Last update 26-Aug-1999

# mbstat - MBSE BBS Status Changer

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SYNOPSIS

mbstat [commands] <options>

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DESCRIPTION

mbstat changes the bbs status between open and close, can wait for all users to logoff and wait for critical utilities to stop their actions and check the Zone Mail Hour status change.

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ENVIRONMENT

In order to run mbstat you must set the global variable $MBSE_ROOT. This variable must point to the root directory of the bbs structure. The main configuration file config.data must be present in the ~/etc directory.

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COMMANDS

mbstat check checks for Zone Mail Hour. You should run this command at the start and end of ZMH at the times that are for your zone and both for summer and wintertime. The real ZMH times should be in UTC in the file $MBSE_ROOT/etc/mbsed.conf, see the mbsed documentation for details. The crontab entry for Fidonet zone 2 in the Netherlands looks like this:

    # Check and set ZMH status, in Zone 2 MET that is at 03:30, 04:30 and 05:30.
    30 3,4,5 * * *	export MBSE_ROOT=/opt/mbse; $MBSE_ROOT/bin/mbstat check -quiet

To make this work right, it is important that you have set the right timezone in your Linux setup!

mbstat close will close the bbs for users. Users that are just logging in to the bbs will be thrown out after a short message. Users already logged in will be thrown out when they pass by a menu prompt. So users who are doing file transfers can finish their transfers before being disconnected.

mbstat open opens the bbs for users. This should be run from one of the system startup scripts right after you started mbsed. If you installed everything as it should this command is already executed at system startup.

mbstat wait will wait for the bbs to become free. This includes a check for utilities that do critical actions so they can finish their job without corrupting the bbs databases. The default is to wait 60 minutes. If the semafore upsdown exists it will wait only 30 seconds.

You should run mbstat close wait in your system shutdown script so that the system shutdown will wait for a clean shutdown of the bbs before the rest of your system goes down. If you installed everything as it should be then these commands are already installed in your system shutdown scripts.

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OPTIONS

mbstat [command] -quiet will supress screen output. This is good for using mbstat in scripts.

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BUGS

If you find any bugs, mispelled documentation etc, please contact the author: Michiel Broek at 2:2801/16@Fidonet or Michiel_Broek@f16.n2801.z2.fidonet.org

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