CHAT-SRV(6) XR32 REFERENCE MANUAL 23/3/2013
NAME
CHAT-SRV -- CHAT Server.
DESCRIPTION
XR32's integral chat server allows groups of users to hold live
multi-way conversations without having to manage several TNC
streams at once.
It is available to all callers, and is accessed by using the
CHAT command at the main prompt, or by connecting directly to
its callsign or alias. TCP/IP users can additionally access
it by TELNETting to port 3600 (this port can be reassigned
or disabled using the CHATPORT directive in XROUTER.CFG).
The server is tri-standard, i.e. it can exist on, and interact
with 3 completely different types of chat network
simultaneously, namely XRchat, "Tampa Ping Pong Converse", and
W0RLI RoundTable chat, as used by BPQ. XR32's server is a
fully functional RoundTable node, however data is NEVER
transferred between networks. e.g. what is said on the
RoundTable network is never propogated around the XRchat
network and vice versa.
Channels
~~~~~~~~
The "XRchat" system has 32767 channels or " chat rooms", each
of which can support an unlimited number of users, so it is
possible for groups to have their own "private" room, or to
reserve certain rooms for specific topics.
Channels 1 to 255 (except 101 - see below) are "local" to each
chat server, and the remaining channels 256-32767 are
"global", i.e. they are linked with all other XRouter chat
servers, providing there is at least one link set up with
another server.
Room 101 is a gateway to the W0RLI "RoundTable" / BPQChat
network, providing there is at least one link with a
RoundTable or BPQChat peer. Within room 101, users may create
and occupy private chat spaces called "topics". The default
topic at login is "general".
In addition to the "positive" channel numbers, there are
another 32768 channels numbered 0 to -32767. These
correspond to channels 0 to 32767 on the "Tampa Ping Pong"
system.
XRouter allows only limited interconnection between these two
systems, because the channel layouts and topologies are
completely incompatible. XRchat was specifically designed
for use on an anarchic, slow radio network, whereas Ping-Pong
requires a more planned network topology to avoid loops, and
is largely carried on Internet links. The sheer volume of
chat in the Ping-Pong system would overwhelm marginal radio
links.
Data received from Ping-pong is not propogated via the Xrouter
chat interlinks and vice versa. In effect, Xrouter can be a
stub Ping-Pong host, but not part of the Ping-Pong network.
Channel 1000 is the default channel to which users are
assigned at log-on, but they may set their preferred login
channel using the "/CHANNEL DEFAULT" command.
Users may "join" as many channels as they wish, so they may
take part in several separate conversations at once. Users may
listen on any number of positive and negative channels
simultaneously, but may only *send* on one channel at a time.
Once logged onto a channel, anything sent by the user is
copied to all other users of that channel, except for lines
beginning with a forward slash (/), which are interpreted as
chat server commands. The distributed text is prefixed by
the channel number and the sender's callsign and name, to
allow the recipients to identify who sent it.
Commands
~~~~~~~~
All chat server commands begin with a forward slash (/), and
most of them may be abbreviated to the initial letter. The
/? command shows the available commands and syntax, while
/HELP gives more details.
The /NAME command is used to enter the user's first name, and
serves as a "login". Users are not permitted to join any
channels until they have supplied a name. TCP/IP users must
additionally supply a callsign with the /USER command.
/CHANNEL, /JOIN and /LEAVE are used to select the desired
channel, /WHO shows the active channels and who is using them,
and /QUIT terminates the chat session. The full command set
is shown in more detail in the command reference section.
Users who log on to more than one chat server at once are
treated as separate entities, and must supply their name and
callsign on each server. Note that the RoundTable network
does not allow a user to be logged on at more than one server,
but there are often valid reasons for doing so, therefore the
XRchat protocol allows multiple logins by design.
Configuration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The chat server is fully automatic and requires minimal
setting up. It is configured using entries in XROUTER.CFG as
follows:
CHATCALL defines the chat callsign for AX25 and NetRom
operations. A SSID of -8 is strongly recommended for all
XRchat systems.
CHATALIAS specifies the alias for AX25 and NetRom operations.
It is recommended that this should begin with something
geographically relevant, and end with "CHT" e.g. BHMCHT for
Birmingham, LDSCHT for Leeds etc., so it can be easily
identified in node tables.
CHATQUAL specifies the NetRom "quality" assigned to the chat
server and alias for L3/4 operations. If set to 0, the server
will not be visible on the network. A setting of 255 makes
the chat server as visible as the node, which just fills up
the nodes tables. A value somewhere in between, to give medium
visibility, is suggested.
CHATLOG specifies the amount of detail that is logged. A value
of 0 suppresses logging. Add together the values corresponding
to the desired options from this table:
1 Local user connect / disconnect event
2 Remote user connect / disconnect event
4 Peer server connect / disconnect event
8 Local channels 1-255 join / leave events
16 Public channel join / leave events
32 Log channel notifications
64 Log the text of conversations
128 Use a single logfile, instead of daily ones
CHATPORT adjusts or disables the TCP port which the chat
server normally listens on. The default is 3600, but you may
need to adjust this if you have another system or application
using that port.
CHATLINKS specifies the callsigns of other servers to link to.
- Only NetRom links are allowed with RoundTable/BPQChat peers.
- Only TCP/IP links are allowed to Tampa Ping-Pong peers.
- Links with XRChat peers may use either NetRom or TCP/IP, but
NetRom is the norm.
If NetRom linking is used, you must specify the peer's
CALLSIGN not the alias. The peer's callsign and alias must
exist in your nodes table, i.e. you can't link with peers
beyond the NetRom "horizon".
Unilateral linking is not allowed, and will not work. You
*must* co-ordinate it with your peers, such that you are in
their CHATLINKS list and they are in yours.
You should avoid linking to peer servers via slow links. If
the link isn't up to the job, frames will be dumped, and the
users will therefore get a poor service.
Peer links may be added and removed at any time using the
/LInks command.
Links With XRouter Peers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NetRom links with XRouter chat peers are specified in
XROUTER.CFG as follows (you can put several peers in one
CHATLINKS directive, or use one directive per link, or any
combination thereof):
CHATLINKS=<netrom_call>,<netrom_call>,...
e.g. CHATLINKS=GB7GH-7,GB7BM-8,N0LBA-8
or at the chat command prompt:
/LI ADD <netrom_call>
e.g. /LI ADD GB7BX-9
For TCP/IP links with XRouter chat peers, the IP address and
TCP "port" number must be specified, along with the CHATALIAS
of the peer server, and you can only specify one peer per line.
CHATLINKS=<ip_address>:<tcp_port> <peer_alias>
e.g. CHATLINKS=67.69.96.23:3600 KDRCHT
or at the chat command prompt:
/LI ADD <ipaddress>:<tcp_port> <peer_alias>
/LI ADD 67.69.96.23:3600 KDRCHT
Links with RoundTable/BPQ Peers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links with RoundTable/BPQ chat servers are defined similarly
to the XRchat NetRom case, except that the peer callsigns
must be prefixed with a '+', for example
CHATLINKS=+XE1FH-11,+N1FGR
or /LI ADD +XE1FH-11
The '+' is very important - it tells XR32 to use RoundTable
protocol instead of XRchat protocol!
Links with Tampa Ping-Pong Peers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links with Tampa Ping-Pong converse servers are specified in
XROUTER.CFG as follows. Note the <peername> is prefixed with
a '*' to distinguish it from an XRchat TCP entry:
CHATLINKS=<ip_address>:<tcp_port> *<peername>
e.g. CHATLINKS=80.195.22.67:3601 *brmcht
Alternatively, use the /LINK ADD command
/LI ADD <ipaddress>:<tcp_port> *<peername>
e.g. /LI ADD 80.195.22.67:3601 *brmcht
FILES
The chat server stores user accounts in the CHAT subdirectory,
and reads its HELP files from CHAT/HELP/ subdirectory.
If transaction logging has been enabled by a non-zero CHATLOG
directive in XROUTER.CFG, chat server activity is recorded in
the LOG subdirectory. If the "use single logfile" option is
enabled, everything is logged to file CHATSERV.LOG, otherwise
it is logged to dialy logfiles with names in the form
yymmddCH.LOG, where yymmdd are the year, month and day.
SEE ALSO
CHAT(1) -- CHAT command.
CHATCMDS(1) -- Detailed description of chat server commands.
XROUTER.CFG(8) -- Main Configuration File.
CHAT-SRV(6) END OF DOCUMENT
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