Subj : MakeNL and how it works?
To : mark lewis
From : Eric Renfro
Date : Sat Sep 05 2015 07:04 pm
Re: MakeNL and how it works?
By: mark lewis to Eric Renfro on Sat Sep 05 2015 02:33 pm
ML> 05 Sep 15 12:25, you wrote to All:
ER>> I'm trying to get into understanding just how MakeNL actually works.
ER>> For example, as NC, how would I get it to update just the network
ER>> that I'd be managing on a regular basis?
ML> first off, what version of makenl? hopefully it is the latest ng version
ML> that is actively being developed and distributed...
MakeNL 3.4.5 custom compiled from an RPM .spec I made to build it and package
it for CentOS 7.1. :)
Got that from makenl.sourceforge.net. Correct, right? ;)
ML> 1. for many years i just used the net-s.ctl file and in the data section,
ML> i manually created and edited the entries for each node... then i would
ML> run a test run and see of there were any errors... if not, then i ran it
ML> again to send the netseg to my RC... it was pretty manual and only done
ML> when a change was necessary... this is probably the most common net level
ML> style of operation in this day in time...
ML> with all that said, here's a rough small net ctl for ficticious net789...
ML> there's the host entry, the host's non-admin entry and one other node...
This is very similar to what I had, with a few lack in some options, like
logging options specifically. :)
ML> this is basically taken from the bottom half of Figure 2 in the original
ML> makenl documentation... we're managing all node entries in the bottom DATA
ML> section and generating a net789.seg file to send upstream to the RC... the
ML> MSG format netmail directory is where makenl will place the file attach
ML> message with the seg file for sending... in a BSO environment this netmail
ML> area needs to be processed by a mail tosser to pack the netmail out to the
ML> RC's address with the attached segment file... if you use an outbound
ML> filebox with binkd for your connection to your RC, you can throw away the
ML> file attach MSG file and just copy the net789.ctl file to the outbound
ML> filebox directory for binkd to send to the RC... this is akin to the way
ML> interbbs door game files are moved...
Hmmm... When you talk about the outbox, do you mean, the net789.seg could be
directly tossed into the outbox, not the net789.ctl, or do you mean the literal
net789.ctl itself? hehe
So long as I'm using BinkD to send these things, I want to use MakeNL to do
what it needs to do, and skip the whole netmail part and toss it into an outbox
just as you say, that is afterall the cleanest way, instead of having SBBSEcho
pack it up and send it.
ML> the output of running makenl with the above control file looks like
ML> this...
ML> x:\makenlng\test> ..\makenlp net789.ctl
ML> MakeNL 3.4.1 (OS/2 32-bit) compiled with Watcom C on Oct 19 2013 10:57:21
ML> MakeNL started
ML> No directory for master files specified -- using X:\makenlng\test
ML> No directory for output files specified -- using X:\makenlng\test
ML> Cmdline: X:\makenlng\makenlp.exe "net789.ctl"
ML> Using 'net789.ctl' in 'X:\makenlng\test'
ML> Begin processing 'net789.seg' -- 15:55, Saturday, September 5, 2015
ML> Sending 'X:\makenlng\test\net789.seg' to 456/20
ML> CRC = 06075
ML> MakeNL finished (rc=0)
ML> since we did not specify the "-TEST" parameter, makenl went ahead and
ML> created the net789.seg file and attached it to a MSG netmail for sending
ML> to the specified 456/20 address of the RC... note that the parameters must
ML> start with a '-' (dash) and not a '/' (slash)... i suggest making it
ML> practice to always specify "-TEST" and "-PROCESS" when working with
ML> makenl... especially "-TEST" so that you can make sure there are no errors
ML> in the submission... once makenl has processed (vs tested) the file, it
ML> will keep up with it and will not send it again unless the seg file has
ML> actually been changed by an edit to the DATA section of the control
ML> file...
ML> there are other features and capabilities of makenl that can be quite
ML> handy as one advances in its use but i would guess that maybe 90% of the
ML> folks using makenl do it all manually like this... it does at least give a
ML> check to ensure that the data is not broken ;)
ML> if you want to delve in further, i'm available via netmail...
This is awesome, perfect, and what I was looking for. At least a better basic
understanding. The documentation that comes with it... Isn't very useful, but
explaination of how it's working, like you have provided, was more helpful.
With the few questions I have left to ask, as such above, and I should be ready
to go.
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