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From: burgess@cynjut.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)
Supersedes: <386bsd-faq-8-772478175@cynjut.infonet.net>
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Date: 13 Jul 1994 23:53:10 -0500
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Keywords: FAQ 386bsd NetBSD FreeBSD
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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/CSLIP
Serial Line I/P is supported in all versions of PC BSDs.
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.
You will need the information in 7.4.1 below to make sense to
you before you proceed much further. I suggest you read that
now.
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 background it if your line wants to
drop once the device is closed).
- Run `slattach /dev/comport` for whatever "comport" is. On most
BSD 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 sl0 net 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 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 and NetBSD both.
It should also be noted that there is a newsgroup that covers the
PPP protocol exclusively. It is comp.protocols.ppp.
7.3 TCP/IP
TCP/IP is an integral part of BSD 4.4 Lite. There are at least
five different network card drivers. TCP/IP is fully supported
and is available to all users of all derived BSD systems. In
fact, many people believe that this area is one of the primary
advantages that BSD has over Linux.
7.4 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 derived 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.
7.4.1 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).
7.4.2 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.
NetBSD-current has implemented the 'ttyflags' program. This
will set your com ports according to the options specified in
the /dev/ttys files. This is an even better solution than the
'stty ... clocal' fix from above!
7.5 Terminals
Since the target machine for most BSD 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 BSD 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.
7.6 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.
Note that not all network clients are created equal. There may
be semantic differences between what you EXPECT to happen and
what actually happens. Your best bet at that point os to get
with the local system manager and talk to him or her about what
you should be expecting on the system and what is actually
happening. An excellent example is the semantics of file group
accounts when a new file is created on an NFS machine. The
semantics of the create will be based on the OS on the SERVER,
so it will be whatever SysV or Sun thinks is correct, not what
we expect from the BSD side.
--
TSgt Dave Burgess | Dave Burgess
NCOIC, USSTRATCOM/J6844 | *BSD FAQ Maintainer
Offutt AFB, NE | Burgess@cynjut.infonet.net or ...@s069.infonet...