Last update 17-Mar-2001

mbout - The Outbound Manager

Synopsis.

mbout [command] <params> <options>

 

Description.

mbout is the outbound manager for MBSE BBS. It can ask information from the nodelists, create and remove polls, request and send files and display the outbound status. Most of the tasks such as create and remove polls should be done from the crontab.

 

Environment.

In order to run mbout you must set the global variable $MBSE_ROOT. This variable must point to the root directory of the bbs structure. The main configuration file config.data must be present in the ~/etc directory.

 

Commands.

mbout att <node> <flavor> <file> will attach the specified file to the specified node. The node should be in the format f2802.n280.z2, flavor should be crash, immediate, normal or hold. Only the first letter of the flavor parameter is needed. If the node is not in the nodelist, the status is Down or Hold, then this command fails. To non-CM nodes you mus use the Immediate flavor if you want to send the file direct. The flavors Hold and Normal are still allowed. The file must be in the directory range from where file attaches are allowed.

mbout poll [node..node] creates poll requests in the outbound for one or more nodes. The node should be in the format f2802.n280.z2. The semafore scanout is created so that the mailer will start calling. The mailer will handle the poll request as if it should deliver immediate mail, so the node will be called as long as the poll request exists, even to nodes which are not CM. The error counter for the node to poll will be reset to zero, so a node that was previous marked undialable will be called again. If a call to a node is successfull, the poll file will be removed by mbcico. If a node is not in the nodelist or has the status Down or Hold, no poll will be created for that node.

mbout stop [node..node] removes poll requests that are leftover when polling nodes didn't succeed. There is no check if the node is in the nodelist or has the status Down or Hold, the poll is always removed.

mbout req <node> <file> [file..file] creates filerequests to a node. One or more filenames may be given including wildcards. It is not possible to do update or password protected uploads yet. If there is already a requestlist for that node, the new requests will be added. This command does not call a node, you need to create a poll request to make the actual call. This is also practical if you want some files from your uplink, just make the requests and the actual request is send when your normal scheduled poll to your uplink is processed.

mbout reset [node..node] resets the nodes "try" counter to zero. So if a node is undiable, the counter is 30 or more, then by resetting this counter that node will be called again. The outbound is rescanned after this command so that calling will start immediatly.

mbout stat shows the status of the mailer outbound. This status is also written to the logfile.

mbout node <node> will show the nodelist information for a certain node.

 

Options.

mbout [commands] -quiet will suppress screen output. This is usefull if you run mbout from the crontab or from background scripts.

 

Examples.

This is an example of crontab entries that writes the outbound status to the logfile and creates and stops polling of 2 nodes.

00 00 * * * export MBSE_ROOT=/opt/mbse; $MBSE_ROOT/bin/mbout stat -quiet
00 01 * * * export MBSE_ROOT=/opt/mbse; $MBSE_ROOT/bin/mbout poll f98.n100.z92 f0.n100.z92 -quiet
00 02 * * * export MBSE_ROOT=/opt/mbse; $MBSE_ROOT/bin/mbout stop f98.n100.z92 f0.n100.z92 -quiet

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