<title>The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.48</title>
<author>Ian Maude, G0VGS, (ianmaude@btinternet.com)</author>
-<date>Version 1.48 August 2001 revision 1.1</date>
+<date>Version 1.48 September 2001 revision 1.2</date>
<abstract>
A reference for SysOps of the DXSpider DXCluster program.
<P>
In fact DXSpider has had a simple system for some time which is called
-<it>isolation</it>. This is similar to what, in other systems such as
+<it>isolation</it>. This is similar to what in other systems such as
<bf>clx</bf>, is called <it>passive mode</it>. A more detailed explanation
of <it>isolation</it> is given further below. This system is still available
and, for simple networks, is probably all that you need.
<P>
-The new functionality introduced in version 1.48 is filtering the node
+The new functionality introduced in version 1.48 allows filtering the node
and user protocol frames on a "per interface" basis. We call this
<it>route filtering</it>. This is used <bf>instead of</bf>
<it>isolation</it>.
<p>
What this really means is that you can control more or less completely
-which PC protocol frames, to do with user and node management, pass to
-each of your partner nodes. You can also limit what comes into your
-node from your partners. You can even control the settings that your
-partner node has for the routing information that it sends to you
+which user and node management PC protocol frames pass to each of your
+partner nodes. You can also limit what comes into your node from your
+partners. It is even possible to control the settings that your partner
+node has for the routing information that it sends to you
(using the <it>rcmd</it> command).
<sect1>Route Filters
explained further on.
<p>
-The first thing that you must do is determine whether you need to do route filtering <bf>at all</bf>. If you are a "normal" node with two or three partners
-and you arranged in an "official" non-looping tree type network, then <bf>you do
-not need to do route filtering</bf> and you will feel a lot better for not
-getting involved. If you are successfully using <it>isolation</it> then you
-also probably don't need to use route filtering.
+The first thing that you must do is determine whether you need to use
+route filtering <bf>at all</bf>. If you are a "normal" node with two or
+three partners and you arranged in an "official" non-looping tree type
+network, then <bf>you do not need to do route filtering</bf> and you will
+feel a lot better for not getting involved. If you are successfully using
+<it>isolation</it> then you also probably don't need to use route filtering.
<p>
-You will only require this functionality if you are
-"well-connected". What that means is that you are connected to several
-different parts of (say) the EU cluster and, at the same time, also
-connected to two or three places in the US which, in turn are
-connected back to the EU. This is called a "loop" and if you are
-seriously looped then you need filtering.
+To put it simply, you should not mix Isolation and Route Filtering. It
+will work, of sorts, but you will not get the expected results. If you
+are using Isolation sucessfully at the moment, do not get involved in
+Route Filtering unless you have a good supply of aspirin! Once you have
+started down the road of Route Filtering, do not use Isolation either.
+Use one or the other, not both.
+
+<p>
+You will only require this functionality if you are "well-connected". What
+that means is that you are connected to several different parts of (say)
+the EU cluster and, at the same time, also connected to two or three places
+in the US which, in turn are connected back to the EU. This is called a
+"loop" and if you are seriously looped then you need filtering.
<P>
I should at this stage give a little bit of background on filters. All
</verb></tscreen>
Please be careful if you alter this setting, it will affect
-<bf><it>ALL</it></bf> your links!
+<bf><it>ALL</it></bf> your links! Remember, this is a <it>default</it>
+filter for node connections, not a <it>per link</it> default.
<p>
For the default routing filter then you have two real choices: either
is accepted.
<p>
-As I imagine it will take a little while to get one's head around all of this you
-can study the effect of any rules that you try by watching the debug output
-after having done:-
+As I imagine it will take a little while to get one's head around all of
+this you can study the effect of any rules that you try by watching the
+debug output after having done:-
<tscreen><verb>
set/debug filter
Here are some examples of route filters ...
<tscreen><verb>
-rej/route gb7djk call_dxcc 61,38 (everything except UK+EIRE nodes)
-rej/route all (equiv to [very] restricted mode)
+rej/route gb7djk call_dxcc 61,38 (send everything except UK+EIRE nodes)
+rej/route all (equiv to [very] restricted mode)
acc/route gb7djk call_dxcc 61,38 (send only UK+EIRE nodes)
acc/route gb7djk call gb7djk (equiv to SET/ISOLATE)
</verb></tscreen>
acc/route gb7baa input all
</verb></tscreen>
-or restricting it quite a lot, in fact making it very nearly like an <it>isolated</it> node, like this:-
+or restricting it quite a lot, in fact making it very nearly like an
+<it>isolated</it> node, like this:-
<tscreen><verb>
acc/route pi4ehv-8 call gb7djk
PC16s for my local users).
<p>
-It is possible to do <bf>much</bf> more complex rules, there are up to 10
-accept/reject pairs per callsign per filter. For more information see the
-next section.
+It is possible to write <bf>much</bf> more complex rules, there are up
+to 10 accept/reject pairs per callsign per filter. For more information
+see the next section.
<sect1>General filter rules
any information back to the isolated node. There are times when you
would like to forward only spots across a link (maybe during a contest
for example). To do this, isolate the node in the normal way and use
-an <em>acc/spot >call< all</em filter in the
-to override the isolate.
+an <em>acc/spot >call< all</em> filter to override the isolate.
<sect>Other filters
any further by regarding it as "bad" in some way.
<p>
-A DX Spot has a number of fields which can checked to see whether they
+A DX Spot has a number of fields which can be checked to see whether they
contain "bad" values, they are: the DX callsign itself, the Spotter and
the Originating Node.
at logon.
<p>
-The filename are the callsign of the connection that you want the script to
+The filename is the callsign of the connection that you want the script to
operate on, eg: <em>/spider/scripts/g1tlh</em>. The filenames are always in
lower case on those architectures where this makes a difference.
sources by using a few simple commands.
<P>
-THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!!! ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE A TEST
-INSTALLATION OR ARE WILLING TO HAVE YOUR CLUSTER CRASH ON YOU!!!
-THIS MUST BE CONSIDERED AT LEAST BETA TESTING AND MAYBE EVEN ALPHA!!
-YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
-
-<P>
-DID I MENTION..... ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE
-CONSEQUENCES!!!
+Please be aware that if you update your system using CVS, it is possible that
+you could be running code that is very beta and not fully tested. There is
+a possibility that it could be unstable.
<P>
I am of course assuming that you have a machine with both DXSpider and