[CQ-Contest] Skimmer and cluster node problems and changes

[K1TTT]

Over the last several days my internet has been slow, my skimmer server
seemed to be slow, and when I would restart the skimmer server it would
instantly have 16 connections, and its cpu load was a bit higher than
usual... I finally figured it out, I had a 29MB telnet log file for the last
month, most of which was in the last couple days, this file is usually less
than 1MB for several months.  There was someone connecting and giving it the
call 'BYE' or a blank every few seconds... Since it is not easy to monitor
that connection, and the software is not really meant to be much of a telnet
server anyway, it is now no longer accessible from outside.

My skimmer spots will still go to the reversebeacon network and are
available on that web site or via their load balanced telnet servers at
telnet.reversebeacon.net:7000.

I am also beta testing the ar-cluster version 6 code.  This is a complete
rewrite of the ar-cluster optimized for skimmer speed spot processing and
not much else so far... But it is doing very good at spot processing.  Terry
is working on some new filtering capabilities that should make skimmer use
much nicer.  See links in info when connecting for filters and his new
client program also.  This node has the full feed of the rbn plus my old
node regular spots, plus a backup connection direct to my skimmer in case
the rbn is down.  It is at k1ttt.net:7373.

Also for the last couple weeks on my regular cluster node I have been
summarily locking out anyone who I see repeatedly connecting and
disconnecting... So far no one has noticed.  If you are running a
multiple-connect telnet client please take me off your list of nodes unless
you are watching the connections, I have some locked out users who have been
trying to connect regularly for weeks now.  Eventually this will get dumped
in favor of the ar-cluster 6 node so I really don't care since those will
end up getting rejected by the router, but you are wasting your bandwidth
and mine.



David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net