• Downlink refused access to mail group

    From Vince Coen@2:250/1 to All on Tuesday, August 22, 2017 13:34:00
    Hello All!

    I had a mail from a downlink that issued a request for access to a mail area, however my system refused him.

    Here is the detail from manager.log :

    -!-
    + 13-Aug-2017 15:49:57 mbfido[4916] AreaMgr request from Sean Rima of 2:263/1@fidonet start
    + 13-Aug-2017 15:49:57 mbfido[4916] AreaMgr: connect "+aftershock"
    + 13-Aug-2017 15:49:57 mbfido[4916] 2:263/1@fidonet may not connect to group AUTOCREADAS
    + 13-Aug-2017 15:49:57 mbfido[4916] AreaMgr request from Sean Rima of 2:263/1@fidonet finished
    -!-

    So thought err bit odd so look at the settings for AUTOCREADAS (and at the
    same time the FIDONET mail group which shows as :

    -!-
    Group name AUTOCREADAS
    Comment Autocreate
    Active Yes
    Use Aka 2:250/1@fidonet
    Uplink 1:261/38@fidonet
    Areas file BACKBONE.NA
    Base path /home/mbse/var/mail/fido
    Netmail reply area 1
    Start new areas at 6
    Read security 0 --------------------------------
    Write security 0 --------------------------------
    Sysop security 0 --------------------------------
    Def. link security X-------------------------------
    Use aliases No
    Add quotes No
    Auto add/del areas Yes
    User add/del areas Yes
    Default charset UTF-8 4
    GoldED groupid #001
    Start area date Sat Apr 20 16:03:58 2002
    Last active date Sun Jul 23 00:13:38 2017



    Group name FIDONET
    Comment Fidonet areas
    Active Yes
    Use Aka 2:250/1@fidonet
    Uplink 1:261/38@fidonet
    Areas file fidoarea.lst
    Base path /home/mbse/var/mail/fido
    Netmail reply area 1
    Start new areas at 6
    Read security 0 --------------------------------
    Write security 0 --------------------------------
    Sysop security 0 --------------------------------
    Def. link security X-------------------------------
    Use aliases No
    Add quotes No
    Auto add/del areas Yes
    User add/del areas Yes
    Default charset UTF-8 4
    GoldED groupid #003
    Start area date Wed Apr 17 21:19:42 2002
    Last active date Sun Jul 23 00:13:38 2017

    -!-

    As far as I know the flags in Def. link security is the only one that matters other than what is set for the downlink so then looked there (I have omitted the passwd blocks:

    -!-
    Sysop Sean Rima
    First date Thu Oct 23 15:31:49 2014
    Last date Sat Jul 22 23:39:17 2017
    Aka 1 2:263/1@fidonet
    Route via 2:263/1@fidonet
    ..
    passwords block removed
    ..
    Mail direct Yes Mail crash No Mail hold Yes
    Pack mail Yes Send notify Yes Language E
    No EMSI No No YooHoo/2U2 No No Filerequests No
    Don't call No 8.3 filenames No Use NR mode No
    No PLZ No No GZ/BZ2 No No Zmodem No
    No Zedzap No No Hydra No binkp old esc No
    No binkp/1.1 No Ignore Hold/Down No Mail forward No
    Check mailpwd No ARCmail comp. Yes ACRmail a..z Yes
    Send message No Send .TIC Yes File forward No
    Advanced TIC Yes Advanded SB Yes Sent To line Yes
    TIC 4d addresses No
    Security flags X-------------------------------

    Outbound session Direct
    Inbound session Direct

    Uplink mgrs Program Password BBBS
    ------------ -------- --------------- ----
    Files metpOI Yes
    Mail metpOI Yes

    Statistics Send KBytes Received KBytes
    ------------ -------- -------- -------- --------
    Total files 106 4864 0 4864
    Total mail 3983 56

    File groups:
    ALLFILES APPLEMAC BBBSFDN BFDS CHEEPWARE
    COBOL-TOOLS DBRIDGE FDN ECHOLIST FERNWOOD FIDO-ADMIN
    FIDOGAZETTE FIDONEWS FILEMGR GFD LNX4
    MBSE MYSTIC NASA NODEDIFFS ODDBALL
    OREDSON S/W OS2 PASCALFDN PDN PERLNET
    R50 RAR SDS SFDS SPORTNET
    STN TABLETS TAURUS FDN UTILNET W32BINKD
    WINDOWS

    Mail groups:
    AUTOCREADAS FIDONET LOCAL NEWS GROUPS Sportnet
    -!-

    From the above the Security flags is the same and he is set up for both FIDONET
    and AUTOCREADAS mail groups.

    So why is mbse refusing him ?
    The mail group was set up many years ago when the new was important for new mail areas being auto added into the system but was made redundant with the introduction of using the Areas File and yes I have one I built myself for FIDONET and the standard one BACKBONE.NA for FIDONET but the problem here is that backbone.na is not being maintained hence my usage of my own created one for one of them. This way at least according to my logic is that if an area is
    in the old BACKBONE.NA it will belong to FIDONET and if not AUTOCREADAS using my created list (which I do not keep fully up to date other than look at what mail areas go into my bad area.


    So the question is what on earth is wrong that is stopping the downlink from adding himself into an area that is assigned to AUTOCREADAS group ?

    I did have a thought of moving all areas from AUTOCREADAS to FIDONET but there is no "G" option to do so and no I am not going to do that one mail area at a time as it will take far too long with no garrantee it will work.

    This option for the G(roup) change in mail or for that matter file groups would
    be handy as also most of the sub params within each Group such as group chane for say the various flags "Mail direct", "Mail Crash" etc.

    Could be another reason for changing the existing internal mbse database type system used for all of the various data blocks moving to say a SQL system such as MySQL or even SQLite etc. However it would involve a good weeks worth of programming in understanding the fields for each database and creating SQL ones
    as replacements.

    That said it it did use SQL then it would be a simple task to issue a SQL command to change all rows required extremely easily.


    Vince

    --- Mageia Linux v5/Mbse v1.0.7.2/GoldED+/LNX 1.1.501-b20150715
    * Origin: Air Applewood, The Linux Gateway to the UK & Eire (2:250/1)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12.73 to Vince Coen on Tuesday, August 22, 2017 10:33:24
    On 2017 Aug 22 13:34:00, you wrote to All:

    Uplink mgrs Program Password BBBS
    ------------ -------- --------------- ----
    Files metpOI Yes
    Mail metpOI Yes

    i think you missed something ;)

    introduction of using the Areas File and yes I have one I built myself for FIDONET and the standard one BACKBONE.NA for FIDONET but the problem here is that backbone.na is not being maintained hence my usage of my own

    BACKBONE.NA is definitely being maintained... rossC was doing it before he left
    fidonet and benR is doing it now... the last BACKBONE.NA was sent out 18 Mar 2017 not long after the switchover from rossC to benR... that's also about the same time that i was assigned as r18c and also brought on as the third backbone
    star...

    )\/(ark

    Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
    Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it wrong...
    ... Men find it difficult to make eye contact cause breasts don't have eyes. ---
    * Origin: (1:3634/12.73)
  • From Vince Coen@2:250/1 to mark lewis on Wednesday, August 23, 2017 11:18:59
    Hello mark!

    Tuesday August 22 2017 10:33, you wrote to me:


    On 2017 Aug 22 13:34:00, you wrote to All:

    Uplink mgrs Program Password BBBS
    ------------ -------- --------------- ----


    i think you missed something ;)

    yep, didn't see that one :(

    introduction of using the Areas File and yes I have one I built
    myself for FIDONET and the standard one BACKBONE.NA for FIDONET
    but the problem here is that backbone.na is not being maintained
    hence my usage of my own

    BACKBONE.NA is definitely being maintained... rossC was doing it
    before he left fidonet and benR is doing it now... the last
    BACKBONE.NA was sent out 18 Mar 2017 not long after the switchover
    from rossC to benR... that's also about the same time that i was
    assigned as r18c and also brought on as the third backbone star...

    That the date I have but there are diffs against my other list also backbone.na
    used to come out on a regular basis not 5+ months etc however that does not resolve the issue I have with a down link not being able to connect to a specific echo area.



    Vince

    --- Mageia Linux v5/Mbse v1.0.7.2/GoldED+/LNX 1.1.501-b20150715
    * Origin: Air Applewood, The Linux Gateway to the UK & Eire (2:250/1)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12.73 to Vince Coen on Wednesday, August 23, 2017 10:13:22
    On 2017 Aug 23 11:18:58, you wrote to me:

    BACKBONE.NA is definitely being maintained... rossC was doing it before
    he left fidonet and benR is doing it now... the last BACKBONE.NA was
    sent out 18 Mar 2017 not long after the switchover from rossC to
    benR... that's also about the same time that i was assigned as r18c and
    also brought on as the third backbone star...

    That the date I have but there are diffs against my other list also backbone.na used to come out on a regular basis not 5+ months etc

    yeah, that was back when things were being run a lot tighter... with the network getting smaller and smaller, the backbone decided to loosen some of the
    requirements for carrying an echo... with that, the backbone.na is/was only updated when echos were removed or added... most of the time, removal was after
    several years of no traffic... it was a manual process, anyway...

    however that does not resolve the issue I have with a down link not
    being able to connect to a specific echo area.

    this is true... i only wanted to point out that backbone.na is maintained... just not as often as it used to be...

    )\/(ark

    Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
    Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it wrong...
    ... My compact discs are not miniature Frisbees.
    ---
    * Origin: (1:3634/12.73)