PsyBNC

[James Bourne]

How To Run psyBNC as a FireDaemon Service

psyBNC is an easy-to-use, multi-user, permanent IRC-Bouncer with many features. Some of its features include symmetric ciphering of talk and connections (Blowfish and IDEA), the possibility of linking multiple bouncers to an internal network including a shared partyline, vhost- and relay support to connected bouncers and an extensive online help system. It can be setup to run as a Windows Service using FireDaemon. This is how to do it:

Before You Even Contemplating Doing Any Setup
Things you need to know about psyBNC:

• The Windows build of psyBNC _DOESNT_ work on 64-bit systems. It crashes. So stop right there.
• PsyBNC only seems to work when installed in C:\psyBNC. It always fails to find its configuration file. If you find a workaround please let us know!
• The primary process forks a child process. This is pretty standard practice for daemonising a process under Unix for which psyBNC is primarily written. This means two things: FireDaemon _WILL_ _NOT_ be able control psyBNC unless you force the process into a Windows Job Group and secondly: FireDaemon cannot detect psyBNC crashes.
• psyBNC writes a PID file. The PID file acts as a mutex to stop multiple instances of the child process instantiating. Hence, this file must be deleted in advance of running the service under FireDaemon. FireDaemon allows this to be automated. The PID file is typically c:\psybnc\psybnc.pid
• If you are attempting to run psyBNC interactively via Remote Desktop (RDP) then you might not see it running. Please see this post on how to get around this situation.
• psyBNC should _NOT_ be running prior to attempting to start it under FireDaemon. Check your Process List under Task Manager and terminate with extreme prejudice.

Clear as mud? Right let's get on running psyBNC as a FireDaemon service!

Download and psyBNC
Download and extract psyBNC into the directory of your choice (eg. c:\psybnc).

Install FireDaemon Pro
FireDaemon can be downloaded from here.

Configure FireDaemon
Double click the FireDaemon desktop icon:



Create a new service by clicking on the Create a new service definition button in the toolbar or typing Ctrl+N. The New Service Definition dialog will be displayed. Fill out the fields in the Program tab as follows (adjust paths to suite your installation):



Now click on the Settings tab. You can optionally set the Interact with Desktop check box if you want to see what psyBNC is upto. You can optionally run psyBNC as the user you installed it as. In the Logon Account field type your username (eg. Administrator) and then enter the user's password twice in the Password and Confirm fields. IMPORTANT Because psyBNC forks - make sure you set Upon Program Exit to Disabled



Now click on the Advanced tab. Change the Job Type to Global Job.



Now click on the Dependencies tab. Make sure the service depends on the lanmanworkstation (Workstation) service to ensure the TCP/IP and CIFS stacks are both up prior to starting psyBNC.



Lastly, click on the Pre / Post-Service tab. For psyBNC to start cleanly any legacy PID file must be deleted. In the Pre-Service Programs section click on the Append button. Fill out the dialog box as follows (adjust paths to suite):



Then click on the OK button.



Now click on the Install button to install and start psyBNC as a FireDaemon Service!



If you are running psyBNC interactively you will see:



Otherwise you will need to check the Task Manager: