help configuring oper block

[ray5961]

I've installed unrealircd 3.2.7 and most everything seems to be running pretty well. In the .conf file, I have the following oper block:

oper Ray {
class clients;
from {
userhost *@192.168.0.10;
};
password "test";
flags {
netadmin;
global;
can_rehash;
can_override;
};
swhois "HELLO!!!!";
};

NOTE: on the userhost line, I have my public IP# in the actual file, I just changed it to a 192.168.x.x address for the purposes of posting here. Everything else is the same.

When I log into the server using mIRC32, I can access the rooms, etc. If I'm the first person into the room, I show up as an operator. However, if I am not and/or I deop myself, then the server will not allow me to become an op again. Also, if I try to issue a /rehash command, the server says "Permission Denied- You do not have the correct IRC operator privileges". I can't seem to get the server to recognize me as the operator.

I'm unclear if there is an error here or if I need to run chanserv or nickserv for these functions. Shouldn't just listing myself in the unrealircd.conf file be enough to allow me to op myself? In the .conf file, I have a password listed in the oper block, but when I login with mIRC, it doesn't seem to matter if I supply a password or not.

Am I doing something incorrect or ?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Ray

[zEkE]

When you connect to the server you are a normal user, like anyone else. You need to identify yourself to this oper block, using "/oper Ray test".

The important things here are:
- The username. "Ray" is case-sensitive, and it is the username of your oper block. It doesn't need to be the same as your nickname to identify to it.
- The password. This is also case-sensitive.
- The userhost. This is a list of hostnames you expect to be connecting from. If you are connected from a host that does not match one in this list, it will fail. A lot of places will use *@*, although consider that anyone, anywhere on the internet will be able to identify to this using your username/password if they can connect to your server.

Remember you also need to rehash (best) or restart (not good if users connected) your server for any config changes to take effect.

[ray5961]

ahhh, okay, thanks a lot! That helps clear it up for me. I will give all that a try in a minute.

I'm also looking to setup a system whereby users must supply a username/password in order to join specific channels (or all channels) on the server. I would like to have the usernames/passwords controlled by either a flat file or a MySQL database that can be generated as members join another parts of our website. I'm currently evaluating two products for this - Epona and also Anope.

When using something lke Epona, my understanding is that these are effectively bots that run on the server along side the unreal ircd server and sit on the channels and issue what would otherwise be commands that the operator would manually issue in order to admin the channels. Is that correct?

Do you, or anyone on this forum, have any experience with using a MySQL based authentication system for the channels? Epona and Anope seem to be the two main options here that I have found. Is one better and/or easier to configure than the other? Has anyone on this forum used MySQL to handle username/password control for their channels?

thanks!

Ray

[zEkE]

This seems like either a custom IRCd module, or a services bot of some kind (the likes of which i don't recall seeing at all - so either modifying or building from scratch is in order).

The IRC protocol will allow you to set a key to join each channel, however this is a channel-wide password, and in no way user specific.

The other option may be a module for Anope (though it's SQL support is still lacking) - perhaps Srvx or Atheme may be able to support something like this with some modules or modifications? I'm not familiar with what these support, and I don't believe Srvx is compatible with Unreal, meaning a need to install a compatible IRCd instead.

Others can probably make some other (more useful?) suggestions

[ray5961]

This seems like either a custom IRCd module, or a services bot of some kind (the likes of which i don't recall seeing at all - so either modifying or building from scratch is in order).

The IRC protocol will allow you to set a key to join each channel, however this is a channel-wide password, and in no way user specific.

The other option may be a module for Anope (though it's SQL support is still lacking) - perhaps Srvx or Atheme may be able to support something like this with some modules or modifications? I'm not familiar with what these support, and I don't believe Srvx is compatible with Unreal, meaning a need to install a compatible IRCd instead.

Others can probably make some other (more useful?) suggestions

I wrote to the companies who provide the IRC services and asked them if their software will provide for this, but as of yet I haven't heard anything back. I think based on what I have learned about the IRC protocols so far, it doesn't appear that IRC really has any built in username/password authentication system, nor does it lend itself to any.

What I ended up doing was writing my own channel bot in PHP. I've been using that to sit on the channels. It works pretty well and functions to keep control of the channels. The bot is very simple: when run, it logs in and then identifies itself to the server using the oper command. From there, it joins all the channels, modes itself to +o and changes the topics for the channels. From there, it start logging all communications to a file on the hard drive called "channel_bot.log".

I may modify the program and/or add another bot to make some of the channels "password protected". However, since the IRC protocols don't really provide for traditional user/password authentication, I was thinking I might setup an invite only channel. When a user joins with a nick that matches a user in a database (mysql or flat file, etc) then the bot would send the user a private message asking for their password. If the user replies back with the proper password, then the bot would invite them to the private channel. If not, then the bot would simply reply back that the password was invalid and to try again.

This method would allow a channel to remain private and be controlled using a sort of username/password system, since the bot would have control over inviting or not inviting users to the channel.

Anyway, thanks for your help on the /oper thing

Ray