Board and Protocol Configuration

For ET/5025 Series, ET/HSSI and ET/PCISYNC Boards

Contents

Using HDLCCFG utility Sample Configuration Files HDLC Parameter Description Cable Specifications Error Codes

HDLC Configuration Utility - HDLCCFG

The HDLC configuration utility (hdlccfg in UNIX and HDLCCFG.EXE in MS-DOS) requires a configuration file for each line installed in your system. Version 3.15 and above use a new format which uses parameter/value pairs. The simplified file format only requires 2 lines for default configuration for most common environments:

Sample eth0.cfg file

device="eth0"
protocol="cisco_hdlc"

where the device is the system name of the device to configure and protocol is the line protocol. See the parameters description later in this document for valid line protocols.

Sample Configuration Files for HDLCCFG Utility

The following sample configuration files are more complex applications with ET/HDLC. These parameters are read by the configuration utility (either hdlccfg or x25start). Lines with unrecognizable commands will be displayed but the program will not fail. Lines that begin with a slash, semi-colon or '#' will be considered comments. Comments may also appear after the pair as all text after the second " will be ignored.

Sample - Internal Clocking
Sample - Non-Ansi Frame Relay
Sample - HSSI with Large Frames
Sample - LAPB Configuration
Sample - X.25 Configuration

Configuration Parameters Description

HDLC PARAMETERS

device="name" (required parameter)

This required parameter indicates the name of the device to configure. On 'BSD systems valid devices are eth0 - eth19, on LINUX systems valid devices are ets0-ets19

protocol="protocol_name" (required parameter)

Specifies the protocol with which to configure the device. After reading this parameter, a default configuration profile is loaded which can be overridden with subsequent parameters. Supported line protocols are:

cisco_hdlc	Cisco Serial (HDLC) Encapsulation
ppp	PPP (Point to Point Protocol)
frame_relay	Frame Relay
lapb	LAPB Protocol
hdlc	Transparent HDLC (no protocol)
x25	X.25 Protocol

t1="value"

Where value is a number (in milliseconds) between 300 and 30000. For LAPB and PPP, this parameter sets the retry value SABMs in LAPB and configuration requests in PPP. For frame relay, this timer is the "keepalive" or status enquiry timer. In frame relay, the default value is 10000 for USER mode and 15000 for NETWORK mode. For PPP the default is 5000 and for Cisco HDLC its 10000.

n1="value" (default 1600)

Sets the maximum frame size in an HDLC frame. This parameter sets the maximum size of the physical frame that can be received and sent. Values over 5300 are not allowed.

membase="value" Example: (membase="0xD0000") required for ISA Cards

Sets the memory base for ISA cards.

k="value" (default 7)

Sets the LAPB window (K) to value. Only values between 1 and 7 are permitted.

modulo="value" (default 8)

Set to "8" or "128".

lapb_local_addr="value" (required for LAPB)
lapb_remote_addr="value" (required for LAPB)

The logical addresses of the devices on the link. The link level protocol (LAPB) requires that one device on a link be 3 (DTE) and the other 1 (DCE).

nN1="value" (default 5)

This parameter indicates how often frame relay keep-alive packets will request a Full Status LMI (instead of Sequence Only). Setting this parameter to 5, for example, will result in every fifth packet requesting a Full Status LMI.

nN2="value" (default 3)

In frame relay network mode, this parameter sets the number of errors in nN3 events to allow before considering the link failed.

nN3="value" (default 5)

Event count for nN2. For example, if nN2 out of nN3 events are in error, the link is considered down.

lmimode="value" (default "user")

Valid settings are "user", "network" and "none", default it "user". When connecting to a Frame Relay switch or network, User Mode should be selected. When connecting 2 devices point to point, one device must be in Network Mode and 1 Device must be in User Mode. Setting this parameter to "none" disables LMI processing.

lmitype="value" (default "ansi")

Set to "ansi" for ANSI LMI processing, "lmi" to the Stratacom/NT/DEC/Cisco Joint Frame Reley Interface.

lmiext="value" (default "no")

Set to "yes" to enable LMI extensions such as Status Update packets.

frcongestion="value" (default "off")

Set to 1 to enable Frame Relay congestion managment. When set to zero, congestion indicators sent by the network will be ignored.

8bit="value" (default "off")

Valid only on the ET/5025-16 board. When set, the board will operate in 8-bit memory mode. This may be required if you have 8-bit shared memory boards located in the same 128k window. This parameter is ignored by 8-bit boards.

ignore_modem="value" (default="no")

When set to "yes", this the board driver will not react to changes in state of the CD and DSR signals. When set to "no", the driver will bring down the link upon loss of DSR.

osc="value" (default = "20")

The oscillator rate on the communications board. This parameter should be set the the value of the clock oscillator on the board, which is usually 20mhz. If there is a 25mhz clock on the board, set this parameter to 25.

cpuclock="value" (default varies)

The CPU clock rate setting. For the 8-bit ET/5025, this is always set to "half" (whch sets the CPU clock to 1/2 of the board clock rate). For the ET/5025-16, this parameter should be set to "full" whenever J6 is in the second (20mhz) position. (Note that the 10/20mhz designation shown on the board for J6 is inaccurate whenever a clock oscillator that is not 20mhz is present on the board). For the ET/5025PQ, if J6 is set to CPU FULL then this parameter should be "full", otherwise "half". For the ETHSSI and ETPCISYNC boards this parameter must be "full"

baud="value" (default = "0") Example: baud="64000"

If you are using external clocking, this parameter should be set to 0. For internal clocking, set this parameter to the desired value. Any value can be entered up to 1/2 the oscilator, however the actual clock rate will be the closest divide down of the clock on the board. If you are using internal clocking, you will need an appropriate crossover cable. Note that internal clocking is only available on ports 0 and 1 quad port board. On ET5025PQ boards there is only one clock output and it is tied to both ports 0 and 1. The ET/PCISYNC has separate outputs for each port.

flags="value" (default = "2")

This parameter specifies the minimum flag separation between transmitted frames. Valid values are 1, 2, 4 and 6 on MK5025 based boards, 1 or 2 on ET/HSSI and ET/PCISYNC. When using the 8-bit ET/5025 card at line speeds greater than 1mbs, this parameter should be set to no less than 4.

dmaburst="value" (default 64 for ET/5025, 16 for other 5025 boards)

Specifies the maximum number of bytes that the processor will read or write to on-board ram at any one time on 5025 class boards. Note that this is on-board (NOT across the BUS), but it will effect the bus arbitration times for system access to shared RAM. A setting of 2 will give a higher priority to the host, while a setting of 64 will give priority to the MK5025. 16 is the recommended setting for normal operation. When using the 8-bit ET/5025 at line speeds greater than 1mbs, this parameter must be set to 64. This parameter has no effect on ET/HSSI or ET/PCISYNC boards.

txbufs="value" (default varies)

Indicates the number of frames allowed to be queued at any one time on the hardware. Must be a power of 2, 4 or 8 is recommended. Note that when using windowed protocols (LAPB), no more than one window (K) will be queued regardless of this setting.

rxbufs="value" (default varies)

Indicates the number of receive buffers on the hardware. Exhaustion of receive buffers will result in a RNR condition in LAPB and data loss in other HDLC modes. This value should not be less than 4, 8 is recommended for T1 speed lines. For ET/HSSI the default is 64.

hp="value" (value on or off, default off)

This mode is only available for the ET/HSSI cards. hp="on" set an internal high performance mode which optimizes some internal operations for high speed usage. Setting this mode to "on" may also make the clock path too fine for the output of some installations, causing errors. You can try both (you will have to re-run hdlccfg of course) and check the results.

invrxclk="value" (value on or off, default off)

On Rev B ET/PCISYNC boards, you can invert the receive clock on the board. If you are not getting "sync" or getting continuous receive errors, you can try to set this to "on" to eleviate the problem if the CSU doesn't have an option to do it.

CABLE SPECIFICATIONS

DB-25 to V.35 and RS-449 Adapters for ETS/HSI

The following describes the DB-25 to V.35 and RS-449 adapter cables communications board using the ETS/HSI interface.

DB25 PIN	Pin Description	V.35 PIN	RS-449 PIN	X.21
1	Shield	A	1	1
2	Transmit Data (A)	P	4	2
3	Received Data (A)	R	6	4
4	RTS	C	7	3
5	CTS	D	9	5
6	DSR	E	11	Note 1
7	Signal Ground	B	19	8
8	CD	F	13	Note 1
9	Serial Clock Received (B)	X	26	13
10	CD (B)		31	Note 2
11	Serial Clock External (B)	W	35
12	Serial Clock Transmit (B)	aa	23	13
13	CTS (B)		27	12
14	Transmit Data (B)	S	22	9
15	Serial Clock Transmit (A)	Y	5	6
16	Received Data (B)	T	24	11
17	Serial Clock Received (A)	V	8	6
19	RTS (B)		25	10
20	DTR	H	12	Note 1
22	DSR (B)		29	Note 2
23	DTR (B)		30	Note 2
24	Serial Clock External (A)	U	17

Note 1: Pins 6,8 and 20 are tied together.

Note 2: Pins 10,22 and 23 are tied together.

V.35 NULL MODEM ADAPTER FOR ETS/HSI

The following describes the pinout requirements for constructing a V.35 NULL MODEM cable for use with the ETS/HSI communications boards equipped with the ETS/HSI (V.35). Using this adapter will allow two PCs to be directly connected using internal clocking, eliminating the requirement for a modem or DSU/CSU or T1 converter.

DB25 PIN	DB25 PIN
2	3
3	2
4	5
5	4
6	20
7	7
8	20
9	11,12
11	9
12	9
14	16
15	17
16	14
17	15,24
20	6,8
24	17

RS-530 (RS-422) NULL MODEM ADAPTER FOR ETS/HSI

The following describes the pinout requirements for constructing an RS-530 NULL MODEM cable for use with the ETS/HSI interface. Using this adapter will allow two PCs to be directly connected using internal clocking, eliminating the requirement for a modem or DSU/CSU or T1 converter.

DB25 PIN	DB25 PIN
2	3
3	2
4	5
5	4
6	20
7	7
8	20
9	11,12
10	23
11	9
12	9
13	19
14	16
15	17
16	14
17	24,15
19	13
20	6,8
22	23
23	22,10
24	17

RS-232 NULL MODEM Cable

The following describes the pinout requirements for constructing an RS-232 NULL MODEM cable for use with the ET/SYNC+ or ET/5025 communications boards. Using this cable will allow two PCs to be directly connected using internal clocking, eliminating the requirement for an external modem or line drivers.

DB25 PIN	Pin Description	DB25 PIN
2	Transmitted Data	3
3	Received Data	2
4	Request to Send	5
5	Clear To Send	4
6	Data Set Ready	20
7	Signal Ground	7
8	Carrier Detect	20
15	Transmit Clock	17
17	Receive Clock	15,24
20	Data Terminal Ready	6,8
24	External Clock	17

Error Codes

Configuration and HDLC Error Codes

Configuration Error Codes

1	Bad frame window
2	Bad T1 value
3	Bad N2 value
4	Bad disc flag value
5	Bad frame address specification
6	Bad buffer size
7	Bad frame info field size
8	Not Defined
9	Bad baud rate
10	Bad clock rate
11	Bad memory base address
12	Bad base I/O address
13	Bad RAM amount
14	Bad IRQ

Other Level 2 Errors

208	Initialization in Progress
209	Can't Change Rx or Tx Buffer Count
210	File Not Found
224	Self Test Failed
225	Initialization Failed
226	No Buffers Available
227	Bad Frame Received
228	Bad Mode for Operation
229	Bad State for Operation
230	Bad DLCI
231	DLCI Down
232	Bad Value
233	Frame Relay Congested
234	Bad PCI Base Address
239	Configured Ports Out of Order
240	Bad IOCTL Command
241	Frame Too Long
243	Buffer too small for frame, wrap occurred
244	Link is Down
245	Not Initialized
246	Ram Initialization error- probably bad base memory address
247	I/O Initialization Error - probably bad I/O base address
248	LAPB driver is busy
249	Invalid Line was requested
250	Level 2 window timeout
251	Line 0 not installed - Line 0 must be the first board configured
252	Invalid Board - ID module not found on communications board
253	Can't unload TSR
254	Next Frame is UI

TROUBLESHOOTING

PROBLEM: Configuration Failures

Action:

Check Error Code for Bad Parameters

Notes

"Invalid Board" means your ID module is not valid for the protocol requested

"Invalid Memory Address or IRQ" - you cannot reconfigure a board with a change to one of these two parameters. You must reboot to change the base memory or IRQ.

PROBLEM: Frame Relay Reports Link Down

Action:

Enable LMI debugging with hdebug utility.

Notes:

If debugger shows frames being tranmitted but the other side doesn't see them or sees bad frames, you may have a bad CSU/DSU setting, or you may have internal clocking (baud parameter) turned on when you also have an external clock source (clock bashing).

If you see STATUS ENQ <-> STATUS handshakes ok but the link keeps going down / up / down, you may have incompatible setting for nT1 and nT2.

Problem: Slow, Intermittent Traffic Delays

Action:

If you are running unix, check to make sure that you have transmit interrupts enabled.

Problem: LAPB Reports Link Down

Action:

Check LAPB addresses and clock settings. Note that 1 end of the connections must have a command address of 3 and a response address of 1 and the other side must have the opposite settings.