BPQMailChat Nodes can be linked to form a Chat Network. The protocol contains some protection against loops,
but try to keep the topology reasonably simple. I suggest you don't link to more than two or three other nodes.
One would be enough, but wouldn't have any resilience. You must ensure that if you define a station in
your "Nodes to Link to" list, then that station must also define you, otherwise a load of Joined and Left
messages will be generated every time a user connects.
Be aware that links between nodes are not established until a user connects somewhere on the network,
and the links are shut down a few seconds after the last user leaves.
You only get SYSOP status if you use the MailChat console, or a program such as BPQTerminal on the same machine. If you connect remotely you will be treated as a normal user. Note that for this purpose TelnetServer connections are treated as a local connection, so if you use TelnetServer make sure the password on your SYSOP user is reasonably secure.
The Housekeeping process can run when users are connected. First it removes any killed messages, then it kills any that are older than the lifetimes specified in the Configuration. So messages remain on the system for a while after they expire, but can only be seen via the LK command, or the Manage Message dialog.
I've been looking into the problems of using BPQTelnetServer for forwarding from FBB.
I've found that FBB doesn't actually use telnet for forwarding, but a raw TCP session.
I've had to add code to support this to TelnetServer, and add some means of differentiating
between FBB connects and "normal" telnet connects. I've decided to add a separate port number
for use by FBB. You can set TelnetServer to handle only normal telnet, FBB or both.
See the extract from my config file below for details.
You also need to add a field to the FBB Forwarding file to connect to the BBS after logging in to TelnetServer. I have:
C C G8BPQ 127.0.0.1 8011
V GM8BPQ$WPaSsWoRd$WBBS$W
#
(BBS is the APPL command to connect to my MailChat)
LOGGING=1 DisconnectOnClose=1 TCPPORT=8010 # # FBBPORT is used for FBB forwarding. If you want to support both "real" telnet and FBB Forwarding # set FBBPORT and TCPPORT to different values. If you only want FBB, set them the same. If you # don't want FBB mode, either leave out the FBBPORT line, or set FBBPORT=0 FBBPORT=8011 LOGINPROMPT=user: PASSWORDPROMPT=password: LOCALECHO=NO MAXSESSIONS=10 CTEXT=Welcome to G8BPQ's Telnet Server\nEnter ? for list of commands\n\n