DALnet
Encyclopedia
DALnet is an Internet Relay Chat
(IRC) network
that is currently populated by a stable population of around 30,000 users (neither growing nor shrinking appreciably) in about 18,000 channels, with 40 servers making up the network.
DALnet is accessible by connecting with an IRC client to an active DALnet server on ports 6660 through 6669, and 7000. SSL users can connect on port 6697 as well. The generic round-robin
address is irc.dal.net.
#startrek
channel. This new network was known as "dal's net", after the nickname used by the administrator of the first IRC server on the network, "dalvenjah", taken from the dragon
"Dalvenjah Foxfire", in a fantasy novel by Thorarinn Gunnarsson
. The network was soon renamed from dal's net to DALnet.
In contrast to other IRC networks of the time, in 1995 DALnet implemented "services
", a system that enforced IRC nickname and channel registrations. Traditionally, on IRC, anybody can own a channel or a nickname; if no one is using it, it can be used by anyone who chooses to do so. On DALnet, however, this was no longer the case. This service—which many users saw as a way of firmly establishing their online identities—was a significant factor in DALnet's popularity and afforded the network a distinctive reputation among IRCers. While attempts to implement a similar system had been made before and other networks have since developed registration services of their own, at the time DALnet's successful decision to allow and enforce nickname and channel registration was considered to be unique and even controversial, as it went against established practice.
From 25 users in July 1994, the number of users grew to 1,000 by November 1995, 5,000 by June 1996, 10,000 by December 1996, 50,000 by October 1999, 100,000 in November 2001, and peaked around 142,000 in April 2002. At that point DALnet was one of the four biggest IRC networks. The user count then slowly reduced again until the DDoS attack
(see below) at which point it plummeted and never really recovered. The number of servers grew from 2–4 when started, peaking at 44 in April 2002.
The network operation was severely disrupted in late 2002 and early 2003 due to distributed denial of service attacks. Added to the DDoS issues was the fact that the owner of twisted.dal.net (the world's largest single IRC server, hosting more than 50,000 clients most of the time) delinked his servers (for personal reasons). The other servers on the network could not absorb the extra client load, leading to users' complete inability to connect to DALnet. The network was first crushed by attacks, and then by its own userbase. About 60% of DALnet's population moved to other IRC networks due to these extended connectivity issues.
It was around this time that DALnet closed many of their channels that were dedicated to serving content such as MP3
files and movies. File transfers were still allowed but not on a large scale. This raised suspicion as to whether DALnet was being targeted by the RIAA, although this was not true, but a precautionary measure.
In 2003, DALnet put up their first anycast
servers under the name "The IX Concept", and made irc.dal.net resolve to the anycast IP. Since then, most new client servers linked are anycast.
DALnet has since recovered and remains functional, though it no longer tops the list of the most populated IRC networks. Since then DALnet has remained the fifth largest publicly monitored IRC network by average monthly user count.
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
(IRC) network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
that is currently populated by a stable population of around 30,000 users (neither growing nor shrinking appreciably) in about 18,000 channels, with 40 servers making up the network.
DALnet is accessible by connecting with an IRC client to an active DALnet server on ports 6660 through 6669, and 7000. SSL users can connect on port 6697 as well. The generic round-robin
Round robin DNS
Round robin DNSis a technique of load distribution, load balancing, or fault-tolerance provisioning multiple, redundant Internet Protocol service hosts, e.g., Web servers, FTP servers, by managing the Domain Name System's responses to address requests from client computers according to an...
address is irc.dal.net.
History
DALnet was founded in July 1994 by members of the EFnetEFnet
EFnet or Eris Free network is a major IRC network, with more than 35,000 users. It is the modern-day descendant of the original IRC network.- History :...
#startrek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
channel. This new network was known as "dal's net", after the nickname used by the administrator of the first IRC server on the network, "dalvenjah", taken from the dragon
European dragon
European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.In European folklore, a dragon is a serpentine legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek δράκων,...
"Dalvenjah Foxfire", in a fantasy novel by Thorarinn Gunnarsson
Thorarinn Gunnarsson
Thorarinn Gunnarsson is the pseudonym of an American author of science fiction and fantasy. For several years, he claimed to be of Icelandic birth but recently admitted that this was false....
. The network was soon renamed from dal's net to DALnet.
In contrast to other IRC networks of the time, in 1995 DALnet implemented "services
IRC services
Internet Relay Chat services is a name for a set of features implemented on many modern Internet Relay Chat networks. Services are automated bots with special status which are generally used to provide users with access with certain privileges and protection...
", a system that enforced IRC nickname and channel registrations. Traditionally, on IRC, anybody can own a channel or a nickname; if no one is using it, it can be used by anyone who chooses to do so. On DALnet, however, this was no longer the case. This service—which many users saw as a way of firmly establishing their online identities—was a significant factor in DALnet's popularity and afforded the network a distinctive reputation among IRCers. While attempts to implement a similar system had been made before and other networks have since developed registration services of their own, at the time DALnet's successful decision to allow and enforce nickname and channel registration was considered to be unique and even controversial, as it went against established practice.
From 25 users in July 1994, the number of users grew to 1,000 by November 1995, 5,000 by June 1996, 10,000 by December 1996, 50,000 by October 1999, 100,000 in November 2001, and peaked around 142,000 in April 2002. At that point DALnet was one of the four biggest IRC networks. The user count then slowly reduced again until the DDoS attack
Denial-of-service attack
A denial-of-service attack or distributed denial-of-service attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users...
(see below) at which point it plummeted and never really recovered. The number of servers grew from 2–4 when started, peaking at 44 in April 2002.
The network operation was severely disrupted in late 2002 and early 2003 due to distributed denial of service attacks. Added to the DDoS issues was the fact that the owner of twisted.dal.net (the world's largest single IRC server, hosting more than 50,000 clients most of the time) delinked his servers (for personal reasons). The other servers on the network could not absorb the extra client load, leading to users' complete inability to connect to DALnet. The network was first crushed by attacks, and then by its own userbase. About 60% of DALnet's population moved to other IRC networks due to these extended connectivity issues.
It was around this time that DALnet closed many of their channels that were dedicated to serving content such as MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
files and movies. File transfers were still allowed but not on a large scale. This raised suspicion as to whether DALnet was being targeted by the RIAA, although this was not true, but a precautionary measure.
In 2003, DALnet put up their first anycast
Anycast
Anycast is a network addressing and routing methodology in which datagrams from a single sender are routed to the topologically nearest node in a group of potential receivers all identified by the same destination address.-Addressing methodologies:...
servers under the name "The IX Concept", and made irc.dal.net resolve to the anycast IP. Since then, most new client servers linked are anycast.
DALnet has since recovered and remains functional, though it no longer tops the list of the most populated IRC networks. Since then DALnet has remained the fifth largest publicly monitored IRC network by average monthly user count.