+<sect>Databases
+
+<P>
+Spider allows the creation of local or remote databases. It supports
+chained databases, allowing several different databases to be scanned
+with one simple command. Importing of databases is limited at present
+to the standard AK1A databases such as OBLAST and the DB0SDX QSL
+database but will expand with time.
+
+<sect1>Creating databases
+
+<P>
+Creating a database could not be more simple. All the commands are
+sent from the cluster prompt as the <em>sysop</em> user.
+
+To create a database you use the command <em>dbcreate</em>. It can
+be used in 3 different ways like so ..
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate <name>
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+To simply create a database locally, you just tell the command the
+name of the database. This does not create the actual database, it
+simply defines it to say that it exists.
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate <name> chain <name> [<name>...]
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This creates a chained database entry. The first database will be
+scanned, then the second, the third etc...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate <name> remote <name>
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This creates a remote entry. the first name field is the database
+name at the remote node, then the remote switch, then the actual
+node_call of the remote node, for example...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate buckmaster remote gb7dxc
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Remote databases cannot be chained, however, the last database in a
+chain can be a remote database.
+
+<sect1>Importing databases
+
+<P>
+The only databases that Spider can currently import are the standard
+AK1A databases such as OBLAST or the DB0SDX qsl and address database.
+This will be added to with time.
+
+To import such a database, first put the file somewhere useful like /tmp
+and then issue the following command ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbimport oblast /tmp/OBLAST.FUL
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This will update the existing local oblast database or create it if
+it does not exist.
+
+<sect1>Checking available databases
+
+<P>
+Once a database is created, you will want to check that it has been
+added. To do this use the <em>dbavail</em> command. This will
+output the available databases. For example ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbavail
+DB Name Location Chain
+qsl Local
+buck GB7ADX
+hftest GB7DXM
+G0VGS de GB7MBC 3-Feb-2001 1925Z >
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+<sect1>Looking up databases
+
+<P>
+To look for information in a defined database, simply use the <em>dbshow</em>
+command, for example ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbshow buckmaster G0YLM
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+will show the information for the callsign G0YLM from the buckmaster
+database if it exists. To make things more standard for the users
+you can add an entry in the Aliases file so that it looks like a standard
+<em>show</em> command like this ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+'^sh\w*/buc', 'dbshow buckmaster', 'dbshow',
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Now you can simply use show/buckmaster or an abreviation.
+
+<sect1>Removing databases
+
+<P>
+To delete an existing database you use the <em>dbremove</em> command.
+For example ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbremove oblast
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+would remove the oblast database and its associated datafile from the
+system. There are no warnings or recovery possible from this command.
+If you remove a database it ceases to exist and would have to be created
+from scratch if you still required it.
+