19 Sep 15 13:40, you wrote to me:   
      
    ER>>> Here's the situation. One of my downlinks wants to setup their IRex   
    ER>>> and FastEcho on thheir system to receive mail, one from me, one from   
    ER>>> another link.   
      
    ML>> should be a pretty standard setup...   
      
    ER>>> They run multiple BBS systems at the same time using some telnet2bbs   
    ER>>> link tool of some kind, I'm not entirely sure about that, but their   
    ER>>> BBS's support includes JAM message bases so..   
      
    ML>> ok... hummm... are they sharing the same JAM bases between those   
    ML>> BBSes?? do they all use the same FTN address? if not then they will   
    ML>> need a FE setup for each BBS instance... even if they are all on the   
    ML>> same machine... that means either copying packets destined for the   
    ML>> others to their inbounds or using some mailer to send to them as   
    ML>> normal... i have 4 or 5 systems here all using their own mailers for   
    ML>> this but they all also have their own FTN addresses as required...   
      
    ER> No sharing or JAM message bases, all completely independant of each   
    ER> other.   
      
   so effectively completely separate installations...   
      
    ER> Ideally, not sharing the same FTN address, but if that is possible,   
    ER> then it could be viable, though I'd think a point node would be better   
    ER> personally. Have one BinkD server act as the primary node for the   
    ER> whole list of internal BBS's, and then serve out to each point from   
    ER> there acting as the gateway. That reduces my redundant load, and puts   
    ER> them in proper control as a point-node should be, since he only runs a   
    ER> mailer on one system and one mailer, IRex, and all on Windows, which I   
    ER> haven't touched much for years. :)   
      
   you could do that but some folks tend to frown on points being bbses with   
   multiple users... ignorance at its best since nothing prevents it other than   
   opinion...   
      
    ER> So, here's the question of all questions then. How do you determine   
    ER> which PKT is for which address, or can you easily? If that's   
    ER> reasonably plausible then, hmmm.. I know sort of the concept, but I've   
    ER> never done this setup myself, always had many different systems to   
    ER> work with, or these days, multiple systems and multiple virtual   
    ER> machines. :)   
      
   if you're talking about my manually of packets, it depends on the mailer   
   format... for example, with fastecho and frontdoor, fastecho calculates a   
   bundle name used for each remote system... i forget the formula, though... on   
   my main system, i have a script that uses the 4DOS "describe" command to place   
   the destination system's address and system operator name in the file's   
   description as would be seen on a bbs... but with raw pkts, this cannot be   
   done so easily... pkts contain the destination address in their header so   
   something would have to peek into the header to see which system it is   
   destined to... in a BSO environment, there's the XXXXYYYY.pkt format which   
   might be used but if one's tosser uses different pkt names all the time, then   
   one might analyze the ?lo files to see what pkts are included in the   
   XXXXYYYY.?lo file... XXXX being the hex net with leading zeros and YYYY being   
   the hex node with leading zeros...   
      
   but with all of this, it is much easier to simply use different mailers for   
   each individual system and let the sending mailer deal with which system mail   
   is destined for... they're built for this task ;)  so, like i have here, this   
   particular system has three separate instllations on it... there are three   
   separate mailers each running on their own port... i have another system here   
   that has another three separate systems running on it... they also have their   
   own individual ports and they're different than the ones on this system and   
   certainly different that the ports used on my main system... yeah, seven   
   complete and separate systems behind one IP... four bbses and three points...   
      
   for example only:   
   main system: all services on standard ports   
   system 1: telnet on 40023, binkd on 24555   
   system 2: telnet on 41023, binkd on 24556   
   system 3: telnet on 42023, binkd on 24557   
   system 4: telnet on 43023, binkd on 24558   
   system 5: telnet on 44023, binkd on 24559   
   system 6: telnet on 45023, binkd on 24560   
   system 7: telnet on 46023, binkd on 24561   
      
   with the above, say that system 1 is running SBBS with all services... all   
   would be using non-standard ports in the 40xxx range... web on 40080, ftp on   
   40020 and 40021, ssh on 40022, rlogin on 40513.   
      
   if system 2 is also running SBBS, then all of their services would be on   
   non-standard ports in the 41xxx range just like system 1's...   
      
   the ugly part is getting the domain stuff right and being able to pass to the   
   proper ports as well as ensuring that the firewall is port forwarding properly   
   AND that any connection tracking helpers the firewall may use are also   
   configured to recognise the additional ports (eg: iptables and tracking ftp   
   connections for established connections)...   
      
   once everything is set up, then you can easily send to their different systems   
   as easily as they can have their main system be a hub for their internal   
   systems... whether they are flying full node addresses or point addresses...   
      
    ER>>> Can anyone help me come up with a reasonably logical idea of how to   
    ER>>> set up this link to receive mail from me and internally relay it to   
    ER>>> several point point nodes for their multiple BBS systems they have   
    ER>>> running?   
      
    ML>> other than the above ""hints"" for multiple BBSes behind one IP, the   
    ML>> setup should be no different than any other distribution hub system...   
    ML>> the specific points being that each system has its own FTN address   
    ML>> (full node or points) and that there is a proper entry in the nodelist   
    ML>> pointing to each domain and/or IP address...   
      
    ER> Hmmm. Definitely a bit more difficult than I imagined. I keep wanting to   
    ER> utilize his linux system, but he's not so keen on that. But, with it, I   
    ER> could make it handle most everything fairly well, up until it has to still   
    ER> handle mail tossing to the various Windows system's BBS systems, then that   
    ER> situation comes right back to a system with multiple point nodes and BBSs   
    ER> to toss to. heh.   
      
   yep and the same thing even if the linux box was also used... one might run   
   virtual machines for each separate system but the same port assignment problem   
   is in place and running virtual machines means a virtual network and all that   
   additional setup mishmash rigamarole... yeah, i've got that here... one system   
   with a node and two points is running windows (vista) with no VMs and this   
   system is linux with numerous VMs and two of the separate systems here are   
   bbses in their own VMs complete with their own firewalls also running in VMs...   
      
    ER> Is it unreasonable to assign multiple nodelist entries to someone   
    ER> running multiple BBS's even if they're behind a single IP/mailer, and   
    ER> just have my side route all their IP's to their respective mailers?   
    ER> Coming from an NC perspective on that question. hehe   
      
   no, it is not unreasonable to assign multiple node numbers to one IP fronting   
   multiple systems... but don't think of one IP fronting one mailer unless that   
   mailer is going to be hubbing the mail for all the other systems... then   
   you've got to look at netmail routing, too, whereas with individual node   
   numbers, the routing is a cinch and there's not a lot to be done because it is   
   no different than any other routing...   
      
   is that all confusing enough for ya? ;)   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   ... That wasn't a bit nice.   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)