Network Policy

• http://chat.indymedia.org will be a box or two with a web-based chat interface of some kind. we will include cgi:irc. A java client is desirable, but not nessecary.
• all nodes in the network that are included in the dns for irc.indymedia.org must have a httpd that redirects requests for irc.indymedia.org to chat.indymedia.org because a lot of sites link to irc.indymedia.org.

TODO

• recompile all nodes to hybrid-7.0 release
• move server connections from 6667 to 7000
• rotate and expire logs
• break ircd.conf into global and local sections
• conf propagation setup for global changes
• server requirements document

Progress

Recent Worklog

• 2003/05/23 - (BillF) hybserv: match services operator accounts with che operator list, crontab heartbeat script, ircd uid permissions/ownership cleanup, resume generation of backups directory
• 2003/05/21 - (MicahA) che: recompiled ircd to use real time signals instead of poll(2) with linux 2.4 kernel
• 2003/04/13 - (JpL) che: Fixed DNS lookup issues (installed libadns1)
• 2003/04/12 - (JpL) Fixed missing logs on che, judi. kropotkin
• 2003/04/12 - (JpL) che: Compiled/configured hybrid7rc9, generated new stunnel cert
• 2003/04/11 - (MicahA) Added todo section at the bottom
• 2003/04/11 - (MicahA) Filled in ahimsa2 info
• 2003/04/11 - (MicahA) Modified shiva info
• 2003/04/11 - (JpL) Temporary topology adjustments (to star configuration, che at center)
• 2003/04/11 - (JpL) judi: Compiled/configured hybrid7rc9
• 2003/04/11 - (JpL) Further cleaning of ircd.conf.clean
• 2003/04/08 - (JpL) Generated notes on compiling/configuring new nodes under IrcdSetup
• 2003/04/08 - (JpL) Cleaned up new ircd.conf file
• 2003/04/07 - (JpL) kropotkin: Compiled/configured hybrid7rc9
• 2002/11 - (JpL) judi: Old Hybserv account data moved to Hybserv2
• 2002/11/26 - (JpL) judi: Began cleaning up ircd.conf to be used as global template, adding and removing to be consistent with current directives ; moved to hybrid7rc5; split out init scripts

che.indymedia.org

• Current cname for irc.indymedia.org
• Current center/hub of star topology
• hybrid7rc9 compiled and configured
• Hybserv2 node
• stunnel configured
• RSA configured
• RSA cryptlink established
• init scripts working and symlinked to rc2.d (ircd, hybserv, ircs)

ahimsa2.indymedia.org

• hybrid7rc9 compiled and configured
• Stunnel configured
• RSA configured
• RSA cryptlink established
• init scripts working and symlinked to rc2.d (ircd, ircs)

kropotkin.indymedia.org

• hub node, may become leaf node in future
• hybrid7rc9 compiled and configured
• Stunnel configured
• RSA configured
• RSA cryptlink established
• init scripts working and symlinked to rc2.d (ircd, ircs)

shiva.indymedia.org

• Waiting for humble from vancouver to contact ircd working group

judi.indymedia.org

• No longer linked to network
• hybrid7rc9 compiled and configured
• Stunnel configured
• RSA configured
• RSA cryptlink established
• init scripts working and symlinked to rc2.d (ircd, ircs)

Implementation

High Level Details

• Rotating DNS
  • As with other indymedia projects, we will use rotating DNS to do basic load balancing. When a user connects to irc.indymedia.org, the hostname will resolve to one of several A records. (kropotkin.indymedia.org, judi.indymedia.org, shiva.indymedia.org, or other future member nodes, for instance)
• Server RSA cryptlinks
  • Servers will be linked using the RSA cryptlink functionality built into the Hybrid7 servlink
• Client SSL
  • As previously on irc.indymedia.org (whether on judi or kropotkin), stunnel will allow users to connect via SSL and make use of a relatively SecureIRC connection.

Configuration

• IrcdSetup has complete step-by-step information on Compiling/Configuring/Upgrading
• Init Scripts
  • Two scripts will start or restart the daemon and stunnel, /etc/init.d/hybrid and /etc/init.d/ircs. Anyone with root privileges on the server can do this if need be. These scripts should be linked into the default runlevel of the server so as to start up should the server go down temporarily.
  • On che, /etc/init.d/hybserv will bring Hybrid Services up and down.

Troubleshooting

• General
  • Here is a relatively complete DisconnectLog from the past few weeks. Upgrading kropotkin to rc5 may resolve some of this, but will result in brief downtime.
• judi.indymedia.org
  • judi's router will drop idle tcp connections, so the ping time has been set to 30 seconds in order to keep the server link active during low-traffic periods

• irc.index.htm: proposed update to irc.indymedia.org