                                               Author: Jeff Trim
                                                       jtrim@orion.cair.du.edu
                                                 Date: 6 Jun 1989

*** UNFINISHED - IreNetwork Instructions **


                        Irc Networking Protocol

We are very serious when it comes to networking our servers.  Irc Server
connections must be done with intelligence and agreed upon by the network
coordinator.  The Network coordinator has the right to remove you from
the network ENTIRELY if he feels you are not coorperating with the Network.
Please DO NOT just connect your server ANYWHERE - we have a specific place
we want you to be.  If you are in DENVER we don't want you connecting your
server to FINLAND when you *could* be connecting it in Kansas.  It does
not make legistical sense for you to do that.

Here's how you can help us:

1) see if your system has the following programs: "traceroute", "/etc/ping",
   or "nslookup".  The programs will GREATLY help you when you start setting
   up your IRC network to other sites.  (I will go into how to USE these 
   programs later)

2) We have set up the current network keeping in mind the various Network
   gateways.  The current USA Gateway map looks like this:
   (map by vijay@lll-winken.llnl.gov)


                    FINLAND            SURANET
                      \       \ /       /
        JVNCNET-BU----MIT     NWU     ODU
                        \      |      /
                         \     |     /
                          \    |    /
                           \   |   /
                            \  |  /
                             \ | / 
                              \|/
      BARRNET--AMES-----------OSU---RPI-NYSERNET
             ORST/                   \-CANADA


   These are highspeed gateways - and this is what makes IRC fast.  All
   roads currently lead to Ohio-State University, but at some future time
   this may change depending upon how the network grows.

   We need you to CONFORM to this pattern - and find out where you are in
   this MAP.  If you get your FASTEST connection by being on the OSU gaetway
   then that is where you should be.

3) HOW DO I GET CONNECTED??

   The official Irc-Network coordinators are: "vijay@lll-winken.llnl.gov"
   and "karl@cheops.cis.ohio-state.edu" for the USA.  FINISH and EUROPEAN
   sites should contact "jto@tolsun.oulu.fi" and he can direct you to your
   best connection.

   Everyone that has mailed me and goes "where should i connect?" I generally
   say what is your PING statistic to <some host>?".  You will greatly help
   us in the early stage by sending us your PING times to these hosts when
   you first send us mail:

   -------------------------------------------------------------------------
   IN THE USA:

           NAMED Addr.                  Numeric Addr.         Geographic loc.
           ----- -----                  ------- -----         ---------- ----
       "cheops.cis.ohio-state.edu"      (128.146.8.62)        Ohio
       "accuvax.nwu.edu"                (129.105.49.1)        Illinois
       "hal.oce.orst.edu"               (128.193.64.132)      Oregon
       "anableps.berkeley.edu"          (128.32.152.176)      California
       "osiris.gatech.edu"              (128.61.1.33)         Georgia
       "bu-cs.bu.edu"                   (128.197.2.1)         Massachusetts
       "orion.cair.du.edu"              (130.253.1.15)        Colorado
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------
   OUTSIDE USA:

     Finland:

       "tolsun.oulu.fi"                 (128.214.5.6)         Finland
       "naakka.tut.fi"                  (128.214.1.4)         Finland/Sweden
  
    Canada:

       "neat.ai.toronto.edu"            (128.100.1.65)        Canada

   This list will GROW I hope ;-).
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  4) HOW CAN I CONNECT TO ANOTHER HOST?

     Unless you have an entry in somone elses "irc.conf" file - your IRCD
     will not have permission to connect to another host.   For example 
     if you set your server up and then tried connecting to "accuvax.nwu.edu"
     and your site was *not* listed in "accuvax.nwu.edu"'s irc.conf file,
     you would be REFUSED CONNECTION!  .. And this is how it should be as
     you would be trying to illegally connect to a site that you are not
     authorized to connect at.

     So after mailing us the PING information, we would tell you who your
     best connections would be too and then give you the E-Mail address 
     and HOSTNAME of the IRC adminestrators you would need to talk to.
     They will then need the following information from you:

     
 


  5) HOW CAN I PING OTHER HOSTS?  (using the /etc/ping command)

     The way you PING (IE find the fastest repsonse time) from *YOUR* host
     to another host is to use the "/etc/ping" command (commonly found on
     most BSD Unix systems).  What "ping" does is send a set of packits to
     the host you have specified and return the SPEED at which these packits
     are reaching that host.  In this way you can find out WHICH host is 
     the FASTEST host for you and also which host has the LEAST ERROR's!!!
     If you encounter ERROR's in packits that means much LOWER reliability
     in the connection that that host.

     Here is a SAMPLE senario.  *I* want to know what the PING statistic
     between DU and ACCUVAX (accuvax.nwu.edu).  So I type (at the % prompt)
     (when I am on orion.cair.du.edu):

          % /etc/ping accuvax.nwu.edu

     and here's what happens:
     ==================================================================

       PING accuvax.nwu.edu: 64 data bytes
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=0. time=291. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=1. time=256. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=2. time=290. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=3. time=259. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=4. time=378. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=5. time=256. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=6. time=305. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=7. time=270. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=8. time=287. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=9. time=254. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=10. time=289. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=11. time=275. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=12. time=271. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=13. time=297. ms
       72 bytes from 129.105.49.1: icmp_seq=14. time=303. ms

       ----accuvax.nwu.edu PING Statistics----
      15 packets transmitted, 15 packets received, 0% packet loss
      round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 254/285/378
    ====================================================================
     
      The way you read this is by looking at each line of the OUTPUT
      carefully.  For starters not that each PACKIT send to the target
      was 64 Bytes long, when it was returned from the TARGET host it's
      length increased to 72 Bytes long (that is *normal*).  Now notice
      the numbers after "icmp_seq" - they start with "1" and go to "14".
      Those are the packits themselves being sent 1 at a time.  Finnally
      "time =" refers to the RESPONSE time that it took for this packit
      to be sent to the TARGET HOST and acck again.  Time in this case is
      represented in MILLIONS OF SECONDS (miliseconds).

      The FINAL output tells you how the how session went.  According to
      what we read above:

                ----accuvax.nwu.edu PING Statistics----
         15 packets transmitted, 15 packets received, 0% packet loss

      reads: 15 packets were sent from YOUR HOST to the TARGET HOST. 
      Since 15 packets were SENT and 15 packets were RECIEVED that means
      that NO PACKITS WERE LOST!!  That accounts for "0% loss".  If 
      any of these 15 packets had been LOST or DAMAGED along the way (for
      various reasons to complicated to go into here) then you would have
      an ERROR rating a little higher.
 
         round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 254/285/378
  
      Reads: ROUND-TRIP TIME of these packets represents the time it takes
      for a packet to travel FROM your host TO the TARGET HOST and back 
      TO your host again.   It is ROUNDTRIP time, NOT one way time.


  5) WHAT IS A GOOD PING STAT?  (How can you tell who your best hosts are)

     Generally we consider the BEST TIMES without PACKET LOSS to be good
     IRC sites for you.  When you loose a packet, that packet must be
     resent and that generally means more Intenet Load Time on your
     machine than neccessary.  

      (assuming 0% packet loss)

           The EXCELLENT ping times are generally 40-60ms
           The VERY GOOD ping times are generally < 100ms
           The GOOD ping times are generally 100-200ms
           The AVERAGE ping times are generally 200-350ms
     
           Not as good ping times are generally 350-600ms
           BAD ping times are 600ms+

     DO NOT CONNECT TO MACHINES THAT YOU GET A BAD PING STAT FROM.  There
     are various reasons for this, the number 1 reason is that IEFT
     (Internet Engineering Task Force) monitors ALL of the International
     Internet usage and if IRC ever uses more that it's share of 
     International Net-Load IRC WILL BE REMOVED!!! ;-(  We don't want that
     to happen, but do not kid yourself into believing that the IEFT
     wouldn't do this.   Please keep your connections intelligent.


  5) USING TRACEROUTE TO SEE HOW FAR AWAY A HOST IS:

     'traceroute' does exactly what it says it does - traces the route of
     packets from your host to another.  This is real handy when you want
     to see how far away and how fast a ping is to another host.
 

