28 Aug
2010
28 Aug
'10
11:09 a.m.
On Saturday, August 28, 2010, Tom Watson wrote:
Help...
I thought it would be "easy", just hook it up and let it go. I
thought I had the proper load file (xpcsrv20.sys) in the /tftpboot
directory. TCPDumps seemed to indicate that I should have a proper
file with the last 6 digits of the MAC address. When I did that, I
got the dump to indicate that something was transfering, but it
looks like to petered out a ways through. It then goes into a silly
arp sequence for a router in the 172.31... network while my network
here is 192.168.0..
Questions:
1) What files should be in the /tftpboot directory?
2) Can I get access to the configuration through one of the serial
ports (which one)? 3) Does anyone have one of these beasts
"working" with a Linux host? I like to get it up and running.
I seem to have LOTS of documents on this, but none seem to be of the
"step-by step" variety using a Unix (Linux) as the RARP/TFTP host.
I would prefer responses of list, but will read then here if you
like.
Yes, these things are a bit old. Nobody really uses terminal servers
these days, and while 40 ports is a bit much, I do have a bunch of
serial devices I'd like to connect to. It looked like this would be
a nice thing to get working.
Read the "Getting started" guide from here, starting on page 83:
http://computer-refuge.org/classiccmp/xyplex/maxserver/
For the 1600 and low-memory Xyplexes I use mx1500.sys. for the
1620/1640, I use xpcs00s.sys, which has more features. That's all you
need in /tftpboot.
To configure it, you want a serial cable plugged into one of its ports.
I don't think it matters which, but I always use port 1.
Go through the config menu and check the boot record it's using to make
sure it's what you want, and then tell it to "Initialize server and port
parameters". For booting, you probably want to set it to use DTFTP
(same as normal TFTP), you can probably just set the dump mode to
whatever, and use NVRAM for getting parameters. You'll probably want to
just set a static IP address for the unit, as well.
Once it boots, log in, and configure yourself up some ports. If you
want to hook a terminal up to a port, to telnet to a host, no additional
port config should be necessary. If you want to set it up for the
network host to connect to the port on the Xyplex, do this:
def port 2 access remote
set port 2 access remote
def port 2 speed 9600 parity none character size 8
set port 2 speed 9600 parity none character size 8
The first changes the saved config, the 2nd changes the running config.
It'll autosave the configuration you set with the "define" commands to
the NVRAM in the unit.
Then you should be able to telnet from your host into port 2000+(100 *
serial port number), and connect to the serial device. Eg, port 2200
will be its port 2, and port 2000 is its "console" port.
The config guides have lots more details on how to do fancy stuff with
it.
If you're going to use it for machine consoles, I strongly suggest
looking at the package "conserver". It was developed at Purdue, and we
still use it there, and I use it at home.
Pat
--
Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org