Chapter 7 - Managing Serial Options and Communications
This chapter describes some of the day-to-day tasks in managing serial communications, including how to do the following:
For information on assigning (adding) serial lines, see Chapter 6.
Use the Shut Down a Line menu choice to assign a line to a different option. When you shut down a line, the status of the line changes to UNUSED. You can assign only those lines whose status is UNUSED.
1. At the Operator Menu choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu (shown in Chapter 3) appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Serial Lines. The Manage Serial Lines menu appears.
4. Choose Shut Down a Line.
When prompted, enter the following information:
Slot Number - Specify the number of the slot containing the card connected to the line that you want to shut down.
Enter Line Number (1-6) - Enter the number of the line that you want to shut down.
The following warning appears:
Warning: Shutting down a line terminates current activity on the line
Choose either Continue with Shutdown (to shut down the line) or Return to Manage Serial Lines (to exit without shutting down the line).
If you enter an invalid slot number, the following error message will appear:
Error: No Serial Controller in slot n
where n is the slot number.
If you receive this message and you are sure you entered the correct slot number, it might mean that you did not load the driver for the card, or the driver was not loaded properly. See "Configuring LAN and WAN Cards" in Chapter 3 for information.
Clearing X.25 Virtual Circuits
To disconnect an incoming connection on an X.25 line, choose Clear X.25 Virtual Circuit from the Manage Serial Lines menu. You must have the X.25 Server-to-Server option installed on the server to use this menu choice.
Before using this menu choice, you must use VNSM to find out the local session number of the X.25 virtual circuit:
1. From the VINES Network Summary menu, choose Show Topology Information. The Topology Information menu appears.
2. Choose VINES Neighbors. The Neighbors screen appears.
The local session number appears on the Neighbors screen next to the entry that reads "X.25 VC" and just below the StreetTalk name of the remote server.
Figure 7-1 shows a sample Neighbors screen.
For more information on Network Management, see Monitoring and Optimizing Servers.
Now that you know the local session number, you can clear the virtual circuit.
To Clear an X.25 Virtual Circuit
1. At the Operator Menu choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu (shown in Chapter 3) appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Serial Lines. The Manage Serial Lines menu appears.
4. Choose Clear X.25 Virtual Circuit.
The following prompt appears:
Enter Local Session Number for Virtual Circuit:
5. Enter the local session number for the virtual circuit.
When the virtual circuit is cleared, the system returns you to the Manage Serial Lines menu.
Other Tasks with the Manage Serial Lines Menu
The following sections describe other tasks you can perform with the Manage Serial Lines menu.
Changing Configuration Information for a Line
To change configuration information for a line, you must shut down the line and then reassign it.
For information on shutting down a line, see "To Shut Down a Line" earlier in this chapter.
For information on assigning a line, see Chapter 6.
Refreshing the Manage Serial Lines Menu
Choose Refresh from the Manage Serial Lines menu if you want to update the status of the fields on the Manage Serial Lines menu.
Getting Help for the Manage Serial Lines Menu
Choose Help from the Manage Serial Lines menu if you want to access the online help for the Manage Serial Lines menu.
Leaving the Manage Serial Lines Menu
Choose Exit from the Serial Lines menu to leave the Manage Serial Lines menu.
Displaying the Status of All Lines
You can display the line assignment information associated with a line on the server, such as:
Line type Line speed Hunt groups (where applicable)
For Asynchronous Server-to-Server and HDLC, you can see all of that information plus the following information:
Modem script name Whether the modem supports compression
For X.25, you can see line type, line speed, and the following information:
Modem type (auto-dial or manual) Packet size (for X.25 lines) Window size (for X.25 lines) Information on virtual circuits (for X.25 lines)
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Show Status of All Lines. A Display Line Assignments menu similar to the one in Figure 7-2 appears.
Several screens of information may appear, depending on the number and the types of communications lines installed on the server.
4. Press ENTER to display the next screen.
When you press ENTER at the final screen, the system returns you to the Serial Communications menu.
Managing Remote Site Connections
With the Manage Remote Site Connections menu, you can perform the following tasks:
Define and display connections to remote servers Set up schedules for automatic calls to remote sites Manually call remote sites Manually disconnect calls
A remote server is a server that you connect to over a WAN link. A server that you connect to over a LAN is considered local.
To communicate with remote servers, you must:
1. Assign a line on both servers.
2. Either:
- Set up schedules for automatic calls.
- Call the sites manually.
Other requirements depend on the type of communications line you are using:
Switched HDLC or Asynchronous Server-to-Server Connections - The calling site must have Hayes-compatible auto-dial modems. The called site must have Hayes-compatible auto-answer modems.
If the calling site does not have Hayes-compatible modems, you cannot use the Manage Remote Site Connections menu. You must dial and disconnect a call to the other server manually.
X.25 Lines - The Manage Remote Site Connections menu cannot establish virtual circuits until the physical connection is already in place. This means that you must dial your PDN if you do not have a leased line. See the VINES X.25 Guide for details on establishing a connection to another server using X.25 connections.
To Reach the Manage Remote Site Connections Menu
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Remote Site Connections. The Manage Remote Site Connections menu, shown in Figure 7-3, appears.
To Add a Remote Site Name for Synchronous and Asynchronous Connections
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Remote Site Connections. The Manage Remote Site Connections menu appears.
4. Choose Add a Remote Site Name. The Add Remote Site Name screen appears, as shown in Figure 7-4.
5. Choose the type of connection you use.
When prompted, enter the following information. Not all prompts appear; some depend on how you answered previous prompts or on the protocol you have chosen.
Enter the name of the connection: - Enter a unique name for the connection that is easy to identify. The name can be up to 32 characters.
Enter the phone number: - Specify the telephone number of the other server. If you are using a PDN, specify the phone number of the PDN. If you are configuring an ISDN connection, enter the ISDN phone number. If the number contains a Subnet ID, place an asterisk (*) between the phone number and the Subnet ID.
Should this site be called periodically (y/n)? - To set up a connection schedule, enter Y. You then specify days, times, and the duration of the connections. The time and duration values apply to each day you specify. To specify different times for different days of the week, you should set up separate schedules under different site names. If you do not want to schedule connections, enter N. To make a connection directly without scheduling it, see "Connecting to Remote Sites" later in this chapter.
Enter the hours to call (0-23): (e.g., 1,0,22 or * for all)? - Specify one or more hours for which you want connections made during the day. If you enter more than one hour, use commas to separate the hours. Do not enter any blank spaces after the commas. For example, the list 9,13,16 specifies 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. To specify every hour of the day, just enter an asterisk (*).
Enter the minutes to call (0-59): (e.g. 1,0,22 or * for all)? - To specify one connection per hour, enter a single value at the minute prompt. For example, enter 0 to specify the beginning of the hour. Specifying the list 0,30 tells the system to start a connection every 30 minutes in the hours specified. To specify one call per minute, enter an asterisk (*).
Enter the days to call (Sunday=0): (e.g. 1,4,5 or * for all)? - Specify one or a list of numbers. The numbers range from 0 for Sunday to 6 for Saturday. Use an asterisk (*) to specify every day. If you enter more than one day, use commas to separate the days. Do not enter any blank spaces after the commas.
Enter the duration of the connection in minutes: (e.g. 30)? - Enter the number of minutes you want the connection to last. The system does not adjust for traffic on the line; the call terminates exactly when specified.
Do you wish the connection to be re-established automatically if lost (y/n)? - Enter Y if you want the system to automatically re-establish the connection if it is lost. Enter N if you do not want the connection automatically re-established.
Enter the number of times to retry a dropped connection: (1-32767) - Enter a small number (3, 5, or even 10) for most situations. This will allow enough retries to prevent unnecessary timeouts, but will not tie up the line with retries when there are major problems on the line. If it's important to keep trying to re-establish a dropped connection, enter a larger number.
Enter the interval to wait between connection attempts (minutes): (1-32767) - Enter the number of minutes you want the software to wait between retries. Keep in mind that if the interval between retries is long, and you have specified a large number of retries, you will tie up the WAN service for a long time while it tries to re-establish a dropped connection. For example, if you specified 10 retries at the previous prompt, and you specify a five-minute interval here, the line could be tied up as long as 50 minutes before giving up on the connection.
Do you wish the connection closed after an idle period (y/n)? - Specify whether you want the system to disconnect after an idle period. If you answer N, the connection ends when the duration you specified in Enter the Idle Time expires. If you answer Y, the server disconnects the line after it has been idle for the specified time or after the duration of the connection time you set in Enter the duration of the connection in minutes (e.g. 30) expires, whichever comes first.
Enter the idle time. Press <enter> for default of 8 (minutes): (1-32767) - Enter the time, in minutes, after which the connection will be dropped if there has been no activity. If you press ENTER without entering a number, the time is set to 8 minutes (the default). The larger the number, the longer an idle connection will stay open. You might need to use a larger number if your line is idle for long periods of time (for example, if you send short bursts of data at a time).
Do you wish to supply a calling script file? (y/n) - Answer Y to supply a calling script filename. Answer N if you do not want to supply a calling script file. (The default script file will be used.)
Note: The calling script file feature is not available for ISDN lines.
File Service: - Enter the name of the VINES file service where the script file is located.
Note: Make sure that the WAN service has Read access to the script file.
Script File: Enter the complete pathname name of the script file, beginning with a directory separator (a slash or backslash). The pathname must start from the root of the file service or from the root of the server drive if you are using the UNIX file system. See "Supplying Your Own Script File" in Chapter 6 for details.
Note: To specify a script file name, you must first make sure that the WAN service has Read access to the script file.
Do you wish to assign a specific slot and line number for this connection (y/n)? - Answer Y to assign a specific slot and line number. Answer N if you do not want to supply a slot and line number. If you answer N, the WAN service will use lines from the hunt group as long as at least one line for the corresponding protocol is assigned to the hunt group.
Enter the slot number (1-8) - Specify the number of the slot containing the card connected to the line that you want to assign.
Enter Line Number (1-6) - Enter the number of the line connected to the card.
If you are configuring an ISDN BRI connection, the following prompt appears:
Do you wish to accept incoming calls from this site(y/n)? - Answer Y if you want the server represented by the ISDN phone number to accept incoming calls from the remote server. Answer N if you do not want the server to accept incoming calls from the remote server. Your server might still receive incoming calls, even if you answer N.
The system assigns the connections and returns you to the Manage Remote Site Connections menu.
Phone Number
Enter the phone number as you would if you were dialing it manually. That is, if you normally need to add a country code or area code or use a prefix such as 1 or 9, enter that as part of the number.
You can enter the following type of information in the phone number field:
All keys on a telephone keypad: 0 through 9, and * and # for touch tone (push-button) phones. You can include dashes, spaces, and parentheses for readability; those characters have no effect on what is dialed.
In addition, you can use the characters shown in Table 7-1.
Examples of Telephone Numbers
The following examples show how you might enter telephone numbers.
Example Use Touch Tone Dialing, Dial 9, Pause, then Dial Number
The following telephone number string tells the software to use touch tone dialing and dial 011-44-055-555-1212.
T 011-44-055-555-1212
Example Use Prefix to Disable Special Features
In some phone systems, you might be instructed to dial a special prefix to disable certain features that would otherwise allow incoming calls to disrupt your connection. For example, on certain North American telephone systems, you might be told to dial *70 on a touch tone (push-button) system to disable Call Waiting on the line.
Put the special prefix before the telephone number. Use a comma to pause long enough so that the action can take place.
The following string tells the software to disable incoming calls and then make the call shown in the previous example:
T *70, 9, 555-1212
On a pulse tone system, the code to disable incoming calls might differ. For example, instead of using *70, you might be told to use 1170:
P 1170, 9, 555-1212
Example Wait for a PBX Dial Tone
The following string tells the software to dial 9 to get a PBX, wait (W) for the PBX dial tone, and then dial the numbers 15085551000.
9W 1-508-555-1000
To Add a Remote Site for an X.25 Connection
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Remote Site Connections. The Manage Remote Site Connections menu appears.
4. Choose Add a Remote Site Name. The Add Remote Site Name screen, shown in Figure 7-5, appears.
5. Choose X.25.
When prompted, enter the following information. Not all prompts appear; some depend on how you answered previous prompts.
Enter the name of the site: - Enter a unique name for the connection that is easy to identify. The name can be up to 32 characters.
Enter the phone number of the site: - If you are not using a PDN, enter the phone number of the remote site. If you are using a PDN, enter the phone number of the PDN and then the DTE address of the site.
Slot number: - Enter the slot number in which the serial communications card attached to the X.25 line is installed.
Line number: - Enter the number of the line on the serial communications card that is assigned to X.25.
DTE address: - Specify the other server's DTE address, assigned by your PDN. To make the connections, the serial card uses one of the SVCs in the range you provided when you configured the line. For a switched non-PDN connection, press ENTER.
Do you wish to accept reverse charge calls from this site (y/n)? - Enter Y if you want this site to accept the charges for incoming connections from other sites. Normally, incoming connections with reverse charging specified in the facilities field are rejected.
Any user facilities to call this site (y/n)? - Enter Y if you want to specify PDN user facilities in addition to those specified when you assigned this X.25 line.
Enter facilities values in hexadecimal two-character strings from 00 to FF - Consult your service provider for information on what to enter here.
Should this site be called periodically (y/n)? - To set up a connection schedule, enter Y. You then specify days, times, and the duration of the connections. The time and duration values apply to each day you specify. To specify different times for different days of the week, you should set up separate schedules under different site names. If you do not want to schedule connections, enter N. To make a connection directly without scheduling it, see "Connecting to Remote Sites" later in this chapter.
Enter the hours to call (0-23): (e.g., 1,0,22 or * for all)? - Specify one or more hours that you want connections made during the day. If you enter more than one hour, use commas to separate the hours. Do not enter any blank spaces after the commas. For example, the list 9,13,16 specifies 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. To specify every hour of the day, just enter an asterisk (*).
Enter the minutes to call (0-59): (e.g. 1,0,22 or * for all)? - To specify one connection per hour, enter a single value at the minute prompt. For example, enter 0 to specify the beginning of the hour. Specifying the list 0,30 tells the system to start a connection every 30 minutes in the hours specified. To specify one call per minute, enter an asterisk (*).
Enter the days to call (Sunday=0): (e.g. 1,4,5 or * for all)? - Specify one or a list of numbers. The numbers range from 0 for Sunday to 6 for Saturday. Use an asterisk (*) to specify every day. If you enter more than one day, use commas to separate the days. Do not enter any blank spaces after the commas.
Enter the duration of the connection in minutes: (e.g. 30)? - Enter the number of minutes you want the connection to last. The system does not adjust for traffic on the line; the call terminates exactly when specified.
If the system cannot complete a connection, it keeps trying every five minutes until the end of the hour.
Displaying Remote Site Information
Choose Display Remote Sites from the Manage Remote Site Connections menu to display information about all the server connections that you have defined with the Add a Remote Site Name option.
To Reach the Display Remote Sites Menu
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Remote Site Connections. The Manage Remote Site Connections menu appears.
4. Choose Display Remote Sites. The Display Remote Sites screen, shown in Figure 7-6, appears.
The system lists the specifications associated with each site name. Information in some columns may be truncated to fit the screen.
An asterisk in the Type field indicates an active connection to a remote site.
A question mark in the Type field means that the line used to call that site is no longer assigned and a call cannot be completed successfully. If a question mark appears, check the following:
Was the line assignment information deleted? If the line is still assigned, is it assigned to the right protocol?
The WAN service automatically creates a record containing the words INCOMING/MANUAL for a manual connection (leased line) or an incoming call.
For an HDLC line, the INCOMING/MANUAL record appears if:
The WAN service detects that a connection has been established and you answered Y to Is this a leased (dedicated) line (y/n)?). The WAN service detects that a connection has been established and you answered N to Is this a leased (dedicated) line (y/n)?) and you answer N to Is there an auto-dialing modem on this line (y/n)?. You answer N to Is this a leased (dedicated) line (y/n)?), you answer Y to Is there an auto-dialing modem on this line (y/n)?, and there is an incoming call in progress.
For an Asynchronous Server-to-Server line, the INCOMING/MANUAL record appears when:
The WAN service detects that a connection has been established and you answered N to Is there an auto-dialing modem on this line (y/n)?. You answered Y to Is there an auto-dialing modem on this line (y/n)?, and there is an incoming call in progress.
For a PC Dial-in or ISDN line, the INCOMING/MANUAL record appears when there is an incoming call in progress. When the INCOMING/MANUAL record appears for an ISDN line, it means that there is no corresponding record for the phone number of the calling site in the database.
The INCOMING/MANUAL record disappears from the remote site list approximately 10 minutes after you disconnect. The asterisk disappears before the INCOMING/MANUAL record appears, indicating that the connection is no longer active.
To Display More Sites
1. Press ENTER to display the next screen.
2. Continue to press ENTER until you have viewed all the sites.
3. Press ENTER to return to the Manage Remote Site Connections menu.
To Display More Information for a Particular Site
You can view valuable information for each remote site. At the Display Remote Sites menu, enter the number of the site. The Site Definition and Site History information appears, as shown in Figure 7-7.
See "Information in the Site Definition Fields" and "Information in the Site History Fields" later in this chapter for a description of these fields.
To see the Current Site Status for this site, press ENTER. The Current Site Status information appears.
If the site is currently active, the Current Site Status screen looks like the one in Figure 7-8.
See "Information in the Current Site Status Fields" later in this chapter for a description of these fields.
If the site is currently not active, the Current Site Status screen looks like the one in Figure 7-9.
Press ENTER to return to the Manage Remote Site Connections menu.
Information in the Site Definition Fields
The information in the site definition fields corresponds to information you configured for the line. For example, Phone Num contains the phone number you entered when you configured the line. Connect Script contains the full pathname of the script file unless you accepted the default script file. If you accepted the default script file, the word DEFAULT appears.
Information in the Site History Fields
Table 7-2 describes the meaning of the site history fields of the Site Definition and Site History Information screen.
Information in the Current Site Status Fields
Table 7-3 describes the possible values of the Current Site Status screen fields.
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Remote Site Connections. The Manage Remote Site Connections menu appears.
4. Choose Remove a Remote Site Name. The Delete a Remote Site Name menu appears.
5. Choose the number of the site name from those shown on the menu, as in Figure 7-10.
The WAN service deletes the information from that site.
Note: If a site is in the process of trying to connect, you will not be able to remove the site name. No asterisk appears next to the site name because it has not completed the connection phase. You must wait until the WAN service completes the connection to the site and either wait for it to disconnect or disconnect it using the Disconnect a Remote Site menu.
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Remote Site Connections. The Manage Remote Site Connections menu appears.
4. Choose Connect to a Remote Site. The Connect to a Remote Site Name screen, shown in Figure 7-11, appears.
5. Enter the number associated with the site name to which you want to connect. The system returns you to the Manage Remote Site Connections menu and confirms whether the connection succeeded or failed.
This establishes a connection directly without scheduling the connection. The connection does not stop until you disconnect it. To end the connection, see "Disconnecting from Remote Sites," which follows.
Disconnecting from Remote Sites
1. At the Operator Menu, choose Manage Communications. The Manage Communications menu appears.
2. Choose Serial Communications. The Serial Communications menu appears.
3. Choose Manage Remote Site Connections. The Manage Remote Site Connections menu appears.
4. Choose Disconnect from Remote Site. A Disconnect from Remote Site Name screen similar to Figure 7-12 appears, listing all of the Site Names you defined. Each currently connected site has an asterisk next to the type.
5. Enter the number associated with the site name of the server from which you want to disconnect. The system returns you to the Manage Remote Site Connections menu.
This ends the connection.
Note: If a site is in the process of trying to connect, you will not be able to remove the site name. No asterisk appears next to the site name because it has not completed the connection phase. You must wait until the WAN service completes the connection to the site and either wait for it to disconnect or disconnect it using the Disconnect from a Remote Site Name menu.
Reloading Serial Communications Cards
Serial communications lines (X.25, HDLC, ISDN, Asynchronous, and so on) can be subject to problems such as line noise and bad connections. If you have continuous problems with one or more lines, use Reload Serial Communications Processor to reinitialize the server's serial communications cards. This function loads the card's processor and clears the card's lines without altering any line assignments.
Note: Reload Serial Communications Processor stops all activity on a card's lines. Before using it, notify everyone currently using communications services. The OPERATE command lists the names of people who are currently using services. For more information on the OPERATE command, see Managing VINES Services.
To Reload a Serial Communications Card
1. At the Serial Communications menu, choose Reload Serial Communications Processor. The Reload Serial Communications screen appears, as shown in Figure 7-13.
2. Choose to reload either all serial communications cards in the server or individual ones, as follows:
- If you reload all cards, the system returns you to the Reload Serial Communications Processor menu when all the cards are reloaded.
- If you reload individual cards, the system displays another menu that lets you choose the card. Specify the number of the slot in which the card is installed. When the card is reloaded, the system returns you to the Reload Serial Communications menu.
When serial communications cards are reloaded, all communications lines are re-enabled without changes to their assignments.
