/***************************************************************************** * @(#)Digi International Inc. lpp.doc 1.24 2/18/99 ***************************************************************************** * Copyright (c) 1988-96 Digi International Inc., All Rights Reserved * * This software contains proprietary and confidential information of * Digi International Inc. By accepting transfer of this copy, Recipient * agrees to retain this software in confidence, to prevent disclosure to * others, and to make no use of this software other than that for which it * was delivered. This is an unpublished copyright work Digi International * Inc. Except as permitted by federal law, 17 USC 117, copying is * strictly prohibited. * * Digi International Inc. CONFIDENTIAL - (Digi International Inc. * Confidential when combined with the aggregated modules for this * product) OBJECT CODE ONLY SOURCE MATERIALS * * (C) COPYRIGHT Digi International Inc. 1996 * * All Rights Reserved * * US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or * disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with Digi International * Inc. *****************************************************************************/ Release Notes 93000236 J for (RealPort) AIX 4.X Release 3.1.0 Software Package P/N 75000236 J Software Diskette P/N 40001427 J Software Manual P/N 92000235 C 05/05/99 NOTE: There are no longer two install diskettes included with this driver! One binary now supports 4.1.X, 4.2.X, and 4.3.X. 1. Bug Fixes. -The driver kernel is rewritten in version 3.1.0 to improve stability and add features. -The driver now directly supports slow speed WAN links, such as 56K Frame Relay links. 2. Known Limitations. -This Driver requires AIX Version 4.1.3 or higher, and is not recommended with AIX 4.3.0. AIX 4.3.1 requires two patches to fix several bugs in the "xtiso" driver. (see below) -Power Management does NOT work with RealPort. If running RealPort, AIX's Power Management must be unconfigured. If not unconfigured, the RealPort driver will disable Power Management. 3. Comments. -Portserver ports used exclusively for Realport use should be configured as type "dev=prn" see the Installation Guide and User Manual for more info. 4. Basic Installation. -smit select (Custom Install) and then choose "Install From All Available Software Packages". -Command line "installp -a all" 5. Print Spoolers. -There exists a problem with AIX 4.1.4.0's installation of the printer packages. Look in /var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/smit to see if the files in this directory are missing or size 0. If so, remove all these files and reinstall the printer backend (printers.rte) with a force install. 6. Transparent Print Setup. Transparent print devices are now set up with smit. NOTE FOR USERS UPGRADING FROM RELEASE 2.X TO RELEASE 3.X ======================================================== One of the differences between existing AIX RealPort device drivers (version 2.x.x.x, also referred to as v2) and the new AIX RealPort driver package (version 3.x.x.x, also referred to as v3) is the minor device numbering scheme. As a result of this difference, existing configuration information (such as defined tty devices) will not directly be supported by the new driver. Without external tools, the only option for a system manager is to delete the existing configuration, replace the v2 driver with a v3 driver, and then reconfigure all devices. This manual process is the safest means available, but can become rapidly cumbersome as the number of devices grows. To minimize the impact of the minor numbering change, Digi has created tools to automate much of the migration process. These tools may be referred to as the "RealPort Migration Tools". Using these tools, most system administrators will be able to smoothly transition from the v2 drivers to the v3 drivers, as the names and configuration of existing devices will be preserved. The migration tools are ONLY useful for those customers moving an existing install-base from the version 2 to the version 3 driver. They are available from the Digi FTP site (ftp.dgii.com) in the same location as the RealPort device driver. The part number is "80006838", and release notes (which serve as a user guide) for the migration tools are available in the same location. If you have any questions about whether the migration procedure is required in your situation, please contact Digi technical support. SUMMARY ======= The Digi AIX Realport (ncxa) driver makes the ports on a Digi Portserver appear as though they are local AIX tty devices directly attached to the computer. When the AIX system boots, one ncxd daemon is spawned for each Portserver. Each daemon makes a single TCP/IP connection to its associated Portserver and sends all asynchronous serial data on this single connection. The daemon accesses the Realport driver a through special parent adapter device set up by "smit". On most systems smit will assign /dev/sa2 for the first Portserver, /dev/sa3 for the second portserver and so on. This is a privileged, exclusive access device used only by the daemon. Portserver ports can be accessed any time they are configured for Realport operations and are not otherwise in use. If you configure a Portserver port as a tty, and you ask for an associated transparent print port, the following two devices will be created: /dev/ttyN - Login Port /dev/ttyNp - Transparent Print port Where "N" is the tty port number assigned by "smit". If you configure a port as a printer, only one device will be created: /dev/lpN - Printer Port The Login ports and Transparent Print ports will not operate unless carrier (DCD) is present. The stty-ncxa command may be used to change this with the "forcedcd" option. Printer Ports normally require both DCD and Clear To Send (CTS). The Login and Transparent Print ports may be open at the same time. Data sent to the Login port goes out the port without modification, while data sent to the transparent print port is bracketed with printer-on and printer-off sequences before output. The stty-ncxa command can set the on-off sequences and adjust the print speed. The Login port receives all input data; reads to the print device always fail. PORTSERVER SETUP ================ The Digi Portservers are full featured terminal and communication servers whose configuration is detailed in the Portserver Manual. We note here the minimum needed for Realport operation. First you must login as root on the Portserver. You can connect a 9600 baud 8N1 terminal to port 1, or (if you obtained an IP address through RARP or BOOTP) you can telnet to the box. The factory default root password is "dbps". Basic IP parameters must be set up before the Portserver will operate on the network. If you have not done this with RARP or BOOTP, you must do it from the command line. Substitute your own IP address, net mask and (optionally) gateway address into the following Portserver command: set config ip=192.168.0.1 submask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.0.254 The Realport driver works best if you configure associated Portserver devices as printers. It works VERY POORLY if the devices are configured as terminals, for example. The following command sets up ports 1-16 as device type prn (printer). set port range=1-16 dev=prn If 8-pin RJ-45 plugs are used in the Portserver, the altpin option should be selected to make DCD available on one of the inner pins. The following command sets altpin on 16 ports. set flow range=1-16 altpin=on You can check the current configuration with: set config set flow range=1-16 set port range=1-16 DRIVER INSTALLATION =================== You should have received a file named "nts.installp" with this file. Assuming you copied this file to your /tmp directory, you can install the driver from the command line with: installp -ad /tmp/nts.installp all You may also install with "smit", using the following procedure: Select "Software Installation and Maintenance" Select "Install and Update Software" Select "Install/Update Selectable Software (Custom Install)" Select "Install/Update from All Available Software" When smit asks you for the "INPUT device / directory for software", enter "/tmp/nts.installp", and hit ENTER. Then for "SOFTWARE to install" enter "all" and hit ENTER twice. DEVICE CONFIGURATION ==================== Before you can use the devices on your Portserver, you must first configure each Portserver, and then configure each port on the Portserver. This is easiest to do with smit. Configure each Portserver as follows: Select "Devices" Select "Digi PortServers" Select "Add a PortServer" Select the type of Portserver you have. Enter the "INTERNET ADDRESS" of your portserver. If the network connection between you AIX system and the Portserver includes a WAN Link slower than 1 MBit, enter the bits-per-second "WAN Link Speed" in the field provided. This parameter is not needed if your AIX system connects to the Portserver over a high-speed LAN. Hit Enter to complete configuration. Configure each TTY as follows: Select "Devices" Select "TTY" Select "Add a TTY" Select "tty rs232 Asynchronous Terminals" Select a Digi Portserver Parent Adapter. Enter the desired "Port number". Modify other TTY parameters as desired. Hit Enter to complete configuration. Configure each printer as follows: Select "Printer/Plotter" Select "Printer/Plotter Devices" Select "Add a Printer/Plotter" Select "osp Other serial printer" Select "rs232" Select a Digi Portserver Parent Adapter. Enter the desired "Port number". Modify other printer/plotter parameters as desired. Hit Enter to complete configuration. stty-ncxa PROGRAM ================= The stty-ncxa program is a Digi-special version of stty that allows you to access Digi extensions to standard AIX ports. This program is installed as: /usr/lbin/tty/stty-ncxa The Realport driver differs from the documentation as follows: altpin The altpin option is set in the Portserver, and may not be changed from AIX. hupcl This option is ineffective, since carrier is always dropped by the Portserver when a port is closed. Error Logging ============= Driver detected errors are logged to the error log, displayed with the AIX command "errpt". A limit of 100 messages is imposed. Daemon messages are written to the System Log. To direct these errors to a file, insert the following line in your /etc/syslog.conf file. *.info /var/adm/messages As ROOT, then run: touch /var/adm/messages chmod 0644 /var/adm/messages kill -1 `cat /etc/syslog.pid` The /var/adm/messages file can grow very large over a period of weeks or months, and should be periodically truncated to avoid wasting disk space. AIX 4.3.1 Patches ================= In AIX 4.3.0, IBM introduced a number of problems in the "xti" interface to the TCP protocol stack. According to the IBM APAR database (and our own experience) these may cause lost data and system crashes. The patch list to make 4.3.0 is very long, and Digi has not verified that the patch list does in fact solve the problems. Fortunately 4.3.1 requires only two patches to fix most of the problems in the "xti" interface. Currently these patches are available directly from IBM: http://service.boulder.ibm.com/aix/fixes/v4/os/bos.mp.4.3.1.1.bff http://service.boulder.ibm.com/aix/fixes/v4/os/bos.up.4.3.1.1.bff For help on installing fixes: http://service.software.ibm.com/rs6k/fixhelp.html