vb.org Archive - Miscellaneous Hacks - vbNetwork - share forums with other boards

My apologies for having been absent for so long, I did hear from the author and have revamped the instructions to what I hope will be a little easier to follow, I will post and attach them -

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vbNetwork Version 0.9.5
Requirements/Notes
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This plugin is being developed on 3.8.X of vBulletin and has been tested on 3.6.X and 3.7.X
PHP's libcurl package needs to be installed on your server.
The usergroup "Unregistered / Not Logged" must be given permission to view network forums and in Usergroup Manager to post and reply, you can disable guest posting in the forum permissions but must be enabled in the usergroup settings.
It is recommended that your User Registration Options allow usernames up to 25 characters in length.
Installation
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1. Upload all files in the UPLOAD directory, preserving the directory structure.
2. Create the following directories with the following permissions

./network/packets/incoming - chmod 777
./network/packets/outgoing - chmod 777
3. Go to your AdminCP and install the product's XML file (product-network.xml or product-network-3.5.X.xml if you're using vBulletin 3.5)
Instructions for Those Running a Network or acting as the central site
Steps for Creating a Network
1. Go into your Control Panel and under Network Management select "Add New Network"
2. Fill out the information accordingly. Make sure that the "Network Admin" and "SelfID" match.
3. Under "Network Manager" select the newly created network (click on network name).
4. Under "Add a New Messageboard" enter in the information for your messageboard/site (The primary Board/site).
The "Node Code" should match what you entered under "Add New Network" under Self ID
Click Save.
Steps for Creating a Network Forum (Share Forum)
1. Under "Network Forum Manger" select "Add Network Forum".
2. Enter in a unique numeric Network Forum ID (This can be anything I just use three digits say 199).
3. Your board will automatically be subscribed to forums set as network forums with this number, see next step.
4. Use the Forum Manager to assign this network forum to a forum on your board, open the forum (edit) and scroll to the bottom, you will see a dropdown with 2 choices – Local or Networked. Select networked then enter the Network Forum ID below such as 199 as is the case above.
You can do this for more than one forum and the satellite boards will use the same setting in the forum they wish to share.
Steps for Adding a Mesasgeboard/Site to Your Network
1. Go into your Control Panel and under Network Manager select the desired network, as per set up in step 1, click on the name to open/edit.
2. Under "Add a New Messageboard" enter the information (as per below) for the new messageboard and click "Save Board".
Node Code – for this I usually use an abbreviation of the board/site that is going to be joining, normally 3 letters.(eg abc)
Board URL is the URL of the other board/site.
Service URL is the location of service.php EG http://www.anothermessageboard.com/network/service.php or http://www.anothermessageboard.com/f...rk/service.php
depending on the site setup.
3. Use the "Network Forum Manager" to add the new board to the desired network forums.
Open Network Forum Manager, click “Add Board to Forum” under the corresponding Forum ID (eg The 199 we assigned earlier)
Enter the node code you assigned earlier for the new site/board (eg abc)
4. Once again select the desired network in the Network Manager.
5. Under "XML Update" copy the XML from "Network Nodes" and "Network Forums" and send it to the admin of the new site/messageboard. The admin will use this XML to update the network info on their board.
6. Using the Network Manager again, under "Network Updates" select the boards on your network to send an update. Every board on your network will need an update with the new messageboard's info, so you should probably select every board.
7. Click "Send Updates".
Instructions for Those Joining a Network
Steps for Joining a Network
1. Go into your Control Panel and under Network Management select "Add New Network"
2. The network admin should have supplied you with the information on this screen.
Network Name – set by central site
Network Admin – set by central site
Self ID – set by central site that would be the abc example above.
Network password – set by central site
Click Save
3. Get back to "Network Manager" under "Network Management" and open/edit the network you just added.
4. The network admin should have supplied you with XML for "Network Nodes" and "Network Forums". Paste the XML into the appropiate field and click "Save".
Your board is now configured to receive packets from the network, but you will have to assign a forum to receive and send posts see next step.
Steps for Adding/assigning a Network Forum
1. Notify your network admin that you wish to subscribe to a certain network forum, he will give you the Network Forum ID (The 199 example above) and add you to the share forum as well.
2. Once your network admin has confirmed that you have been subscribed to the network forum, use the "Forum Manager" to assign a local forum to the network forum (this can be any forum on your site, some people set up a specific forum for this purpose). These options are near the bottom of the forum configuration under "Network Options".
Select Networked Forum from the drop down and enter the Network Forum ID (eg 199) below, then save it.
Posts from both sites will now appear in that forum.
Final Notes
When adding boards, removing board, adding network forums, removing network forums, adding messageboards to and removing messageboards from network forums, all the boards on your network will need to be updated with this new information.
Open the Network Manager, open/edit the affected network.
Check the boxes in the list of subscribed sites to select those that will receive updates.
Click “Send Updates”
Go to 'Scheduled Task Manager' and set your network delivery to run (you may have to enable it) as often as you need it to. (find the network and open/edit, if everything is set to * it will send/receive every minute)
To run a test, make a post in the shared forum, then go to 'Scheduled Task Manager' and click “Run Now” under the edit button.

Cron Configuration
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Your board will periodically send out updates (mostly new posts/threads). This is done through a cron, either a vBulletin "Scheduled Task" or a standard Unix cron.
In 'Scheduled Task Manager' the installer will create a task that is by default disabled.
You must enable to the scheduled task and set it to run as often as you like.
Alternatively, you can run a system cron. The cron must be run from the directory of the deliver.php script and passed the 'console' parameter. An example is below:

cd /directory/of/your/forum/network; php -f deliver.php console
Contributors
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1. ChairmanTroll at www.theranter.com
2. Hambil at www.theranter.com
Thank you!
Other
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Currently support for this plugin is minimal. I can be contacted at zethon@gmail.com.
I hope to one day add network voting support and pm support.
This plugin was originally developed in Summer 2006 and has undergone a lot of revision and bug fixing since. Please send me any bugs you find in the network software and I will do my best. Feel free to contribute code as well.
If you are interested in joining your board to our existing network, send me an email and we'll be happy to have you. But please realize that the content of our network is based on trolling and may not be suitable for some message boards.
If you need some help starting up your own network, let me know and I'll do my best to help out.

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