Sysop Guide

The long-form admin overview. Newer than the README, less prescriptive
than the Tutorial.

What runs

ANetBBS is a handful of services:

systemctl status anetbbs-web anetbbs anetbbs-mrc-bridge anetbbs-finger anetbbs-binkp
shows the lot.

Daily

• Glance at the Sysop Control Panel for service health and
  who's online.
• Check the NodeSpy panel for any stuck sessions; kick if needed.
• Echomail polling runs on its own — a background poller thread
  inside anetbbs-web polls each network on its configured interval
  (default every 60 min), no cron needed. Verify
  /admin/echomail/log/ for errors.
• Approve any files flagged by the virus scanner.
• If you run the network hub: peek at the hatch/hold queue under
  Hub Management (see below) — a backlog there means outbound files
  or messages aren't reaching peers.
• Check the notification bell: it flags five things that need a
  sysop's review — MSP federation join requests, QWK node
  applications, users pending NUV approval, unknown/bad echomail
  areas, and network join applications. Each admin can toggle these
  independently at /notifications/settings (admin-only toggles).

Weekly

• Run Backup.
• Skim the Stats page — top users, new registrations, message
  counts.
• Read the latest fido news area, post a hello if you've been
  quiet.

Monthly

• Rotate logs (/var/log/anetbbs/ — logrotate config in
  deploy/logrotate.anetbbs). This can also be automated — see
  Scheduled events below.
• Review user registrations: ban obvious spam accounts.
• Update door binaries if their authors have patched.
• Check Peers for dead links (/admin/peers/health).

Hub Management

If this install is the designated network hub
(REGISTRY_MODE_ENABLED=true — see ANotherNetwork), an extra
admin surface appears at /admin/echomail/hub/:

• BinkP nodes and QWK nodes — add/edit/delete downstream
  nodes, subscribe/unsubscribe them from areas, reset a QWK node's
  high-water mark.
• Hold queue — messages/files held back from distribution rather
  than sent straight out.
• Node requests — the approve/deny queue for BBSes applying for
  a node number (terminal wizard or the peer-facing /qwkhub/apply
  endpoint both land here).
• Generation & Distribution — generate the nodelist right now
  (in addition to its weekly schedule), preview a QWK packet for a
  node without marking anything as sent, and see TIC/file
  distribution status.

A peer install (not the hub) doesn't see this section — it has
nothing of its own to manage there.

Scheduled events

/admin/events/ lets a sysop automate routine maintenance instead
of doing it by hand: log rotation, a security-update check, SQLite
VACUUM, TradeWars 2002 daily maintenance, generating the
ANotherNetwork nodelist, or an arbitrary shell command, each on its
own schedule. Worth a look if you're tired of remembering to do the
Monthly items above yourself.

On upgrade

1. Take your own backup if you want extra safety beyond what
   update.sh snapshots automatically (see Backup).
2. sudo bash update.sh --install-dir /opt/anetbbs — this stops
   services, backs up .env/the DB/systemd units, applies the new
   code, migrates the schema, and restarts everything itself. No
   manual stop/start needed.
3. Hard-refresh your browser to bust cached CSS.
4. Watch journalctl -u anetbbs-web -f for a minute to catch
   any column-add migration noise.

Where things live

• Install: /opt/anetbbs/ (this site)
• Data: /opt/anetbbs/data/ (sqlite + uploads)
• Logs: /opt/anetbbs/logs/ (rotated)
• DOSBox doors: /var/lib/anetbbs/doors/<name>/
• Echomail spool: under data dir, echomail/{in,out}box/

See also

• Sysop Control Panel
• Door Setup
• BinkP Setup
• Backup
• Tutorial