patch-2.3.4 linux/Documentation/networking/decnet.txt

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+                    Linux DECnet Networking Layer Information
+                   ===========================================
+
+1) Other documentation....
+
+   o Project Home Pages
+       http://www.sucs.swan.ac.uk/~rohan/DECnet/index.html - Kernel info
+       http://linux.dreamtime.org/decnet/                  - Userland tools
+
+   o FTP sites
+       ftp://ftp.sucs.swan.ac.uk/pub/Linux/DECnet/
+                - Swansea University Computer Society DECnet Archive
+                  (contains kernel patches and info)
+                - Mirror of userland tools on ftp.dreamtime.org
+
+        ftp://ftp.dreamtime.org/pub/linux/decnet/
+                - Patrick Caulfield's archive of userland tools and
+                  Eduardo Serrat's kernel patches
+
+2) Configuring the kernel
+
+Be sure to turn on the following options:
+
+    CONFIG_DECNET (obviously)
+    CONFIG_PROCFS (to see what's going on)
+    CONFIG_SYSCTL (for easy configuration)
+
+if you want to try out router support (not properly debugged and not
+complete yet), you'll need the following options as well...
+
+    CONFIG_DECNET_RAW (to receive routing packets)
+    CONFIG_DECNET_ROUTER (to be able to add/delete routes)
+    CONFIG_NETLINK (to allow rtnetlink)
+    CONFIG_RTNETLINK (for communication with the kernel routing layer)
+
+3) Command line options
+
+The kernel command line takes options looking like the following:
+
+    decnet=1,2,1
+
+the first two numbers are the node address 1,2 = 1.2 (yes, you must use
+commas when specifying them). The third number is the level number for routers
+and is optional. It is probably a good idea to set the DECnet address on boot
+like this rather than trying to do it later.
+
+There are also equivalent options for modules. The node address and type can
+also be set through the /proc/sys/net/decnet/ files, as can other system
+parameters.
+
+Currently the only supported device is ethernet. You'll have to set the
+ethernet address of your ethernet card according to the DECnet address
+of the node in order for it to be recognised (and thus appear in
+/proc/net/decnet_dev). There is a utility available at the above
+FTP sites called dn2ethaddr which can compute the correct ethernet
+address to use. The address can be set by ifconfig either before at
+at the time the device is brought up. If you are using RedHat you can
+add the line:
+
+    MACADDR=AA:00:04:00:03:04
+
+or something similar, to /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 or
+wherever your network card's configuration lives.
+
+You will also need to set /proc/sys/net/decnet/default_device to the
+device you want DECnet to route packets out of when no specific route
+is available. Usually this will be eth0, for example:
+
+    echo -n "eth0" >/proc/sys/net/decnet/default_device
+
+There is a list of what the other files under /proc/sys/net/decnet/ do
+on the kernel patch web site (shown above).
+
+4) How can I tell if its working ?
+
+Here is a quick guide of what to look for in order to know if your DECnet
+kernel subsystem is working.
+
+   - Is the node address set (see /proc/sys/net/decnet/node_address)
+   - Is the node of the correct type (see /proc/sys/net/decnet/node_type)
+   - Is the Ethernet MAC address of each Ethernet card set to match
+     the DECnet address. If in doubt use the dn2ethaddr utility available
+     at the ftp archive.
+   - If the previous two steps are satisfied, and the Ethernet card is up,
+     you should find that it is listed in /proc/net/decnet_dev and also
+     that it appears as a directory in /proc/sys/net/decnet/conf/. The
+     loopback device (lo) should also appear and is required to communicate
+     within a node.
+   - If you have any DECnet routers on your network, they should appear
+     in /proc/net/decnet_neigh, otherwise this file will only contain the
+     entry for the node itself (if it doesn't check to see if lo is up).
+   - If you want to send to any node which is not listed in the
+     /proc/net/decnet_neigh file, you'll need to set the default device
+     to point to an Ethernet card with connection to a router. This is
+     again done with the /proc/sys/net/decnet/default_device file.
+   - Try starting a simple server and client, like the dnping/dnmirror
+     over the loopback interface. With luck they should communicate.
+     For this step and those after, you'll need the DECnet library
+     which can be obtained from the above ftp sites as well as the
+     actual utilities themselves.
+   - If this seems to work, then try talking to a node on your local
+     network, and see if you can obtain the same results.
+   - At this point you are on your own... :-)
+
+5) How to send a bug report
+
+If you've found a bug and want to report it, then there are several things
+you can do to help me work out exactly what it is that is wrong. Useful
+information (a lot of which is essential) includes:
+
+ - What kernel version are you running ?
+ - What version of the patch are you running ?
+ - How far though the above set of tests can you get ?
+ - What is in the /proc/decnet* files and /proc/sys/net/decnet/* files ?
+ - Which services are you running ?
+ - Which client caused the problem ?
+ - How much data was being transfered ?
+ - Was the network congested ?
+ - If there was a kernel panic, please run the output through ksymoops
+   before sending it to me, otherwise its _useless_.
+ - How can the problem be reproduced ?
+ - Can you use tcpdump to get a trace ? (N.B. Most (all?) versions of 
+   tcpdump don't understand how to dump DECnet properly, so including
+   the hex listing of the packet contents is essential, usually the -x flag.
+   You may also need to increase the length grabbed with the -s flag)
+
+6) Mailing list
+
+If you are keen to get involved in development, or want to ask questions
+about configuration, or even just report bugs, then there is a mailing
+list that you can join: send mail to majordomo@dreamtime.org with
+
+subscribe linux-decnet
+
+as the body of the message.
+
+7) Legal Info
+
+The Linux DECnet project team have placed their code under the GPL. The
+software is provided "as is" and without warranty express or implied.
+DECnet is a trademark of Compaq. This software is not a product of
+Compaq. We acknowledge the help of people at Compaq in providing extra
+documentation above and beyond what was previously publicly available.
+
+Steve Whitehouse <SteveW@ACM.org>
+

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