• Problems with events running

    From Sean Dennis@1:18/200 to All on Sunday, February 13, 2011 22:34:58
    Hello, All.

    I'm having problems with a single nightly event running at the wrong (very wrong!) time. I have but a single EVENTS00.BBS file for the entire system which is one dialup node and three telnet. The line in question:

    Event All 0200 exit=105

    For some reason, this event is running at varied times between 0800-0900. Do I
    have something wrong in the events file?

    Later,
    Sean

    ... Any simple idea will be worded in the most complicated way.
    --- GoldED/2 3.0.1
    * Origin: Paragon BBS - 423.926.7999 - paragon.darktech.org (1:18/200)
  • From Ward Dossche@2:292/854 to Sean Dennis on Monday, February 14, 2011 10:51:43
    Sean,

    Event All 0200 exit=105

    For some reason, this event is running at varied times between 0800-0900. Do I have something wrong in the events file?

    Could it be that your system has a problem with GMT-settings which indeed provide for a 6hr or so separation?

    \%/@rd

    --- D'Bridge 3.59
    * Origin: Many Glacier / WikiLeaks http://213.251.145.96 / (2:292/854)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/715 to Sean Dennis on Monday, February 14, 2011 02:45:41
    Hi Sean -- on Feb 13 2011 at 22:34, you wrote:


    Event All 0200 exit=105

    For some reason, this event is running at varied times between
    0800-0900. Do I have something wrong in the events file?

    When there is no letter after the time, Binkley does strange things!

    I'm sure you already know this code, but in case you've forgotten:

    ;Events S = Send only
    ; What days R = Receive only
    ; When to start
    ; When to finish
    ; Forced event if F showing
    ; Dynamic if D showing
    ; Mail only if M showing
    ; Cost = L (If cost is L means Local only) ;
    C=Send to CM nodes only if C showing ;
    X=No file requests sent if X showing ; N=No incoming file requests allowed if N showing ;
    B=BBS Callers allowed if B showing ; K=Don't send to CM nodes if K showing ; Q=xxx
    minimum size of packet to send ; H=Send Crash mail first ; E1=Exit at start of event
    ; E2=Exit if netmail received ;
    E3=Exit if ARCmail received ;
    T=X,Y #of bad calls, total ; ;Example of events:
    Event All 00:00 00:00 F B L<999 E1=6 ; 1--Do MIDNITE Event All 00:00 01:00 B H Q=0 E2=25 E3=35 T=3,3 ; 2--Long distance or local All mail

    Hope this helps!

    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, CANADA [telnet: bandmaster.tzo.com] (1:153/715)
  • From Mike Luther@1:117/100 to Sean Dennis on Monday, February 14, 2011 10:30:24
    Sean ..

    Hello, All.

    I'm having problems with a single nightly event
    running at the wrong (very wrong!) time. I have but a
    single EVENTS00.BBS file for the entire system which
    is one dialup node and three telnet. The line in
    question:

    Event All 0200 exit=105

    For some reason, this event is running at varied times
    between 0800-0900. Do I have something wrong in the
    events file?

    I assume that you are running this whole deal under a .CMD file which also uses
    the numeric value with a program exit to decide where in the .CMD file the logic should next go to perform the desired action.

    OK .. What you can do in many cases to figure out what might be going wrong and
    how programs can somehow interfere with a 'proper' logic step operation this way is somewhat simple!

    You create an additional step by step mini-program action at any given generic point like this to write a discrete little file on your hard drive that has a unique text message in it. Which you can then use to trace a running .CMD or REXX file to see where a given error is being created! You give each successive
    step a different pointer number, 1, 2, 3, 4 ..66 or whatever. You then use the
    little program to write the message you want and that discrete unique pointer to a common trace file on your hard disk.

    Then, sort of in your case, if, for example, the program doesn't exit with error level 105, as expected, but somehow is different, you can then spot exact
    where to go looking for a fix.

    This technique can actually be used to manually trace the whole OS/2 operating system matrix for even a massive multi program mix. Which can then tell you exactly where a given OS/2 driver or program mix may have botched even the ring
    level operations that leads to a strange failure like this.

    This is exactly the reason and the technique that was used for the decades I was on the official OS/2 Development Testcase crew. So that I could check all the latest driver and op system changes on my multiple OS/2 systems. Including the full multiple BBS node number mess that was and still is on the OS/2 box on
    which this is being written! Which is how we found out a whole huge number of program development errors for the IBM team going all the way back to where it was in Boca Raton, Florida!

    Any more thoughts needed to help you maybe?

    Mike @ 1:117/100



    ---
    * Origin: BV HUB CLL(979)696-3600 (1:117/100)
  • From Richard Webb@1:116/901 to Dallas Hinton on Monday, February 14, 2011 13:51:50
    Hi Dallas,

    On Mon 2039-Feb-14 02:45, Dallas Hinton (1:153/715) wrote to Sean Dennis:

    For some reason, this event is running at varied times between
    0800-0900. Do I have something wrong in the events file?

    When there is no letter after the time, Binkley does strange things!

    <hmmm> I thought he was doing this in his maximus events
    instead of binkley. I was and am wondering why if he's
    running binkley in front of max for his dial-up node. I'd
    run this from bink.
    I've never done anything with maximus events in the years
    I've run it because events were always defined in
    binkley.evt and once I figured it out the only thing I had
    to do with max was one event that disallowed yell for chat
    with sysop.


    Regards,
    Richard
    --- timEd 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: (1:116/901)
  • From Sean Dennis@1:18/200 to Mike Luther on Monday, February 14, 2011 14:33:58
    Hi, Mike-

    Thanks for the good debugging ideas, but the thing is that the event is executing properly, but at completely the wrong time! Yes, on my system, Maximus does run under a single batch file (all nodes share the same batch file
    but are run independently) which does call errorlevel 105. The actual event runs completly within the original CMD file that calls the BBS.

    The event itself is executing properly but for some weird reason it's running way way off-schedule and that's what I'm trying to figure out...

    Thanks for the help though; anything to try to figure out what's going on here.

    Later,
    Sean

    --- Maximus/2 3.01
    * Origin: Paragon BBS - paragon.darktech.org - 423.926.7999 (1:18/200)
  • From Sean Dennis@1:18/200 to Richard Webb on Monday, February 14, 2011 14:40:16
    Hi, Richard-

    <hmmm> I thought he was doing this in his maximus events
    instead of binkley. I was and am wondering why if he's
    running binkley in front of max for his dial-up node. I'd
    run this from bink.

    I'm doing this from within Maximus because I have three telnet nodes and one dialup node. I need to shut down all the nodes when I do the nightly event because I backup the current day's logs into another directory. OS/2 locks all
    files in use by Maximus and no other programs can access the files unless Maximus is completely shut down.

    I was under the impression that if I ran the event from EVENTS00.BBS that it would shut down all the nodes (except node 1 and I can disable that in Binkley also via BT's events) so the nightly backups could run. Not only are the nodes
    not being shut down, but the event is running off of node 2 (which is the first
    telnet node; all of my telnet nodes run from the WFC screen) and it's about six
    to seven hours off continuiously which is what's confusing me.

    Later,
    Sean

    --- Maximus/2 3.01
    * Origin: Paragon BBS - paragon.darktech.org - 423.926.7999 (1:18/200)
  • From Sean Dennis@1:18/200 to Ward Dossche on Monday, February 14, 2011 10:09:02
    Hi, Ward-

    Could it be that your system has a problem with GMT-
    settings which indeed provide for a 6hr or so separation?

    I've got the correct settings in CONFIG.SYS for OS/2:

    TZ=EST4EDT

    The time is correctly set on my LAN since my pfSense (firewall/router)
    box also functions as a NTP server for the LAN, but I will still take a
    look at that. Just really weird that the board does this.

    Later,
    Sean
    ___
    X OLXWin 1.00b X Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.

    --- Maximus/2 3.01
    * Origin: Paragon BBS - paragon.darktech.org - 423.926.7999 (1:18/200)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/715 to Sean Dennis on Monday, February 14, 2011 15:58:12
    Hi Sean -- on Feb 14 2011 at 14:40, you wrote:

    I'm doing this from within Maximus because I have three telnet nodes
    and one dialup node.

    Ah, sorry, I leapt to a conclusion when I should have leaned gently! :-)

    I ended up running Binkley in front of Max for simplicity - I couldn't get the Max event file to do what I wanted! :-) I think I wanted something too complex
    for the max event, but I don't now remember what that was!



    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, CANADA [telnet: bandmaster.tzo.com] (1:153/715)
  • From Sean Dennis@1:18/200 to Dallas Hinton on Monday, February 14, 2011 22:13:16
    Hello, Dallas.

    Monday February 14 2011 at 15:58, you wrote to me:

    I ended up running Binkley in front of Max for simplicity - I couldn't
    get the Max event file to do what I wanted! :-) I think I wanted something too complex for the max event, but I don't now remember what that was!

    'S okay, not a problem. :) Yeah, just trying to figure out what is going on though with the event file. I will take some time this weekend to pour over the Max docs to make sure I am doing what I need to do correctly.

    Later,
    Sean

    ... Everything goes wrong all at once.
    --- GoldED/2 3.0.1
    * Origin: Paragon BBS - 423.926.7999 - paragon.darktech.org (1:18/200)
  • From Nancy Backus@1:18/200 to Sean Dennis on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 23:30:56
    Quoting Sean Dennis to Mike Luther on 14 Feb 111 14:33:58 <=-

    Thanks for the good debugging ideas, but the thing is that the event
    is executing properly, but at completely the wrong time! Yes, on my system, Maximus does run under a single batch file (all nodes share
    the same batch file but are run independently) which does call
    errorlevel 105. The actual event runs completly within the original
    CMD file that calls the BBS.
    The event itself is executing properly but for some weird reason it's running way way off-schedule and that's what I'm trying to figure
    out...

    Just an observation... All my Paragon packets come in GMT rather than
    EST, so that might indeed be part of the problem... apparently the bbs
    thinks that it is on a different time than you think it is.

    ttyl neb

    ps... and, yes, this is also a test message for you... ;)

    ... Sit down, you're rocking the boat!
    --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.20
    * Origin: Paragon BBS - paragon.darktech.org - 423.926.7999 (1:18/200)
  • From Sean Dennis@1:18/200 to Nancy Backus on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 00:30:04
    Hello, Nancy.

    Tuesday February 22 2011 at 23:30, you wrote to me:

    Just an observation... All my Paragon packets come in GMT rather than
    EST, so that might indeed be part of the problem... apparently the bbs thinks that it is on a different time than you think it is.

    Really...I never noticed that...uh, well, I'll have to check and see why that would be happening because the machine itself is set to the correct time. I wonder if it's something in the BIOS?

    ps... and, yes, this is also a test message for you... ;)

    So my little experiment worked then? No problems uploading or anything? (Respond to me on the board if you don't mind.)

    Later,
    Sean

    ... So often we rob tomorrow's memories by today's economies. - John Mason Brown

    --- GoldED/2 3.0.1
    * Origin: Paragon BBS - 423.926.7999 - paragon.darktech.org (1:18/200)
  • From Mvan Le@3:800/432 to Sean Dennis on Saturday, March 19, 2011 01:20:12
    I'm having problems with a single nightly event running
    at the wrong (very wrong!) time. I have but a single
    EVENTS00.BBS file for the entire system which is one
    dialup node and three telnet. The line in question:

    Event All 0200 exit=105

    For some reason, this event is running at varied times
    between 0800-0900. Do I have something wrong in the
    events file?

    Are you running multiple Wait-For-Caller nodes and using the same EVENTS00.BBS file ?


    --- Maximus 3.01
    * Origin: Xaragmata / Adelaide SA telnet://xaragmata.mooo.com (3:800/432)
  • From Mvan Le@3:800/432 to Richard Webb on Saturday, March 19, 2011 01:22:02
    <hmmm> I thought he was doing this in his maximus events
    instead of binkley. I was and am wondering why if he's
    running binkley in front of max for his dial-up node. I'd
    run this from bink.
    I've never done anything with maximus events in the years
    I've run it because events were always defined in
    binkley.evt and once I figured it out the only thing I had
    to do with max was one event that disallowed yell for chat
    with sysop.

    It is cooler to use both Binkley events and Maximus events.

    Binkley events should relate to mailer stuff. Nightly BBS maintenance go in the
    Maximus file. That way, a BBS computer can appear to be doing more important things than it actually is.


    --- Maximus 3.01
    * Origin: Xaragmata / Adelaide SA telnet://xaragmata.mooo.com (3:800/432)
  • From Mvan Le@3:800/432 to Sean Dennis on Saturday, March 19, 2011 01:25:46
    Thanks for the good debugging ideas, but the thing is
    that the event is executing properly, but at completely
    the wrong time! Yes, on my system, Maximus does run
    under a single batch file (all nodes share the same
    batch file but are run independently) which does call
    errorlevel 105. The actual event runs completly within
    the original CMD file that calls the BBS.

    The event itself is executing properly but for some
    weird reason it's running way way off-schedule and
    that's what I'm trying to figure out...

    There's a Maximus command line option to use different event files for each node.

    --- Maximus 3.01
    * Origin: Xaragmata / Adelaide SA telnet://xaragmata.mooo.com (3:800/432)
  • From Mvan Le@3:800/432 to Sean Dennis on Saturday, March 19, 2011 01:28:54
    I was under the impression that if I ran the event from EVENTS00.BBS that it would shut down all the nodes (except node 1 and I
    can disable that in Binkley also via BT's events) so
    the nightly backups could run. Not only are the nodes
    not being shut down, but the event is running off of
    node 2 (which is the first telnet node; all of my
    telnet nodes run from the WFC screen) and it's about
    six to seven hours off continuiously which is what's
    confusing me.

    I don't think you can share Maximus event files in this way.

    If you tell 6 nodes to use the same event file, all 6 nodes will try to execute
    the same thing at the same time, each in its own DOS window. Which could be causing your timing problems.

    Perhaps you can try creating a semaphore so that only one node (the first node to execute the event) can run at any time. You can do this by tellign the other
    batch files to return from the event immediately "if EXIST %file%" etc.

    --- Maximus 3.01
    * Origin: Xaragmata / Adelaide SA telnet://xaragmata.mooo.com (3:800/432)
  • From Richard Webb@1:116/901 to Mvan Le on Friday, March 18, 2011 17:28:43
    On Sat 2039-Mar-19 01:22, Mvan Le (3:800/432) wrote to Richard Webb:

    <hmmm> I thought he was doing this in his maximus events
    instead of binkley. I was and am wondering why if he's
    running binkley in front of max for his dial-up node. I'd
    run this from bink.
    I've never done anything with maximus events in the years
    I've run it because events were always defined in
    binkley.evt and once I figured it out the only thing I had
    to do with max was one event that disallowed yell for chat
    with sysop.

    It is cooler to use both Binkley events and Maximus events.

    Binkley events should relate to mailer stuff. Nightly BBS
    maintenance go in the Maximus file. That way, a BBS computer can
    appear to be doing more important things than it actually is.

    Iirc a friend of mine running multinode bink/max did
    something like that for maint of some games and other bbs
    stuff. One node iirc was mailer the other node a wfc
    maximus only. During mail periods he'd have the wfc only
    node doing some bbs maintenance tasks. Horses for courses I guess <grin>. I think iirc he still did msg base maint etc. from the binkley node's events.


    HOwever, it's been a few years since I recall having
    anything to do with his setup, although I did help him make
    the switch to bink/max initially and ad doing the co-sysop
    thing from remote for him for awhil after that.

    Regards,
    Richard
    --- timEd 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: (1:116/901)