
   Updated: 19 Aug 94   Trinet Installation Help  By: HOST SYS
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   
   The 1st most important thing to do is to: BACKUP YOUR BBS
   to disks or tape! There have been some cases where message
   bases have been totally corrupted due to errors in the
   installing process and or, incompatability of the version
   of Trinet being used with the version of TriBBS software.
   PLEASE BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE INSTALLING TRINET AND 
   IMPORTING MESSAGES TO YOUR SYSTEM!

   This text file is to assist new sysops who are considerning
  joining the TriLINK Network with the installation of the
  Trinet program. This program version is 601 and can be found
  in the TriBBS support files on most TriBBS Boards. Your first
  step is to download this program, unpack it and print out the
  documentation. Version 5.0 of Trinet works well with version
  4.1 of TriBBS. Version 8.0 of Trinet works flawlessly with
  version 5.1 of TriBBS.

   Your next step is to create in your message/conference area
  at least the three main conferences in TriLINK.

  * - TriLINK General Messages       These 3 are compulsory
  * - TriLINK TriBBS Support         and must be carried by
  * - TriLINK Administration         all participating systems

   Configure the first two conference with an access level of 
  10, not fidonet, delete messages after 90 days, do not allow
  user deletion of messages and ensure that Private messages 
  are not allowed.

   Configure the third conference with an access level of 50
  or whatever you allow your "visiting sysops". The rest of the
  configuration of this conference is the same as above. THIS
  CONFERENCE (TRILINK ADMINISTRATION) IS FOR TRILINK SYSOPS
  ONLY. IT MUST HAVE ACCESS LIMITED TO YOURSELF AND CO-SYSOP
  ONLY. This conference is used to inform you of any changes in
  the TriLINK conference areas or to advise you of other info
  concerning the operation of the TriLINK Network.

   The next thing to do is to go to your user files and setup
  the sysop information from where you are going to collect your
  QWK mail packets and upload your REP packets. The only thing
  you have to do here is to set the network access flag to YES.
  This allows that person to upload messages to your system.
  You would do the same thing for each board "node" that would
  be calling your BBS for their mail packets.

   Of course, you should have your Trimail Door up and running
  so that people can download mail packets and upload replies.
  This pretty much goes without saying.

   The next thing to do is to write down the conference numbers
  for the three conferences mentioned above as they appear on
  your BBS when you list your conferences or edit them. You must
  ensure that these numbers are as they appear on your BBS, not
  as they are numbered in Trimail. Your BBS starts the first
  conference with the number 1 while Trimail starts the first
  conference number as 0. It makes a difference!

   Assuming you have made a directory on your system called
  TRINET and have unpacked the program and printed the docs,
  the rest of this is just following the documention more or
  less. You should also ensure that you have in your PATH
  statement in your autoexec.bat file the location where it
  can find PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE. I place these programs
  in my root directory C:\ so that any program can find them
  from anywhere on my system.

   Now comes the part of creating the configuration file for
  Trinet. You must know what the conference numbers are on the
  BBS where you are going to collect your mail and upload your
  replies. THESE NUMBERS ARE AS THEY APPEAR IN THE TRIMAIL
  DOOR when you setup the conferences you wish to scan, Not
  as they are numbered on the BBS itself. (The documentation
  misses this little thing and you end up getting messages
  posted to the wrong conferences).

   Let's say for example the three conferences appear on the
  both BBS systems as so:

                  Yours LOCAL                     Other HOST

 TriLINK General      27                               14    
 TriLINK TRiBBS       28                               15
 TriLINK Admin        29                               16

   If you are involved on only ONE TriNet Network use the
   setup that follows, otherwise, add the network number
   to the lines where it shows you in the documention. Also
   remember that when you are doing the calling for mail and
   to upload replies, you are always considered as the LOCAL
   system. Who you are calling is the HOST. This is also very
   important. If you are strictly a HOST all of the time and
   other systems are calling you for their mail and uploading
   reply packets then you do not even have to setup Trinet.

    So, if I am setting up a TriNet configuration file that
    means I would be doing the calling for messages and, that
    I am considered the LOCAL sysop in the documentation. Here
    is how I would do it.

    tribbs=c:\tribbs
    Hsysop=Glen Oliver   (this is the host I would be calling)
    Htag=* The Elf BBS Whitby Ont Canada (905) 430-9010 *
    Lsysop=Bill Dunn
    Ltag=The Safety Shoppe BBS Don Mills Ont Canada (416) 429-8251
    noappend
    conf=27,14
    conf=28,15
    conf=29,16
    stripnulls


    Once I have collected the messages I want to dump them into
    my conferences.

    In the TriNet directory I would type

    TRINET IMPORT ELF

    Before I can "send" the host system my reply packet I have 
    to "scan" my message base to see if there are any new
    messages and have them packed up into a REP mail packet.

    In the TriNet directory I would type

    TRINET EXPORT ELF

    One really important thing to remember when participating in
    an echo mail network. DO NOT REMUMBER YOUR MESSAGES IN THE
    NETWORK CONFERENCES. It screws up the "last rec'd" numbers 
    and you get a pile of duplicate messages on both of the BBS
    systems.

    If you are going to add conferences to the network, please
    ensure that the control Host and the other systems who are
    involved in the network are interested in carrying them. It
    does not make a lot of sense to add a pile of conferences in
    a network if no other system is interested in them. You can't
    upload messages to a system in the network who is not carrying
    a specific conference even though you are. Leave a message in
    the TriLINK Administration conference area so that the other
    sysops can say whether they would be interested or not. All
    of the details regarding new conferences should be posted in
    this conference area so that they are echoed to all sysops
    participating in the network.

     TriLINK makes it easy for new Sysops to join a QWK mail
    network. It is easy to setup and to maintain. If you want to
    automate your mail runs if you are drawing your mail from
    another system, I would recommend Intellicom, a communication
    program which can be found on most BBS systems, mine for sure.
    It is share ware but is limited until it is registered. Once
    registered, it will call another BBS, download a mail packet
    and upload a REP packet and log off, all done at whatever 
    time you specify. I personally just do my mail runs manually.
    With TriLINK mail runs can be done at any old time so, unless
    you are paying long distance charges, manual mail runs are
    easy and no hassles.

     Each paticipating sysop is expected to read the messages in
    the TriLINK Administration Conference as soon as he/she
    downloads and dumps the messages into thier BBS. This is very
    important because there may be information there that is
    urgent and may affect your system. For example, a request may
    be made to advise a caller about improper message postings or
    improper usage of the message areas - like promoting a 
    business - foul language - flamming - etc.

    _____________________________________________________________

     One important thing I have notices with QWK Mail Networks is
    that sysops sometimes have a problem getting Trinet to pack 
    all the messages for transfer to other systems. 

     The most common cause of this is where users enter a message
    addressed to ALL. If, before the Trinet program is used, any
    user "reads" that message, the "received" flag is set and the
    Trinet will not pack this message for export to another BBS.
    If the "receiver" has read the message, it is not exported.

     The easiest way around this problem is for users entering a
    message addressed to ALL to use instead - "Everybody", without
    the quotes. There is no user named "Everybody" so the rec'd
    flag will never be set. Trinet will pack up this message in
    the mail packet no matter how many users on the BBS has read
    the message.
    ______________________________________________________________

    
     Take Care and lets have fun with this.


     Bill Dunn
