[MLB-WIRELESS] MW Services/Content was (Re: World of Warcraft anyone?)

[Victor]

Continuing on this train of thought...

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Mike Everest <mike at viewbankrise.net.au>wrote:

> G'day Russell,
>
> > 1. DNS - Currently there is no network wide DNS server that allows you
> > to easily put http://www.kct/ and get a website.  I'd like that to
> > change and I'll be working to see if I can change it.  This includes
> > reverse DNS.  IP 10.10.41.8, what nodes does that belong too?  a nicely
> > labelled PTR record would give you kct.melbourne.wireless.org.au.
>
> I reckon that is a very good idea, but there are some implementation issues
> that need to be worked through.
>
> Since MW addresses are private, you can only resolve them with a private
> (i.e. internal/local) name server.  Everyone who wants to take advantage of
> this service must set their default dns lookup resolver to that same
> system.
>
> If they run their own DNS system, it is possible to refer requests for
> 10.10.x.x to your server, but otherwise they would have to use your DNS for
> *all* resolution requests - i.e. even google.com and yahoo.com etc etc.
>
> The other way around is not so hard - like resolve
> kct.melbourne.wireless.org.au to an ip address. Actually, I'd suggest that
> it would be something more like:  kct.node.melbournewireless.org.au
>
> This way, the node lookup database can be independent of the main DNS zone.
> Which leads to the next question: Who manages the MelbourneWireless DNS
> anyway?
>
> Can anyone Answer?
>

> > 2. Service listings.  Currently in the node database you can put up
> > services.  There is no way to easily find them.  GUR (melp_ap) has the
> > best services listing I've found in my short time.  I don't know if it's
> > updated regularly with new nodes or not but it's something.  Integration
> > between a service listing, DNS and checking to ensure services are
> > active would be great.  It will be much easier when all game servers in
> > the node db are automatically listed in the right place with extra work
> > or manually searching.  The same goes for FTP and WWW services.
>
> I agree.  This is something that I have been working on with the SNMP
> manager I have set up:
>
> http://203.208.92.100:8082/ - username 'mw' password 'wireless'
>
> At the moment, it is only probing for http and ping, but it can just as
> easily test for other services if set up for them.


Why not set it up to ping for those services then?

I might trawl through the current list and perhaps build a few pages on the
MW Wiki Board listing what IPs are hosting active services, be it a Node
Page or something else.
I like playing with Wiki's :)


>
>
> > 3. Node up-to-date checks.  When a node says it's operational and
> > connected to the network, we don't really know that.  I've seen at least
> > 2 recent incidents saying node XXX really isn't alive anymore or down.
> > For people to be able to seriously look at whether there are active
> > nodes in their area, they need up to date information about what nodes
> > are really running.  People generally don't update node information if
> > they take their node down when they become disinterested.
>
> Again, something that I would love to see happen.  At the moment, the big
> stumbling block is that whoever holds the keys to the web site does not
> appear to be interested.  I am yet to discover who it is.  I think that if
> more of us show an interest in getting something done along these lines,
> then we are more likely to see it happen.
>

As an initial manual process could access the HTTP pages of whatever
services you find active. When I was poking around some of them had "Welcome
to node xxx website" or some such, while it's not much it's a starting
point.

I'll happily dig through the FTP results and post up what's accessible and a
brief run-down of what content can be found on it.


>
> > 4. It is my understanding that Melbourne wireless does peer into some
> > networks that give you content not directly on the network.  eg There
> > will soon be a link into the Melbourne PC User group servers which has a
> > large amount of content.  We need to be able to advertise that content
> > easily to members of Melbourne Wireless so they know it's available on
> > the network.  So services listings for services available from the
> > network, but not On-net as such.  The original dream of providing a free
> > data network by MW's founders may be reduced given the commodity price
> > of the Internet but there is still great value in the gaming network,
> > file mirrors and other content.  Being a linux buff, getting updates/iso
> > much faster than through my ADSL is great.  Let alone those poor soles
> > who can't get ADSL.  I think the content is growing, people just need to
> > know about it.
>
> Correct amundo.  Perhaps a wiki page for that sort of thing?  This is
> something that can be worked on right now if you wanted to.
>

As above, happy to build wiki pages with information.


>
> > 5. It may be possible to present some internal content to the Internet
> > in the future.  eg my http://www.kct/ is available on the internet as
> > http://www.kct.melbourne.wireless.org.au/  now that would be cool.
>
> That can be done, but again I would suggest a subdomain like:
> http://kct.live.melbourne.wireless.org.au/  so that these hostnames can be
> managed independently of the primary zone.
>
> > 6. Network search.  I have no idea about search, but being able to
> > google Melbourne Wireless WAN would be very exciting!  I have no idea
> > how to achieve this at the moment.  I'm also sure non-pie in the sky
> > projects will keep me busy enough.
> >  </end pie in the sky thoughts>
>
> That can be done using one of a great many web indexing systems.  In order
> to prime it, we would first need to get something like an snmp manager to
> trawl 10.10.0.0/16 and discover web servers, and then let the indexer
> crawl
> from that list.
>
> > All that said, my short time being involved in MW still leaves me with
> > the question of whether the original reason for setting up MW is still
> > valid.  There are a number of wireless/radio buffs who love playing with
>
> That is an entire discussion by itself - best to start a whole new thread
> for THAT one! ;-)
>

There is a page that has some information about becomming a Commerical ISP
see : http://melbournewireless.org.au/wiki/?CommercialISP
But last edited in 2007, so wether or not it's still an idea is another
matter.


> > For me, the access to peer content like linux updates/iso's is a key
> > draw card.  I don't want to spend $100+ per month on Internet just for
> > those files.  Sure the radio stuff is fun, but I don't see myself as a
> > continual fiddler in that field.  I'm a server/linux guy and they ain't
> > really doing to change.   Playing with the server based services we
> > provide is much more fun for me.  And thats the area I hope I can
> > contribute in.
>
> Cool - can you write code in any language/s?
>
> > I'd also say I have big dreams for myself given what I've listed above.
> > We will see if I can deliver on what I've mentioned and help always
> > appreciated if people think the ideas are good.  I hope I can start to
> > as I think it will make a difference.  We will see...
>
> I can help you out with a lot of those projects.  Some of them I have made
> a
> start on, so feel free to keep talking!
>
> Cheers,  Mike.
>
>
>


-- 
Victor ('Daworm')
Melbourne Wireless Node: KDJ & KDT
AoCWiki Sysop  (http://aoc.wikia.com/)
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