NAME
node - Node front end for AX.25, NET/ROM, Rose and TCP
SYNOPSIS
node [-c]
DESCRIPTION
Node is a simple node front end, modelled after the node shells of
TheNet and G8BPQ nodes.
OPTIONS
-c Enable compression. With this option it is assumed that
the incoming call is using Zlib based compression
(modified Lempel-Ziv 1977). Currently no negotiation is
done so the caller must be aware of this. You probably
want to set up a separate AX.25, NET/ROM or ROSE callsign
in ax25d.conf or a separate TCP port in inetd.conf to
listen to compressed connects.
At the moment I know only two implementations compatible
with this compression method, namely LinuxNode and
Clussed.
NODE COMMANDS
The following commands are supported for users of node:
? Give short list of available commands.
Bye Disconnect user from the node.
Connect <port> <call> [via <call1> ...] [d|s] For AX.25
Connect <call | alias> [d|s] For NET/ROM
Connect <call> <address> [<digi>] [d|s] For ROSE
Initiate an AX.25, NET/ROM or ROSE connection to a remote
host. If only one argument is supplied then the
connection is assumed to be a NET/ROM connection and the
argument specifies the callsign of alias of a NET/ROM
node. If more than one argument is supplied and the
second parameter is composed of numeric characters only
then the connection is assumed to be a ROSE connection.
Any other combination is assumed to be an AX.25
connection with the first argument being the AX25 port to
use for the connection.
For a ROSE connection the <address> part must be exactly
six or ten digits. If only six digits are supplied, the
DNIC (first four digits) default to the local DNIC. The
local DNIC is assumed to be that of the first configured
Rose port in /etc/ax25/rsports.
The user may optionally supply as the last argument a
single character which modifies the default behaviour on
disconnection of the connection. If a single ‘s’ is
entered as the last argument, then when the remote host
disconnects you will be returned to this node. If a
single ‘d’ is entered as the last argument, you will be
disconnected from this node too. The Default behaviour
(neither ‘s’ nor ‘d’ entered) is configured in the node
configuration file and depends on the sysop preference.
Escape [<escape string>]
Override the sysop configured default escape character
setting. If the Escape command is given without an
argument then the current escape character setting is
returned to the user. The escape string may be specified
using any of the well known codings:
<char> to enter the escape character in its binary form.
^C to enter the escape character as a control character
value.
NNN to set the escape character to a Decimal value.
0xNN to set the escape character to a HexaDecimal value.
0NNN to set the escape character to an Octal value.
off to disable the escape character.
Finger [<username>][@<hostname>]
Retrieve information about users of a system. If the user
name is omitted, shows the users currently logged on the
host. If the hostname is omitted, defaults to the local
host.
Help [<command>]
Give help for the specified command or this text if no
command is specified. Commands can not be abbreviated.
Use the "?" command to retrieve a list of available
commands.
HOst <hostname> | <ip address>
Give the Domain Name Service host name information about
<hostname> or <ip address>.
Info Display the version information and the contents of the
/etc/ax25/node.info file, which should describe any
aspects of your system that you would like to brag about.
Links [* | <call>]
Give a list of active AX.25 connections to and from the
local host. With an optional argument * list also AX.25
sockets in state listening. A callsign as argument gives
a list of all connections with <call> as source or
destination address.
Mheard <portname>
Give a list of heard AX.25 stations on the specified
port.
NLinks Give a list of active NET/ROM connections to and from the
local host.
Nodes [* | <node>]
Show the NET/ROM node table of the local host. The nodes
on this list can be reached using the Connect command
without knowing the actual network path used (assuming
the network is OK).
The optional argument ’*’ toggles verbose mode, showing
the Obsolescence counter, relative path quality and the
port and neighbour node used to reach each node. You can
also specify a node callsign to get the verbose
information for a single node. In that case a "which"
field that tells what route the kernel will use to reach
the node is also shown.
Ports Show the available AX.25 ports. Shown are the port name
and a short description for the port. The port name is
used when using the Connect command to connect to an user
or service not running NET/ROM (eg. not visible in the
Nodes list).
PIng <host> [<size>]
Check if a host can be reached trough the network by
sending an ICMP Echo Request packet to the host and
waiting for it to reply. If a reply is received the
round-trip-time (RTT) between the local and remote hosts
is shown.
If an optional length is specified the data portion of
the packet is filled with length number of bytes.
Routes Show the NET/ROM neighbour table of the local host (ie.
the nodes which the local node directly talks with).
These nodes are used to reach the other nodes on the node
table.
Status Give some more or less useful information about the
system.
Telnet <host> [<port>] [<string>] [d|s]
Initiate a telnet session to a remote host using TCP/IP.
By default, the telnet command connects to the TCP port
23 (allocated for telnet). You can specify another TCP
port or a TCP port name.
If an optional third argument <string> is given, that
string, followed by a CRLF is sent to the remote host
right after the connection is established. This is mainly
useful for command aliases.
If a single ‘s’ is entered as the last parameter, then
when the remote host disconnects you will be returned to
this node. If a single ‘d’ is entered as the last
parameter, you will be disconnected from this node too.
Default behaviour (neither ‘s’ nor ‘d’ entered) depends
on sysop configuration.
TAlk <user> <message>
Send a message to another user of the node. The user in
question must be in idle state (ie. not
connected/connecting anywhere or running a program).
If the user has an SSID other than zero, the SSID must be
specified. If multiple users are logged in with the same
callsign/SSID pair, those who are in idle state, get the
message.
Users Show a list of users currently connected to the local
node, where the users are coming from, and what are they
doing at the moment.
ZConnect Initiate a compressed AX.25, NET/ROM or ROSE connection.
The command arguments are the same as in Connect command.
Note that the other end must be expecting a compressed
connection (a LinuxNode started with the -c command line
option). No negotiation of compression is done.
ZTelnet Initiate a compressed telnet session. The command
arguments are the same as in Telnet command. Note that
the other end must be expecting a compressed connection
(a LinuxNode started with the -c command line option).
No negotiation of compression is done.
FILES
/etc/ax25/node.conf
LinuxNode configuration file.
/etc/ax25/node.perms
LinuxNode permissions file.
/etc/ax25/node.motd
LinuxNode message of the day file.
/etc/ax25/node.info
The response to the ’info’ command. This file should be edited to
reflect the local configuration.
/var/ax25/node/loggedin
Database of current users.
/var/ax25/mheard/mheard.dat
Information about AX.25 stations heard.
/usr/lib/ax25/node/help/*.hlp
The online help files.
SEE ALSO
node.conf(5), node.perms(5), axports(5), ax25d(8), mheardd(8).
AUTHOR
Tomi Manninen OH2BNS <tpmannin@cc.hut.fi>
Alan Cox GW4PTS <gw4pts@gw4pts.ampr.org>