HELP Command - provides a very brief example of the command syntax.
ADD Command - adds entries to the configuration files on {be local PortMaster.
DELETE Command - deletes entries from the local PortMaster tables,
IFCONFIG Command - views network interface configuration parameters.
TEST Command - allows echo and loopback testing on synchronous point-to-point lines.
To use the ASCII Command Interface, you must Iogin to the PortMaster using a special administrators user name and password. At the login prompt enter:
login: !root
The PortMaster will request that you enter a password. This is the PortMaster administration password. After initial installation, there is no password. Upon entering the correct password, the program will display the prompt:
Command>
It is at this point that you can begin to use the PortMaster commands. Each command responds to the minimum number of characters, at least two, that are unique to that command. Command entry is not case sensitive.
The SET command is used to set each of the configuration parameters, including global parameters, and port parameters,
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Setting Global Dialnet Parameters
The syntax for setting global parameters is:
SET parameter value
Where parameter is one of:
SLIP - Whether to enable the Dialnet features of the PortMaster. Value is on or 05.
BROADCAST - Whether to use the high or low broadcast
address for the ethernet network. Value is high or }ow,
ROUTE - Whether to use dynamic routing with the RIP protocol. Value is on or off.
Setting Dialnet Port Parameters
Port Type
The syntax for setting the port type is:
SET port {Iogin [device deename{ {twoway{ {slip sliptype{
Where port is one of SO - S9, login, device, and twoway are described in the PortMaster User's manual and set terminal server features for the port.
The slip option enables Dialnet services of sliptype on the port. Valid sliptypes are:
hardwired - The port is used for a dedicated network connection between two sites. No modem dialing or authentication is required. The port immediately begins running the SLIP protocol. In this mode, none of the other port types can be used in combination with SLIP,
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dialin - In this mode, the port will accept dial-in only network connections. The remote system (or user) will be required to enter a user id and password. Dial In network connections are controlled by the Password Table described later in this chapter.
dialout - In this mode, the port becomes available for dialing to remote destinations and initiating network connections to those destinations. Dial Out network connections are controlled by the Location Table described later in this chapter.
twoway - In this mode, the pot/ will accept dial-in network connections, as well as being available for dial out to remote destinations.
In any of the three Dial modes the port can also be configured to support other port operations concurrently. If one of the other port types is specified in the set command, both that port type and Slip will be enabled.
Dial Group
The Dial Group is used to assign serial ports to modem pools or groups. When the PortMaster initiates a dial-out connection to a remote site, it will only allocate a port which is in the same dial group as has been specified for that location in the Location Table. Valid dial groups are numbered from 0 to 99. The default is 0. The syntax for setting the port group is:
SET port group value
Where port is one of S0-S9.
value is a number between 0 and 99.
u
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Setting Hardwired SLIP Port Parameters
The syntax for setting port parameters is:
SET port parameter value
Where port is one of S0-S9.
Parameter and value is one of:
ROUTING - Whether to transmit routing information. Valid values are: ON or OFF
DESTINATION - The internet address of the directly attached remote PortMaster or computer. Value is a valid host internet address in the form:
XXX. XXX. XXX. XXX
where the XXX is a decimal number between 0 and 255, If the destination is using subnetting, a netmask should be entered following the destination internet address using the same format as the internet address above, lf the destination address is set to 0.0.0.0, the port will be disabled.
The SHOW command allows you to look at the current settings for any of the serial ports, global parameters and configuration tables.
The syntax for the show command is:
SHOW ALL - Show global configuration and summary of all ports.
SHOW port - Show all parameters for a specific port. Port is one of SO - S9.
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SHOW location_name - Show the configuration parameters for a dial-out SLIP location, locationname is the name of a location which has been added using the "add location" command.
SHOW NETSTAT - Show summary of network interfaces.
SHOW ROUTES - Show the current list of static and dynamic routes to other networks. The columns are: Destination - The remote address or network.
' Gateway - Direct system to forward packets through, Internal Flags
' Metric - The number of HOPS to the destination. Interface - The interface name to send packets.
SHOW NETCONNS - Show local network connections.
SHOW TABLE HOSTS - Show entries in the local hosts table.
SHOW TABLE PASSWORD - Show entries in the local passwords table,
SHOW TABLE LOCATION - Show a summary of the entries in the local locations table.
For example: show all;
Shows the settings of all global parameters and a summary of each of the individual ports. This display is similar to the VIEW command in the Sunview based PMconsole described earlier in this chapter.
show sl
Displays the full set of configuration values for communications port S 1.
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show table hosts
Displays the currently stored hosts table.
Saves the current configurations to the PortMaster disk. The syntax is:
SAVE ROUTES
- OF
SAVE PASSWORD
- O/'-
SAVE LOCATION
Using SAVE ROUTES will save static routes (Routes which were created using the ADD ROUTE command) on the PortMaster disk.
Using SAVE PASSWORD will save the password table onto the PortMaster disk (Passwords which were created using the ADD PASSWORD command).
Using SAVE LOCATION will save the location table onto the PortMaster disk (Locations which were created using the ADD LOCATION command).
When the IFCONFIG command is entered, the active configuration of each network interface is displayed. Each interface is displayed in two lines. The first line has the name of the interface (ie ether0, ptpl) and various flags for that interface. Possible flags are:
UP - The interface is UP and running,
DOWN - The interface is DOWN, it is not in use.
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BROADCAST - The network is a broadcast network (ie. ethernet).
POINT_TO POINT - The network is a point to point connection.
PRIVATE - No routing information will be transmitted on this interface. If private is not shown as a flag, routing information will be transmitted to the interface.
SUSPENDED - This On-Demand Dialnet interface is available for use, but does not have an active telephone connection to the remote site.
The second line will show:
inet - the internet address of the interface if it is an ethernet interface.
dest - the destination internet address if it is a dialnet interface.
netmask - The netmask for the "inet" or "dest'.
broadcast - The broadcast address if it is an ethernet interface.
Initiales dialing to a remote location in the localton table. The syntax is:
DIAL [ -x ] location_name
Where location_name is the name of a location in the location table. If the -x option is specified, the PortMaster will display the actual execution of the dial script to the user.
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The Location Table is used for all dial out network connections to remote locations. Each entry specifies a remote location, the operational parameters for that location, and information on how to establish a connection to that location,
Adding and Deleting Locations
Two commands have been established for adding and deleting locations:
ADD Command - adds entries to the local Locations table.
DELETE Command - deletes entries from the local Locations table.
ADD Command
Add an entry to the local Locations table. The syntax is:
ADD location location name
Where:
location_name - The name of the remote location. This can
be any 12 character name to identify the remote location. It
is generally not the name of a single system, but rather an
identifier which represents the entire location (ie, the city or
the company name at that location).
DELETE Command
Delete an entry from the local Locations table. The syntax is: DELETE location locationname
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Where:
location_name - is the name of a previously created location.
Once a location has been created, all of the configuration parameters associated with that location can be set or modified with the gET command. The syntax is:
SET location_name parameter i'alae
Where:
location_name - is the name of a previously created location.
parameter is one of:
ON_DEMAND - This parameter notifies the PortMaster to dial and establish a connection to the remote location only when packets are queued for that location. In this mode the PortMaster creates a network interface and the appropriate routing information to notify the attached locate area network of the connectivity to the remote site. This is done even though there may not be an actual physical connection to that site at the time. There is no value required for this setting.
Note: When switching a location from Manual to On-demand make sure the dial-out connection has been closed tie. Reset the serial port) before updating the location table.
CONTINUOUS - This parameter notifies the PortMaster to always keep the dial-up connection to the remote site active. If the telephone line is lost, the PortMaster wilt automatically initiate a re-dial to that location.
MANUAL - This parameter notifies the PortMaster to only
dial to the remote location when an operator requests
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the connection. This can be done with the DIAL command or it can be invoked from the "prodial" program installed on one of the UNIX systems on the network. This also allows connections to be scheduled by using the UNIX cron scheduler to call pmdial.
DESTINATION - The Internet Address of the system at the remote end of the dial-up connection. A valid IP address using standard dot notation should be entered as the value.
NETMASK - The netmask of the system at the remote end of the dial-up connection, A valid netmask using standard dot notation should be entered as the value.
ROUTING - This parameter determines whether, Routing Information Protocol (RIP) packets will be sent across the interface, allowing the remote system to manage and broadcast the current routing tables to its local network. When OFF, the PortMaster will listen on the interface for RIP packets, but will not broadcast any routing informatlon on the interface, VaLid values are ON or OFF,
IDLETIME - For Manual and On-Demand type locations this specifies the number of minutes the line should be idle (no network traffic to the remote site) before disconnecting the telephone connection. A value between 0 and 240 can be specified. If 0 is chosen, the connection will not time out.
MAXPORTS - The number of dial-out ports the PortMaster can use for this network connection. If 0 is selected dialing to this location will be disabled. If more than I is selected the PortMaster will use the "High Water Mark" to decide when to open and dial additional lines. If more than one line is open to the remote
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location the PortMaster w/wiIl automatically use load balancing to achieve the maximum throughput of all lines combined. If multiple lines are open the "Idle Timeout" value will be used to decide when to disconnect unneeded lines, A value between 0 and l0 may be entered.
HIGH WATER - The number of bytes of queued network traffic required to open an additional dial-out line to the remote site, This value is only used when the "Maximum Ports" is greater than I and there are available modems on the PortMaster. Setting a very small number will cause the PortMaster to quickly use all of the ports specified in "Maximum Ports", Generally, interactive terminal traffic has no more than a few hundred bytes queued at any one time. However, file transfers (ie. ftp) will queue several thousand bytes. These size differences should be used when deciding what number to use for the High Water Mark. A value between 0 and 65535 may be entered,
GROUP - The modem pool group to which this location is assigned. Only modem ports which are configured with this Group Number will be available for dial-out to this location. This can be used to reserve modems for dial-up to specific locations or to differentiate different types of modems which would be compatible with the remote location, A value between 0 and 100 ma), be entered.
SCRIPT - The dial command script is used to issue commands to the modem (or other similar equipment) to dial the correct number and establish the link. In addition, this script is used for authentication (password security) at the remote site. Three values must be entered with the SCRIPT parameter. The syntax is:
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SET location_name SCRIPT lineno send reply
Where line_no is a number between 1 and 6. send is a string of up to 30 characters surrounded by double quotes, reply is a string of up to 30 characters surrounded by double quotes. Each line_no represents one send-reply combination.
Each "Send" string is issued out of the PortMaster serial port to the modem or remote computer. Each "Reply" string is used by the PortMaster to verify that the previous 'Send" string was properly received by the modem or remote computer and the PortMaster should transmit the next "Send" string.
Any printing ASCII character can be placed in the send or reply strings. In addition, the following special characters are available:
\r - This is replaced by the ASCII carriage return,
\n - This is replaced by the ASCII line feed.
\OXX - This is replaced by the octal digit in the XX.
\\ - This is replaced by the single backslash (\).
Generally Send strings would end with the "\r" character,
It is important that the last entry in the Dial Command Script be a Reply string which indicates that the remote location is ready to begin receiving network packets. This is used to activate the TCP/IP protocol coming from the PortMaster. When connecting to a remote PortMaster the final reply string to look for
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should be "SLflP". For other products, consult that
vendors users manual
The following Dial Command Script is an example of how to establish a connection between two PortMasters which have modems supporting the "AT" dial
command syntax:
Send
ATDT18005551212\r \r my_location_name\r my~password\r
Reply
CONNECT login: ssword: SL/IP
The "18005551212" would be replaced by the actual telephone number of the remote modem. "my_location_name" would be replaced by the actual user name for your location. "my~0assword" would be replaced by the actual password set up at the remote site which corresponds to the user name.
List a summary of the locations table or the detail of a specific location.
The syntax for the show command is:
SHOW TABLE LOCATION - to display a summary of the location table.
SHO%V location_name - where location_name is the name of a previously created location. This will display all of the configuration information for the location.
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Save Locations into the permanent PortMaster configuration. The syntax is:
SAVE LOCATION
The Passwords Table provides a security and network parameter initialization scheme for locations or individual computers dialing into the Portmaster to establish remote network connections. Modem ports configured to accept Slip Dial-in sessions initially prompt for a login user name. After receiving the login name, the PortMaster checks the name against the list of names in the local Passwords Table. If found, the Portmaster assumes that this connection will be for a dial-in network session and initiates password authentication of the remote system, If successfully validated (the password received matches the password stored in the Passwords Table} the PortMaster responds with the message:
SL/IP session from local (149.198.9.1) to remote beginning ....
The PortMaster then enables the SLIP network interface and any associated routing information as indicated in the Passwords Table. Finally it begins accepting and sending IP packets over the connection.
1. the login name does not match an entry in the Passwords Table and the port is configured to support User Logins it automatically forwards the session to the designated host on the local network for password authentication.
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Four commands have been established /or managing the local passwords table:
ADD Command - adds entries to the local passwords table.
DELETE Command - deletes entries from the Iocal passwords table.
SHOW Command - the entries in the local passwords table.
SAVE Command - saves the passwords in the permanent configuration.
ADD Command
Add an entry to the local passwords table, The syntax is:
ADD password name password destination netmask [rip] Where:
name - is the login name of the remote system requesting a SLIP dial-in session. This name can be up to 8 characters in length and is the user name to be supplied at the 'login:" prompt from the PortMaster. If the PortMaster is configured to support User Logins in addition to SLIP sessions, the SLIP login name must not conflict with a login name on the designated login host on the network.
password - is the password for the SLIP login name, This is a
destination - The Internet Address or a valid host name of tile system at the remote end of the dial-up
connection.
netmask - is the netmask of the system at the remote end of the dial-up connection.
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rip - When rip is specified, Routing Information Protocol (RIP) packets will be sent across the interface, allowing the remote system to manage and broadcast the current routing tables to its local network. Otherwise, the PortMaster will listen on the interface for RIP packets, but will not broadcast any routing information on the interface.
Delete an entry from the local passwords table. The syntax is: DELETE password name
Where:
name - is the login name of an existing password entry.
List the contents of the active passwords table.
The syntax for the show command is:
SHOW password
gave passwords into the permanent PortMaster configuration. The syntax is:
SAVE password
Each device attached to the Ethernet (with uses TCP/IP) is assigned a unique internet address. Internet addresses are four byte numerical values. To make it easier to remember
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these values, most systems on the network support a way of aliasing the internet address to some unique and easy to remember name. This is done on UNIX Workstations in the /crc/hosts file. The PortMaster also supports the same capability by maintaining a local hosts table.
The PortMaster hosts table should be used when any of the ports are set to prompt the user for a host name on the network. This table is then consulted to determine the correct internet address of the host.
If the hostname specified by the user is not found in the hosts table, then the PortMaster will attempt to match the hostname using the Network Information Service (NIS), also known as 'YP". See the section "Setting Global Parameters" for more information on setting the YP server and YP domain.
Three commands have been established for managing the local hosts table:
ADD Command - adds entries to the local hosts table.
DELETE Command - deletes entries from the local hosts table.
SHOW Command - shows the entries in the local hosts table.
ADD Command
Add an entry to the local hosts table. The syntax is: ADD host internet_address hostname
Where:
internet_address - is a valid host internet address in the form:
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XXX.XXX,XXX.XXX
where XXX is a decimal number between 0 and 255.
hostname - is a character string of printable characters,
Delete an entry from the local hosts table. The syntax is:
DELETE host internetaddress
- OR -
DELETE host hostname
Where:
internetaddress - is a valid host internet address in the form:
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
where XXX is a decimal number between 0 and 255,
hostname - is a character string of printable characters.
List the contents of the local hosts table.
The syntax for the show command is:
SHOW table hosts
The PortMaster Routes table is used when static network routes are required. Static routes are required when the user chooses not to run the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) on the PortMaster, or when hosts or networks attached to the PortMaster do not have the ability to run the RIP protocol. The static routing table contains three entries:
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Administration
Destination - This is the host or network to which the PortMaster will be required to send packets.
Gateway - This is the directly connected host through which packets should be forwarded to reach the above destination.
Metric - This is a metric representing the cost of sending the packet through the above gateway. Generally metric is the HOP count to the remote network. This would be the number of gateways through which the packet must traverse to reach its destination.
Four commands have been established for managing the local
routes table:
ADD Command - adds entries to the local routes table.
DELETE Command - deletes entries from the local routes table.
SHOW Command - shows the dynamic and static routing entries for the local PortMaster.
SAVE Command - saves the static routes in the permanent configuration.
ADD Command
Add an entry~, to the local routes table. The syntax is:
ADD route destination gateway tilertlc
Where:
destination - is a valid host or network internet address in the form:
XXX.XXX.XXX .XXX
where XXX is a decimal number between 0 and 255.
gateway - is a valid host internet address in the form:
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
where XXX is a decimal number between 0 and 255. metric - is a number between 1 and 15.
Delete an entry from the local routes table. The syntax is: DELETE route destination
Where:
destination - is a valid host internet address in the form:
XXX.XXX.XXX,XXX
where XXX is a decimal number between 0 and 255.
List the contents of the active routes table,
The syntax for the show command is:
SHOW routes
Save static routes into the permanent PortMaster configuration. The syntax is:
SAVE routes
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