Subj : defnode
To   : Tony Langdon
From : mark lewis
Date : Sat Aug 20 2016 11:12 am


20 Aug 16 21:21, you wrote to me:

ml>> those discussions were back in 2012 but apparently i failed to lock
ml>> the ones concerning this format of the domain lines and i don't see
ml>> anything in the FAQ about it :(

TL> Yes, I never knew about this format until you mentioned it here.  Keen
TL> to know more.  It's not in any of my examples.

ml>> it absolutely does make more sense... the real trick is to get
ml>> othernets to set up their own DNS lookup domain zones...

TL> What's involved in setting the lookup service up?

basically it is two parts...

 1. have a script to convert the nodelist into a/some DNS zone files
    for whatever DNS host server software is being used.

 2. set up a DNS host server to use the zone files created in step 1
    and allow public access to that DNS server so anyone in the
    world can look up fzzz.nyyy.zxxx.your.domain.


TL> I can register and administer domains (have done for years, though in
TL> this case, it would be a subdomain of an existing domain), and I
TL> recently started an othernet, so I would be interested in what I'd
TL> need to do to setup the service for my net.

the folks running binkp.net would have more information than the little i
have... i know the concepts and have run my own stuff in the distant past but
don't remember all the details... the main thing is that the addresses in the
nodelist are converted to the f.n.z format in the zone file that the DNS server
presents to the world when queries are made of it... some DNS servers use a
simple HOSTS file type of format... others are akin to what bind uses...

so basically, you have the overall othernet domain with at least one zone
sub-domain (zxxx) with at least one net sub-domain (nyyy) and each FTN node in
that FTN net has a host entry in that net's sub-domain (fzzz)... a lookup for
fzzz.nyyy.zxxx.othernet.domain will return either the IP number from the
nodelist or a CNAME if the nodelist contains host.domain.name for that node...

in these examples, 'xxx' is the zone number, 'yyy' is the net number and 'zzz'
is the node number... the 'f', 'n' and 'z' are important...

 eg:  f99.n276.z486.some.othernet  ==  486:276/99

point addresses would have a 'p' leading them if you publish points in your
zone file... otherwise, a wildcard will also be needed for each node so that
any connection attempts to deliver point mail are sent to the node hosting the
points...

i think i've covered most all of it... does it make sense to you??

)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

... "God Jul och Gott Nytt aar." - Swedish Christmas
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