bz.bzflag.bz

This server is a public community resource. If you're reading this, it's highly likely that you're being offered an account on the server. Either that or you just happened to find the link so kudos for finding the link but it won't help you get an account. If you weren't offered an account, don't ask for one. Accounts are offered to friends by friends when a need arises. Asking for an account is one of the best ways to assure that you won't get one.

Acceptable Use Policy

All individuals that are offered an account on this server are expected to abide by a common set of usage rules. Let whomever is creating the account know that you agree to these usage rules in their entirety. If you have any questions about these rules, please do ask. It's worth noting that this set of rules is intentionally not written in legalese in order to keep things simple to understand and cordial. So read the rules with intent in mind, not the strict wording. If you weasel around the sprit of the rules and cause trouble, you'll likely get permanently kicked off the server.

• Nothing illegal (per U.S. laws), nothing that will put the server at risk of being shut down
• No hogging (cpu, bandwidth, disk, etc), keep an eye on what you're using in relation to others
• No exposing or sharing of personally identifiable information
• No rummaging around other people's files (even if the filesystem permissions allow it) without their permission
• Don't circumvent any existing permissions, logging, or security measures
• Don't run any programs that might affect any existing system services or the stability/uptime of the server (ask)
• Report anything suspicious, any indications of intrusion, any catastrophic system events that you notice to an admin
• Help keep the critical system services running at all times (httpd, named, mysqld)
• Ask an admin if you need any software installed that isn't already
• Ask an admin if you need something configured differently, like getting apache responding to a new website
• Security is of paramount importance, never compromise the server's ability to operate securely
• Integrity of the data on the server is critical and there are backups, but keep your own backups too
• Never share your account with anyone. Ever.
• You're welcome to set up SSH keys, otherwise use a secure password (weak password tests are run periodically)
• Account access is only availble via SSH/SFTP (there is also anon ftp and web access)
• Any abuse of the server, it's services, or access to data on the server might get you permanently banned
• If you forget your password, don't guess too many times or the intrusion detection might shut you out hard
• When in doubt, ask ;-)
• Understand that just about everything on the server is being logged and can be reviewed if needed

System Services

This is almost entirely dependent upon what the folks on the server want it to do, the capacity of the server, and the resources available to install, setup, and maintain an operation. Some things that the server is currently used for include:

• Virtual domain hosting for projects
• Personal website hosting
• Outbound mail service
• DNS (primary and secondary)
• Storing/sharing files
• Running game servers
• Web applications
• SQL database service
• Persistent IRC sessions (screen+irssi ftw)

If that wasn't clear, what that means is that yes indeed you can have your own web site for just about any purpose (including commercial, just cut Sean a sliver of the profits if you actually start making money ;-) k?).

The server has old-school 'talk' and 'write' set up for intraserver communication. Feel free to use it if you have questions. You're welcome (and encouraged) to keep a screen session running.

Web services are under /usr/web/SITE where SITE is some website name like brlcad.org. Most of the websites are edited as user 'www' for which most users have the ability to substitute via sudo. Example, sudo -u www cp ~/my_file.html /usr/web/something.org/myfile.html or sudo -u www -s for a shell session as user 'www'. You can make a personal web page by creating a public_html directory in your home directory and accessing site/~username in a browser.

Don't worry about bandwidth. The server can sustain more than a TB/month and uses less than 10% of that on average. Disk space is sometimes a problem due to log and backup files that get out of control. The server accummulates nearly 100MB of logs per day that get compressed and filed away. An admin will periodically go through and clean things up if space is tight, but users generally don't have to worry about disk usage. Still, try to keep your home tidy. :-)

If you would like to set up a new service, contact one of the server admins (see the /etc/group file for a list of admin users).

From Op to the Community

The server really is provided for the communities and individuals that I interact with. I originally started the server in September 2004 primarily for BZFlag list server purposes (hence the name). Things have kinda slowly grown from there encompassing BRL-CAD needs and much more since then.

Most of the account holders are people I would or do consider a friend. Offers to pay for access on the server is appreciated but absolutely not necessary -- so stop asking. :-) Access to the server is free of charge. If you really feel compelled to do something, help administer the server. There's always something that can be done to improve the server. Time and effort is more valuable than actual dollars.

That all said, I hope everyone enjoys using the server. If you need something, just ask.

Cheers!
Sean