Subj : Nodelist Thoughts?
To   : Carol Shenkenberger
From : Jeff Smith
Date : Sat Oct 31 2020 12:38 pm

Hello Carol,

>> I have seen questions and differing thoughts on the use of certain
>> nodelist flags and their preferred or correct usage. A couple such
>> flags are INA and IBN and how each should be used to specify nodelist
>> connectivity data. In looking through the current nodelist I see those
>> two flags used in a couple different ways.
 
> The specs grew over time without a great deal of direction.  There was an old
> FAQ back when such was new (no longer on the FTSC site, all the FAQs were
> removed).
> In general there is a proper usage, but older patterns are still there.
>If you look up 1:275/0 you will see a sample of a site with dual BINK protocol
>connection points.  Sites that are setup to auto configure INA address will us
> shenks.synchro.net.  Sites setup to auto configure IBN site, will hit
> shenks.dyndns.org.  Both lead to here.
> Conversely, 1:275/95 uses a special port for IBN.

I lean toward using INA: to specify a FQDN/IP and IBN: to specify BinkP support.
There are some nodes that don't/can't support IBN but do support alternative protocols. In which case the appropriate flag is used. If a non-standard port is in use I use the syntax INA:FQDN/IP:<port>

Jeff

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
 * Origin: Fidonet: The Ouija Board - Anoka, MN - bbs.ouijabrd.net (1:282/1031)

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