• SetForward

Set Forward Action

• Contents

  1. Set Forward Action
     1. File Specifications
        1. forward.bbs file
        2. alias file
        3. rewrite file
     2. Static Setup
     3. Initiating Action

This section deals with the intricacies of file content generated in the configuration step. See also FwdScanProc for mail forwarding procedural description which might aid in set-up of file content. You should read and understand this documentation thoroughly before attempting to forward mail through your NOS box to the AX.25 BBS world, otherwise you might grossly misconfigure your system and be the unhappy recipient of flames from BBS sysops. This section does NOT deal with the minutiae of the mailbox and its various commands; it assumes that you understand concepts such as user areas (both public and private) and how to list and send mail. If you need help with these, please look elsewhere in the NOS docs.

File Specifications

Apart from the usual domain.txt and other files necessary for ordinary functionality of NOS, three files are important in the mail forwarding process. These are:

1. spool/forward.bbs
2. alias
3. spool/rewrite

The contents of these will now be addressed individually. Refer to the detail file specification page for more complete detail description.

forward.bbs file

The detail of the the actions taken by NOS in forwarding to remote partners are defined in the file ForwardBbsFile. Here is sample extracted from a typical file to forward two areas, ve4wws and mb:

• ve4wws 0007 P
  ax25 430 ve4wws
  ve4wws
  mb

Refer to ForwardBbsFile page to view the specifications for this file. This file even permits transfer of material from an area of one name on the local system to another name on the remote syste.

alias file

The AliasFile is used to map LOCAL names to other names, which may be either local or remote; additionally, from a single input message, the alias file permits one to produce multiple output messages. A few lines in the /alias file might look something like:

• bdale   bdale@n3eua
  local   fred@k0yum bdale@n3eua bill@ai0c.ampr.org n5op@n5op jim@k0jtz n0esg@n0esg
  g4bki   g4bki@gb7bil.ampr.org

rewrite file

The RewriteFile is used to perform a one-to-one mapping between destination addresses as received by NOS and destination addresses as actually used by NOS. Each record within the rewrite file comprises a single line, containing either two or three entries separated by spaces. By way of example, suppose that there is a line in the rewrite file which looks like:

• *@* $1%$2@g1emm.ampr.org

Static Setup

Prior to forwarding, some things must be preset. mbox timer must be set (probably in autoexec.nos file) to "0" for manual forwarding, or "n"seconds to automate the process 9see below). The server must be started with start forward command.

Initiating Action

The act of forwarding is initiated by:

1. mbox kick sta command by the sysop for a manual start to one target station

2. mbox timer x command to automatically forward all staged mail per the clock every "x" seconds.

3. at ... command (probably in autoexec.nos file) to schedule forwarding specific stations at specific times

Once initiated, the process follows the configuration rules to completion.

NOTE: Automatic initiation on HF bands for example may be a bad choice because effects of interference and propagation are not fully programmable.