Text 3760, 105 rader
Skriven 2012-09-10 17:08:14 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 3753 av mark lewis (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Pvt nodes vs points
===========================
mark lewis wrote to Robert Bashe on Monday September 10 2012 at 10:23:

RB>> It would have been a real problem to check such systems for activity
RB>> if they had no listed domain,

ml> why does a domain need to be listed?

To poll the system.

ml> can you not perform the same f.n.z conversion and try that in the same
ml> way that much FTN software has done for years?

You can _try_ anything, but things are clearer and simpler if a domain is
listed. Now, since there are apparently so many misunderstandings, let me
define what I mean...

Most of the IP systems in R24 have dynamic IPs assigned by the telco. They get
a domain with outfits like DynDNS. Mine, as you can see in the Nodelist, is

abel.dnsalias.net

You can poll my system with binkd by adding my node number and using the
domain. No password required.

As to the f.n.z. conversion, there's been so much shut down in fido over the
years that I have no idea if that would even work nowadays, and here in R24, at
least, people include their domain in their listing if they're IP-capable.

ml> what do you do when you see a domain listed?

I add it to my binkd.cfg and poll it. If it responds, and it generally does, I
know the system is active. That naturally says nothing about whether it's on
autopilot or not, but at least it exists.

ml> for the f.n.z dns domain format, the binkd guys have set up binkp.net
ml> since fidonet.net got lost some time back...

Aha! This is exactly the thing I meant above.

Now, you know this, and it may be common knowledge in Z1, but it's the first
time I've heard of it and I certainly wouldn't use it unless there were really
no other way.

Please remember, I was doing a count of active nodes. I wrote several times in
our node echo, polled every node (there weren't that many entries anyway) and
repeated that with all modes (analog, ISDN and IP) I could manage. Practically
nobody uses PVT nodes here, and those that do mostly include their domain so
that the node can be reached. There were none in my segment anyway, so the
question never arose.

RB>> as is apparently common in Z1.

ml> TTBOMK, it is (or was) much more common in R50...

No idea. I have had exactly two R50 contacts, one of which was easily reachable
by IP and the other is a Russian guy who for reasons unknown operates a server
in Canada and asked me if he could pick up a couple of echos from me. He polls
(IP) here very rarely.

RB>> And you know that many people simply don't answer netmail anymore,
RB>> particularly the routed stuff.

ml> i suspect that may be because routed stuff has been broken for a long
ml> time and no one has chased it down...

Actually, I've never had any problems with routed messages (in R24), but prefer
to send direct when I can. If I want to reach a point quickly, I address the
message to the point and send it to his Bossnode. The reply generally comes by
routed netmail.

ml> ... i saw where routed netmail from you to another texan passed thru
ml> here the other day...

Good for you. Can't remember why I routed that, but I guess there was no domain
in the nodelist entry.

RB>> Without knowing the personal phone number of such a PVT node to call,

ml> this is why the phone number is one of the items requested in the
ml> applications for node number and services that i handle ;)

;-) The last time anyone here discussed nodelist applications was sometime in
1995-96 or thereabouts. Nowadays, we'd be so overjoyed to get a new node, we'd
probably kiss his/her feet instead of worrying about applications. Such stuff
is long past here, Marc. I have the numbers and email addresses of several
nodes in my net, including my host and hub, but as for anyone else...

RB>> how would one go about testing to see if the node is still "alive"?
RB>> This is still another reason I prefer our alternative of sysop points
RB>> over PVT listings.

ml> that's one thing but what to do if they simply don't respond to
ml> netmail? there's no difference and no way to know, really... think
ml> about it... if they don't respond to netmail, routed or direct, what
ml> does it matter if they have a point or pvt node?

The point was, if their system reacts properly to a poll, it exists. That was
enough for me. Whether the system is on autopilot or is being regularly
maintained is not my problem unless someone complains - which nobody ever has
in the 10+ years I've been NC. I just wanted to clear out deadwood, no more.

Cheers, Bob

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