11 Nov 2012 3 min read Uncategorized

Install and configure znc as an IRC Bouncer

This tutorial is dedicated for installing and creating znc in a Debian VPS as an IRC Bouncer. Before proceeding with this tutorial, please read your provider TOS, are they allowing you to run IRC related service ( IRC Daemon/IRC Bouncer/ IRC Bot, etc.) or not.
ZNC is the simple but nice IRC Bouncer. IRC Bouncer is a software which keeps connection active to an IRC server. This would be usefull te keep your nick as an OP ( Operator ) or keep your nick stay seems Online in an IRC Channel.
For connecting to the znc, you can use :

/server znc.server port username:password

As for this tutorial, I’m installing and running znc in my Prometeus/Iperweb VPS.

Creating a user for znc ( do not run znc as root):

# adduser username

root@srv:~# adduser zncuser
Adding user `zncuser' ...
Adding new group `zncuser' (1001) ...
Adding new user `zncuser' (1001) with group `zncuser' ...
Creating home directory `/home/zncuser' ...
Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for zncuser
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
        Full Name []: ZNC User
        Room Number []:
        Work Phone []:
        Home Phone []:
        Other []:
Is the information correct? [Y/n] y

Installing ZNC

# apt-get install znc

root@srv:~# apt-get install znc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libidn11 whois libltdl7
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libc-ares2 libperl5.10 tcl8.5 znc-extra znc-perl znc-tcl
Suggested packages:
  tclreadline
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libc-ares2 libperl5.10 tcl8.5 znc znc-extra znc-perl znc-tcl
0 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/3884 kB of archives.
After this operation, 10.3 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Selecting previously deselected package libperl5.10.
(Reading database ... 25168 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libperl5.10 (from .../libperl5.10_5.10.1-17squeeze3_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package tcl8.5.
Unpacking tcl8.5 (from .../tcl8.5_8.5.8-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libc-ares2.
Unpacking libc-ares2 (from .../libc-ares2_1.7.3-1squeeze1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package znc.
Unpacking znc (from .../archives/znc_0.092-3_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package znc-extra.
Unpacking znc-extra (from .../znc-extra_0.092-3_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package znc-perl.
Unpacking znc-perl (from .../znc-perl_0.092-3_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package znc-tcl.
Unpacking znc-tcl (from .../znc-tcl_0.092-3_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up libperl5.10 (5.10.1-17squeeze3) ...
Setting up tcl8.5 (8.5.8-2) ...
Setting up libc-ares2 (1.7.3-1squeeze1) ...
Setting up znc (0.092-3) ...
Setting up znc-extra (0.092-3) ...
Setting up znc-perl (0.092-3) ...
Setting up znc-tcl (0.092-3) ...

Configure the znc :

# znc --makeconf

$ znc --makeconf
[ ** ] Building new config
[ ** ]
[ ** ] First lets start with some global settings...
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] What port would you like ZNC to listen on? (1 to 65535): 12345
[ ?? ] Would you like ZNC to listen using SSL? (yes/no) [no]:
[ ?? ] Would you like ZNC to listen using ipv6? (yes/no) [no]:
[ ?? ] Listen Host (Blank for all ips):
[ ** ]
[ ** ] -- Global Modules --
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] Do you want to load any global modules? (yes/no): no
[ ** ]
[ ** ] Now we need to setup a user...
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] Username (AlphaNumeric): zncuser
[ ?? ] Enter Password:
[ ?? ] Confirm Password:
[ ?? ] Would you like this user to be an admin? (yes/no) [yes]:
[ ?? ] Nick [zncuser]: znc
[ ?? ] Alt Nick [znc_]: znc_
[ ?? ] Ident [znc]: znc
[ ?? ] Real Name [Got ZNC?]: ZNC
[ ?? ] VHost (optional):
[ ?? ] Number of lines to buffer per channel [50]:
[ ?? ] Would you like to keep buffers after replay? (yes/no) [no]:
[ ?? ] Default channel modes [+stn]:
[ ** ]
[ ** ] -- User Modules --
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] Do you want to automatically load any user modules for this user? (yes/no): no
[ ** ]
[ ** ] -- IRC Servers --
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] IRC server (host only): irc.bsie.net
[ ?? ] [irc.bsie.net] Port (1 to 65535) [6667]:
[ ?? ] [irc.bsie.net] Password (probably empty):
[ ?? ] Does this server use SSL? (probably no) (yes/no) [no]:
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] Would you like to add another server? (yes/no) [no]:
[ ** ]
[ ** ] -- Channels --
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] Would you like to add a channel for ZNC to automatically join? (yes/no) [yes]:
[ ?? ] Channel name: #help
[ ?? ] Would you like to add another channel? (yes/no) [no]:
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] Would you like to setup another user? (yes/no) [no]:
[ ok ] Writing config [/home/erawanarifn/.znc/configs/znc.conf]...
[ ** ]
[ ** ] To connect to this znc you need to connect to it as your irc server
[ ** ] using the port that you supplied.  You have to supply your login info
[ ** ] as the irc server password like so... user:pass.
[ ** ]
[ ** ] Try something like this in your IRC client...
[ ** ] /server <znc_server_ip> 12345 zncuser:<pass>
[ ** ]
[ ?? ] Launch znc now? (yes/no) [yes]:
[ ok ] Opening Config [/home/erawanarifn/.znc/configs/znc.conf]...
[ ok ] Binding to port [12345] using ipv4...
[ ** ] Loading user [zncuser]
[ ok ] Adding Server [irc.bsie.net 6667]...
[ ok ] Forking into the background... [pid: 7470]
[ ** ] ZNC 0.092+deb3 - http://znc.sourceforge.net

Your znc is ready now.
Try to connect to your znc and configure it as needed via web browser :
```
http://znc.ip.address:port
```
or
Connect to your znc via IRC Client
```
/server znc.ip.address port username:password
```
and type /znc and help