Node accounts

Color 64 Network - Node Accounts

When a node calls in to your BBS, it will send an ID number and a password, just like the normal BBS login. If the password doesn’t match the assigned password, no access will be provided.

New Node Requests

If the remote system is calling in as a new node, your network will send a newly assigned ID number to the remote system and the remote system will send you their desired password. After the call is made, the remote system will store the ID which was issued to it by your network in their √NTWRK.PARMS file and on your end, you will store the remote system's password in your account file. At this point, everything is assigned, but the remote system will be in a locked / UNVALIDATED status for your BBS with a level access of zero (0). Any future calls from the remote system to your BBS will not be granted access until you validate their system to grant access. To do this, you will need to go into your Network Maintenance menu and perform the following:

1) Using Menu Option 5 (Node Status Report), Unlock the new Node by selecting it and pressing “U”

2) Using Menu Option 6 (Node Account File Edit), select the appropriate record for the remote system and give it a Level of 1, then save changes.

a. The system will now show the Node as Validated, but unreplyable. This means that the remote system can now send your BBS messages and files (but your system can’t send anything back).

3) To make the Node “Replyable” (where your BBS can send messages to them), you must first have the remote BBS in your √NTWRK.PARMS file (entered at +NET SETUP). If it is not, enter it using +NET SETUP and give it a Node ID of 1 so it will request access on the remote system (the remote SYSOP will have to validate you).

a. Select the appropriate record again in the Network Maintenance Menu, but now give a level # equal to the Node’s record number.

The system will show “Link set with <node name>” (<- make sure this matches!) and will show as replyable.

See “Node Access Levels” Section further below for more information.

Editing Node Accounts

Currently there is only one way to edit an account, from the Network Maintenance menu. All accounts are stored in a relative file called “√node accounts”. In the “√node accounts” file, there is room for four separate fields.

Field #1 is the NODE NAME. The name is limited to 25 characters. Incidentally, this name is for your own use only. Nobody else will ever see it but you (or a co-sysop who has access to the maintenance section).
Field #2 is the password. This is limited to 9 characters.
Field #3 is the level field. The only valid numbers allowed here are “0” to “101”. More on the levels in a second.
Field #4 is the last date the node called in. This field's only purpose is for you to see how often nodes are calling, so you could perhaps decide when it might be time to delete them. I guess you could call this a manual purge.

You can delete a node by typing "delete" at the NAME input.

Node Access Levels

The reason we're saving the access level for last, is because admittedly, it’s somewhat confusing. It's not complicated, just confusing. There are three different modes of access levels. Mode one would be unvalidated. This is indicated by having a 0 (zero) in the level field. With a 0, an incoming node would be denied access. When a node calls in as new, their level will automatically be set to zero. Mode two would be a simple unreplyable, validated node. Here is the key. You may have a node set up to call you, but for some reason, you may not want to be calling them. Or, to put it another way, if you don't want any incoming messages from this node to be replyable, give this incoming node an access level of 1. Got that so far? Level 0 is totally unvalidated, level 1 is validated, but replies are not allowed to anything they send to you or your users.

Now, remember that discussion we had about NODE NUMBERS? If not, go back to paragraph in the "Net Setup" section and re-read it, because it’s important. Let's say you have 3 nodes, ok? When you go to post a message to a node, and you hit “?” for a listing of the available nodes, let’s say you get a list that looks like this:

1: THE ABC BBS

Brooklyn/NY

2: THE DEF BBS

Chicago/IL

3: THE GHI BBS

Los Angeles/CA

Now according to this list, "THE DEF BBS" is node number 2. Got it? It doesn't matter where in your node accounts file this BBS is located, and we're not talking about NODE ID's. We're talking about the NODE NUMBER.

Ok, back to levels. Let's say you're in the node editor and the node account number 1 was "THE GHI BBS", because it may have been the first one that applied to your system. You want to be able to reply to any messages this BBS sends to you. Here's the important part: At the access level, you would enter 3 PLUS 1 (4) as the access level.

TO MAKE ANY NODE REPLYABLE, GIVE THEM AN ACCESS LEVEL OF 1 PLUS THE NODE NUMBER AS IT APPEARS ON YOUR NODE LISTING. IF YOU WANT NODE NUMBER 24 TO BE REPLYABLE, YOU WOULD ENTER 25 AS THE ACCESS LEVEL IN THE NODE ACCOUNT; IF YOU DID NOT WANT TO BE ABLE TO REPLY TO A NODE ACCOUNT, YOU WOULD ENTER A 1.

I realize this is a little awkward, but I did not want to add an extra field just for this purpose. If you inadvertently entered an incorrect access level, the reply would go to the wrong node.

Network 1.26 has added some abilities to help you along here. Entering ‘?’ at the access level prompt will show you a list of outgoing nodes. Enter the node number from the list and it will link the incoming node to it and make it replyable. After entering the level, the BBS will tell you what outgoing node it is linked to.

Next Section: Options & Features

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