** FreeBSD Floppy Routing System Release 1.0 BETA ** Enclosed is the BETA release of a PC router solution developed within RAINet for general public use. This is basically the FreeBSD 1.02 kernel plus minimal utilities necessary to setup a 80386 or 80486 PC as a SLIP/ethernet router. Utilities included are: ifconfig, slattach, netstat, ps, stty, routed, route, more, and a simple hayes style dialer. Minimum System Requirements: 80386 or 80486 ISA or EISA motherboard 4Meg or more of RAM 3.5" 1.44Meg floppy & controller (installed as drive A:) Keyboard Mono or VGA adapter card [monitor if you like :-)] 0 or more serial ports, preferably 16550A UARTs 0 or more ethernet adapters (assumed at least 2 total ethernets and/or serial ports) Modem cables that properly support control signals (CTS/RTS/CD) I/O Address & IRQ Configuration Requirements: Ethernet - WD8000 series (8003, 8003e, 8013, etc) card, first card configured at IO address 0x280 IRQ 7 shared memory address 0xd8000. If a second card is present, it must be a 16 bit card configured at IO address 0x300 IRQ 10 shared memory address 0xdc000. Serial - Standard IBM compatible COM1 through COM4 serial ports at standard addresses (com1=0x3f8/IRQ4, com2=0x2f8/IRQ3, com3=0x3e8/IRQ5, com4=0x2e8/IRQ2). Obtaining the necessary files: Distributions are available via anonymous FTP from escargot.dev.com (198.145.88.33) in pub/freertr; there are 3 files available: freertr.tar.gz (gzip) freertr.tar.Z (compress) freertr.zip (DOS pkzip) Unpacking instructions from a UNIX system: gzip -d freertr.tar.gz (gzip) -or- compress -d freertr.tar.Z (compress) Installation instructions from a UNIX system: tar xfv freertr.tar cd freertr dd if=freertr.img of=/dev/fd0a bs=36k [ Note that of= option should specify the device that can write to the entire floppy, i.e.: /dev/fd0a (BSD), /dev/fd0 (SunOS), or /dev/dsk/f0t (some SysV's) on your system. Also, 'bs=36k' attempts to write in one-cylinder increments, but that value is not specifically required. ] Installation instructions from a DOS system: Make sure you have or grab the pkunzip utility (rawrite.com is included in the .zip file)... pkunzip -d freertr.zip cd freertr rawrite [ RAWRITE will prompt for the source file, reply 'freertr.img' then it will prompt you for the target drive; answer 'A' or 'B' ] Router configuration instructions: Insert floppy in router and (re)boot the machine. Run 'configure' at the '#' prompt, and follow the menus. To enable SLIP VJ header compression, you must respond '-c' when asked about 'any optional arguments to slattach'. If an interface is to allow either VJ compression or non-VJ, then '-a' must be used to specify auto-enable (the other end must use '-c' to turn it on). NOTE that there are separate configuration sections for SLIP and ethernet interfaces. Make sure to configure all interfaces that are appropriate. It is normally OK to hard reset or power cycle the router anytime during operation without corrupting the router floppy, HOWEVER, DURING CONFIGURATION IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE SYSTEM MUST BE CLEANLY SHUTDOWN USING THE 'reboot' COMMAND. You will be warned when this necessary (only when running the configure utility). If the floppy becomes corrupted, spurious router operation is likely, and re-installation from scratch will be necessary. Modem Configuration Requirements: It is CRITICALLY important to configure any modems to use RTS/CTS hardware flow control, NOT to hang-up the phone when DTR drops, and to supply the "actual" sense of carrier detect to the host. If the modem is configured to supply a fake "always high" carrier detect, RIP packets will be sent to the modem when not connected (resulting in the modem baud rate getting messed up) and no ability to redial a disconnected link. The typical modem configuration we use within RAINet is: ATE0Q1M0&D0&C1&W If a modem will be handling incoming calls, S0=1 should be added to the above options. In case you don't have either a good memory or your Hayes/Intel/PPI modem manual available, the options mean: E0 Turn echo off; do not want the router blabbering with the modem when offline. Q1 Turn quiet mode on; do not send result codes that will be interpreted as framing errors for SLIP protocol. M0 Turn off the speaker; most people do not want to be bothered listening to the modem continually redial. &D0 Tell modem to ignore DTR; the connection will not be dropped if the modem cable is unplugged from the host or the router is rebooted for any reason. &C1 Tell the modem to supply the "true" carrier detect (CD) signal; do not always "fake" CD as being asserted. This is necessary to know when to cause a modem to redial (if redialing is enabled during configuration). &W Saves configuration for next power-on or reset sequence. Note that on most modems, &C1 is the default, but it is helpful to check that your modem is configured to supply the real sense of CD. Modem Problems We've had MANY problems with various modems dropping CTS and then not raising it. This results in the modems being connected, but not apparently routing packets (i.e.: looks like a router failure but it's not). You may find it handy to go to Radio Shack or your favorite hardware hangout and get one of those little light boxes that shows you RS-232 signals if you have trouble. It's been invaluable in troubleshooting "router" problems. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you have any questions, comments, enhancement requests, or bug fixes, please send us mail... Marc Frajola (marc@escargot.dev.com) -and- Alan Batie (batie@agora.rdrop.com)