m
1167 In order to allow cluster node connections, spider needs to know that
1168 the connecting callsign is a cluster node. This is the case whether
1169 the connect is incoming or outgoing. In spider this is a simple task
1170 and can be done in runtime.
1173 Later versions of Spider can distinguish different software and treat
1174 them differently. For example, the WCY beacon cannot be handles by
1175 AK1A type nodes as AK1A does not know what to do with PC73. There are
1176 4 different types of node at present and although they may not have
1177 any major differences at the moment, it allows for compatibility. The
1182 set/node (AK1A type)
1189 For now, we will assume that the cluster we are going to connect to is
1193 Start up the cluster as you did before and login as the sysop with
1194 client. The cluster node I am wanting to make a connection to is
1195 GB7BAA but you would obviously use whatever callsign you required. At
1204 The case does not matter as long as you have a version of DXSpider
1205 later than 1.33. Earlier versions required the callsign to be in
1209 That is now set, it is as simple as that. To prove it, login on yet
1210 another console as sysop, cd to spider/src and issue the command ...
1214 ./client gb7baa (using the callsign you set as a node)
1218 You should get an initialisation string from DXSpider like this ...
1227 If the callsign you just set up as a cluster node is for an incoming
1228 connect, this is all that needs to be done. If the connection is to
1229 be outgoing then a connection script needs to be written.
1232 Sometimes you make a mistake... Honest, it does happen. If you want
1233 to make a node back to being a normal user, regardless of what type it
1242 \e[1m4.6. Connection scripts
\e[0m
1244 Because DXSpider operates under Linux, connections can be made using
1245 just about any protocol; AX25, NETRom, tcp/ip, ROSE etc are all
1246 possible examples. Connect scripts live in the /spider/connect
1247 directory and are simple ascii files. Writing a script for
1248 connections is therefore relatively simple.
1251 The connect scripts consist of lines which start with the following
1252 keywords or symbols:-
1256 \e[1m#
\e[22mAll lines starting with a # are ignored, as are completely blank
1261 timeout followed by a number is the number of seconds to wait
1262 for a command to complete. If there is no timeout specified in
1263 the script then the default is 60 seconds.
1267 abort is a regular expression containing one or more strings to
1268 look for to abort a connection. This is a perl regular
1269 expression and is executed ignoring case.
1273 connect followed by ax25, agw (for Windows users) or telnet and
1274 some type dependent information. In the case of a telnet
1275 connection, there can be up to two parameters. The first is the
1276 ip address or hostname of the computer you wish to connect to
1277 and the second is the port number you want to use (this can be
1278 left out if it is a normal telnet session). In the case of an
1279 ax25 session then this would normally be a call to ax25_call or
1280 netrom_call as in the example above. It is your responsibility
1281 to get your node and other ax25 parameters to work before going
1285 \e[1m'
\e[22mline in a chat type script. The words/phrases normally come in
1286 pairs, either can be empty. Each line reads input from the
1287 connection until it sees the string (or perl regular expression)
1288 contained in the left hand string. If the left hand string is
1289 empty then it doesn't read or wait for anything. The comparison
1290 is done ignoring case. When the left hand string has found what
1291 it is looking for (if it is) then the right hand string is sent
1292 to the connection. This process is repeated for every line of
1297 client starts the connection, put the arguments you would want
1298 here if you were starting the client program manually. You only
1299 need this if the script has a different name to the callsign you
1300 are trying to connect to (i.e. you have a script called other
1301 which actually connects to GB7DJK-1 [instead of a script called
1305 There are many possible ways to configure the script but here are
1306 three examples, one for a NETRom/AX25 connect, one for AGW engines and
1312 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
1313 # don't forget to chmod 4775 netrom_call!
1314 connect ax25 /usr/sbin/netrom_call bbs gb7djk g1tlh
1315 # you can leave this out if you call the script 'gb7dxm'
1321 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
1322 # this does exactly the same as the previous example
1323 # the '1' is the AGW port number to connect thru for g1tlh
1325 # you can leave this out if you call the script 'gb7dxm'
1331 connect telnet dirkl.tobit.co.uk
1332 # tell GB7DJK-1 that it is connected to GB7DJK
1333 # you can leave this out if you call this script 'gb7djk'
1334 client gb7djk telnet
1337 Both these examples assume that everything is set up properly at the
1338 other end. You will find other examples in the /spider/examples
1342 \e[1m4.7. Starting the connection
\e[0m
1344 You start the connection, from within a sysop enabled cluster login,
1345 by typing in the word
\e[4mconnect
\e[24m followed by a script name like this ....
1349 G0VGS de GB7MBC 13-Dec-1998 2041Z >connect gb7djk-1
1350 connection to GB7DJK-1 started
1351 G0VGS de GB7MBC 13-Dec-1998 2043Z >
1355 This will start a connection using the script called
\e[4mgb7djk-1
\e[24m. You
1356 can follow the connection by watching the term or console from where
1357 you started
\e[4mcluster.pl
\e[24m. From version 1.47 onwards, you will need to
1358 set/debug connect first. You should see something like this ...
1362 <- D G1TLH connect gb7djk-1
1363 -> D G1TLH connection to GB7DJK-1 started
1364 -> D G1TLH G1TLH de GB7DJK 13-Dec-1998 2046Z >
1366 CONNECT sort: telnet command: dirkl.tobit.co.uk
1367 CHAT "login" -> "gb7djk"
1369 Red Hat Linux release 5.1 (Manhattan)
1370 Kernel 2.0.35 on an i586
1374 CHAT "word" -> "gb7djk"
1376 received "Password: "
1378 Connected to GB7DJK-1, starting normal protocol
1379 <- O GB7DJK-1 telnet
1381 GB7DJK-1 channel func state 0 -> init
1383 <- D GB7DJK-1 Last login: Sun Dec 13 17:59:56 from dirk1
1384 <- D GB7DJK-1 PC38^GB7DJK-1^~
1385 <- D GB7DJK-1 PC18^ 1 nodes, 0 local / 1 total users Max users 0 Uptime
1391 With later versions of Spider there is a set/login command for users.
1392 This tells them when a user or node logs in or out. If you do not add
1393 a line to your scripts after the final line (or before the client line
1394 which should always be last if needed) then the login/logout
1395 information will be sent to users
\e[4mbefore
\e[24m the login actually completes.
1396 This means if a node is unreachable, it will continue sending logins
1397 and logouts to users even though it is not actually connecting. To
1398 avoid this use the following line ...
1399 In a script, this might look like ...
1404 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
1405 connect telnet mary 3000
1409 \e[1m4.8. Telnet echo
\e[0m
1411 Cluster links in particular suffer greatly from the presence of telnet
1412 echo. This is caused by the telnet negotiation itself and can create
1413 at worst severe loops. At best it creates unnecessary bandwidth and
1414 large logfiles! There are things that can be done to limit this
1415 problem but will not always work dependent on the route taken to
1419 Telnet echo itself should only be a problem if the connection is being
1420 made to the telnet port (23). This port uses special rules that
1421 include echo negotiation. If the connection is to a different port,
1422 such as 7300, this negotiation does not happen and therefore no echo
1426 Sometimes it is not possible to make a direct connection to another
1427 node and this can cause problems. There is a way of trying to
1428 suppress the telnet echo but this will not always work, unfortunately
1429 it is difficult to be more specific. Here is an example of what I
1435 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
1436 connect telnet mary.lancs.ac.uk
1440 So, the first connection is made by Spider. This is fine as Spider
1441 uses the Net_Telnet script from within perl. This actually uses TCP
1442 rather than TELNET so no negotiation will be done on the first
1443 connection. Once connected to mary.lancs.ac.uk, the command is sent
1444 to suppress echo. Now a telnet is made to a cluster node that is
1445 accepting connections on port 23. The problem with this link is that
1446 the negotiation is made by the remote machine, therefore you have no
1447 control over it. The chances are that this link will create echo and
1448 there will be no way you can stop it.
1452 \e[1m4.9. Autostarting the cluster
\e[0m
1454 Ok, you should now have DXSpider running nicely and allowing connects
1455 by cluster nodes or users. However, it has to be shutdown and
1456 restarted manually. It would be much easier to have it start
1461 This is not only a way to start the cluster automatically, it also
1462 works as a watchdog, checking the sanity of DXSpider and respawning it
1463 should it crash for any reason. Before doing the following, shutdown
1464 the cluster as you did earlier.
1467 Login as root and bring up the /etc/inittab file in your favourite
1468 editor. Add the following lines to the file near the end ...
1472 ##Start DXSpider on bootup and respawn it should it crash
1473 DX:3:respawn:/bin/su -c "/usr/bin/perl -w /spider/perl/cluster.pl" sysop >/dev/tty7
1477 This line works fine for RedHat distributions. It is also fine for
1478 SuSE up to 7.0. From SuSE 7.1 you need to add runlevels 2 and 5 like
1483 DX:235:respawn:/bin/su -c "/usr/bin/perl -w /spider/perl/cluster.pl" sysop >/dev/tty7
1487 The line required for Slackware distributions is slightly different.
1488 My thanks to Aurelio, PA3EZL for this information.
1492 DX:23:respawn:/bin/su - sysop -c "/usr/bin/perl -w /spider/perl/cluster.pl" >/dev/tty7
1496 This will automatically start DXSpider on tty7 (ALT-F7) on bootup and
1497 restart it should it crash for any reason.
1500 NB: It should be noted that /dev/tty7 is only an example. Some SuSE
1501 systems will only accept upto tty6. It really does not matter which
1505 As root type the command
\e[4mtelinit
\e[24m
\e[4mq
\e[24m. DXSpider should start up
1506 immediately. You will see the output on tty7 and if you login as
1507 \e[4msysop
\e[24m you should find everything running nicely.
1510 \e[1m5. Microsoft Windows Installation
\e[0m
1512 \e[1m5.1. Introduction
\e[0m
1514 \e[1mIMPORTANT:
\e[0m
1516 What you'll be left with once you've followed these instructions is
1517 (hopefully) a working DX Spider v1.50 system that is capable of
1518 accepting or originating "internet" connections, plus inbound and
1519 outbound AX.25 and TCP/IP radio connections.
1521 On the other hand, you may have an enquiring mind, or better yet, may
1522 be looking for a useful way of connecting your current (perhaps) AK1A
1523 cluster "to the internet" via some networking mechanism (BPQEther,
1524 etc) or other. I won't be producing instructions for the latter case,
1525 because I don't have an AK1A to play with. But someone might ...
1527 Whatever, this document is intended to get you started with DX Spider
1528 in a Microsoft Windows (TM) environment. It's not intended to teach
1529 you anything other than how to perform a minimum configuration of a DX
1530 Spider installation and have it able to connect across "the internet"
1531 to other DX Clusters, while accepting inbound TELNET and radio
1535 \e[1m5.2. The requirements
\e[0m
1537 The very first things you're going to need are (in order of
1541 o A cup of good, strong tea
1543 o A supported Windows platform with an internet connection so you can
1544 download the necessary software bits and bobs directly to it. There
1545 are other ways, but this is preferable.
1547 o Another cup of good, strong tea
1549 o If all goes according to plan, about an hour to spare
1551 o Plenty of good, strong tea
1554 \e[1m5.3. The system
\e[0m
1556 The platform I used to generate these instructions was a "vanilla"
1557 Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000 system, with a 700MHz AMD Athlon
1558 processor and 96 Mb memory. I've also personally verified that it runs
1559 on my laptop (Pentium 266MHz, 32 Mb memory, Windows 98 SE v4.10.2222
1560 A) and a computer that I assembled from a random pile of junk (AMD
1561 K6-2 333MHz, 64 Mb memory, Windows 98 v4.10.1998). As a result, I have
1562 reason to believe that what I'm about to describe will perform equally
1563 on any 32-bit MS Windows environment with 32 Mb of memory.
1565 Because of the changes that have recently been made to the core
1566 "cluster.pl" module and the introduction of a very lightweight
1567 "winclient.pl", I have a sneaking suspicion that this will now run on
1568 any platform that has reasonably complete support for Perl. Is there
1569 someone out there with both an enquiring mind and (say) a Macintosh,
1572 Please bear in mind, though, that my instructions relate solely to how
1573 to get this going under a Microsoft Windows environment, and I have
1574 zero intention of trying to make them say otherwise.
1579 Install your chosen Perl environment. Unless you have a very good
1580 reason for not doing so, I strongly suggest that you use ActivePerl
1581 v5.6. For my testing & development, I used build 623. (A recent
1582 installation used the newer ActivePerl v5.6.1, build 633 without any
1583 noticable difficulty.) You can get this from:
1584 http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/Download.html
1587 The link takes you to an initial page of System Requirements and
1588 Software Prerequisites. If you do not have it already installed, you
1589 can download and install the Windows Installer 2.0 for a Win98
1590 installation. Be forewarned, you will have to reboot your PC at the
1591 completion of the installer's installation.
1593 If you already have the installer on your PC, simply click on the Next
1594 arrow at the bottom of the page. Two clicks will finally get you to
1595 the actual download page. The MSI version of Build 633 is now 8.6MB
1596 in size, so make that a big cup of tea or coffee if you're on a slow
1599 During installation, please ensure that you do choose the options to
1600 "Add Perl to the PATH environment variable" and "Create Perl file
1601 extension association"; it will make your life so much easier. Once
1602 the installation is finished, be sure to reboot your PC. You probably
1603 won't be told anywhere else that this needs to be done now, but it
1606 Once you've rebooted, open a "DOS box" (Start > Run > command might do
1607 it, if you can't find it elsewhere) and from wherever it lands, type
1608 PERL -v <ENTER> (it's better if that's a lower-case be rewarded with
1609 some interesting information about your Perl installation. If you're
1610 not, you must go back to the beginning and discover what went wrong
1611 and fix it. It's pointless to proceed unless this simple check is
1612 passed. Assuming it did work, you may now move on.
1615 \e[1m5.5. Additional packages
\e[0m
1617 Some extensions ("packages") need to be added to the base Perl
1618 distribution, and we'll do this next. If you're using the Perl I
1619 recommended, and don't know any better for yourself, then just blindly
1620 following these instructions will work just fine. If that didn't
1621 describe you, then you're on your own.
1623 Visit the following URL:
1625 http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/zips/6xx-builds-only/
1627 and download the following files:-
1639 If this is a new installation, now would also be a good time to
1640 install a copy of WinZip on your PC. Make yourself a convenient
1641 directory to unpack all of these zip files into (I put mine in
1642 "D:\ppm>" but "C:\ppm" works just as well.) and do the following (the
1643 bits you type in are blue ). You can upzip all of the files into the
1644 same directory. When prompted, simply overwrite the Readme file from
1645 each zip package. Note that where these files land will be directly
1646 related to where you chose to install your ActivePerl (mine, as you
1647 can probably guess from what follows, went into "D:\Perl"):-
1651 D:\ppm>ppm install Data-Dumper.ppd
1652 Installing package 'Data-Dumper.ppd'
1653 Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.bs
1654 Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.dll
1655 Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.exp
1656 Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.lib
1657 Installing D:\Perl\html\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.html
1658 Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\Data\Dumper\Dumper.pm
1659 Writing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.packlist
1664 I'm not going to bother you with exhaustive details of the rest of
1665 them, but suffice it to say you need to:
1669 ppm install DB_File.ppd
1670 ppm install Net-Telnet.ppd
1671 ppm install TimeDate.ppd
1672 ppm install Time-HiRes.ppd
1676 If all that seemed to work OK, time to move along. Before anyone who
1677 is familiar with PPM tells me that we didn't need to download and keep
1678 those files locally, I knew that. I also knew that PPM is sometimes
1679 awkward to configure via firewalls, and that sometimes the
1680 repositories don't always work the way we'd hope. I do it that way
1681 because it suits me.
1684 \e[1m5.6. Getting Spider
\e[0m
1686 Get the current version of the DX Spider distribution. This needs to
1687 be v1.50 or later. You've got two ways (currently) of getting this;
1688 either get a CVS update from sourceforge (if you don't know what this
1689 is, then it isn't for you) or get the latest "official" release from:
1691 http://www.dxcluster.org/download/index.html
1693 or if you want the lastest snapshot of CVS version (which is produced
1696 http://www.dxcluster.org/download/CVSlatest.tgz
1698 This is generally the best one to go for as it is completely up to
1699 date. However, there is always the very slight chance that it might
1700 unstable. Generally, there will be a note on the website if this is
1704 The only difference between "CVSlatest.tgz" and the latest "official"
1705 release version is that it is more up to date.
\e[1mDo not confuse the
\e[0m
1706 \e[1m"CVSlatest.tgz" file with "Downloading from Sourceforge with CVS" -
\e[0m
1707 \e[1mthey are two quite different things.
\e[22m"Downloading from Sourceforge
1708 with CVS" is explained in a section within the Admin manual.
1711 If you go down the CVS route (ie installing WinCVS as explained in the
1712 Admin manual and downloaded from sourceforge), then everything will be
1713 nicely installed on your local disk. If you got the CVSlatest.tgz
1714 file, unzip (winzip) it to "C:\". This is an important point since
1715 paths are included within the .tgz file. Make sure you unzip to the
1716 root directory of whichever drive you use... "C:\" or "D:\" or ..,
1717 not "C:\spider." If you double click on CVSlatest.tgz, WinZip should
1718 open with a dialogue box that says the Archive contains a single file
1719 (CVSlatest.tar) and asks whether WinZip should decompress it to a
1720 temporary fold and then open it. Say "Yes" and then you will get the
1721 typical Classical WinZip listing of files ready for extraction.
1722 Remember, extract them to your desired root directory ("C:\" or "D:\"
1723 or ...). The following examples assume that you put it on drive
1724 "C:\", for convenience.
1727 \e[1m6. Installing the software
\e[0m
1729 At this point you will need to create 2 additional directories under
1730 "C:\Spider." Make directories "C:\spider\local" and
1731 "C:\spider\local_cmd". If "C:\spider" is missing, go back and figure
1732 out why, because it shouldn't be.
1734 Now create your own local copy of the DXVars.pm file by:-
1738 copy c:\spider\perl\DXVars.pm.issue
1739 c:\spider\local\DXVars.pm
1743 Now you'll need to edit this file using a text editor like Notepad. If
1744 nothing else, you can simply
1760 to bring up an editor window containing the file. As an absolute
1761 minimum you must adjust the following items in DXVars.pm:-
1764 o $mycall - Should hold the callsign of your DX Cluster
1766 o $myname - The SysOp's first name
1768 o $myalias - the SysOp's callsign. Cannot be the same as $mycall!
1770 o $myqth - The station's geographical location (QTH).
1772 o $mylatitude - The station latitude in degrees and decimal fractions
1774 o $mylongitude - The station longitude in degrees and decimal
1778 o $mylocator - The Maidenhead (or QRA) locator of the station
1780 You really also ought to update the $myqth and $myemail variables. And
1781 unless you are absolutely certain you know what you're doing, you
1782 should change nothing else in this file. Note that if you use an "@"
1783 or a "$" character in one of the above strings (typically in $myemail)
1784 you must write them as "\@" or "\$".
1787 \e[1m6.1. Incoming telnets
\e[0m
1789 If you want to enable inbound "TELNET" connections (or you are running
1790 Windows 98, NT, 2000 or XP), you've got a little more work to do. From
1791 a handy "DOS box" that's not doing anything else, do the following:-
1795 copy \spider\perl\Listeners.pm \spider\local
1797 notepad listeners.pm
1801 The following line need attention:-
1805 # ["0.0.0.0", 7300],
1809 On my machine, I've simply uncommented the "0.0.0.0" entry by removing
1810 the '#' from the front of the line.
1812 \e[1mYou MUST carry out this step if you are running on a Windows 98, NT,
\e[0m
1813 \e[1m2000 or XP based system
\e[0m
1815 If you don't have a static hostname for your machine, and you intend
1816 to allow folk to connect to your machine across the internet, then I'd
1817 suggest you pay a visit to www.dyndns.org and create one for yourself.
1818 While it's free, it will take a modest amount of effort on your part
1819 to read, understand and implement what needs to be done to set this
1823 If your machine is connected to the internet
\e[1mand
\e[22myou don't want to
1824 allow your machine to be visible to the outside world you should
1825 change the "0.0.0.0" to "127.0.0.1" [which is "localhost"]. This will
1826 then only allow connections from inside your machine. As was said
1827 earlier: if you aren't running Win9x (or you want to use DXTelnet or
1828 somesuch), then you need to have the machine listening at least to
1829 "127.0.0.1" ("0.0.0.0" means
\e[1mall
\e[22mIP addresses).
1832 \e[1m6.2. The AGW packet engine
\e[0m
1834 On the assumption that you'll be using the SV2AGW Packet Engine to
1835 interface your radios to the cluster, it would be a good idea to
1836 download the Packet Engine software! You can get this software from:
1838 http://www.raag.org/sv2agw/agwpe.zip
1840 Depending upon your TNCs, you may also need to get:
1842 http://www.raag.org/sv2agw/drivers.zip
1844 A couple of the tools:
1846 http://www.raag.org/sv2agw/agwterm.zip
1848 http://www.raag.org/sv2agw/agwmonitor.zip
1850 will also help with troubleshooting of the RF links themselves.
1852 Install and configure AGWPE. You should now create your own local
1853 copy of AGWConnect.pm by:-
1857 copy c:\spider\perl\AGWConnect.pm
1858 c:\spider\local\AGWConnect.pm
1866 notepad AGWConnect.pm
1870 to bring up an editor window containing the file. You must consider
1871 adjusting the following items in AGWConnect.pm:-
1874 o $enable - set to '1' to enable AGWPE interface
1876 o $login - the login ID you chose when you set up the SV2AGW
1879 o $passwd - password that matches $login
1881 The login ID and passwd only need to be set if you are accessing AGW
1882 separately via its web interface. This interface is normally not
1883 needed for use with DXSpider.
1886 \e[1m6.3. Setting up the initial user files
\e[0m
1888 Next you need to create the initial user files, etc. A tool is
1889 supplied which will do this for you. To run the tool:-
1894 perl create_sysop.pl
1898 If all goes according to plan, you will see no output from this
1899 program, and after a brief wait, your DOS prompt will be returned.
1901 Depending on how brave you are, you might now care to try the
1909 If you did everything you were told, your DOS window will now hold a
1910 display which looks something like:-
1914 DXSpider DX Cluster Version 1.50
1915 Copyright (c) 1998-2002 Dirk Koopman G1TLH
1916 loading prefixes ...
1917 loading band data ...
1918 loading user file system ...
1919 starting listeners ...
1920 Internal port: localhost 27754
1922 reading in duplicate spot and WWV info ...
1923 reading existing message headers ...
1927 @msg = 0 before delete
1928 @msg = 0 after delete
1929 reading cron jobs ...v cron: reading /spider/cmd/crontab
1930 cron: adding 1 0 * * 0
1931 DXUser::export("$main::data/user_asc")
1932 reading database descriptors ...
1933 doing local initialisation ...
1934 orft we jolly well go ...
1939 Now, if that's what you've got, you are very nearly home and dry (in
1940 as far as these particular experiments are concerned, anyhow)
1942 If you are running Windows 9x you can access your new cluster (from
1943 the local machine) by finding yourself another "DOS box" and doing the
1953 If you are running Windows NT, 2000 or XP then winclient.pl does not
1954 work. We don't know why other than this seems to be some kind of
1955 incomaptibility in perl. You can achieve the same thing by telnetting
1956 to the port you defined in Listeners.pm (7300 as default), thus:-
1961 telnet localhost 7300
1965 On getting the
\e[1mlogin:
\e[22mprompt, enter your sysop callsign (the one you
1966 put in DXVars.pm as $myalias).
1967 I would recommend
\e[1mstrongly
\e[22mthat you obtain a better telnet client than
1968 that which comes with windows (I use PuTTY).
1971 Anyway, if you are rewarded with a display which looks something
1976 Hello Iain, this is GB7SJP in Amersham, Bucks running DXSpider V1.50
1977 Cluster: 1 nodes, 1 local / 1 total users Max users 2 Uptime 0 00:00
1978 M0ADI de GB7SJP 4-Mar-2001 1511Z >
1982 You've arrived. Try some commands, and see how they feel. (In case you
1983 were wondering, "Iain", "M0ADI" and "GB7SJP" all came from the version
1984 of DXVars.pm that was on the machine when I started the winclient.pl)
1987 The interface is very basic. It is a simple command line. There are
1988 better looking interfaces. Most of the "standard" logging and DX
1989 Cluster access programs that are capable of connecting via a TCP or
1990 telnet connection will work as a "Sysop Console" client. You connect
1991 to "localhost" on the port that you defined in Listeners.pm (usually
1992 7300). I recommend packages like DXTelnet.
1995 \e[1m6.4. Connecting to other clusters
\e[0m
1997 If you want to connect this to another cluster, then you'll want to
1998 negotiate a link with someone. For experimental purposes, I'm happy to
1999 allow folk to connect to GB7DXA (spud.ath.cx), on the understanding
2000 that the system may or may not be there and may or may not be
2001 connected to anything particularly useful at any given moment. Contact
2002 me by Email if you want me to set up a connection for you.
2005 \e[1m7. General Information
\e[0m
2007 The following relates to all versions of DXSpider and is not platform
2011 \e[1m7.1. The crontab file
\e[0m
2013 Login as
\e[4msysop
\e[24m and create a file in /spider/local_cmd called crontab.
2014 Edit it with your favourite editor and add a line like this (I have
2019 # check every 10 minutes to see if gb7xxx is connected and if not
2020 # start a connect job going
2022 0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * start_connect('gb7xxx') unless connected('gb7xxx')
2026 The callsign involved will be the callsign of the cluster node you are
2027 going to connect to. This will now check every 10 minutes to see if
2028 gb7xxx is connected, if it is then nothing will be done. If it is
2029 not, then a connect attempt will be started.
2030 There are probably lots of other things you could use this crontab
2031 file for. If you want to know more about it, look at the DXSpider
2032 website at the cron page where it is explained more fully.