The IRC Database tracks public IRC networks: users, channels, topics, uptime and IRCv3 support, with charts and history. This page explains how to get listed, what our bot does on your network, how to manage your listing yourself and what to do when a server is no longer shown.
How to get listed
- Allow our bot to connect from 62.169.23.25 (firewall, connection throttling, DNSBL and K/G/Z-line exceptions, see below).
- Create an account on this site. https://irc.dbase.in.rs/register
- Submit your network with its name, website and a short description. https://irc.dbase.in.rs/irc/submit-network
- Submit your server(s). You can also choose the nickname our bot uses, so your opers recognise it. https://irc.dbase.in.rs/irc/submit-server
- After approval the bot visits your network the next night and the first statistics appear the day after.
Requirements
- A public IRC server reachable from the internet on a plain or TLS port (TLS, e.g. 6697, is preferred).
- LIST must work for a freshly connected client. If your server delays LIST after connect, set the waiting time on the server settings.
- If your server only accepts registered users, give us SASL credentials for a bot account; SASL is only sent over TLS.
- One bot connection per network at a time; we never flood and we quit cleanly.
Let our bot in
Our bot connects from 62.169.23.25. When a firewall, connection throttling, a DNSBL or a ban blocks it, the scan fails, and after 3 days without a single successful connection the server is hidden from the list. Add an exception for this address:
62.169.23.25
Firewall (iptables / ufw)
iptables -I INPUT -s 62.169.23.25 -p tcp -m multiport --dports 6667,6697 -j ACCEPT
ufw allow from 62.169.23.25 to any port 6667,6697 proto tcpUnrealIRCd 6
except ban {
mask *@62.169.23.25;
type { blacklist; connect-flood; handshake-data-flood; }
}InspIRCd
<exception host="*@62.169.23.25" reason="IRC Database statistics bot">Solanum / Charybdis / ircd-ratbox
exempt {
ip = "62.169.23.25";
};These are examples; check the documentation of your IRCd for the exact syntax. To test, connect from a machine outside your network to the same hostname and port as listed here.
What our bot does on your network
Once per night, with one connection per network at a time. It always visits your primary server and, in turn, two more of your servers, a few minutes apart. A network with 30 servers is fully covered in about two weeks.
During a visit it:
- registers with the nickname you chose (default IRCDBaseBot), asks CAP LS for IRCv3 support and uses SASL only when you gave us credentials and the connection is TLS;
- reads LUSERS (users, operators, servers) and the ISUPPORT (005) tokens;
- reads LIST (channels, user counts, topics);
- asks MAP and LINKS to discover new servers of your network (can be switched off on Manage Servers);
- joins one channel to collect nicknames with NAMES and WHO (can be switched off per network);
- quits with a link to your server page.
Every 4 hours we also open a TCP/TLS connection to each server and close it again right away, without registering, to measure uptime, connection time and TLS certificate expiry.
Claim your network and manage it yourself
If your network is listed but has no owner, open its page and click "Claim it". Add the TXT record we show (ircdbase-verify=…) to the DNS of your website domain or the domain of your IRC servers, press Verify and you become the owner. No waiting for us.
If you submitted the network yourself, you become its owner as soon as it is approved.
Team roles
- Owner: full control over the network, its servers and its team.
- Manager: edits the network, approves servers, picks the primary server and which servers are scanned, sees problem reports and the change history.
- Contributor: submits servers and edits the servers they added.
Owners and managers get a weekly report, warnings before a TLS certificate expires, problem reports from users, a change history with undo, and an e-mail when a server stops answering.
Why a server or network disappeared from the list
We list only servers that work, because our lists are also used by IRC apps such as AndroidIRCx through the public API. If a server accepts no connection at all for 3 days (neither the nightly scan nor the 4-hourly check), it is hidden from the directory, the API and the scanner. When the last server of a network is hidden, the network is hidden too.
- Nothing is deleted: statistics, channels and history stay.
- DNS problems on our side do not count. If our own resolver cannot find your server, we ask public resolvers (1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8). Only a server that does not answer at all is hidden.
- If the network has an owner, the owner and managers get an e-mail. Networks without an owner are simply hidden.
How to get back on the list
- Make sure the server is running and its hostname points to it.
- Allow 62.169.23.25 in your firewall and ban exceptions.
- If the server moved, change its hostname or port on Manage Servers.
- Press "Check again" next to the server on Manage Servers. If it answers, it is listed again right away.
No owner yet? Claim the network first (see above).
How networks are ranked
The rank is the average number of users per active server, taken from the latest scan of each server. That way large and small networks are measured on the same scale, however many servers they have. The arrows show the change against the rank a week earlier.
Uptime is the share of successful connections in the last 30 days (scans and 4-hourly checks); connection time is the average time to connect.
Positions are never sold and every network is measured the same way.
Where your listing appears
On the network, server and channel pages of this site, in the RSS feed of new networks, in the yearly State of IRC report and in the public read-only API that IRC clients and apps such as AndroidIRCx use for ready-made server lists.
Do not want to be listed?
Tell us and we remove your network and stop the bot immediately. Owners can also stop scanning of single servers on Manage Servers.
Write to admin@dbase.in.rs.