Running a message server¶
Through the web modules system, x/84 provides a clever ability of intra-bbs messaging through a json-formatted RESTful API.
This is an experimental feature recently added to v2.0, herein describes the process for beginning a message server, “hub”, and a polling and publishing message client, “leaf”. Both the hub and leaf nodes are x/84 systems: the hub, running a https server and the client polling for messages and publishing through the REST api of the hub.
Configuring a hub¶
Firstly, an SSL certificate and matching dnsname of the hub
is required. The following sections assume files, given the
domain 1984.ws, and were created by using sslmate:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5982 Jan 01 00:00 /etc/ssl/www.1984.ws.chained.crt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1879 Jan 01 00:00 /etc/ssl/www.1984.ws.crt
-rw------- 1 root root 1679 Jan 01 00:00 /etc/ssl/www.1984.ws.key
Then, the default.ini file is modified to be extended with the
following details:
[web]
enabled = yes
addr = 88.80.6.213
port = 8443
key = /etc/ssl/www.1984.ws.key
cert = /etc/ssl/www.1984.ws.crt
chain = /etc/ssl/www.1984.ws.chained.crt
modules = msgserve
[msg]
server_tags = defnet
The addr and port of section [web] keys define the TCP/IP address
and port binded by the web server, and modules defines a list of scripts
from folder x84/webmodules served – here, we define msgserve.
As our serving host has multiple external IP addresses, we choose only the IP
address matching our dnsname 1984.ws. The key, chain, and cert
are references to the SSL certificate files retrieved when running the sslmate
purchase utility.
Messaging on x/84 implements the concept of “tags” – the most common of them
are tags public and private – though any arbitrary tag may be applied.
The server_tags value of section [msg] defines a single “tag”, that, for
all messages with such tag, are served externally to the leaf nodes that poll
for new messages. Here, we chose defnet – to signify the “default x/84
messaging network”.
When restarting x/84, we may see the log info message:
INFO webserve.py:223 https listening on 88.80.6.213:8443/tcp
Configuring a leaf node¶
On the hub system as a user of the ‘sysop’ group, enter the ‘sysop’ menu from the main menu, and choose ‘a’dd new leaf node.
It’s output will be the recommended configuration for the leaf node’s
default.ini. You may need to adjust the base_url value to reflect
your external dnsname (the local bind address is used, by default):
[msgnet_defnet]
url_base = https://88.80.6.213:8443/
board_id = 1
token = 6MvmGtvMfDF9mkuCfyGxU2IBMmFPhP8ZC70oI0hwKBk=
poll_interval = 300
[msg]
network_tags = defnet
Then, provide the sysop of the client bbs this output, and suggest
to augment their default.ini with its contents and restart the
leaf node.