People today that connect on an IRC network the first time, have the same question. What is their use and why use them? In this article, we will explain to you about each service and its uses.
Remember to be able to use services you must be a registered user on CyIRC, otherwise, you can’t use any of our services.
There are different types of IRC services that are used on IRC networks today.
One of the most common is the Anope, Atheme, IRCu, and IRC Services.
CyIRC uses Anope 2.0.x, so we are going to rely on our Anope services all the way in all of our tutorials and articles.
Anope is a set of IRC Services forked from Epona early 2003 to pick up where Epona had been abandoned.
Ever since there have been improvements in the quality and functionality of Anope, resulting in the feature-rich set of services we offer today.
NickServ an IRC command that enables users to register their nick, so they are the only user with that name, helping prevent confusion and false identification.
Below is an example of how the NickServ command may work on an IRC server.
Keep in mind that not every IRC server uses the same software, and that this command may operate differently.
/nickserv register password e-mail or /register password e-mail
Above is an example of how to register the nick you are currently using.
In the above example, you would substitute the password for the password you want to use to log in and e-mail with your e-mail address.
Most servers require a valid e-mail address that they will e-mail with a verification code.
To verify your nickname you will receive a passcode and must be put in this way once:
/msg NickServ confirm passcode (replace passcode with the code you have received in your e-mail)
If the nick you are attempting to register is already being used by someone, you will receive an error similar to: “Nickname nick is already registered!”.
/msg nickserv identify password or /ns id password (for a shorter way)
Once your nick is registered, each time you log into the IRC server, if you want to use your registered nick, you must identify with the server using the above command.
In the above example, you would substitute a password with the password you used earlier to register.
Using /msg NickServ help will give you more on NickServ. We will cover on a later date some cool things to do on our services.
NOTE: Some IRC servers provide an alias for ‘/msg NickServ‘ where you can use ‘/ns‘ or ‘/nickserv‘ in its place.
Some IRC networks, though uncommon, may require you to use the full ‘/msg nickserv@services.networkname.tld COMMAND_HERE Options_here’ version of the command.
On CyIRC we use three ways of the command ‘/msg NickServ’, ‘/ns‘ or ‘/nickserv‘, for example /msg NickServ help or /nickserv help or /ns help.
The same goes for all of our services like ChanServ, HostServ, BotServ, MemoServ e.t.c. See more on our MOTD (Message Of The Day) or just type /motd on our servers.
ChanServ an IRC command that enables users to register a channel and always remain in control. Below, is an example of how the ChanServ command may work on the IRC server.
Note: Not every IRC server uses the same software or settings, and this command may operate differently or not at all, depending on the server’s configuration.
/msg chanserv help or /chanserv help or /cs help
The above commands would execute display the help screen in the main server window in IRC displaying all the available commands ChanServ is capable of doing.
/msg chanserv register #channel description
Above is an example of how you would register a channel with the IRC server. For this command to work, you must have already registered your nick with the nickserv command. In this example, you would replace “#channel” with the name of the channel you want to register (keep the #).
Replace description telling what the channel is about, for example, the Official Channel of … whatever your description is about.
/msg chanserv akick #somechannel add !@*somehost.com Not allowed in chat
In the above example, this command would add an auto kick for any user coming from somehost.com with a message “Not allowed in chat”.
MemoServ is an IRC service that sends memos to users or channels. MemoServ offers a way to send short messages to users who are currently offline, or to entire channels if you wish.
This allows you and your users to quickly tell offline users something, without a chance of forgetting it. Something similar to an email Inbox, but for short messages.
/msg MemoServ help or /memoserv help or /ms help
This will provide all the corresponding commands for MemoServ.
Most common commands are: canceled, check, del, help, ignore, info, list, read, send, sendall (IRCop only), set, staff (IRCop only).
The example you received a memo from a friend type /ms list to see all or if it is the only one just type /ms read 1 1 is of the number of the message corresponding to the list number after you read the memo just type /ms del 1 to delete it.
Sending a message to a friend is rather easy, type /ms send nickname message
For example /ms send Cerberus Hi there, missed you today, hope you are ok. Greetings!
If you are a channel admin or owner you can send a memo to the channel to all members type /ms send #yourchannel your message here. This will send a message to all on your channel.
HostServ is a virtual host service that gives you a vhost. HostServ offers a way to easily provide virtual hosts to the users on your network.
In case your IRCd supports virtual hosts, HostServ can be used as a very easy interface for setting them and enables the virtual host every time a user joins the network.
The most common commands are: active, del, delall, group, help, list, off, on, reject, request, set, setall, waiting and our added extra commands are offer, offerlist.
/msg hostserv help or /hostserv help or /hs help
This will provide all the corresponding commands for HostServ.
For example, if you want to have your own fun vhost you can get it, type /hs request linux.is.cool.com and the administrator will receive an auto-memo from you and activate it for you.
You will receive an auto-memo back saying it was approved or rejected.
So, to activate your cool vhost, just type /hs on, and your host changes to yournick yournick@linux.is.cool.com if you don’t see it in your /whois yournick, then reconnect, login and you will see it in your /whois yournick.
Our offer & offerlist are also explained in “What to do after registration – vHost Offer list” for details.
BotServ is channel bot services, that allows you to create several bots for your network. When you register your channel, Chanserv comes into the channel you registered.
These bots can join channels and take over most actions from ChanServ, making things just a tad more intuitive. Additionally, BotServ also adds a few features like fantasy commands and kick triggers.
For more information on a specific command, type /msg BotServ HELP or /botserv help or /bs help
You can even make your own botname and change Chanserv to have a different name. For example, command /msg botserv add nick user host real
In this case, as e.g. /msg botserv add Maelstrom maelstrom services.cyirc.org A powerful bot. You can then access it by using command assign /msg botserv assign #yourchannel Maelstrom.
This will assign the bot you created and will join your channel replacing Chanserv in the process. You can’t have Chanserv and the bot you created, cos this action doesn’t work.
BotServ Fantasy Commands that you can use with a trigger !. It allows you to use simple shortcuts in place of many of the NickServ, ChanServ, and BotServ command. After you have created your channel you must enable the command for fantasy commands to work.
To use Fantasy commands, you first have to turn on the option, using this command:
/msg botserv set #channel fantasy on
For instance, if I wanted to turn on Fantasy commands in #topgear, You’d use this command:
/msg botserv set #topgear fantasy on
Once Fantasy commands are turned on, you can use any of the commands below, as long as you have the proper access.
In other words, you cannot kick someone if you’re not a hop or op on the channel.
Type in your channel now !help and see all the corresponding commands you can use with trigger ! and the command needed.
OperServ is for operator utility services that provide a very complete set of functionality for IRC Operators, allowing them to operate their network in a very efficient way.
Including often used features like akills and session limiting, this black box for IRC Operators ensures a safe and easy to manage IRC network.
However, users can’t use OperServ, because they do not have access to this service. This is only provided for IRCops and Admins only.
We will not cover any commands for users, but we will give you the same corresponding commands we use as Operators on Services.
Common command to use is /msg operserv help or /operserv help or /os help.
In the next articles, we will give you examples of how to recover your nickname and other small little details of how-to’s quick and easy to use.
As usual, leave us comments down below.