Forums General Discussion mIRC in a standalone classroom with no internet

Is it possible to run mIRC in a training environment with no outside connectivity whatsoever. We simply have a standalone LAN in the classroom with instructor machines and student machines; in some cases only one instructor and only one student. Can mIRC be configured using only these two PCs with no Internet access whatsoever? Is it possible for one of these PCs to run the client software and the other PC run the client software AND the server software or do I need a dedicated server PC? I'm just beginning my research on this so I have a lot to learn. Any guidance/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Should I post this question in the Support forum or is this the proper forum?

Without installing an IRC server on your local network, mIRC would be unable to utilize the standard IRC server connectivity and joining of channels, etc.

However, mIRC has a built-in DCC client server model that allows for direct connect between multiple mIRC clients to one mIRC client operating a DCC server.

You can find the DCC Server settings under Options --> DCC --> Server.

Once the instructor has a DCC Server running, you can initiate a connection from the student computers to the instructor computer by using the following command:

/chat 192.168.1.138:59

Where you specify the local IP address of the instructor's computer, followed by a comma, followed by the port number specified in the DCC Server options.

Another option is to download, install and configure your own IRC server (IRC daemon) to your instructor machines. If more than one, you can even link them all together to make your own IRC network throughout the campus.

If installing to a Linux machine, you can look at Ratbox (simple and light weight) or Charybdis (a descendant of ratbox) or ircd-seven (a descendant of charybdis).

https://www.ratbox.org/

https://github.com/charybdis-ircd/charybdis

https://github.com/freenode/ircd-seven

If the instructor machines are Windows, you're pretty much stuck with one of two crappy options. UnrealIRCd and InspIRCd.

https://www.unrealircd.org/

https://www.inspircd.org/

good luck!

Another option is the oragono IRC server daemon.

It can be installed on windows as well from what I read here: https://github.com/oragono/oragono/blob/stable/docs/MANUAL.md

Thanks for the replies. I don't know enough yet for any intelligent follow-up questions. I need to research this "built-in DCC client server model" you mentioned. Am I correct in assuming (I know, I know, never assume) that the mIRC software (using this built-in client server model) is capable of performing both client and server functionality as long as it stays on the local network and only uses mIRC clients?

Again, I am looking for a VERY simple chat solution for use in a single classroom... no campus, no multiple classrooms, nothing. Effectively, we are SIMULATING an Operations Center where chat communications are used, but for classroom purposes, all communications will be between an instructor and one student (possibly a few students).

I just installed oragono server by downloading the latest release and following the instructions. I unpacked the zip file and in Windows Explorer, shift right-clicked the folder then chose to "Open a Powershell window here". I copied the default.yaml file to ircd.yaml and also typed out the command finally I ran and a Windows firewall dialog appeared and I chose to allow connections on my private network.

I started mIRC v7.65 and ran the command

I got the following result!



I pressed Ctrl + C in the powershell window where I entered the command to stop the process.

You'll want to add a listener to the ircd.yaml file. In my case I had to add my IPv4 address and port to the yaml file:



Also make sure you allow inbound tcp connection on your private network for port 6667 to application oragono.exe in Windows Firewall.

You should have this up and running under 15 minutes.

kap: is that listener strictly necessary? also, if you're going to mkcerts, i think you might as well enable an SSL port, or skip that step?

and very cool! it's so rare to see a new ircd "written from scratch." interesting that it's written in "Go".

I think it is necessary if you want to be able to connect to 6667 from the local network. However I didn't read the yaml file properly:



...so one can just follow the instructions as laid out in the ircd.yaml file...



I am reading the ircd.yaml now and see that by default it listens on all interfaces on port 6697.

So yeah you don't really need to do anything in the ircd.yaml file if you've run the mkcerts command. In mIRC just run where 192.168.99.21 is the instructors machine and it should work!

As a side note:
I've had some positive experiences with the oragono crew. Dan Oaks helped me out troubleshooting an issue I had getting YABOT (perl) to run on oragono some time ago: https://github.com/gryphonshafer/Bot-IRC/issues/3

They're a friendly bunch and also very active on the #ircdocs and #ircv3 channels on freenode!

Very cool stuff! And the fact that it's ready to run out of the box is a refreshing experience. Unlike setting up an eggdrop, for instance.

---

I wonder what it would take to convince Khaled to add a built-in irc daemon to mIRC. I'm sure half the code is already written (as an irc client).

OK, I am trying to set up a very simple test. I have 2 laptops connected to each other (and ONLY to each other) via a lan switch. I have no internet, no wi-fi or anything else connected other than 2 ethernet cables and a 4 port ethernet switch. Both laptops are running Win 10. I loaded the mIRC v7.65 on both laptops. I do not have a separate IRC server running because I was trying to use the server option in mIRC. I am trying to talk between the two laptops and I keep getting the "Waiting for ack...", "Unable to connect", and "DCC session closed" notifications. The firewall on both laptops is completely turned off. I have tried the "server option" on both laptops. Any suggestions? This is the first time I have tried using IRC.

I am trying to make two laptops chat running a mIRC client on each laptop and UnrealIRCD on one of the
laptops as the server. The two laptops are connected via an Ethernet switch with no other connectivity whatsoever.
Both laptops have their wifi disabled. They are completely isolated except to each other via the ethernet connection.
They are running Win 10 and are in a workgroup; they are NOT in a domain. One of the two laptops is also running the
UnrealIRCD server software. Both of the mIRC clients get the following message:"Unable to connect to server (Permission denied)

I have never configured IRC before and I am trying to make this as simple as possible so that I have a "known good" configuration
before I try to get more sophisticated. Any thoughts on what I should look for?

The error message is quite clear, the server is denying you the access. You need help configuring unrealircd, it most likely has nothing to do with mIRC.

If the DCC server functionality within mIRC had functioned like I thought it would, I also would have looked more towards this being an UnrealICRD configuration problem. But, due to the fact that the DCC server functionality within mIRC didn't work either (prior to installing UnrealICRD), I had to consider the fact that I am also doing something wrong within mIRC.
If I had any former experience with IRC in general (both server and client), I would have something to build on. Oh well, I gotta start somewhere.

Thanks.

You can check if the DCC Server is working correctly by following these steps in mIRC:

1. Open the Options/Connect dialog. Enter a nickname and alternative nickname.
2. Open the Options/DCC/Server dialog. Make sure all boxes are checked and the port is set to 59.
3. Press the OK button to save the settings and close the Options dialog.
4. In the same copy of mIRC, type the command "/dcc chat 127.0.0.1" and press the enter key. This will make your copy of mIRC connect to its own DCC Server to chat.

That said, you really want to use an IRC server as that is what mIRC was designed for. The DCC Server is just a basic one-to-one direct chat method.

Some servers, like UnrealIRCd, distribute default configuration files that force you to read through them to make sure that you enable/disable/change various settings, for security reasons, before the server will allow incoming connections. It can take some work and requires some experience with IRC and IRC servers.

Other servers, like Oregano, come with preset configuration files that will work out of the box by following a few simple steps. However, if you plan to use such a server, you need to configure it properly to make sure it is secure for general use.

Ok, can you give the exact steps you are using to try to connect from machine A, to machine B hosting the dcc server?

Thanks for the detailed instructions to make the DCC server operational. I had most of it right but I guess I was using the wrong syntax in my command line.

Now I want to get the UnrealIRCD server working

I think the problem with my UnrealIRCD server is the fully qualified domain name of the server. Here is my issue. I am not on a domain. I only have two laptops connected by a switch. The IPs I am using are 200.150.50.1 and 200.150.50.2 and the machine names are IRC_1 and IRC_2, respectively. The two laptops are in the default workgroup "WORKGROUP". The fully qualified name I am using is "IRC_1.local". Does that sound correct?

If I have too much more trouble with UnrealIRCD, I might try going with Oregano.

Avoid trying to connect to yourself from the same computer, using any other IP address than 127.0.0.1. Many/most network configurations prohibit loopback with your assigned public IP.

Try connecting to your IRC server from a different computer for testing.

Thanks for the heads up on the loopback IP. I think my issue is that I am trying to use UnrealIRCD (Windows environment) and it is requiring me to identify "me" in the configuration file using a fully qualified host name. I am not in a domain, only a workgroup. I am using static IP and no DNS. I have an ultra-simple LAN setup and maybe that is part of the problem. The computer name of the laptop running UnrealIRCD is IRC1. I have tried to address it in the config file as "IRC1" but the server says it has to be a " fully qualified host name". I even tried to use IRC1.local and even the IP address. I think that is my hangup right now. I am trying to chat with the folks at UnrealIRCD to see if they have any suggestions. Let me know if you have any more ideas. BTW, I am trying to connect via a different laptop on the same LAN.