399 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
399 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
==Phrack Inc.==
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Volume Two, Issue 23, File 4 of 12
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<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
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<> <>
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<> Utopia <>
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<> ~~~~~~ <>
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<> Chapter One of The Future Transcendent Saga <>
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<> <>
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<> An Introduction To The World Of Bitnet <>
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<> <>
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<> Presented by Knight Lightning <>
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<> January 1, 1989 <>
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<> <>
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<> Special Thanks To Jester Sluggo <>
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<> <>
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<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
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Welcome To The Next MILLENNIUM Of The Communications Realm
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The Future is NOW!
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As most people will agree, college and university computers are the easiest to
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gain access to, both legally and illegally. Bitnet is only one of the many
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interconnected wide area networks, but I felt that it was the most important to
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discuss because all major colleges and universities are connected by it and as
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such creating an almost utopian society for the technologically inclined. It's
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free, legal, and world encompassing -- anything that incorporates "free" with
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"legal" and is useful has to hold some sort of perfection and thus the name of
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this file.
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For the people already on Bitnet, this file may seem somewhat basic and most
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likely contains information that you are thoroughly aware of, but you never w
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know what a little extra reading might lead you to discover. Once again
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welcome to the future... a future where limits are unknown.
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:Knight Lightning
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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The Origin Of BITNET
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Jester Sluggo
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In 1981, the City University of New York (CUNY) surveyed universities on the
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east coast of the United States and Canada, inquiring whether there was
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interest in creating and easy-to-use, economical network for interuniversity
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communication between scholars. The response was positive. Many shared the
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CUNY belief in the importance of computer-assisted communication between
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scholars. The first link of the new network, called Bitnet, was established
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between CUNY and Yale University in May 1981. The term BITNET is an acronym
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that stands for "Because It's Time NETwork."
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The network technology chosen for Bitnet was determined by the availability
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of the RSCS software on the IBM computers at the initial sites. The RSCS is
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simple and effective, and most IBM VM/CMS computer systems have it installed
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for local communications, supporting file transfer and remote job entry
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services. The standard Bitnet links are leased telephone lines running 9600
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bps. Although the initial nodes were IBM machines in university computers
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centers, the network is in no way restricted to such systems. Any computer
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with an RSCS emulator can be connected to Bitnet. Emulators are available for
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Digital Equipment Corporation VAX/VMS systems, VAX-UNIX systems, and for
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Control Data Corporation Cyber systems and others. Today, more than one-third
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of the computers on Bitnet are non-IBM systems.
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There is also some talk in the Bitnet scientific community of a merger between
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Bitnet and CSnet (Computer Science Network). It is unknown when or if such a
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merger will take place, but it is only a step in the right direction.
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Note: NetNorth is the Canadian division of Bitnet and EARN is the European
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division of Bitnet. They are all directly connected and together serve
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as one network and not three. It is often referred to as
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BITNET/NetNorth/EARN.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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The Basics Of Bitnet
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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In order to make any sense out of this file, you should first have a basic
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understanding of mainframes and userids, etc. Since most readers of Phrack are
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computer enthusiasts, there is a pretty good chance that you understand these
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things already. If not, you may want to find documentation on the topic. The
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Mentor's Beginning Hackers Guide, which was published in Phrack Inc. XXII
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contains some information that might help you. The concepts presented in this
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file are not terrible difficult to understand, but you should not jump into
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this totally unprepared either.
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You should also be a little familiar with the type of hardware and operating
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system you will be using. Most IBM systems in Bitnet run VM/CMS. The Digital
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Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX systems usually run an operating system called
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VMS along with a software package called JNET which allows them to communicate
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via Bitnet. I will be referring to VM/CMS and VMS/JNET throughout this file.
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I myself currently use an IBM 4381 that runs VM/CMS and thus I am much more
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familiar with that type of system.
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Try to think of the mainframe as the telephone and Bitnet as the telephone
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lines. You see, the mainframe you log onto is connected to mainframes at other
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universities and institutions. The connection is usually a high-speed leased
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line, a special sort of telephone connection. In a way, these computers are
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always on the phone with each other (except when links go down, discussed in
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the section on MESSAGES). This particular network is what is known as a "store
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and forward" network. This means that if I send something to someone in Los
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Angeles, the computers in the network between New York and California will
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store and forward it from computer to computer until it reaches it's
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destination.
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In Bitnet, there is only one way from "Point A" to "Point B." A small piece of
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the network might look like this:
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--- --- ---
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| A |--| B |--| C |
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--- --- ---
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--- --- --- --- ---
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| D |--| E |--| F |--| G |--| H |
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--- --- --- --- ---
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--- --- --- ---
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| I |--| J | | K |--| L |
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--- --- --- ---
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--- --- --- ---
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| M |--| N |--| O |--| P |
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--- --- --- ---
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Those boxes represent computers in the network, and the dashes between them are
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the leased lines. If I am at computer "A" and I send a file to someone at
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computer "N" it would travel the following path:
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A-B-D-E-F-G-K-N
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Actual topology maps are available for download from LISTSERV@BITNIC, but we
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will be discussing servers later in this file. Like I mentioned before, there
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is only one route between any two nodes and there is simply no way to bypass a
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disconnected link.
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Each of the computers in BITNET is called a "node" and has a unique name that
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identifies it to the other nodes. For example, one of the mainframe computers
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at the University Of Missouri-Columbia has the nodename UMCVMB. So what does
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that mean exactly? Well in this case, UMC comes from the name of the school,
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VM comes from the Virtual Memory operating system, and B is just an
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alpha-numerical identifier. At one time there was a UMCVMA, but that system
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was taken down a couple of years ago. One thing to note here is that although
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this particular node can be broken down into its parts, many nodes do not
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follow this pattern and some nodes have "aliases." An alias is just another
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name for the node and both names are recognized by all Bitnet facilities. An
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example of this is STANFORD. The nodes STANFORD and FORSYTHE are the same
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place so...
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CYPHER@STANFORD = CYPHER@FORSYTHE
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Your userid in combination with the name of your node is your "network
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address." It is usually written in the format userid@node (read "userid at
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node"). For example, the name of my node is UMCVMB, and my userid is C483307.
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Therefore, my network address is C483307@UMCVMB. If I know the userid@node of
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someone in the network, I can communicate with that person, and he/she can
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communicate with me. I have found many interesting people on the networks.
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Making use of the direct chatting capabilities of Bitnet I am able to talk to
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them in "real-time." You can do this too, all you need to know are a few
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commands. This is explained in part two.
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Messages
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~~~~~~~~
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There are three basic methods of communicating via Bitnet: MAIL, MESSAGE, and
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FILE. The reason you would choose one over the other for a particular
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application will become clear after a little explanation.
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The MESSAGE is the fastest and most convenient method of communication
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available through Bitnet. It is the network's equivalent of a telephone
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conversation. The difference of course is that the words are typed instead of
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spoken. The message you type is transmitted immediately (well, quickly) to its
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destination. In BITNET this destination is the network address (userid@node)
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of the person you want to contact. If the person you are contacting is logged
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on, the message will be displayed on their screen. If not, their computer
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will tell you so by sending you a message. In this case, your message is lost
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forever. In other words, no one is there to answer the phone. However, many
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people run a program called GONE (and there are other similar programs) which
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acts like an answering machine and holds your message until they log on. Some
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universities do not allow this program because it uses a lot of CPU time. If
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your school or mainframe does not allow it, do not try to sneak its use,
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because it is very easy to detect.
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One important thing to mention is that not all nodes allow interactive chat.
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Some nodes are simply not advanced enough for it and you will a receive a
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message telling you this whenever you try to chat with them. However, this
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situation is less common.
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The command to send messages depends on your computer and system software.
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People on VM/CMS systems would type something like this:
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TELL userid AT node message OR TELL userid@node message
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For example:
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TELL MENTOR AT PHOENIX Hey, whats new on The Phoenix Project?
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+----- +------ +-------------------------------------
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| | +----------- the message you are sending
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| +------------------- the node of the recipient
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+----------------------------- the userid of the recipient
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People on VAX/VMS systems using the JNET networking software would use this
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syntax:
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SEND userid@node "message"
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For example:
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SEND MENTOR@PHOENIX "Hey, whats new on The Phoenix Project?"
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+----- +------ +---------------------------------------
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| | +-------------- the message you are sending
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| +---------------------- the node of the recipient
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+----------------------------- the userid of the recipient
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The quotes around the message are optional. However, the JNET networking for
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VAX/VMS will translate your entire message into upper-case characters if you
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DO NOT use them. Many people find receiving messages in all upper case to be
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extremely annoying.
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For more information on the TELL and SEND commands, you should consult your
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local system documentation.
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When a message arrives on your screen, it will look something like this:
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FROM PHOENIX(MENTOR): Hello! Things are great here, you?
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Unfortunately there is a downside to everything and Bitnet Messages are no
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exception. Text sent by message must be short. In general, your message
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length can be one line, about the width of your screen. In other words, you
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won't be sending someone a copy of Phrack World News via the TELL command.
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Also, you can only communicate with someone in this way when they are logged
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on. Considering time zone differences (you may find yourself talking to
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people in Europe, Israel, or Australia) this is often quite inconvenient.
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Lastly, there is the problem of links that I call LinkDeath. If the connection
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to the node you want to contact is broken (by for example, a disconnected phone
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line), you'll receive an error message and whatever you sent is gone. This can
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be very annoying if it should occur during a conversation. The LinkDeath may
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last a few minutes or several hours. Often times, a link will go down for the
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weekend and you are simply out of luck. Even worse is when it is the link that
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connects your mainframe to rest of Bitnet... you are cut off.
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However, messages are very far from useless. As I will demonstrate in chapter
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two, TELL and SEND are extremely helpful in accessing the many servers on
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Bitnet.
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Files
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~~~~~
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FILES are another way to communicate over Bitnet. The text files and programs
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that you store on your computer can be transmitted to users at other nodes.
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This is one of the methods that I use to distribute Phrack issues across not
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only the country, but the world. People on VM/CMS systems would use a syntax
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like this:
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SENDFILE filename filetype filemode userid AT node
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For example:
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SENDFILE PHRACK TEXTFILE A PROPHET AT PHRACKVM
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+---------------- +------------------
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| +------- the address of the recipient
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+------------------------- the file you are sending
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However, at my particular node the command would read:
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SENDFILE PHRACK TEXTFILE A TO (nickname)
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For some reason at my node, you cannot use SENDFILE to send a file to anyone
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unless they are in your NAMES file. The NAMES file is a database type of list
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that translates userid@node into nicknames to make it easier to chat with
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people. This way you can use their nickname instead of the tiresome
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userid@node. The filemode, in this example "A", is the disk that the file
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"PHRACK TEXTFILE" is on. In case you were wondering, with the exception of my
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address, most of the addresses in this file like PROPHET@PHRACKVM or
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MENTOR@PHOENIX are bogus and just examples for this presentation.
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The syntax for VMS/JNET systems is quite similar:
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SEND/FILE filename.extension userid@node
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For example:
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SEND/FILE PHRACK.TEXTFILE PROPHET@PHRACKVM
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+--------------- +---------------
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| +-------- the address of the recipient
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+------------------------- the file you are sending
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The file sent is stored in the "electronic mailbox" of the recipient until
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he/she logs on. People on VM/CMS systems would use the RECEIVE or RDRLIST
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(shortened to "RL") commands to process files sent to them in this way. People
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on VAX/VMS systems would use the RECEIVE command. You should check your local
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documentation for more information on these commands.
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SEND/FILE and SENDFILE are useful for sending programs or large volumes of data
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like Phrack issues over the network. However, they should not be used for
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everyday communication because there is a much easier way -- the MAIL.
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Mail
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~~~~
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The other form of Bitnet communication has been given a very apt name: MAIL
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(often called "electronic mail" or "e-mail"). Just like regular postal service
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mail, you provide an address, return address, and text. Software for sending
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mail software differs from site to site, so you will have to look in your local
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documentation for information. On my particular node, the return address (your
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address) is automatically placed in the letter. This presentation should be
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able to shed some light on what most mail looks like and how it works.
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Mail files are really just specially formatted text files. The feature that
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makes them different is the "mail header." This tells a Bitnet system and your
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mail software that it is not a regular text file. It looks something like
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this:
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The address of the recipient
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The subject |
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Your address | |
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Todays date | | |
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Date: Fri, 29 Dec 88 23:52:00 EDT <--+ | | |
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From: Forest Ranger <RANGER@STLVAX1> <-----+ | |
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Subject: Cable Pair Busted For Child Molestation<--------+ |
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To: Phrack World News <KNIGHT@MSPVMA> <-----------+
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An entire mail message would look like this:
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+---------------- Mail header
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| Date: Fri, 29 Dec 88 23:52:00 EDT
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| From: Forest Ranger <RANGER@STLVAX1>
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| Subject: Cable Pair Busted For Child Molestation
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| To: Phrack World News <KNIGHT@MSPVMA>
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+ ========================================================================
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+ Have you seen the newspapers? Is this good news, or what? I think that
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| the ramifications are startling. This is one more step on the road to a
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| higher civilization. I hope he gets what he deserves. Keep in touch, I
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| will send more information later.
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+---------------- Mail text
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Mail has a number of advantages. The size of a mail file is limited only by
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you and is the only way to send files to networks other than Bitnet (However, I
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do not recommend that you transmit anything longer than 3000 lines). When your
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mail reaches the destination address, it will be stored in the user's mailbox
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until they read it. If the links to that particular node are disconnected,
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your mail will be held until the path is clear for the mail to continue on its
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route to the recipient's mailbox.
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The disadvantage of mail is that it is, indeed, slower than messages. The
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longer your mail file, the longer it will take to get from Point A to Point B.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Conclusion
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~~~~~~~~~~
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Don't despair, this is only the conclusion to this file. The best functions of
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Bitnet are yet to be described. Join me in the second chapter of The Future
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Transcendent Saga -- Foundations Upon The Horizon.
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Also included in this issue of Phrack are sitelists for Bitnet. Actual node
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directories are available from LISTSERV@BITNIC, but they are much too large to
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be printed here. However, the files that are included list the names of the
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universities and institutions that are connected to Bitnet without their node
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addresses (some institutions have over 30+ nodes). If you attend a college or
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university that is hooked into Bitnet, then join me in the realm of infinite
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discovery. When you do, drop me a line...
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:Knight Lightning (C483307@UMCVMB)
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For related reading please see;
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|
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An Insight On Wide-Area Networks Part 2 by Jester Sluggo
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(Phrack Inc. Issue 6, file 8)
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Communications Of The ACM
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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