ptx/ATM V4.7.0 Release Notes


Introduction

These release notes support V4.7.0 of the ptx®/ATM software intended for use with NUMA-Q® systems. Read this document before you install and run this release of the ptx/ATM software.


New Features in This Release

ptx/ATM V4.7.0 contains the following new features :


System Requirements


Software Requirements

The following software products are prerequisites for ptx/ATM V4.7.0:

The only network-protocol product that can be used with ptx/ATM V4.7.0 is ptx/TCP/IP V4.7.0 or later.


ATM Protocol Compatibility

ptx/ATM V4.7.0 is compatible with the following ATM protocols:

There are some known interoperability issues when using LANE Services hosted on Cisco Systems® edge devices and Bay Networks® ATM switches. See the section entitled "Interoperability Problems."


Software Compatibility


Required Device Names for ATM Adapters

For all features of ptx/ATM V4.7.0 to work correctly, ATM adapter devices must be named atmrawX, where X is a number from 0 to 15. The X part of the name must be equal to the device number, as given in the DEVNUM column of output from /etc/dumpconf.

The "unit" parameter specified while configuring or showing CLIP and LANE interfaces is also equal to the DEVNUM device number.

Because of conflicts in the device naming database, the name and device number can sometimes get out of sync and must be corrected by the System Administrator. For example, consider the following output:

# /etc/dumpconf -d
NAME         CFGTYPE  DEVNUM  UNIT        FLAGS  OnBUS    OnDEVICE
…
atmraw2      atmraw        0  0x00000002  L      pci      quad0
atmraw1      atmraw        1  0x00000006  L      pci      quad0
pe0          pe            0  0x00000001  L      pci      quad0

The device named atmraw1 has a DEVNUM of 1, but the device named atmraw2 has a DEVNUM of 0. This must be corrected as follows:

# /etc/devctl -n atmraw2 atmraw0
devctl: Assigned atmraw2 --> atmraw0
# /etc/dumpconf -d
NAME         CFGTYPE  DEVNUM  UNIT        FLAGS  OnBUS    OnDEVICE
…
atmraw0      atmraw        0  0x00000002  L      pci      quad0
atmraw1      atmraw        1  0x00000006  L      pci      quad0
pe0          pe            0  0x00000001  L      pci      quad0

You can now add the adapters atmraw0 and atmraw1 to the configuration tables, and configure CLIP or LANE interfaces on units 0 and 1, respectively.


ptx/TCP/IP rarpd does Not Work Over ptx/ATM

The ptx/TCP/IP product includes a daemon called rarpd, which implements the Reverse ARP protocol. It does not work over ATM interfaces, neither CLIP nor LANE.


Other Products' Misuse of ptx/ATM Devices

Other DYNIX/ptx products have components that are known to misuse ptx/ATM devices. All of the components listed in the following subsections have the no-longer-valid behavior of opening all devices found in the /dev/net directory. Under normal circumstances this does not cause any problems, but it can inhibit certain ATM operations, such as deleting a CLIP or LANE interface or resetting an ATM adapter. If this happens, the ATM operation can only be completed by killing the daemon that has the ATM devices open.


ptx/NFS

The ptx/NFS product includes a statistics-gathering daemon called rpc.statd, which may be configured at the administrator's option. The following example shows how to kill this daemon. See the ptx/NFS Administration Guide to restart it, if desired, after the ATM operation is completed.

# ps -ef | grep statd
root 5575 1 0 14:52:41 ? 0:00 /etc/rpc.statd
root 18312 11024 1 17:21:44 ttyiQ/iAQp 0:00 grep statd
# kill -9 5575

mib2agt (Comms Subagent)

The ptx/TCP/IP product includes a daemon called mib2agt (a comms subagent) that gathers statistics on TCP/IP interfaces for access via ptx/Agent. The following shows how to kill this daemon. Refer to the ptx/TCP/IP Administration Guide to restart it, if desired, after the ATM operation is completed.

# ps -ef | grep mib2
root 8923 1 0 22:12:11 ? 0:00 /etc/mib2agt
root 3821 3617 0 18:04:03 ttyAE/AAEi 0:00 grep mib2
# kill -9 8923

ptx/TCP/IP rarpd

The ptx/TCP/IP product includes a daemon called rarpd, which implements the Reverse ARP protocol. It may be configured at the Administrator's option. The following example shows how to kill this daemon. See the ptx/TCP/IP Administration Guide to restart it, if desired, after the ATM operation is completed.

/etc/rarpd can be started in two ways:

In either case, /etc/rarpd will invoke a separate daemon for each interface it has been configured to use. The following shows how the daemon can be detected and killed. Each individual instance will need to be killed separately.

# ps -ef | grep rarpd
root 9580 8233 5 09:52:25 syscon 0:00 grep rarpd
root 9576 1 0 09:52:21 ? 0:00 /etc/rarpd -a
root 9578 1 0 09:52:21 ? 0:00 /etc/rarpd -a
root 9579 1 0 09:52:21 ? 0:00 /etc/rarpd -a
# kill -9 9576
# kill -9 9578
# kill -9 9579

Interoperability Problems

The following sections describe known problems when interoperating with ATM products from other vendors.


LANE Services on Cisco Edge Devices

When using ptx/ATM LANE with LANE Services running on several Cisco SystemsTM devices, particularly the Cisco 5500 and Cisco 7513, two known problems can occur. These problems are logged in Cisco's bug-tracking database as BugID CSCdj38583 and as case ID T30652. The solution is to install revision 12.0 (or higher) of Cisco software. If this cannot be done, the kernel parameter ATM_CISCO_PATCH (see ptx/ATM Administration Guide, Appendix A, "Tunable Kernel Parameters") should be changed from 0 to 1.


LANE Services on Bay Networks ATM Switch

You may be using ptx/ATM LANE with LANE Services running on Bay Networks Centillion 50 ATM switch with MCP Version 3.2(2.7) Advanced Image. If so, ILMI does not properly negotiate the UNI version. Also, the LANE configuration-reply message violates the LANE 1.0 specification. Change the kernel parameter ATM_BAY_PATCH from 0 to 1 (see the ptx/ATM Administration Guide, Appendix A, "Tunable Kernel Parameters").


Software Installation

To install ptx/ATM V4.7.0, refer to the DYNIX/ptx V4.6.0 and Layered Products Software Installation Release Notes.


Migration from ptx/ATM V2.0.x, V4.5.x, or V4.6.x

ptx/ATM V4.7.0 is fully upward compatible with ptx/ATM V2.0.x, V4.5.x, and V4.6.x. There are no issues for migration from these versions.

Starting with ptx/ATM V4.6.0, ptx/ATM supports selective netprefix setting on some adapters in the host. For this reason, when upgrading from ptx/ATM V2.0.x or V4.5.x to ptx/ATM V4.7.0, the following may apply:

If under ptx/ATM V2.0.x or V4.5.0 the adapters were configured with network prefix, then you should check the /var/atm/etc/.nosnmpd file to make sure all the adapter names that were configured with network prefix appear in this file. They should normally be present in this file but if they are not, then they need to be added by editing the file.

For example, if the host has three adapters (atmraw0, atmraw1, and atmraw2) and all adapters were configured for network prefix, then the .nosnmpd file should have

atmraw0
atmraw1
atmraw2

The full path name is not needed and each adapter name should appear in a line by itself without any preceding/trailing information. Also, in the earlier versions, it was not possible to selectively set network prefix for some adapters. That is, if the network prefix is to be set, it has to be set on all adapters in the host.

If an adapter in the host is directly connected to another host's adapter, instead of through a switch, then enter that adapter's name in the /var/atm/etc/.nosnmpd file as explained. In this setup, only CLIP can be configured on the adapter.


Product Documentation

The following documentation is available on the online documentation CD or at http://webdocs.sequent.com/:

ptx/ATM Administration Guide

Problem Report Summary


Fixed Problems in ptx/ATM V4.7.0

244957 - Rearranging ATM adapters in a host caused problems for atm_snmpd

250358 - Incorrectly logged command line errors for atmadmin

250785 - LANE auto request feature for LE_CONFIGURE_REQUEST did not timeout

250810 - Incorrectly logged Attempting RESET_ADAPTER ioctl message at startup

251095 - ptx/ATM did not log bad MAC related error messages

251657 - Incorrectly logged Activated VC messages, which are normal occurrences


Open Problems in ptx/ATM


atmstat -z Option Does Not Work (242317)

The -z option for the atmstat command is not supported. Therefore, when atmstat -z is executed, it does not zero out the statistics.

Workaround. None.


Menu Scripts Do Not Respect Comment Character "#" in Configuration Files (244176)

The three ATM configuration files (atmtab, cliptab, lanetab) reside in /var/atm/etc. The menu scripts that read these files to do automatic configuration of ATM components do not respect any comment character; therefore, you cannot place comments in these files.

Workaround. Do not attempt to place comments in the configuration files. The proper way to make changes to these files is to use the ptx/ADMIN menu system. Three .template files are provided to explain the fields in each record of the files.


"atmadmin clip show -unit 0" Cannot Show 1024 PVCs (244299)

A CLIP interface with more than a handful of Virtual Circuits (VCs) is uncommon, and by default, about 675 VCs can be displayed. The problem is that the default kernel parameter STRMSGSZ is too small to pass a structure large enough to contain all of the VC information.

Workaround. In a rare instance, you may have more than 675 VCs. If so, the kernel can be tuned (see Appendix A, "Tunable Kernel Parameters," in the ptx/ATM Administration Guide). Adjust the kernel parameter STRMSGSZ to its maximum of 65535. After reconfiguring and remaking the kernel, atmadmin clip show will display all 1023 VCs.


Cannot Stop/Deconfigure ELAN in Some Conditions (244805)

There are some cases in which an attempt to stop or deconfigure a running ELAN will fail with the error message device busy. This is caused by other products misuse of ptx/ATM devices.

Workaround. See "Other Products' Misuse of ATM Devices."


Spaces in ELAN Names Cannot Be Used (245917)

The ptx/ADMIN menus provided to configure ptx/ATM do not properly handle spaces in ELAN names.

Workaround. Do not create ELAN names with spaces in them. However, underscore characters are handled properly.


Can Add ELANS Which Don't Really Exist (247072)

An ELAN must be configured on the ATM switch before the NUMA-Q host can use it. On a NUMA-Q host, if you do configure an ELAN that is not present on the switch, it will be accepted and entered in the table of ELANs. For example:

% /usr/etc/atmadmin lane show
LECS (current): 47.0079.00.000000.0000.0000.0000.00a03e000001.00
   ELAN          UNIT LAN Type  LES ATM Address
   ====          ==== ========  ===============
=> ELAN004         0 Ethernet 39.0000.00.000000.0000.0030.4b00.0020d4304b04.02
   ELAN000         0 Ethernet 39.0000.00.000000.0000.0030.4b00.0020d4304b00.02
=> junkxyz         0 Ethernet 00.000000000000000000000000000000000000.00

No ELAN called "junkxyz" exists on the LES/LECS (ATM switch).

If you attempt to start the ELAN, no error message will be given.

Workaround. There is no functional failure. Do not enter an ELAN in the table unless it is configured on the switch.


ATM Startup Script Incorrectly Reports CLIP Startup Failure (253584)

If CLIP is not configured on an adapter during system bootup, the ptx/ATM startup script interprets this as an error and returns a non-zero value. In actuality, there is no error, just a misleading message. You can safely ignore this error message from the ptx/ATM startup script.

Workaround. None.


atmping Command Does Not Work on the Same VC More Than Once (253980)

When the atmping command is run more than once on an adapter using the same virtual circuit (VC), the command fails. This happens because the first time the atmping command is run it does not release the VC after exiting.

Workaround. None.