Up: General information


Buildings 1006 and 1006C Network Connections

As of 23-SEP-1998, the 10-Base-T connections currently important to the TPC group will be as follows:
Connection        Building            Location                            Subnet
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1006-01-011  1006  assembly hall  TPC testing area: MiniDAQ            130.199.88.*
1006-01-015  1006C trailer        West wall, north end: Blair's desk   130.199.88.*
1006-01-016  1006C trailer        Lunchroom                            None
1006-01-017  1006C trailer        North wall, west end: Alexei's desk  130.199.88.*
1006-01-018  1006C trailer        North wall, east end: Wayne's desk   130.199.88.*
1006-01-019  1006  assembly hall  Gas room                             130.199.88.*
Some flakiness has been seen in several of the connections: 015 and 017 in the boxes inside the trailer, and 018 at the patch box near the Subnet .90 distribution panel.


IP Number Assignments

STAR Subnet .88 is documented as a whole elsewhere, but some of the processors and IP number assignments currently of interest for TPC work are (as of 4-MAR-1999):
 Name      Bldg.  Location           Description              Net.88  Property ID's
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
epics1      510a Slow Controls  VME processor                  .45  
sc          510a Slow Controls  Ultra 10                       .64  
groucho    1006c                SPARC 10, Solaris 2.6          .102  BNL 109137
newman      118                 SPARC 10, Solaris 2.6          .132  
pacino      902b Rm.17, LBL     SPARC 10, Solaris 2.6          .133  BNL 109139/LBL6305708
epics2      510a Slow Controls  VME processor                  .149  
spica       118  Rene B.'s desk SGI Indigo II, Irix 6.3?       .153  
sirius     1006  MiniDAQ        Gateway P5-90 PC, WinNT 4.0    .159  BNL 109123/LBL6267167
hdlc       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .161  
cath       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .162  
anhv       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .163  
gate       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .164  
tpc1       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .165  
starslow   1006  Slow Controls  SPARC IPX, SunOS4.1            .166  
scserv     1006  Slow Controls  n -> terminal server           .167  
wiemanpc    902b Howard's off.  PC, WinNT 4.0                  .170  
tpc2       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .181  
creighton2 1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .182
creighton3 1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .183
vsc1       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .188
vtpc1      1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .189
vtpc2      1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .190
vtpc3      1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .191
vtpc4      1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .192
vtpc5      1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .193
tpcjet1    1006c West wall      HP 5M network printer          .194  BNL 107089/LBL6333503
startpc1   1006c Wayne's desk   Gateway G6-200 PC, WinNT 4.0   .195  LBL6319118
startpc2   1006  M.Alyushin     EDC Systems Pentium            .196  BNL 107226/LBL6309935
startpc3   1006c Blair's desk   Macintosh Quadra 800           .197  Pur 849910
tpcgas     1006  Gas room       TPC gas system; EDC Systems    .199  BNL 107222/LBL6304275
nsdts1     1006  MiniDAQ        Sytek 4208 terminal server     .200  
scaup      1006  MiniDAQ        MVME 167 68K, VxWorks          .201  
deneb      1006  MiniDAQ        SPARC 20 clone, Solaris 2.6    .202  
eider      1006  MiniDAQ        MVME 167 68K, VxWorks          .203  
scoter     1006  MiniDAQ        Cyclone CVME964 i960, VxWorks  .204  
gadwall    1006  MiniDAQ        Cyclone CVME964 i960, VxWorks  .205  
scaup-bp   1006  MiniDAQ        scaup's VME backplane address  .206  
wigeon     1006  MiniDAQ        Cyclone CVME964 i960, VxWorks  .207  
starlbl1    902B Rm. 17 (LBL)   Pen.II/450 MHz., RH Linux 5.2  .209
starlbl2    902B Rm. 19 (LBL)   Pen./90 MHz.,    RH Linux 5.2  .210
starlbl4    902B Rm. 19 (LBL)   Pen.II/400 MHz., RH Linux 5.2  .211
starlbl5    902B Rm. 17 (LBL)   Pen.II/350 MHz., RH Linux 5.2  .212
starlbl3    902B Rm. 17 (LBL)   Additional machine on occasion .214
starlbl6     -      -           For future use                 .215
starlbl7     -      -           For future use                 .216
vsc2       1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .217
vtrg1      1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .218
startpc4   1006c Wayne's desk   Gateway P5-90 PC, Win95        .219  LBL6296440
startpc5   1006c Howard's desk  Gateway GP6-400, WinNT 4.0     .220  BNL 110126
startpc6   1006c Peter K's desk Gateway E-4200 PC, WinNT 4.0   .221  BNL 110183
vtrg2      1006  Slow Controls  VME processor                  .222
canary     1006  Gas room       TPC canary; EDC Systems          -   BNL 107230/LBL6291360


MiniDAQ Ethernet Configuration

MiniDAQ was, through 22-SEP-1998, on the rhic.bnl.gov subnet 130.199.90, then moved to the star.bnl.gov subnet 130.199.88 .

The connection to Subnet .88 fiber is currently torturous: ~100' away as the neutrino flies; ~150' rectilinearly in hall coordinates (90' west, 45' north, 20' up); ~400' as connected. The packet error rate used to run 25-40% on the slightly shorter connection to Subnet .90, but this did not go down noticably when the total run was reduced from ~440' to ~340' on Sep. 15, 1998. The connection to Subnet .88 did lower the error rate: it's now 0-5%.

The principle hardware for this 10-Mbit (IEEE 802.3) Ethernet is:

The network was reconfigured (mid-September, 1998) to exploit the Etherswitch more fully; the external network connection is still 10-Mbit/second, but the agregate local bandwidth is six times more than the old one. Some basic information:

Kalpana EPS-1500 EtherSwitches

An EtherSwitch port can be isolated from external traffic on the subnet and from activity on the other EPP's. Though each port is limited to 10 Mbit/second, the aggregate bandwidth is much greater.

The Switch is documented in the "Kalpana EtherSwitch EPS-1500 Design and Installation Guide;" TPC has a copy. Cisco acquired Kalpana in 1994, and has additional information: a search of www.cisco.com finds FAQ-type info, but access takes a Cisco contract number, so the current state of some "future functionality" issues in the documentation (e.g., diagnostics through a backpanel RS-232 port and the SNMP card) is unclear.

The EPS-1500 starts up running ~3 minutes of diagnostics, shown by LED's on the cards; the system address table for the ports is initially empty, then fills as packets are successfully routed. The reset switch on the back panel (documentation, page 5-3) can clear the address tables. Devices moved between ports while the switch is running are detected and the tables updated within a second or two; no reset is required.

A link consists of two pairs of polarized lines: transmit and receive. The polarized lines must match, of course, but whether the link should, for example, connect transmit at one end to receive or to transmit at the other end, depends on the type of device. Frequently, the convention can be set by the devices at one or both ends; or by the connecting cable.

Ethernet Packet Processors

Simple Ethernet Packet Processors (EPP's), having an AUI connector and four LED's, are mounted in slots 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 of the lower EtherSwitch and documented in the "Kalpana EtherSwitch EPS-1500 Design and Installation Guide," page 5-4. A connection to the AUI port is always via a transceiver; Thicknet cable connects are not allowed.

Important: to connect the tranceiver on a simple EPP's AUI to a hub, or from the 10BaseT on a 211B when MDI is selected, use:

The LED's on the simple EPP's mean the following:

(Top)
     Amber:  Internal diagnostics running
     Red:    Packet forwarded to another EtherSwitch port
     Yellow: Packet received from port
     Green:  Packet transmitted to port
(Bottom)
The 211B Ethernet Packet Processors - with AUI and RJ-45 connectors, 3 DIP switches and 8 LED's - are mounted in slots 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 of the lower EtherSwitch. They are similar, but not identical, to cards discussed on pages 5-6 and 5-6.1 of the "Kalpana EtherSwitch EPS-1500 Design and Installation Guide." One DIP switch selects MDI or MDI-X, for cable/device compatibility; another DIP switch selects between enabling the AUI or the RJ-45 port; the function of the additional, third DIP switch is unknown.

A connection to the AUI port is always via a transceiver; and it is said that a transceiver should not be attached to the AUI port when using the 10Base-T connection.

The 4 right-hand LED's on the 211B's are analogous to those on the simple EPP's (though colors differ); the 4 left-hand LED's are different:

(Top)
                 (Left LED Column)                                    (Right LED Column)
     Yellow: F = Meaning unknown.                         Yellow: Internal diagnostics running.
     Green:  L = LINK receive signal good.                Green:  Packet forwarded to another EtherSwitch port.
     Green:  X = MDI-X cross-connect enabled.             Green:  Packet received from port.
     Green:  A = AUI connector (not RJ-45) enabled.       Green:  Packet transmitted to port.

(Bottom)

The 211B DIP switches are:

DIP Switch     Left Position      Right Position
------------------------------------------------
3 (Top):        Unused ?          Unused ?
2 (Middle):     MDI               MDI-X (default)
1 (Bottom):     AUI (default)     10Base-T

CentreCom MicroRepeaters

The CentreCOM MR815T 10Base-T MicroRepeaters (Allied Telesyn International) have eight 10Base-T (RJ-45) ports; TPC has copies of the "Installation Manual."

If MDI-X mode is selected, as in our setup, Port 8 is a normal hub port; with Port 8 attached to the EtherSwitch, the unit effectively acts as a repeater and fan-out for Port 8. The other seven ports on each MicroRepeater should either be divided between several, low-activity devices, or between devices talking mostly to each other.

Configuration

As of 08-SEP-1998, the twelve EtherSwitch slots holding EPP's are allocated as follows:

Port Card             Configuration
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  211B  Nothing
  2  EPP   Transceiver   -> nothing
  3  211B  Nothing
  4  EPP   Transceiver   -> to Control Room for external network
  5  211B  Nothing
  6  EPP   Transceiver   -> straight 10BaseT cable -> lower, left CentreCOM hub
  7  211B  10BaseT cable -> transceiver            -> Slow Controls MVME Ethernet
  8  EPP   Transceiver   -> straight 10BaseT cable -> lower, right CentreCOM hub
  9  211B  RJ-45 port    -> straight 10BaseT cable -> upper, left CentreCOM hub

           No link light appears on the CentreCOM because the EPP is set to MDI-X, not MDI

 10  EPP   Transceiver   -> straight 10BaseT cable -> upper, right CentreCOM hub
 11  211B  No connection
 12  EPP   Transceiver; no connection


Page maintenance:

Roy Bossingham, LBNL
RRBossingham@lbl.gov