/************************************************************************ * IRC - Internet Relay Chat, doc/NETWORKING * Copyright (C) 1990, Helen Rose * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by * the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) * any later version. * * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the * GNU General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software * Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. */ Author: Helen Rose hrose@cs.bu.edu Date: 10 Oct 1990 *** Please read this before doing any connecting or writing to ask for connections. The information contained in this section is crucial to the way IRC is run. In August of 1990, IRC suffered a critical split in viewpoints of key people in the IRC heirarchy. The result was IRC split into two networks, EFnet (Eris Free network) and Anet (Anarchy network). This split continues today. There is some debate over whether IRC will ever reunite, however, neither side is willing to bend from their standpoint. Below is a paragraph from each side, listing their viewpoints on why their respective net is "better" than the other. Please read these, and decide for yourself which is the better network. Currently, there are about 95 servers on EFnet (and the same number of users) and 15 servers on Anet (and about half the number of users). Anet ==== joshua@coombs.anu.edu.au (DCLXVI == Josh Geller) Arguments in favor of joining Anet include stabler links, ease of connecting (just connect your server to eris.berkeley.edu; if you decide later you wish to be on EFnet you merely have to add whatever patches are required and get a link from the appropriate EFnet server), no likelihood of regulation of numbers of servers (there has been some talk of limiting the number of servers on EFnet). EFnet *===* ckd@cs.bu.edu, hrose@cs.bu.edu (ckd = Christopher Davis, Trillian = Helen Rose) Arguments in favor of joining EFnet are virtually limitless. From a redundant backbone plan (which assures everyone of getting a close, fast link and tries to keep traffic off of long haul networks) to the fact that the obvious security hole that exists with open-server servers does not exist. (Anyone running an open server allows any user with telnet access to crash the server's machine without too much work.) ---real networking document--- Throughout this document every effort will be made to apply to *BOTH* ANet and EFnet. If this is not possible, EFnet will be referred to, considering it is the side where the majority is located. Anet has one network coordinator:richardt@legato.com. Mail to him for all correspondence. At this time, no backbone layouts have been published for Anet. EFnet is coordinated in several areas: ckd@cs.bu.edu and hrose@cs.bu.edu coordinate the US routing. They also coordinate all incoming connections to the US. If you are in the United States and need a link, please mail to "operlist-request@cs.bu.edu" supplying the information listed below. savela@tel.vtt.fi, irc@tolsun.oulu.fi, and d88-skl@nada.kth.se coordinate the NORDUnet connections. (msa, WiZ, and meLazy on irc, respectively) muts@fysak.fys.ruu.nl coordinates Dutch servers. stumpf@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.de and Gruner@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.de coordinate German servers. (Maex and Armin/Gonzo) phil@cnam.cnam.fr coordinates the one French IRC server, and any others that might want be started. avalon@coombs.anu.oz.au coordinates the Australian servers. bowles@is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp coordinates the Japanese servers. ==how to get an IRC connection== (1) If you are in the United States and on Anet, mail to richardt@legato.com. (2) If you are in the United States and on EFnet: a) find out if your system has /etc/ping (sometimes /usr/etc/ping) and ping the following hosts- server/machine name IP Address Geographical Location bucsd.bu.edu 128.197.10.2 Boston, MA irc.mit.edu 18.70.0.224 Cambridge, MA poe.acc.virginia.edu 128.143.20.20 Charlottesville, VA sindri.cs.cornell.edu 128.84.254.96 Ithaca, NY polaris.ctr.columbia.edu 128.59.64.79 New York City, NY fairhope.andrew.cmu.edu 128.2.11.213 Pittsburgh, PA *.umich.edu 141.212.66.36 Ann Arbor, MI h.ece.uiuc.edu 128.174.115.18 Urbana-Champaign, IL minnie.cc.utexas.edu 128.83.135.13 Austin, TX ucsu.colorado.edu 128.138.129.83 Boulder, CO badger.ugcs.caltech.edu 131.215.128.29 Pasadena, CA *.spies.com 130.143.3.3 Cupertino, CA *.washington.edu 128.95.152.35 Seattle, WA (yes, this seems like alot, but the backbone structure is quite complex and redundant so when we have a network break, servers can pick up other servers within moments) b) a simple ping hostname (or ping IP address) will suffice. Ping the five geographically closest machines. Let the ping run for 100 packets. This allows the network coordinators to best evaluate your position on the network and to give you a connection that is fastest. Note: when using the SunOS version of ping, use ping -s machinename; "regular" SunOS ping is useless. c) mail these results to operlist-request@cs.bu.edu requesting a link. (3) If you are in Europe and are requesting a link, mail to the appropriate contact listed above, and they will instruct you on how to secure a link for your server. These are the results of the typical /etc/ping command: (note that since bucsd.bu.edu runs SunOS, I used ping -s...) bucsd% /usr/etc/ping -s betwixt.cs.caltech.edu PING betwixt.cs.caltech.edu: 56 data bytes 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=0. time=169. ms 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=1. time=190. ms 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=2. time=200. ms 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=3. time=170. ms [...] 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=18. time=180. ms 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=19. time=220. ms 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=20. time=170. ms 64 bytes from betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.4): icmp_seq=21. time=200. ms ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ Size of packet hostname IP address packet number trip time ----betwixt.cs.caltech.edu PING Statistics---- 22 packets transmitted, 22 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 160/179/220 When you send pings to operlist-request, please only send the results (the above three lines)--we *don't* need each packet's time. Guidelines: Avg Time Connection is ======== ============= 20-50 ms Optimal 50-80 ms Excellent 80-120 ms Very Good 120-180 ms Average 180-240 ms Acceptable 240-300 ms Below Average 300-400 ms Bad 400+ ms Find a better link, if possible ** *** WHERE TO FIND HELP!!! *** ** ** If you have any other questions about connecting to an irc server, please ** mail to operlist-request@cs.bu.edu. If you have problems mailing there, ** try mailing hrose@cs.bu.edu or ckd@cs.bu.edu. ** ** *** WHERE TO FIND HELP!!! *** If you are in need of further help, you may find it by using your IRC client, entering IRC, and sending a /wallops. Be sure to read the help information on /wallops before doing so. Please use /wallops for IRC questions or help only, and not for questions like "have you seen nicky I need to talk to him". /wallops with care, or you will be annoying every operator on IRC. Appendix ======== Open client servers Until such a time that your server becomes connected, you should use your irc client and connect to open client servers. Some of these servers are- irc.mit.edu bucsd.bu.edu fairhope.andrew.cmu.edu hermes.tcad.ee.ufl.edu mingin.engin.umich.edu minnie.cc.utexas.edu badger.ugcs.caltech.edu ucsu.colorado.edu dharma.cpac.washington.edu fysak.fys.ruu.nl nic.funet.fi coombs.anu.edu.au Start up your irc client, and then type /help for help. Happy IRC'ing!