Those of you that run multiple BBSes I have some questions.

As it appears that I mostly have this one running, I still have to figure out details lije different Message Groups for different Networks, etc.

But I have potentially 4 more devices that I could set up BBSes on for experimenting. Different OSes, Different programs, whatever.

Do I need to do port forwarding for each device? Or how do you set it up so that each one has a unique ip? Because whenever I check with whatismyip.com they all show the same address.

For exampke, I'm running this just like Meat's instructions say. MysticBBS on Ubuntu 20.

I have another unused, older phone that I was letting the grandkids play
games on before they all got their own phones that I was thinking about using Debian and mmaybe Synchronet or Enigma on, since those are the only other programs I know of that have ARM versions available.

I could set that one up now, but how do I set things up to point to it?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: theoasisbbs.ddns.net:1357 (21:4/127)

Re: Multiple BBSes
By: Charles Pierson to All on Sat Dec 12 2020 05:46 am

Do I need to do port forwarding for each device? Or how do you set it up so that each one has a unique ip? Because whenever I check with whatismyip.com they all show the same address.

If you only have one IP then you need to use a different port for each BBS that you want available to the outside world.

If you have IPv6 each device gets it's own IP but on IPv4 the same IP is shared between all your computers.

Ttyl :-),
Al

... Bureaucrats cut red tape, lengthwise
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)

Am 12.12.20 schrieb Charles Pierson@21:4/127 in FSX_BBS:

Hallo Charles,

I could set that one up now, but how do I set things up to point to it?

As you mentioned, all your devices show the same IPv4 address via whatismyip.com, so you need port forwardings in your router for each of
them.
Eg., if you have 4 BBSes on different machines, you can create these port forwardings on your router:

Port 2301 => bbsmachine1:23
Port 2302 => bbsmachine2:23

and so on.

The same way could be used to have different BBS programs on the same machine, if the BBS programs get different ports:

Port 2301 => bbsmachine:2301
Port 2302 => bbsmachine:2302
etc...

Using IPv6 is a bit easier, as all your machines have individual IPv6 addresses. You just have to make sure that they always have one specific
IPv6 address that stays the same (eg. by disabling the "privacy
extensions"). Then you just have to open the host/port on the firewall.

Regards,
Anna

--- OpenXP 5.0.46
* Origin: Imzadi Box Point (21:3/127.1)

On 12-12-20 05:46, Charles Pierson wrote to All <=-

But I have potentially 4 more devices that I could set up BBSes on for experimenting. Different OSes, Different programs, whatever.

Do I need to do port forwarding for each device? Or how do you set it
up so that each one has a unique ip? Because whenever I check with whatismyip.com they all show the same address.

That depends on your network configuration. I use separate IPs, as I have a block of 14 (useable) IPv4 addresses available here, and I'm currently using about half of them. But many people will need to setup a bunch of port forwards for their BBSs.


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Re: Multiple BBSes
By: Charles Pierson to All on Sat Dec 12 2020 05:46 am

But I have potentially 4 more devices that I could set up BBSes on for experimenting. Different OSes, Different programs, whatever.

Hello there

One thing you could look into is pfsense it would do all your port forwarding
plus have a enterprise firewall. I have been using it for about 5 years and
no lockups or os fails. I started on a normal pc box then last year bought
a Checkpoint 2200 T-110 6-Port Gigabit Security Appliance for 70 bucks on
ebay and burn 40w instead of 240w.

I'm very happy with both the OS and the box.

Just a thought!

::: Havok :::
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... RAM DISK is NOT an installation procedure!

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Havok wrote to Charles Pierson <=-

One thing you could look into is pfsense it would do all your port forwarding plus have a enterprise firewall. I have been using it for

I have a spare pfSense firewall that we took out of service a year
ago that I was tempted to ask to bring home. it looks like a 2U
chassis with a modern CPU and a ton of NICs.

With a single IP, DD-WRT on a modern router seems to do the trick,
though.

... RAM DISK is NOT an installation procedure!

---
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... Consider different fading systems
--- MultiMail/XT v0.52
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Re: Re: Multiple BBSes
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Havok on Tue Dec 22 2020 08:36 am

With a single IP, DD-WRT on a modern router seems to do the trick,
though.

As someone states on TV, I LIKE IT!

::: Havok :::
::: Nut House BBS : nuthousebbs.com:2332 :::

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Havok wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

With a single IP, DD-WRT on a modern router seems to do the trick,
though.

As someone states on TV, I LIKE IT!

I'm playing with Entware, a way to install Linux packages on DD-WRT.
I've got a USB drive configured as an ext3 partition, added a swap
partition, and installed nginx. The plan is to have my border router
reverse proxy web traffic to my proxmox host for validating SSL
certs, my BBS, and a test system I'd like to expose without using
different port numbers.




... Go to an extreme, move back to a more comfortable place
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Re: Re: Multiple BBSes
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Havok on Thu Dec 24 2020 07:20 am

I'm playing with Entware, a way to install Linux packages on DD-WRT.
I've got a USB drive configured as an ext3 partition, added a swap partition, and installed nginx. The plan is to have my border router reverse proxy web traffic to my proxmox host for validating SSL
certs, my BBS, and a test system I'd like to expose without using different port numbers.

First hope you enjoy today!

Let me ask you being you may know better then me, I'm thinking of playing
with docker why is it so much better the say oracle virtualbox. I'm wondering
myself being I have played with about all of them other the docker.

Merry Christmas!

::: Havok :::
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... All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.

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Re: Re: Multiple BBSes
By: Havok to poindexter FORTRAN on Fri Dec 25 2020 09:27 am

Howdy,

Let me ask you being you may know better then me, I'm thinking of playing
with docker why is it so much better the say oracle virtualbox. I'm wondering
myself being I have played with about all of them other the docker.

Why is it "better" is not really the right question - it does things differently (very differently) and depending on what you are wanting to do would determine if it was better (for you) or not.

VMware, Proxmox, Hyper-V, virtualbox, etc are all about slicing a machine up to run multiple "machines" on a single physical machine. So you need to manage devices, OSes, etc inside the virtualised environment. Some of those are better than others because, of features like machines floating between 2 physical machines, virtual networking, etc.

Docker is an application runtime environment and the analogy is "live CD". An application is "built" into an image, and the imagine doesnt change. So everytime you start the image anything inside it from last time is lost. If there is important data you need to keep, then you need to put that data on a persistent mount (analogy think USB stick that is used with the live CD).

What's good about the image, is it has everything it needs to run the application and it can run anywhere the docker runtime is installed (for the architecture of the application). As a example, I run Synchronet on my MAC while I code in javascript (for my videotex interface), but then deploy the same image on my linux host when I run it live. If you ran docker on Windows, that same image would work as well.

...δεσ∩

... To a friends' house, the road is never long.
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

Havok wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Let me ask you being you may know better then me, I'm thinking
of playing with docker why is it so much better the say oracle
virtualbox.

I'm not totally up on Docker, but the advantage is being able to run
containerized services in a way that you can template and recreate
easily.

Virtualbox just replaces physical hardware, but you still need to
load an OS, applications, and so on in the same way. You don't get
the flexibility you get with containers.

Does someone else want to chime in and explain this better than I
can?




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Re: Re: Multiple BBSes
By: deon to Havok on Sat Dec 26 2020 09:57 am

VMware, Proxmox, Hyper-V, virtualbox, etc are all about slicing a machine up to run multiple "machines" on a single physical machine. So you need to manage devices, OSes, etc inside the virtualised environment. Some of those are better than others because, of features like machines floating between 2 physical machines, virtual networking, etc.

If that is the case I'll stick with VMware!

I have ran VMware and Hyper-V and liked both, by the sounds of it I'll
stick with VMware for running a bulletin board.

Thanks for the information though...



::: Havok :::
::: Nut House BBS : nuthousebbs.com:2332 :::
















... ALIMONY: The cost of leaving.

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Re: Re: Multiple BBSes
By: Havok to deon on Sat Dec 26 2020 02:26 pm

Howdy,

If that is the case I'll stick with VMware!

Given that, I run both (VMware and docker), and where I can I put everything into docker images - I'm a huge fan.

My BBS (SBBS) and fidohub are both containers (that auto-build using gitlab CI).

I like docker for a few reasons:

* Its an OS environment that I dont need to manage, update, etc

* My OS hosts are very "thin" - bare, bare minimum, enough to run the docker runtime. (Again less to manage and less
security exposures.)

* And lastly, docker makes you think about "application files", "working space" and "data". Application files go in the
image, workspace I dont care about (its ephemeral), and data goes onto a persistent mount. So now, when I backup, I only need a copy of the image (which is in my registry and any other host that my container ran on), and the data of the application.

With this strategy, backup is super easy - and you can take the image with the data (for that image) and arhive it, move it between hosts very easily.

With VMware, I create 3 docker hosts and create a "swarm". Most of my containers "float" between the 3 hosts, enabling me to take 1 down for something (OS updates, etc), and the apps just float to another host and continue to run (without doing anything).

So for me, I'm a huge fan of docker (and of VMware).

...δεσ∩

... A mixture of admiration and pity is one of the surest recipes for affectio --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
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Re: Re: Multiple BBSes
By: deon to Havok on Sun Dec 27 2020 07:57 am

So for me, I'm a huge fan of docker (and of VMware).

It all sounds interesting and soon as I get a smaller server I'll have to
play with it. But as stated looking for a smaller server to run vmware on
then comes the play time.

Thanks for the information and ideas..

::: Havok :::
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... Scratch a lover and find a foe.

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