Calian Satservice sat-nms vlc User manual

sat-nms VLC

VSAT Local Controller

Installation Manual

Version 1.1 / 2004-10-28

SatService Gesellschaft für Kommunikatiosnsysteme mbH

Hardstrasse 9

D-78256 Steisslingen

www.satnms.com

www.satservicegmbh.de

Tel +49 7738 99791-10

Fax +49 7738 99791-99

Table Of Contents

1Table Of Contents .................................................................................................................................

4Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................

4Before you start ....................................................................................................................................

6VLC basic configuration .......................................................................................................................

7Network configuration .......................................................................................................................

9How to connect to the VLC ................................................................................................................

11The file '/etc/rc.vlc' ..........................................................................................................................

13The file '/etc/satnms.rc' .................................................................................................................

16Adding serial interfaces ...................................................................................................................

174 / 8 Port Cards .............................................................................................................................

17Moxa Intellio Cards ......................................................................................................................

18Digi Etherlite Terminal Server ......................................................................................................

18Port Naming .................................................................................................................................

18VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 1 .............................................................................................

18VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 2 .............................................................................................

19VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 3 .............................................................................................

19VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 4 .............................................................................................

19VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 5 .............................................................................................

19VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 6 .............................................................................................

20VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 7 .............................................................................................

20VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 8 .............................................................................................

20VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 9 .............................................................................................

20VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 10 ............................................................................................

20VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 11 ............................................................................................

21VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 12 ............................................................................................

21VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 13 ............................................................................................

21VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 14 ............................................................................................

21Serial IO Hardware Setting (4-PORT / 1) ......................................................................................

23Serial IO Hardware Setting (4-PORT / 2) ......................................................................................

24Serial IO Hardware Setting (4-PORT / 3) ......................................................................................

25Serial IO Hardware Setting (8-PORT / 1) ......................................................................................

26Serial IO Hardware Setting (8-PORT / 2) ......................................................................................

27Serial IO Hardware Setting (8-PORT / 3) ......................................................................................

27Serial IO Hardware Setting (ROCKET / 1) ....................................................................................

28Serial IO Hardware Setting (ROCKET / 2) ....................................................................................

28Serial IO Hardware Setting (ROCKET / 3) ....................................................................................

28Serial IO Hardware Setting (INTELLIO) ......................................................................................

29The setup program ...........................................................................................................................

29Configuring the VLC for the equipment setup .......................................................................................

31Operating the VLC ..............................................................................................................................

31Appendix ............................................................................................................................................

32Device driver / protocol reference list ...............................................................................................

34Device setup configuration file format ..............................................................................................

36A short introduction to 'vi' .................................................................................................................

37Common commands ......................................................................................................................

38'vi' in the MS Windows telnet client ...............................................................................................

Introduction

The VLC installation manual describes the steps of the basic configuration for a new VLC which shall be

prepared for it's first use. These steps apply to VLCs which are going to be upgraded or re-used as well.

The chapter 'Before you start' gives some advice which information to collect before you start to configure a

VLC.

The chapter 'VLC basic configuration' describes the steps to prepare a VLC coming 'out of the box' for it's

on-site usage. This covers the VLC network setup including topics like the VLC - NMS communication

management and IP addresses as well as a detailed guide how to extend a VLC with additional serial

interfaces.

This manual coverts also the new version of the VLC which SatService delivers since March 2003 with

serial numbers greater or equal 1020. Changes in the documentation for the new VLC's are marked with the

label.

The Chapter 'setup program' describes the new setup program for the VLC configuration.

Chapter 'Configuring the VLC for the equipment setup' adds a short discription how to tell the VLC which

type of equipment shall be controlled at which interface port without using the NMS.

Finally, the 'Appendix' provides some reference information, amongst other things a complete list of device

drivers comping with the VLC.

Version 1.1 / 2004-10-28

Before you start

To configure a VLC, there are some information about this VLC you need to collect. First of all you have to

assign an ID to the VLC. Each VLC managed by the NMS has it's unique ID. VLC IDs are number s in the

range 1 ... 1600. The NMS names the VLCs 'VLC0001' ... 'VLC1600' according to these numbers. There is

no need to number the VLSs in a close sequence. However, IP routing might be simpler to configure if you

limit the VLC IDs to 16 or 32 for a small network.

The next important question to check is how many serial interfaces does the VLC need to control the

devices attached to it. You probably will have clarified this before you purchased the VLC. But if you are

going to upgrade or reconfigure a VLC which was already in use, you have to figure out now which serial

interface boards have to be built into the VLC. Chapter 'Adding serial interfaces ' gives you an overview,

which kinds of serial boards the VLC may be configured for.

As a last point, you have to decide in which way the VLC shall communicate with the NMS. Does the VLC

use a dial-up link via modem or ISDN terminal adapter? Or does the VLC connect directly via Ethernet to

the NMS? Are there special requirements regarding the IP routing to the VLC? Chapter 'Network

configuration' demonstrates the some configuration variants.

VLC basic configuration

To prepare a VLC before it is used the first time (or if it shall be re-configured), the following parameters

must be set at the VLC:

You can use the setup program for new VLC's to configure these settings.

VLC number/ID: Within the NMS, each VLC must have a unique ID assigned to it. The NMS software

accesses the VLC through this identifier. The VLC ID is a number in the range 1 .. 1600. The factory

default for the VLC ID is 1.

Parameter:

VLC_ID=[1..1600]

SATNMS_HOSTNAME="vlc[0001..1600]"

Working mode Set this option to 'vlc'.

Parameter:

SATNMS_TYPE=vlc

Serial interface setup: VLCs can be used with different serial interface boards built in. The VLC software

directly supports a number of boards in several combinations. The serial interface setup parameter selects a

combination of I/O boards from a given set. The factory default for this parameter selects 2 passive 4-port

serial boards. Chapter 'Adding serial interfaces ' gives a complete reference which combinations of serial

interface boards are supported, how the boards must be prepared and which settings are to be made in the

main configuration file. For other supported interface boards and the appropriate configuration parameters

refer also to Chapter 'Adding serial interfaces '.

Parameter:

SERIAL=[0..14]

SATNMS_SERIAL=[0..14]

Modem parameters: The VLC will connect to the NMS via a modem or ISDN terminal adapter in most

cases. The factory defaults initialize a modem at the first serial port using 34800 bps. You may want to

change the modem parameters for a ISDN terminal adapter or disable the modem completely if the VLC is

connected to the NMS via Ethernet.

Parameters:

USES_MODEM=[yes|no]

SATNMS_MODEM_USE=[yes|no]

Ethernet parameters: The parameters of the VLC's Ethernet port have to be set in order to integrate the

VLC into the network it is part of. Chapter 'Network configuration examples ' explains some common

network setups for a VLC.

UPS setup: The VLC is prepared to connect to a battery power supply through a special cable connected to

the second serial port. This cable uses the handshake lines to tell the VLC when to give a power fail alert

and when to shut down because the battery is going low. UPS support is disabled by default.

Parameters:

USES_UPS=[yes|no]

SATNMS_UPS_USE=[yes|no]

These basic configuration parameters are set by editing one configuration file at the VLC. This means, you

have to login to the Linux operating system running at the VLC and changes the configuration file. Chapter

'How to connect to the VLC' explains, which options the VLC provides to do this task. Chapter The file

'/etc/rc.vlc' provides a reference of all parameters which can be set in this configuration file.

Chapter 'setup program' describes the use of the setup program for new VLC's and Chapter 'The file

'/etc/satnms.rc'' provides a reference to all parameters.

Network configuration

For the VLC network configuration, there are five common scenarios how to use the Ethernet port of the

VLC. The paragraphs below describe necessary configuration settings for these frequently used

configurations.

1. The VLC does not use the Ethernet at all

It is recommended not to switch off the Ethernet functionality at the VLC. Leave the network settings at

their factory defaults, this enables the Ethernet interface and assigns the IP address 192.168.2.222 to it.

You will be able to connect to the VLC for maintenance tasks at a later point, usually there is no reason to

disable this facility.

parameters:

USES_ETHERNET=[yes|no]

The new System does not provide an option to disable the ethernet interface. If you really want to do

this you have to edit the configuration files of the operating system directly.

2. The VLC connects via modem/ISDN-TA to NMS, Ethernet is used for occasional configuration or

maintenance jobs

You have to decide in this case if you will leave the default IP address for the VLC or if you have to

integrate it in a LAN with a given address space. Depending on this you will have to configure the VLC's IP

settings.

The IP address of the VLC's Ethernet interface is not the address the NMS uses to access the VLC. While s

PPP session between NMS and VLC is running, the NMS accesses the VLC at an address computed from

the VLC ID. The Ethernet IP address may be freely chosen, however the subnet routed to the Ethernet

interface and the subnet routed to the NMS must not overlap. The IP routing happening between VLC and

NMS is described more detailed with the next scenario.

Ethernet interface parameters:

ETHER_ADDR

ETHER_SNET

ETHER_MASK

SATNMS_IP_ADDRESS

SATNMS_IP_NETMASK

Modem parameters:

USES_MODEM=[yes|no]

MODEM_INIT="[InitString]"

MODEM_BAUD=[Baudrate]

SATNMS_MODEM_USE=[yes|no]

SATNMS_MODEM_INIT="[InitString]"

SATNMS_MODEM_BAUD=[BaudRate]

3. The VLC connects via modem/ISDN-TA to NMS. To the VLC Ethernet some devices are connected

you want to access from the NMS

NMS and VLC are able to act as IP routers and to provide an on demand IP link between the LAN the

NMS is connected to and the Ethernet trunk behind the VLC.

For this reason, the NMS uses a unique IP address space for each VLC during an online PPP session to it.

VLCs are assigned to IP addresses in steps of 16, starting at 192.168.100.1. VLC0001 is at

192.168.100.1, VLC0002 at 192.168.100.17 and so on. Moreover, the NMS routes a subnet

masked 255.255.255.224 to each VLC. The subnet 192.168.100.0/28 is routed to VLC0001,

192.168.100.16/28 is routed to VLC0002 and so on.

The VLC may be configured to use same address valid for the PPP interface for the Ethernet interface, too.

With this configuration, the VLC routes addresses for the 255.255.255.224 subnet assigned to it to it's

Ethernet interface.

To activate this configuration, assign empty strings to the 'ETHER_ADDR', 'ETHER_SNET' and

'ETHER_MASK' ( 'SATNMS_IP_ADDRESS', 'SATNMS_IP_NETMASK') parameters in the 'rc.vlc' file.

Devices or hosts which shall be accessible from the NMS must configured to an IP address within the

subnet the VLC is assigned to. The remote devices / hosts must have the VLC's IP address set as the

gateway for the NMS' address space.

The diagram above shows an example for this configuration. The CLIENT computer at the NMS site can

access the DEVICE at the VLC's site at it's address 192.168.100.20. The gateway settings of the

communication partners ensure, that the packets are routed through the NMS -- VLC link.

4. The VLC connects via Ethernet to NMS. The modem line is not used

This scenario described here is quite simple: The VLC gets one IP address assigned to, this address must be

in the NMS LAN subnet. The VLC does not need a modem to be connected at ttyS0. You absolutely

should set the 'USES_MODEM' ( 'SATNMS_MODEM_USE') parameter to 'no' in this case or else the

VLC will permanently try to initialize a modem which is not present. The VLC might run into trouble due to

such a misconfiguration.

Yet another advantage of this configuration is the fact, that the ttyS0 interface now becomes available for

M&C function of the VLC.

If your NMS Server is not in the same Subnet as the VLC but you have a connection via a WAN you

can also configure a default route of the VLC. Additionally you can configure the Adress of a DNS Name

Server.

parameters:

SATNMS_IP_GATEWAY

SATNMS_IP_DNSSERVER

Statics route maybe configured in the file /etc/network/interfaces in the section of the ethernet

interface eth0 directly (not in the satnms configuration file).

auto eth0

iface eth0 inet static

address 192.168.2.222

netmask 255.255.255.0

gateway 192.168.2.254

up route add -net 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.2.253

down route del -net 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0

The last two lines sets a static route to the 192.168.1.0 network if the interface goes up and removes this

route if the interface goes down.

5. The VLC connects via Ethernet to NMS. The modem line is used as backup

The last scenario described here corresponds to the previous one, but the Modem or ISDN-TA is connected

but only used in the case that the VLC is not reacheable via the Ethernet interface. Just configure the VLC

for Ethernet and Modem use. Then configure the NMS with both Addresse (Ethernet-IP and PPP-IP) and

the NMS Server tries first to connect via Ethernet and then via the Dialup link.

How to connect to the VLC

To access the VLC's Linux operating system, there are basically three methods:

1. Connect a CRT monitor and a keyboard

This is the preferred method, because you can not only access the running Linux operating system but also

the BIOS configuration screen and some MS-DOS based configuration programs as well. It is recommended

to use a CRT monitor rather than a LCD panel as some LCD panels have been reported to refuse syncing

to the VLC's screen resolution. With the new VLC such problems with LCD panels are not known.

2. Connect a terminal to the ttyS1 serial interface

The VLC accepts a VT100 type terminal (or a PC running a terminal emulation program) at the serial

interface 'ttyS1' (see the diagram at the end of this chapter). You need a special cable for this case, wired as

shown in the diagram below.

The cable, with 9-pin sub-D socket connectors at both sides, connects the pins 2, 3 and 5 with pin 2 and 3

crossed. All other pins are not connected. This is important to avoid any interference with the battery power

supply function which uses the other lines of this interface.

The terminal / PC must be set to 9600 baud, 8 data bits, no parity. Hardware flow control must be switched

off. When typing at the terminal, you should get a login prompt.

3. Connect the VLC to the LAN and use telnet to login

The VLC accepts telnet logins at the network interface. If you know the actual setup configuration of the

VLC's Ethernet interface (specially it's IP address), you may con figure a computer to see the VLC in it's

address space and connect this computer via Ethernet to the VLC. Telnet is not prefered for the new VLC's.

The VLC by default is configured to the address 192.168.2.222.

4. Connect the VLC to the LAN and use SSH to login

Use the Secure Shell (ssh) to connect to the VLC via LAN. The connection is encrypted and is much more

secure as the plaintext protocol from Telnet.

The VLC by default is configured to the address 192.168.2.222.

Regardless of physical method of connecting to the VLC you chose, you have to login at the Linux

operating system before you can modify the VLC setup configuration. The common login procedure is two

step:

First you have to login as user 'vlc' (password 'vlc'). When you are logged on as 'vlc', issue the command

'su' which gives you root / administrator privileges on this computer. When the VLC asks for the password,

enter 'root'.

The username and password of new VLC's differs from the old version. Use user 'satnms' and

password 'satnms' to login. The root password remains the same ('root').

VLC connectors

The picture below, showing a part of the VLC's rear panel, denominates the connectors of the VLC core

component for your orientation.

VLC Connectors and Serial Card positions

Remember to connect the security device coming with the VLC to the 25 pin connector. The VLC will not

work without this!

The file '/etc/rc.vlc'

See the following chapter for the description of the new configuration file /etc/satnms.rc

Below the file '/etc/rc.vlc' with the factory default settings is listed. Comments in the file describe the

meaning and valid range of each setting at great length. To change some of the settings, connect to the VLC

and login as described in the previous chapter and then open this file in the editor. Change the parameters at

your needs and save the file. After rebooting the VLC (command 'reboot') the new settings become

effective. Please note, that changing the IP address probably will lock you out after reboot if you connected

via telnet to the VLC.

The parameter 'USES_SCC' is reserved for a future extension of the VLC. Satellite control communication

between VLC and NMS actually is only available in networks planned and configured by SatService GmbH.

Therefore, 'USES_SCC' should be kept 'no'.

# VLC configuration file. After changing this file, the VLC should

# be rebooted to execute the changes

########################################################################

# VLC Identification

########################################################################

# A unique identification number for the VLC in the network. Must

# be in the range 1 .. 1600 decimal.

VLC_ID=1

########################################################################

# Network Settings (VLC-NMS Communication)

########################################################################

# Set this to "yes" if the VLC shall setup it's Ethernet interface on

# startup. If the VLC shall access the NMS through this interface, you

# must assign the interface an address in the NMS' IP address space.

# If you leave ETHER_ADDR, ETHER_SNET and ETHER_MASK empty, the VLC

# will assign an address to the interface which is suitable for the

# remote control of LAN controlled devices through a PPP connection

# to the NMS. This address gets derived from the VLC_ID, a unique

# /28 subnet is assigned to each VLC

USES_ETHERNET=yes

ETHER_ADDR=192.168.2.222

ETHER_SNET=192.168.2.0

ETHER_MASK=255.255.255.0

# ETHER_ADDR=""

# ETHER_SNET=""

# ETHER_MASK=""

# Set this to "yes" if you have a SCC card installed and you want the

# VLC to talk with the NMS via satellite

USES_SCC=no

SCC_ADDR=0.0.0.0

SCC_SNET=0.0.0.0

SCC_MASK=255.255.255.255

# Set this to "yes" if you have a modem/terminal-adapter connected

# to /dev/ttyS0 and you want to use a PSTN line for the VLC-NMS

# communication.

# MODEM_INIT is sent by mgetty to the modem every minute

# MODEM_BAUD the tty rate to be used to the modem

USES_MODEM=yes

MODEM_INIT="AT\\&F OK"

MODEM_BAUD=38400

########################################################################

# Serial Interfaces (look at the manual how the cards have to be

# prepared to the I/O and interrupt settings the VLC expects)

########################################################################

# Internal serial cards.

# Basically three types of cards are supported:

# 4-port MOXA Smartio/Industrio 4 port card

# 8-port MOXA Smartio/Industrio 8 port card

# rocketport Comtrol Rocketport (8 port) card

# Select one of the following combinations:

# 0 no card installed

# 1 4-port card

# 2 4-port + 4-port card

# 3 8-port card

# 4 8-port + 4-port card

# 5 8-port + 4-port + 4-port card

# 6 8-port + 8-port card

# 7 8-port + 8-port + 4-port card

# 8 8-port + 8-port + 8-port card

# 9 rocketport card

# 10 rocketport + 4-port card

# 11 rocketport + 4-port + 4-port card

# 12 rocketport + rocketport card

# 13 rocketport + rocketport + 4-port card

# 14 rocketport + rocketport + rocketport card

SERIAL=2

# MOXA Intellio C320/Turbo cards 8 ... 96 ports

# Select the number of ports (multiples of 8) which are accessible

# through C320/Turbo boards. Say 0 if there is no C320 card in the

# VLC.

# Either one board (8, 16, 24 or 32 ports), two boards (40, 48,

# 56 or 64 ports) or three boards (72, 80, 88 or 96 ports) may be

# installed. One C320 board may be combined with one or two internal

# boards, Two C320 boards may be combined with one internal serial board.

INTELLIO=0

# Digi EtherLite TCP/IP terminal server

# If you say yes here, the Digi els driver is launched on system

# startup. You must have a running Ethernet interface for this,

# the file /etc/els.conf must be adapted to the unit's configuration

# you want to access

USES_ETHERLITE=no

########################################################################

# Other Runtime Parameters

########################################################################

# If the VLC is powered by a battery UPS which reports it's state to

# the /dev/ttyS1 port (see the manual regarding the special cable needed

# for this) say "yes" here. This starts a daemon which shuts down the

# VLC safely if the UPS reports "LOW BATTERY"

USES_UPS=no

# This must be yes.

START_VLC=yes

The file '/etc/satnms.rc'

Below the file '/etc/satnms.rc' with the factory default settings is listed. Comments in the file

describe the meaning and valid range of each setting at great length. To change some of the settings, connect

to the VLC and login as described in How to connect to the VLC and then start the setup program.

You can also open this file in an editor (e.g. vi or mcedit) and Change the parameters at your needs and

save the file. To apply the settings to the Linux operation system call 'apply-setup' or set the parameter

'SATNMS_CONF_APPLY' to 'reboot' and reboot the system. This cause the system to apply all settings

from /etc/satnms.rc before shutdown.

# sat-nms configuration file

# After changing this file run 'apply-setup' to execute the

# changes or set SATNMS_CONF_APPLY="reboot" and reboot the system

# For easy configuration use the 'setup' program

########################################################################

# Basic settings

########################################################################

# working mode

SATNMS_TYPE="vlc"

# vlc hostname

# A unique identification number for the VLC in the network. Must

# be in the range 1 .. 1600 decimal with a leading vlc

# e.g. "vlc0002"

SATNMS_HOSTNAME="vlc0002"

########################################################################

# Network settings

########################################################################

# ip-address and netmask

SATNMS_IP_ADDRESS="192.168.2.222"

SATNMS_IP_NETMASK="255.255.255.0"

# The default gateway, leave empty if not needed

SATNMS_IP_GATEWAY="192.168.2.254"

# Address of the dns name server, leave empty if not needed

SATNMS_IP_DNSSERVER="192.168.2.253"

########################################################################

# Serial interface settings

########################################################################

# Sets up the serial ports (passive cards and Comtrol Rocketport cards)

# in the computer. Replaces the original Debian setserial script.

# Basically three types of cards are supported:

# 4-port MOXA Smartio/Industrio 4 port card

# 8-port MOXA Smartio/Industrio 8 port card

# rocketport Comtrol Rocketport (8 port) card

# The variable SATNMis_SERIAL selects one of 15 combinations of cards. The

# software documentation shows the address/irq settings vor each board in

# each particular configuration

# 0: no cards

# 1: 4-port

# 2: 4-port + 4-port

# 3: 8-port

# 4: 8-port + 4-port

# 5: 8-port + 4-port + 4-port

# 6: 8-port + 8-port

# 7: 8-port + 8-port + 4-port

# 8: 8-port + 8-port + 8-port

# 9: ROCKET

# 10: ROCKET + 4-port

# 11: ROCKET + 4-port + 4-port

# 12: ROCKET + ROCKET

# 13: ROCKET + ROCKET + 4-port

# 14: ROCKET + ROCKET + ROCKET

SATNMS_SERIAL=2

# MOXA Intellio C320/Turbo cards 8 ... 96 ports

# Select the number of ports (multiples of 8) which are accessible

# through C320/Turbo boards. Say 0 if there is no C320 card in the

# VLC.

# Either one board (8, 16, 24 or 32 ports), two boards (40, 48,

# 56 or 64 ports) or three boards (72, 80, 88 or 96 ports) may be

# installed. One C320 board may be combined with one or two internal

# boards, Two C320 boards may be combined with one internal serial board.

SATNMS_INTELLIO=0

# Digi EtherLite TCP/IP terminal server

# If you say yes here, the Digi els driver is launched on system

# startup. You must have a running Ethernet interface for this,

# the file /etc/els.conf must be adapted to the unit's configuration

# you want to access

SATNMS_ETHERLITE=no

########################################################################

# Modem settings

########################################################################

# Set this to "yes" if you have a modem/terminal-adapter connected

# to /dev/ttyS0 and you want to use a PSTN line for the VLC-NM

# communication. Default is "no"

SATNMS_MODEM_USE="no"

# Baud rate, the tty rate to be used to the modem

SATNMS_MODEM_BAUD="38400"

# Init string, is sent by mgetty to the modem every minute to

# initialize the modem

SATNMS_MODEM_INIT="AT&F"

########################################################################

# Setup program settings

########################################################################

# apply new configuration to system files manual or on reboot

SATNMS_CONF_APPLY="manual"

Adding serial interfaces

A VLC can contain up to three serial IO cards which add RS232 or RS422/485 interfaces to the unit. While

principally the VLC works with any serial IO card which is compatible to Linux, the units are pre-configured

to work with a fixed set of card configurations. The following types of cards are supported by the VLC:

Moxa

Smartio/Industrio

series

This is a family of 4-port / 8-port passive serial cards which are available with RS232

or RS422/485 interfaces and various types of connectors.

Comtrol

Rocketport

The Rocketport is an active 8-port card providing 8 RJ45 connectors directly on the

card's back.

Moxa Intellio

C320 Turbo

The Intellio C320 is an active card which uses it's own processor to manage the data

exchange to up to 32 ports for each card. The IO ports are located in rack-mountable

modules containing 8 or 16 ports each.

Digi  Etherlite
Terminal Server
For  large  systems  an  external  terminal  server  may  provide  a  nearly  arbitrary number
of serial ports. The terminal server is connected to the VLC via Ethernet.
The  serial  IO  cards  are  not  automatically  recognized  by  the  VLC. Each  card  must  be  configured  to  the
address/irq settings expected by the software. Then the software must be told which cards are installed.
The  card  configuration  is  defined  in  the  configuration  file '/etc/rc.vlc'. The  'SERIAL'  variable  defines  the
Smartio/Industrio  or Rocketport  boards  to  be  used.  The  'INTELLIO'  variable  defines  the  number  IO  ports
connected to one or more Intellio boards.
  The  card  configuration  is  defined  in  '/etc/satnms.rc'  and  the variable  SATNMS_SERIAL  defines  the
combination  of  interface  cards. SATNMS_INTELLIO  defines the number of IO ports  connected  to one or
more Intellio boards.
4 / 8 Port Cards
The following table shows the configurations which can be selected with the parameter 'SERIAL'. The table
uses  the  abbreviations 4-PORT, 8-PORT and ROCKET for Moxa Smartio/Industrio series and Rocketport
cards respectively.
SERIAL Card 1 Card 2 Card 3
0 - - -
1 4-PORT - -
2 4-PORT 4-PORT -
3 8-PORT - -
4 8-PORT 4-PORT -
5 8-PORT 4-PORT 4-PORT
6 8-PORT 8-PORT -
7 8-PORT 8-PORT 4-PORT
8 8-PORT 8-PORT 8-PORT
9 ROCKET - -
10 ROCKET 4-PORT -
11 ROCKET 4-PORT 4-PORT
12 ROCKET ROCKET -
13 ROCKET ROCKET 4-PORT
14 ROCKET ROCKET ROCKET
The ports provided by these cards are named following a fixed scheme, making it easy to link port names to
connector names.
Moxa Intellio Cards
Ports at Moxa Intellio boards are defined by means of the 'INTELLIO' Variable. INTELLIO must be set to
the  total  number  of  serial  ports  provided  by the  modules  connected  to  Intellio  boards.  The  VLC  assumes,
that  the  first  32 ports are  assigned  to board  1,  the  next 32  ports  to  to  board  2  etc.  'INTELLIO=0' tells  the
VLC that there is no Intellio board in the system. Intellio boards may be combined with the 4/8 port boards
discussed above,  however, the total number of serial IO cards in the VLC must not exceed 3. Intellio cards
(C) 2020, SatService GmbH www.satnms.com VLC-IM-2002 Page 17/39

are configured by jumpers/DIP switches.

The port names generated for Intellio cards follow a similar scheme as the passive cards do.

The variable name was changed to SATNMS_INTELLIO.

Digi Etherlite Terminal Server

The VLC also supports the Digi Etherlite terminal server series. Set the variable USES_ETHERLITE in the

file /etc/rc.vlc to 'yes' if you have connected one or more terminals servers to the VLC's Ethernet port.

The terminal servers have to be set to fixed IP addresses within the subnet covered by the subnet of the

VLC's Ethernet port. To tell the serial port driver which Etherlite units are connected, you must edit the file

/etc/els.conf. For details, refer to the Digi user manual and the information available at the Digi web site

concerning the Etherlite Linux driver.

The variable name was changed to SATNMS_ETHERLITE in the configuration file '/etc/satnms.rc'.

Port Naming

The VLC uses a fixed scheme to name it's serial ports. This scheme makes it easy to match port connections

and the corresponding port names in the software:

4/8 port

cards:

The port names are built as 'ttySik', where 'i' is the number of the board (1..3) and 'k' is the

number of the port in the board (1..8). The latter port number matches that one printed on the

boards bracket or on the individual connector.

Example: 'ttyS23' designates the third port on the second board.

Intellio

cards:

The port names are built as 'ttyikl', where 'i' is the number of the board (A..C), 'k' is the

number of the external IO module (1..4) and 'l' is the individual port number at this

module(1..8).

Please note, that 16 port modules are treated by the driver like 2 8-port modules in one housing.

They occupy 2 module addresses where the first contains the ports 1..8, the second one the

ports 8..16.

Example: 'ttyA18' designates the 8th port at the first module connected to the first Intellio

board.

Etherlite

ports:

The Etherlite serial port driver automatically assigns names to the ports it manages. The names

are 'ttyN???' where the question marks are replaced by a number which identifies the individual

port. Please refer to the Digi software documentation for the numbering scheme used.

VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 1

No. of boards: 1

No. of ports: 4

Board 1: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 4-port board at 0x180 / IRQ 10

tty-names: ttyS11, ttyS12, ttyS13, ttyS14 (board1)

VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 2

No. of boards: 2
No. of ports: 8
Board 1: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 4-port board at 0x180 / IRQ 10
Board 2: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 4-port board at 0x200 / IRQ 5
tty-names: ttyS11, ttyS12, ttyS13, ttyS14 (board1) 
ttyS21, ttyS22, ttyS23, ttyS24 (board2)
VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 3
No. of boards: 1
No. of ports: 8
Board 1: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 8-port board at 0x180 / IRQ 10
tty-names: ttyS11, ttyS12, ttyS13, ttyS14, ttyS15, ttyS16, ttyS17, ttyS18 (board1)
VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 4
No. of boards: 2
No. of ports: 12
Board 1: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 8-port board at 0x180 / IRQ 10
Board 2: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 4-port board at 0x200 / IRQ 5
tty-names: ttyS11, ttyS12, ttyS13, ttyS14, ttyS15, ttyS16, ttyS17, ttyS18 (board1) 
ttyS21, ttyS22, ttyS23, ttyS24 (board2)
VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 5
No. of boards: 3
No. of ports: 16
Board 1: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 8-port board at 0x180 / IRQ 10
Board 2: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 4-port board at 0x200 / IRQ 5
Board 3: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 4-port board at 0x380 / IRQ 11
tty-names: ttyS11, ttyS12, ttyS13, ttyS14, ttyS15, ttyS16, ttyS17, ttyS18 (board1) 
ttyS21, ttyS22, ttyS23, ttyS24 (board2) 
ttyS31, ttyS32, ttyS33, ttyS34 (board3)
VLC Serial IO Card Configuration 6
No. of boards: 2
No. of ports: 16
Board 1: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 8-port board at 0x180 / IRQ 10
Board 2: Moxa Smartio/Industrio 8-port board at 0x200 / IRQ 5
tty-names: ttyS11, ttyS12, ttyS13, ttyS14, ttyS15, ttyS16, ttyS17, ttyS18 (board1) 
ttyS21, ttyS22, ttyS23, ttyS24, ttyS25, ttyS26, ttyS27, ttyS28 (board2)
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