If you are running Virtual Advanced with a telnet front-end, then you probably realize that you have to keep node 1 open at the WFC screen because it handles network message tossing and daily events. This article will explain how you can get node 1 off of the WFC and begin using it as an active node.

It is being assumed that you are using Virtual Advanced v2.1 and that you are using a Windows based operating system (9x or NT based). The Windows Scheduler plays an important role in getting rid of node 1. Any program scheduler will work, but since this one is built-in, I'm using it.

Daily Cleanup: (Mandatory!)
If you get rid of node 1 at all, then the following is not optional. By not performing daily cleanup, your BBS will always think it was day one of operation and your logs and stats will go nuts!

To remedy this, you have to run "VME.EXE /DAILY" at midnight each night. This will reset your daily statistics, and it will rotate the logs. One thing this does NOT do is update the "daily date" in your main.cfg file. This is the date that the BBS uses to do scheduled events. While this is not so important because we are going to get rid of events in the BBS in a moment, but we should still update this date. To do this, use a program I wrote called DailyUpdate. You can download it from the download page from this site.

You should also delete the contents of your \VA\FDX directory each night. These files are index files used for the file system. If you ever have problems adding new files to your file area, it is probably caused by the .FDX file, which can be deleted. They are only temporary files and the BBS recreates them when needed.

You could write a small batch file to do these chores like so:

c:
cd\va
vcleandb.exe /daily
dailyupd.exe
cd\va\fdx
del *.fdx > nul.
cd\va

This would be ran at 12:00am each night.

Daily Events:
Without node 1 loaded, your daily events configured in VConfig will not be performed! To remedy this, we will need to use the scheduler to perform the events for us. The easiest way to do this is create one big batch file that runs each chore. Remember when you run another batch file from within a batch file, you should use the "call" command. Then add this batch file to your scheduler to run whenever you would like (normally at 12:01am). An example could be:

c:
cd\va
vcleandb.exe /superclean
call c:\va\doors\tw\twmaint.bat
call c:\va\doors\bre\bremaint.bat

Etc... "vcleandb.exe" is a VADV utility that cleans the databases of old messages and should be ran once a day. This is usually the first event to be ran.

Message Tossing:
If your BBS is connected to any network, then you need to know how to do the following. If you do not handle the chores that node 1 is accustomed to doing, then you will not receive packets and you will not be sending any either.

There are two programs that must be added to your network setup. One needs to be ran when you receive messages and the other ran when you are sending messages.

When receiving messages, you need to run "VME.EXE /TOSS" right after the new packets are unpacked and processed. This will "toss" the messages into the BBS databases. Node 1 usually did this when it refreshed every few minutes.

When sending messages, you need to run the appropriate message tosser with a "/U" parameter. This will take any messages in the pending file and create a packet. This should be ran before sending any messages, since the message packets will NOT be created until this is ran! The tossers for each network are listed below:

VirtualNet: vnet.exe /u networkid=X
FidoNET: vfido.exe /u networkid=X
Internet: vuucp.exe /u networkid=X

The "X" above is referring to the network number of the network to be processed. VirtualNet is network #1, so the networkid is "1". FidoNET is network #4, so the networkid is "4".