Re: "Virtual host" support?

[Alex Ibrado <alexircd@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wrote:
>Is there something analogous to httpd's virtual hosts
>in ircd?

On Mon, 27 Apr 1998 19:18:21 +0200, forcer wrote:
> Just an example, the sirc client sends server and host arg for USER as
> "blah", and according to RFC1459:
> >   Note that hostname and servername are normally ignored by the IRC
> >   server when the USER command comes from a directly connected client

Actually, a better idea is to consider adding a "HOST virtual.irc.host"
between NICK and USER. This way we don't conflict with the intended
use/implementation of USER. 

As yet another alternative, I am trying to code a port redirector (based
on boutell.com's C source for rinetd, and being prototyped in Perl)
which will detect and remove the HOST command, then transparently
redirect the socket I/O to the appropriate port for that virtual host,
where a normal instance of ircd is waiting for it. This way, ircd itself
need not be touched and we get rid of the problem of the conflicting
channels.

Of course, in either HOST case, we would have to convince the IRC client
programmers to send it along with NICK and USER, since ircd seems to
ignore it anyway (someone confirm this please). Some work, but why not?
Maybe the idea might even grow to become an RFC ;) Anyone else
interested in this?

> And this all would involve alot of hacking, with minimal to no gain in memory
> need and CPU cycles, and probably negative gains for performance, if the
> different server instance are totally unrelated.

I agree that there will be some performance degradation, but I don't
think it will be much, especially if we do just #2 ("show the
appropriate MOTD"). I think the drawbacks would be minor enough compared
to the ability to offer clients an illusion, at the very least, of
having their own irc server, just like HTTP_HOST gives them the illusion
of having a dedicated webserver. In any case, it's still an interesting
problem. :)

Someone please set me straight (quick! before I get into this too
deeply! ;) if I'm overlooking some obvious solution which will allow
"virtual IRC servers" sharing the same IP and port range but showing
different channels and messages of the day...

George and Andrew, thanks for the comments, but I think those approaches
still need distinct IP addresses for multihosting to work. Please
correct me if I am mistaken.

Regards,
Alex