The
1.
Outbound
filters are now configurable and can be applied to non-AR-Cluster nodes.
2.
Support for
passive connections allowing secondary redundant linkage.
3.
Up to 3 AGW
TCPIP connections are allowed
4.
Node filters
can be applied to a network.
The
The K7AR node is the
AR-Cluster node that connects into the OR/WA state area and that area only wants
spots originating from AZ,CA,ID,MT,NV,OR,UT,WA,AB,BC,WY. K7AR runs the Standard version and
connects into the AR-Cluster backbone and requests only spots from
AZ,CA,ID,MT,NV,OR,UT,WA,AB,BC,WY. The
coverage of his node matches the coverage of other nodes in his area. The Standard version of AR-Cluster works
fine.
The N7OD node is the
AR-Cluster node that connects into the
AR-Cluster Remote allows access
to an AR-Cluster node from remote areas using the Internet for connection. This capability helps bring in small pockets
of DXers and contesters who have previously been isolated
from the DX-Cluster network. The remote
location sets up a Radio/TNC and a computer that runs a small application
called AGW and the host AR-Cluster node or nodes connects into the remote location
using the Internet. The AGW Setup section
details the setup of both AGW and AR-Cluster to support a remote connection.
For example, if we wanted
to setup a AR-Cluster remote at the club station at
the University in
Also note multiple nodes
can access the same AGW instance. For
example, two or mode ARC nodes could connect to the node in
Another use of the remote
AGW TCPIP was when the W0ECM node in
The Standard version of
AR-Cluster support 1 connection to AGW using TCPIP and the
Q.
Do the AGW Remote Access Ports require STATIC IP
ADDRESSES at both ends of the Link?
A. The arc node may need a static IP for
other reasons but not for a remote AGW TCPIP connect.
Since ARC initiates the connect and it only needs the
IP of the machine the remote AGW instance is running on.
Q. Can Hostnames be used where Dynamic IP Addresses are assigned?
A. Yes
Passive connections allow
for the intentional looping of the network and exchange of all data except for
node and user connections. This feature
is available only on the
The passive connection
functionality adds a lot of redundancy to the network giving us more options as
to network layout and redundancy. In
general, nodes in each layer in the network will establish passive connections
to other nodes operating at their level and a full protocol connection to the
higher next level.
The connects-tab contains
a checkbox enabling the auto-connect for passive connections. Once a connection is made, the outbound
passive connect button turns green indicating a active
connection.
Inbound passive
connections are handled automatically.
The max number is currently 50 but that’s a constant in the code, which
can be increased if needed.
Passive connections are
conducted on a separate TCPIP port (3606) from the normal TCPIP
connections. During initialization, nodes
on each end of the passive connection exchange the traditional protocol
of: PC18, PC20 and PC22. In addition, they exchange upstream filters
with the AR18 protocol for DX, Announcements and Weather. The ping command will also work with passive
connections.
The internals of
DX-Cluster nodes track of each object by its unique callsign
so we can’t have duplicate objects with the same callsign
“key”. To get around this we added code
to mangle the callsign of outbound and inbound
passive connections. The passive
connection mangle character is a ">" for inbound
connections and a "<" for outbound connections. At the end of the mangled call we also add
the index of the Winsock control used for the connection. This allows multiple connections using the
same call. That is AB5K could set up all
nine passive connections to W9ZRX.
A special icon is used to
indicate passive connections in the treeview. In the connections-treeview
the mangled callsign might look like:
AB5K-4<1 = Outbound
passive connection winsock 1 is connected to AB5K-4
AB5K-4>1 = AB5K-4 is
doing a inbound connect to passive connection winsock
1
The connection treeview shows inbound and outbound passive connections
with their mangled callsign. Passive connections show up in the connection
treeview but do not get repeated across the
network. Passive connections also do
not show up in the SH/C or SH/Node commands.
A new SH/Passive command displays passive connections for the node as:
AB5K-2
|____AB5K-4>1
|____AB5K-4>2
|____AB5K-4>3
|____AB5K-4>4
|____AB5K-4>5
|____AB5K-4>6
|____AB5K-4>7
|____AB5K-4>8
|____AB5K-4>9
|____AB5K-4<1
|____AB5K-4<2
|____AB5K-4<3
|____AB5K-4<4
|____AB5K-4<5
|____AB5K-4<6
|____AB5K-4<7
|____AB5K-4<8
|____AB5K-4<9
The AR-Cluster dupe logic
is memory based and is very efficient on dumping out duplicate spots caused by
redundant passive connections with minimal CPU overhead.
Passive connection QuickStart for
1)
In the Cfg>IoDevices check the
Passive TCPIP box and restart the application.
2)
On the connect
tab, in the TCPIP frame, click on one of the nine Passive TCPIP LED’s.
3)
Configure the
Call and IP address for the passive connection and click the Active checkbox
and exit the dialog. You can use any of
the AR-Cluster enterprise level nodes including the node that you normally
connect to.
4)
On the Connect
tab check the Auto-Connect Passive check box.
5)
Within the
next two minutes, the passive auto-connect logic should fire and do a passive
connection to the node. If you want to
hurry up the passive connection, do a Sysop>Cycle>Auto-ConnectPassive.
6)
Establish
other passive connections as needed.
A new SHow/PAssive
command can be used to display passive connections. The SH/C and SH/Nodes commands do not display passive node
connections. Also passive connects do
not show up in node totals.
The