Hi! I am writing this to all of the people that are just getting started with VBBS/VA. This information may also be useful for those who have ran the software for many years too. The information is more toward those who are running multi-node systems, but will also help on a single node, but not as noticable.

While the documentation to VBBS or VA is fairly adequate at giving help on the workings of the software, very little is mentioned about one of the tips that will give a big performance increase. What I am referring to is a RAMDRIVE.

A Ramdrive is basically system memory that appears to DOS and Windows as a regular hard drive. You can copy files to it, and delete them from it.. but it all takes place in RAM. The bad thing about the ramdrive though is that it is RAM, so when you turn off the system, you lose whatever was stored on the Ramdrive. You can use this to your advantage with either VBBS or VA.

VBBS and VA both use a file called CONTROL.DAT which is found in the directory you specify in VConfig as the Control Directory. This file is a temporary file used by the software that contains information on what is actually going on with the different nodes. If you have a multi-nodes system setup, then you will probably have noticed that your hard drive is constantly being used for some unknown purpose.. that is the BBS software reading this file to update each node; about every 5 seconds. This could create a lot of wear and tear on the hard drive, but more importantly it is much slower than say, you put the CONTROL.DAT file in RAM.

Here is how you do it (for Windows and DOS)...

First you need to decide how big of a Ramdrive you need. The easiest way to do this is to multiply the number of nodes you are running by 8. I am running 4 nodes on my BBS, so I want a 32k Ramdrive for the CONTROL.DAT file.

Edit your CONFIG.SYS file in your root directory. Add the following lines, if they aren't already there:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 32 /E

If you calculated a different number above, then change '32' to the number you have.

If these files are in different directories on your computer, then change them accordingly. Make sure that HIMEM.SYS is loaded before RAMDRIVE.SYS.

The '/E' commands it to use Extended memory instead of Conventional memory.

Reboot your computer.

Enter VConfig, and edit the Paths Configuration. Change the CONTROL.DAT directory to the drive that was created above. On my system, it was drive (E:). Make sure that there is NO trailing backslash after the path.

Now, load up the BBS software and you can look at your Ramdrive to see the CONTROL.DAT file that was created there. You can delete the old CONTROL directory off your hard drive if you want now.

Ok, you maybe thinking two things now. 1) What will happen if I turn off the system now, and 2) I have a lot of room left on the Ramdrive (CONTROL.DAT should be about 530 bytes). The answers are: 1) This directory is strictly a temporary directory. It will probably do you more good to delete the CONTROL.DAT file occasionally than to let it remain on your hard drive. 2) This directory is also where the BBS will write certain files to signal events on the BBS.. such as users paging another user, or a user emails another user. Just use the formula above and you will good to go.

Added Info (09/11/00)
You may now also be wondering what else you can place in the Ramdrive to increase system performance. The above information is the easiest way and the safest way to implement a Ramdrive.

You can also place your script directory (\V) and your FDX Database directory (\FDX) into the Ramdrive. What you would need to do is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or in the batch file that loads the board, add a line to make a directory on the Ramdrive and then copy the contents of the script directory to the new directory. The FDX directory does not need to be copied since the .FDX files will be rebuilt if missing. An example would be:

E: (The Ramdrive)
MD FDX
MD V
COPY D:\VA\V\*.* E:\V

You will also have to increase the size of the Ramdrive from the size you determined above. Set the size so it can contain the scripts, and have the calculated space left over.

Then just make sure you change these directory entries in VConfig to reflect the new Ramdrive directories.

It is possible to put your text directory (\TXT) into the Ramdrive too, but I do not recommend it! There is data and configuration files that do get written to in that directory. So, if you reboot your computer, all those changes will be lost!

I hope that this information helps someone out there. Plus you will notice that you don't hear the hard drive constantly read the file. If you have any questions about the information above, then please email me.