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From: burgess@s069.infonet.net (Dave Burgess)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.announce,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: [comp.os.386bsd] BNR/2 derived BSD for PCs FAQ (Part 8 of 10)
Followup-To: comp.os.386bsd.misc
Date: 21 May 1994 23:07:11 -0000
Organization: Dave's House in Omaha
Lines: 265
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
Distribution: world
Expires: 06/08/94
Message-ID: <386bsd-faq-8-769561614@s069.infonet.net>
References: <386bsd-faq-1-769561614@s069.infonet.net>
Reply-To: burgess@s069.infonet.net (386bsd FAQ Maintainer)
NNTP-Posting-Host: s069.infonet.net
Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4
Archive-name: 386bsd-faq/part8
Section 7. (System Communication and Network Information)
7.0 Communications
386bsd and its kith support a wide range of communications methods.
7.1 SLIP
Serial Line I/P is supported in all versions of Net/2 derived BSD.
Brian <brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk> provides us with a rather
good explanation of some of the hurdles that must be overcome
for a working slip interface.
The idea is (overview) that you make a serial line connection to
the host, set the line discipline, and tell your router to use
this interface as your gateway. You also should set the gateway
up as a nameserver.
Sounds easy ? - well it is if you've done it before.
The _usual_ way of doing this is as follows:
Both server and client must know eachothers inet addresses. Set
these up in /etc/hosts with lines saying
11.22.33.44 host.my.domain.name host
11.22.33.55 client.my.domain.name client
where 11.22.33.?? is your inet number, and the following name is
the full machine name (and is followed by any number of aliases).
SERVER:
Create a login - usually Sclientname - and run `sliplogin` as
its shell. I've looked at the docs for sliplogin, and it seems
fairly straightforward. [Ed.Note - I have; it is.]
A fairly common problem on the server is an error that is
caused by the lack of a 'sliplogin' entry in the /etc/shells
file. Be sure to add sliplogin to your shells file.
CLIENT:
Set up /etc/resolv.conf to say the following (for the nameserver)
domain client.my.domain.name
nameserver 11.22.33.55
** traditional method **
- Log on to the server. This is usually done via kermit or some
such program.
- Exit the program (or backround it if your line wants to drop
once the device is closed).
- Run `slattach /dev/comport` for whatever "comport" is. On most
Net/2 derived systems, this may be either com0, or cua01, or
whatever the correct name is for your site.
If you run into an error that says 'not configured' in it, your
kernel either does not recognize your port (dmesg will verify that)
or your kernel does not have the slip interface built in. See
below for the latter. The former could be caused by any one of
a dozen problems, including conflicting or incorrectly identified
IRQs or port addresses.
- Run `ifconfig inet sl0 clientname servername netmask 0xffffff00`
- Run `route add default servername`.
"servername" is your server and "clientname" is your client.
It should now be possible to `ping host`
** my method **
Configure /etc/remote
Configure /etc/host.dial
Run `slip host`.
/etc/remote contains an extended `tip` entry. /etc/host.dial
contains a login script (and is named in /etc/remote).
Oh yes, don't forget to have a line in your kernel config saying
pseudo-device sl 2
Without this line, you may get a 'device not configured' or
'TIO...' error because the slip driver is not built into the
kernel.
I uploaded the slip package a while ago (to several archives), but
was unaware of needing to notify the postmaster. They've probably
all been removed now. Slip packages are available from many FTP
sites; use archie to find the site nearest you.
7.2 CSLIP
SLIP is included in the NetBSD-0.9 stock kernel and in the source
tree. It is also available in FreeBSD.
7.3 PPP
Implementations of Point to Point Protocol are also available. PPP
should be available in the next major release (0.9+) of NetBSD and
in the current release of FreeBSD.
It should also be noted that there is a newsgroup that covers the
PPP protocol exclusively. It is comp.protocols.ppp.
7.4 TCP/IP
TCP/IP is an integral part of Net/2 BSD. There are at least five
different network card drivers. TCP/IP is fully supported and is
available to all users of Net/2 derived BSD systems. In fact,
many people believe that this area is one of the primary advantages
that Net/2 has over Linux.
7.5 UUCP
There is an excellent document included in the UUCP directory
that describes in detail, what needs to be done to get a working
UUCP for Net/2 BSD systems. Look in the /usr/src/gnu/libexec/uucp
directory for more information. You can also look in the
/usr/share/doc/smm/09.uucpimpl and /usr/share/doc/smm/21.uucpnet
if yours are populated.
7.5.1 TIP/CU
First thing you need to do is...
vi /etc/remote
Then remove the two lines at the bottom of the file that mention
com1, and com2. Now add the following lines:
com0:dv=/dev/com0:br#9600:
com1:dv=/dev/com1:br#9600:
That tells tip/cu where to find your com ports. Next you need
to be logged in as root and do a:
chown uucp.dialer /dev/com0
chown uucp.dialer /dev/com1
touch /var/log/aculog
chown uucp.dialer /var/log/aculog
Make sure that, if you are running newsyslog, you change the
owner.group entry in the newsyslog.conf file so that the file
ownership is maintained correctly.
Then you should be all set, remember "DOS Com1" = com0, and
"DOS Com2" = com1. So, if your modem is at 0x2F8/IRQ=3 and you
access it as the COM2: port from DOS, you would do..
tip com1
To exit, type <RETURN>~.<RETURN>
Many people have a problem with the lock open: procedure.
If you receive the error:
lock open: no such file or directory
all ports busy
You need to create a directory: /var/spool/lock, owned by uucp. If
this file already exists and is owned correctly, make sure that the
lock file in the directory is deleted.
This answer thanks to (crt@tiamat.umd.umich.edu).
7.5.2 What is the magic incantation that allows the modem to dial?
Try 'stty -f /dev/tty0? clocal'. Change the '?' for whatever
character is appropriate for your tty port. Remember, DOS COM1 =
/dev/tty00 and DOS COM2 = /dev/tty01...
Some other things that might cause some problems are the entries
in the /etc/remotes file. Try 'com?:dv=/dev/tty0?:br#19200:pa=none'
and see if that helps. Remember to replace the '?' with '[01234]'
as appropriate.
7.6 Terminals
Since the target machine for most Net/2 machines is a 386 with
no more than a couple of serial ports, most people do not bother
with serial terminals. For most problems, a quick perusal of the
man pages for the ttys file and getty are enough to get them
started. Other than that, most terminal problems are limited to
peculiarities of particular terminals.
One common problem that appears to crop up from time to time is
which wires need to be connected at each end of the cable. Most
cables do not, in fact, pass through all lines. If your terminal
uses XON/XOFF (DC1/DC3) protocol, a cable of the appropriate
twist, either straight through or null modem, can have as few as
three lines connecting the two devices. Assuming DB-25 connections
at each end, the lines need to go from 2 to 3, 3 to 2, and 7 to 7.
These lines are Rx, Tx, and gnd. Other lines that may or may not
be required include 4 and 5; and 6, 8, and 20. Normally, these
lines would be connected within the 'hood' of the cable (4 to 5
and 6 and 8 to 20) to simulate the functionality of the full
blown cable. While full support for CTS/RTS is not available
(yet), other support for the remainder of these lines is available
or is being worked on in all Net/2 derived systems. Without this
handshaking (particularly pins 6, 8, and 20) your ports may appear
to be dead. This is because most of the tty driver for *BSD
systems require a Data Carrier Detect to be active before the
port will work.
For those folks that have hardware flow control working, you need
to look in the man page for 'stty' and look around for the
-clocal and -ctrcrts options.
Once the cable is set up, you will need to make sure that your
system is ready. The first thing you will need to do is make all
of the devices in the /dev/ directory. A program, called MAKEDEV,
is available in the /dev directory. Running this program with
the argument 'tty' will make all of the physical tty devices.
With that done, arranging for a 'getty' on the port is the next
order of business. You will need to edit the '/etc/ttys/' file
and make one of the tty devices available. If you have
connected your terminal to DOS COM1, you will be enabling /dev/tty00.
Similarly, if you are connected to COM2:, you will be enabling
/dev/tty01 (see the pattern?). There are other names for those
ports as well, but when you are talking about terminals, be sure
to use the /dev/tty* names. If not, you will be completely
ignored and treated as an outcast because you obviously have not
done any of your homework.
One of the other common problems with the SIO driver is that
people will often disable all handshaking, and then complain that
they cannot get a reliable connection above 9600 baud. Handshaking
is the solution to most of these problems.
7.7 Can network attached assets be used by/from NetBSD?
Yes, they can, assuming the machine at the other end of the
connections is reasonably cooperative. The specifics are up to the
remote machine, but a couple of things that you can start looking
for that will help are provided below:
- Ask the system administrator of the machine in question
if it is OK for you to use whatever it is you need. This
is more a matter of manners than a technical issue.
- For NFS mounted disk drives, make sure that you are not
prevented from using the assets by the /etc/exports
(or equivalent) file. This goes for CD-ROMs as well as
regular mounted disks.
- There are a completely different set of concerns for
tapes and printers. Each system implements these in
slightly different ways. Check with your system manager
or documentation for more information.
--
TSgt Dave Burgess | Dave Burgess
NCOIC, USSTRATCOM/J6844 | *BSD FAQ Maintainer
Offutt AFB, NE | Burgess@cynjut.infonet.net or ...@s069.infonet...