Table of Contents
Introduction
To configure CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP networking, follow these 3 steps:
Load network adapter (if required)
If you are configuring a DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA, DELUA, DEMNA, DEBNI or PMADAA adapter, use the "load" command as shown below. CHARON-VAX 3100/96/98 and 4000/106/108 emulations automatically load SGEC (with the name "EZA") and therefore no "load" command is required.
Example:load DELQA/DEQNA NICLoad "packet_port"
Load "packet_port" to connect the SGEC, DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA, DELUA, DEMNA, DEBNI or PMADAA adapter to the host hardware network card (or to a virtual network interface).
Example:load packet_port/chnetwrk NDIS interface = "connection:Charon"Connect the loaded "packet_port" to the loaded virtual network adapter
Connect the SGEC, DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA, DELUA, DEMNA, DEBNI or PMADAA adapter to the "packet_port" by setting the interface name.
Example:set NIC interface = NDIS
SGEC Ethernet Controller
The built-in SGEC controller emulator ("EZA") has the following parameters that are specified with the "set" command:
Parameter | Type | Value | |||
interface | Text String | Name of the corresponding instance of the "packet_port" component | |||
| station_address | Text String | The "station_address" provides the ability to configure the adapter’s permanent address. By default the adapter’s permanent address is read from the host system’s NIC. Set the "station_address" when you need to configure a satellite (remotely booted) system that will run DECnet or when the migrated software uses the permanent address on the network adapter. Format:
or
Example:
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rx_fifo_size | Numeric | "rx_fifo_size" sets the receive FIFO size. The value is specified in Kb and, by default, is pre-calculated from the connected port’s size of the receive queue. Typically, you do not need to change the "rx_fifo_size" parameter. It is available for extended tuning and debugging purposes. |
Example:
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DEQNA / DESQA / DELQA Ethernet Controller
CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP Q-bus systems provide support for DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA and DELUA Ethernet controllers.
Use the following command to load the instances of DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA or DELUA Ethernet controllers:
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Example:
load DESQA/DEQNA XQA |
DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA and DELUA offer the following configuration parameters that can be specified using the "set" command:
Parameter | Type | Value | |||
address | Numeric | Specifies the CSR address. The address must be a valid QBUS and UNIBUS address in I/O space. Initial value is 017774440, which is the factory setting for DEQNA, DESQA and DELQA Ethernet controllers. Use the address parameter if loading several instances of DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA and DELUA Ethernet controllers. "address" parameter values must be unique for every instance of an DEQNA, DESQA, DELQA, DEUNA and DELUA Ethernet controller. Example:
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interface | Text String | Name of the corresponding instance of the "packet_port" component | |||
| station_address | Text String | "station_address" provides the ability to configure the adapter’s permanent address. By default the adapter’s permanent address is read from the host system’s NIC. Set the "station_address" when you need to configure a satellite (remotely booted) system that will run DECnet or when the migrated software uses the permanent address on the network adapter. Format:
or
Example:
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rx_fifo_size | Numeric | "rx_fifo_size" sets the receive FIFO size. The value is specified in Kb and by default is pre-calculated from the connected port’s size of the receive queue. Typically, you do not need to change the "rx_fifo_size" parameter. It is available for extended tuning and debugging purposes. |
Example:
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DEMNA Ethernet Adapter
CHARON-VAX/66X0 systems provide support for the DEMNA Ethernet controller.
Use the following command to load an instance of the DEMNA Ethernet controller:
load DEMNA/DEMNA <logical name> |
Example:
load DEMNA/DEMNA EXA |
DEMNA Ethernet controllers offer the following configuration parameters that can be specified using the "set" command:
Parameter | Type | Value | |||
xmi_node_id | Number | Specifies the XMI slot in which the virtual DEMNA controller is placed. For CHARON-VAX/66X0 a free slot between 10 (A) and 14 (E) must be chosen. | |||
interface | Text String | Name of the corresponding instance of the "packet_port" component | |||
| station_address | Text String | The "station_address" provides the ability to configure the adapter’s permanent address. By default the adapter’s permanent address is read from the host system’s NIC. Set the "station_address" when you need to configure a satellite (remotely booted) system which will run DECnet or when the migrated software uses the permanent address on the network adapter. Format:
or
Example:
| |||
rx_fifo_size | Numeric | The "rx_fifo_size" sets the receive FIFO size. The value is specified in Kb and, by default, is pre-calculated from the connected port’s size of the receive queue. Typically, you do not need to change the "rx_fifo_size" parameter. It is available for extended tuning and debugging purposes. |
Example:
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DEBNI Ethernet Adapter
CHARON-VAX/63X0 systems provide support for the DEBNI Ethernet controller.
Use the following command to load an instance of the DEBNI Ethernet controller:
load DEBNI/DEMNA <logical name> |
Example:
load DEBNI/DEMNA EXA |
DEBNI Ethernet controllers offer the following configuration parameters that can be specified using the "set" command:
Parameter | Type | Value | |||
vax_bi_node_id | Number | Specifies the VAXBI slot in which the virtual DEBNI controller is placed. | |||
interface | Text String | Name of the corresponding instance of the "packet_port" component | |||
| station_address | Text String | The "station_address" provides the ability to configure the adapter’s permanent address. By default the adapter’s permanent address is read from the host system’s NIC. Set the "station_address" when you need to configure a satellite (remotely booted) system which will run DECnet or when the migrated software uses the permanent address on the network adapter. Format:
or
Example:
| |||
rx_fifo_size | Numeric | The "rx_fifo_size" sets the receive FIFO size. The value is specified in Kb and, by default, is pre-calculated from the connected port’s size of the receive queue. Typically, you do not need to change the "rx_fifo_size" parameter. It is available for extended tuning and debugging purposes. |
Example:
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PMAD-AA TurboChannel Ethernet Adapter
The CHARON-VAX VAXstation 4000 Model 90 system provides support for a PMAD-AA TurboChannel Ethernet controller (in addition to the preloaded SGEC "EZA").
Use the following command to load an instance of a PMAD-AA Ethernet controller:
load PMADAA/PMADAA <logical name> |
Example:
load PMADAA/PMADAA EXA |
PMAD-AA TurboChannel Ethernet controllers use the following configuration parameters that can be specified using the "set" command:
Parameter | Type | Value | |||
interface | Text String | Name of the corresponding instance of the "packet_port" component | |||
| station_address | Text String | The "station_address" provides the ability to configure the adapter’s permanent address. By default the adapter’s permanent address is read from the host system’s NIC. Set the "station_address" when you need to configure a satellite (remotely booted) system which will run DECnet or when the migrated software uses the permanent address on the network adapter. Format:
or
Example:
| |||
rx_fifo_size | Numeric | The "rx_fifo_size" sets the receive FIFO size. The value is specified in Kb and by default is pre-calculated from the connected port’s size of receive queue. Typically, you do not need to change the "rx_fifo_size" parameter. It is available for extended tuning and debugging purposes. |
Example:
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Packet Port
The CHARON-specific "packet_port" interface establishes a connection between an Ethernet adapter in the Windows host system and a network adapter in the virtual VAX/PDP11 system.
For every virtual adapter instance loaded, one dedicated host Ethernet physical adapter is required.
To create instances of the "packet_port", use the “load” command in the configuration file as follows:
load packet_port/chnetwrk <instance-name> |
Example:
load packet_port/chnetwrk pp_1 |
"packet_port" uses several configuration parameters to control its behavior.
Parameter | Type | Value | ||
interface | Text string | This parameter identifies an Ethernet adapter of the host system dedicated to CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP. Syntax:
Example:
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port_enable_mac_addr_change | Boolean | If "true" is specified (default value), CHARON sets the appropriate Ethernet address automatically. If "false" is specified, set the Ethernet address manually. Example:
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port_ignore_on_rx | Numeric | The "port_ignore_on_rx" parameter provides the ability to shutdown the port when a specified number of sequential "on receive" errors is exceeded. Typically, errors "on receive" indicate serious (unrecoverable) errors. By default, the value is set to the value of the "port_pending_rx_number" parameter. A value of ‘0’ means infinite. Example:
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port_retry_on_tx | Numeric | The "port_retry_on_tx" parameter controls the number of times a port will attempt to transmit a packet before giving up. By default, the value is 3. Increasing this value may introduce problems in carrier loss logic, because not all NIC drivers support a carrier status query. Typically, you do not need to increase the value. Example:
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port_pending_rx_number | Numeric | The "port_pending_rx_number" parameter sets the number of pending receive buffers. The default value is 63. The maximum value allowed is 195. You may want to increase the "port_pending_rx_number" when you have very busy networking and experience problems like losing connections not related to the carrier loss. Typically, you do not need to change this parameter. Example:
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port_pending_rx_number | Numeric | The "port_pending_tx_number" parameter sets the number of buffers the port uses to transmit. The default value is 62. You may want to increase the "port_pending_tx_number" value if the log file indicates dropped TX packets due to TX queue overflow. Typically, you do not need to change this parameter. Example:
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suspend_msg_on_mac_change | Boolean | To avoid confusion arising from non critical errors during a MAC address change, logging is by default suppressed (default value is "true"). To enable tracing during a MAC address change set this parameter to "false" Example:
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Example:
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CHARON supports VLAN adapters. If for some reasons you are going to use them, proceed with their installation and configuration according to the network adapter's vendor's User's Guide and then use the resulting VLAN interface the same way as the regular network interface.
Supported Ethernet Q-bus Adapters for DECnet OSI (DECnet Plus)
The only supported Q-bus device is the DELQA adapter model.
During DECnet OSI installation or DECnet OSI interface reconfiguration, DEQNA and DESQA models are not recognized as valid devices. (DECnet OSI SPD).
The integrated SGEC Ethernet "EZA" on a MicroVAX 3100 & VAX 4000-106/108 is supported by DECnet OSI.
The integrated ESA (AMD Lance 7990) device is not currently implemented in CHARON-VAX.
Ethernet Q-bus Adapter and Cluster configuration rules
In a VMS Cluster using VMS version 5.5 and above, use only DELQA and DESQA Ethernet adapters that are supported (VMS Cluster SPD).
The default DEQNA device is not supported for SCS Cluster protocol and the emulated VAX will fail with a CLUEXIT Bugcheck.