Sorry for cross-posting this, but I want to make sure all interested parties are informed /Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A short description of the LISTSERV "BITEARN" database (DRAFT) NOTE: It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the LISTSERV database concepts explained in the "Revised LISTSERV: Database functions" (document number U01-012, available via an "INFO DBASE" command). 1. Purpose: the BITEARN database allows people to perform search operations in BITEARN NODES. It is also possible to define smaller databases of the same format (eg FEARN NODES, EARN NODES). 2. Implementation: the entire BITEARN NODES entries comprise the "body" of the database. Each "database item" corresponds to a unique node. There is no entry for aliases (ie the entry for the "main" name is not duplicated under the alias name). The "date" field is set to the connection date (only yy/mm is provided), or '??/??' for nodes which have not yet connected. Keywords have been defined for the following information: Nodeid - Node id (8 chars) MACHine - Hardware machine name (eg 'IBM 3090-200VF') COUNtry - Country code (eg F, CH, USA) Site - Site name (eg 'Ecole Centrale de Paris, France') 3. Reports: a number of "database reports" are available for each entry. A "database report" is a "database portion" which is re-formatted by a program before being displayed. It works exactly as a document portion, the only difference being that the output you get can not necessarily be found inside the actual document. In other words, a "report" is a "portion" which has been redefined to be printed in a different format. The available reports are (see examples below): ALL - A list of all the tags in the entry, one line per tag. Some irrelevant tags are suppressed from the output. This is the default report. ASIS - A verbatim copy of the original BITEARN NODES entry, folded for 80-columns output. This is similar to NETSERV's NODENTRY files. ADDRESS - The site snail-mail address. TECH - Technical information about the node. CONTACT - A list of contact persons. 4. Searching the database: you can search the database either by contents, by keywords, by connection date, or any combination thereof. A "contents" search is something that looks like this: > Search :fformat.NETDATA :fclass.A in BITEARN This will actually read the BITEARN NODES file and search it for the various specified tags. Since BITEARN NODES is *huge*, this will most probably take up a huge amount of time and you should be careful to increase the default CPU limit for the search. A "keyword" search is much faster, because only the database index is actually searched for: > Select * in BITEARN where site contains Alabama Note that you could also have done: > Search Alabama in BITEARN with similar (if not identical) results, but the latter form would require a much larger amount of CPU time to complete. You can search nodes by connection date with commands like: > Search * in BITEARN since sept 87 This is also faster than a keyword search. 5. Sample outputs ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Select * IN BITEARN where country is F and site contains ecole --> Database BITEARN, 13 hits. > Index Ref# Conn Nodeid Site name ---- ---- ------ --------- 0609 86/09 FRECCL11 Ecole Centrale & Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lyon,France 0610 85/01 FRECP11 Ecole Centrale de Paris, France 0613 84/00 FREMP11 Ecole des Mines de Paris, France 0616 87/09 FRESCR51 Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Rouen, France 0617 87/01 FRESE51 Ecole Superieure d'Electricite, Gif-sur-Yvette, France 0619 86/04 FRESTP11 Ecole Speciale des Travaux Publics, Paris, France 0620 87/01 FRFLU51 LMFA, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France 0625 85/09 FRHEC11 Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, Jouy-en-Josas, France 0660 85/09 FRPOLY11 Centre Informatique, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France 0661 85/09 FRPOLY52 Labo Physique Nucleaire Haute Energie, Ecole Polytechnique 0673 84/00 FRULM11 Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France 0674 86/05 FRULM52 Ecole Normale Superieure Paris, Laboratoire de Physique 0675 86/09 FRULM63 Dept Mathematiques, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Select * in BITEARN since oct --> Database BITEARN, 48 hits. > Index Ref# Conn Nodeid Site name ---- ---- ------ --------- 0065 87/10 BABSON Babson College Horn Computer Center VAX2 0106 87/10 BITNETLA BITNET Demo at EDUCOM 87 LA Hilton (BITNIC VM/SP) 0228 87/10 CMR001 College militaire royal de Saint-Jean 0276 87/10 CUAVAXA Catholic University of America Computer Center 0277 87/10 CUAVAXB Catholic University of America Computer Center 0292 87/10 CUNIXC Columbia University Center for Computing Activities 0315 87/10 DAYTON University of Dayton 0319 87/10 DBNISKP5 Institut fuer Strahlen- und Kernphysik Uni Bonn, Germany 0353 87/10 DDAGSI1 Ges. fuer Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany 0387 87/11 DGOGWDG1 GWD Uni / Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Goettingen, Germany (...) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Select * in BITEARN where site contains ('Ecole centrale' and paris) --> Database BITEARN, 1 hit. > Print asis >>> Item number 610, dated 85/01 -- ASIS :node.FRECP11 :nodenum.0515 :net.EARN :lastup.87/07/06 :abbr.Ecole Centrale de Paris, F :site.Ecole Centrale de Paris, France :addr.Ecole Centrale de Paris;Grande Voie des Vignes;F-92295 Chatenay Malabry Cedex :country.F :longitude.002E18 :latitude.48N53 :gmtoff.+01.00 :planet.EARTH :director.(Mme Vardaguer) VARDA@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1367) :contact.(Christiane Ollier) CHRIS@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 1287) :linkfail.(08:00 to 17:00) OPERATOR@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 1287) :system.IBM VM/SP R4 :netsoft.IBM RSCS :msgs.YES :cmds.YES :files.YES :fformat.NETDATA :machine.IBM 4381-11 :connect.85/01/23 :via.FRORS31 :linkspeed.9600 :linktype.LEASED :bitdirector.(Mme Vardaguer) VARDA@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1367) :postmast.(Eric Thomas) ERIC@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) :mailer.MAILER :mformat.PUNCH :mclass.M :acontact1.(Eric Thomas) ERIC@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) :acontfor1.Alternate system contact (Network-related problems) :adjnodes1.FRORS31 :adjtypes1.9L :inform1.(Eric Thomas) ERIC@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) :info1.MAILER :cks.8388 :fclass.A > Print all >>> Item number 610, dated 85/01 -- ALL Node: FRECP11 Nodenum: 0515 Net: EARN Lastup: 87/07/06 Abbr: Ecole Centrale de Paris, F Site: Ecole Centrale de Paris, France Addr: Ecole Centrale de Paris;Grande Voie des Vignes;F-92295 Chatenay Malabry Cedex Country: F Longitude: 002E18 Latitude: 48N53 Gmtoff: +01.00 Director: (Mme Vardaguer) VARDA@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1367) Contact: (Christiane Ollier) CHRIS@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 1287) Linkfail: (08:00 to 17:00) OPERATOR@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 1287) System: IBM VM/SP R4 Netsoft: IBM RSCS Msgs: YES Cmds: YES Files: YES Fformat: NETDATA Machine: IBM 4381-11 Connect: 85/01/23 Via: FRORS31 Linkspeed: 9600 Linktype: LEASED Bitdirector: (Mme Vardaguer) VARDA@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1367) Postmast: (Eric Thomas) ERIC@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) Mailer: MAILER Mformat: PUNCH Mclass: M Acontact1: (Eric Thomas) ERIC@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) Acontfor1: Alternate system contact (Network-related problems) Adjnodes1: FRORS31 Adjtypes1: 9L Inform1: (Eric Thomas) ERIC@FRECP11 (+33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) Info1: MAILER Fclass: A > Print tech >>> Item number 610, dated 85/01 -- TECH FRECP11 is an IBM 4381-11 running IBM VM/SP R4 and IBM RSCS. It accepts messages, commands and files. Files should be sent to FRECP11 in NETDATA format, class A. > Print address >>> Item number 610, dated 85/01 -- ADDRESS Ecole Centrale de Paris Grande Voie des Vignes F-92295 Chatenay Malabry Cedex > Print contact >>> Item number 610, dated 85/01 -- CONTACT Director: Mme Vardaguer <VARDA@FRECP11> (Phone: +33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1367) System contact: Christiane Ollier <CHRIS@FRECP11> (Phone: +33 1 46.61.33.10 1287) Linkfail contact: 08:00 to 17:00 <OPERATOR@FRECP11> (Phone: +33 1 46.61.33.10 1287) Postmaster: Eric Thomas <ERIC@FRECP11> (Phone: +33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) Special contact: Eric Thomas <ERIC@FRECP11> (Phone: +33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287) For: Alternate system contact (Network-related problems) The person to contact if you want to locate someone at FRECP11 is: Eric Thomas <ERIC@FRECP11> (Phone: +33 1 46.61.33.10 ext 1287)