Hey everyone.
So, in my desire to make sure *everything* is working since my return to runing
an FTN connected BBS, I've been doing various bits of config fixing and testing, and recently got to the stage of testing outgoing netmail to systems
which are *not* my hub -- that is, areafix / filefix requests go out fine, but
mail for another node, even one that is ostensibly the same system, isn't going
well at all.
I'm running a typical Synchronet system, and when I noticed mail files were
left in the representative fido folders, I manually fired up binkp and was met
with the following (an example from much later, after like a dozen polls of all
my connected systems -- sorry fellow sysops!)
Attempting callout for 618:250/10@micronet, file: /sbbs/fido/outbound.26a/00fa000a.cut
JSBinkP/5 callout to 618:250/10@micronet started
Connecting to 618:250/10@micronet at f10.n250.z618.example.com:24554 Connection to f10.n250.z618.example.com:24554 failed (Error: No address associated with hostname).
I have a very stock SBBS setup for my sbbsecho.ini after adding a few echo networks. Nothing special has been tweaked or otherwise customized -- that is
to say, that is to say I am working with what Synchronet set up for me after
providing the necessary credentials to connect to my hub which, for the record,
would be 618:250/1
Now, I stress that FTN is a bit of an enigma to me -- it's why I left the networked BBS scene for a time, as it annoyed me that much previously -- but my
understanding is that mail going out should be sent to my hub, which then sends
it out as it needs to as per the topology of the FTN networking in question.
Obviously, however, Synchronet is trying to send it out in one way or another
as a directly sent message to a dummy domain which of course goes nowhere.
This isn't configured anywhere, either. At all. So, I'm at a bit of a loss, the
Synchronet documentation doesn't address this as far as I can find, and AI was
about as confused as me (yeah, I got desperate) so here I am, asking for some
advice on getting message routing that's basically as old as I am working.
Naturally, I can provide what files you all may need upon request.
Thanks!
....yes, that was it.
Realized I had more time this evening and gave it a go before crashing for the
night.
add in the nodelist, things work.
Why then, oh why, would I be lied to by someone, somewhere, about the need for
nodelists in SBBS?
Well, thank you all for reading this adventure. I welcome your friendly laughs
and any suggestions you have on other little gotchas to look out for.
If you don't enter the domains correctly, it won't know where to find the server to connect to and send the data. In your case, by adding the node list, it finds it automatically if it's on that list.
Why then, oh why, would I be lied to by someone, somewhere, about the need for
nodelists in SBBS?
When I started using binkit, you needed the binkphost setting in the ini file. I never tried it with the nodelist when that capability was added.
It is possible that someone didn't even realize you could use the nodelist. ;)
Re: FTN Help Please?
By: Mike Powell to KURISU on Mon Jun 15 2026 08:06 am
When I started using binkit, you needed the binkphost setting in the ini
file. I never tried it with the nodelist when that capability was added.
It is possible that someone didn't even realize you could use the nodelist.
;)
Yeah, I can totally see that.
And, in a funny twist, I did try the domain for capitol city.... which, I'm sure hanging out in your logs, is a hilarious blast of your system saying "no, you aren't fidonet, you aren't this net, that net, you aren't anything, get out of here!" when I tried that. :D
At least it all worked out in the end. I learned something, and that's always a win.
| Sysop: | Nitro |
|---|---|
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