topic Re: NIC/Physical address problem in Operating System - OpenVMS

NIC/Physical address problem

Darijo — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:24:11 GMT

At my job place we use Open VMS 7.1 and I'm totaly new to this system (read noob).
I managed to lear some things (dir. structure, moving through directories, copy, rm, proccess managment...)
So problem is that I have NIC (digital eq.)with MAC addr. 08002bc4d66a and once I boot VMS, login as SYSTEM, then run UCX->sh int/full it shows some other MAC addr. like AA00040077e4. Why?
Second, I cant get the network running on that machine. I configured the interface on ucx$config, reboot but still cant ping anything. Switch cannot learn any MAC addr. on that port...?

Thx 4 support and sry 4 bad Englsih. :)

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Volker Halle — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:42:02 GMT

Darijo,

welcome to the OpenVMS ITRC forum and the world of OpenVMS ;-)

Your system is also running DECnet Phase IV protocol and this protocol changes the MAC address of each LAN adapter, that it's started on to a fixed address based on the local nodes DECnet address. The DECnet address of your system should be 57.119 (confirm with $ SHOW NET command).

Does UCX SHOW INT show any send or received packets ?

Volker.

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Steven Schweda — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:53:16 GMT

It might help to see what you said to
ucx$config, and exactly what "cant ping
anything" means. Is the problem with
name-to-address look-up, bad routes, ...?
Can't say without seeing the actual command
and the actual results (or else a much better
description).

> Thx 4 support and sry 4 bad Englsih. :)

Spelling "sorry" and "thanks" would solve
the biggest problems there.

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Darijo — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:31:31 GMT

That was quick responed!

THANKS for welcome. :)

I just came home from work so I cant tell, but I let you know tommorow as soon as I get there.

If I remeber clearly, there was no any traffic on command for ewa0 int.
....or there was only for SENT packages.
Well its logical since MAC address from ewa0 interface is not learned by switch.

No, I can't ping any IP address, nor I cant ping this VMS node from any station in the same LAN.

Also I checked with and it shows that its enabled and that its on...
I was working the whole day on that problem, replaceing eth.cards, configuring network, rebooting about 30 times and didnt come with any solution. Also it might help that led "LINK" on NIC is not blinking with any eth. card.

I'll try more stuff tommorow and see.
Thanks so much for helping. ;-)

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Steven Schweda — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:41:47 GMT

. [...] led "LINK" on NIC is not blinking [...]

That sounds like a problem. It should
probably be on. Blinking may depend on the
hardware, but off is bad. If we need to
start talking about hardware, it might help
to know things like:

System type/model
Did it ever work, or is it new?
NI card type (VMS compatible? Sounds ok.
How many LEDs does it have?)

Also:

Actual IP addresses and netmasks
"traceroute" results (if any)

(You say, "same LAN", but I want proof.)

I'd start with the LINK light, however.
Could be something simple, like a cable.

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Andy Bustamante — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:47:47 GMT

Steve's question applies did this ever work. When did it stop working?

Use $ MC LANCP SHOW DEVICE /CHAR to check the nic speed and duplex settings. Then verify the switch port matches these settings. Both should be set for the same speed/duplex or both should be set to autonegotiate.

Andy

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Darijo — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:21:50 GMT

"System type/model
Did it ever work, or is it new?
NI card type (VMS compatible? Sounds ok.
How many LEDs does it have?)"

I put one NIC from another node running VMS and it didnt work.
I also used same UTP cable wich works on another node-switch relation.
There are 3 LEDs on NIC. Only one is ON and it says "100" Probably for 100 Mbps, but the one saying "LINK" is always off.
Same thing happens when I switch cards of the same vendor.
NIC vendor is Digital so I guess the are compatible.

LAN network address: 10.21.2.0/24
Broadcast: 10.21.2.255
DecNet address: 57.118

Could it be that something is wrong with PCI bus or....?
Its my first time with Alpha systems so forgive me if I say something stupid.

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Darijo — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:29:35 GMT

@Andy

Well, I freshly installed VMS and after I set up network and it didnt work.

Yeah, I'll try that when I get back to my work place. Thanks!

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Steven Schweda — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:38:32 GMT

Ok.

> Could it be that something is wrong with
> PCI bus or....?

Could be, but a bad cable or hub/switch would
be much more likely. The system is talking
to the NI card. The NIC is _not_ talking to
the network.

Three LEDs normally mean LINK, 100MHz, and
ACT(ivity). ACT should flash when data move.
LINK should be on. (100 is ok with me, if
it's ok with the hub/switch.) No LINK light
says bad cable or hub/switch, especially if
two NICs agree.

Plug the cable into some other computer and
see what _it_ does. Or steal a cable from a
working computer.

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Colin Butcher — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 02:50:25 GMT

Hello,

What kind of Alpha is it? How many NICs does it have? Let's assume that it only has one 10/100 capable NIC for the moment.

Are the Alpha and the switch configured to have the same speed & duplex settings for the NIC(s)? Alphas are often set explicitly to 100 FDX at the SRM console level (the >>> prompt after power-up before booting).

A good start would be to type "set ewa0_mode fastfd" at the Alpha SRM console levl and set the corresponding switch port to 100 FDX if you can. If you can't do that then set the Alpha and the switch to auto-negotiate with "set ewa0_mode auto" at SRM console level. Depending on which Alpha and which NIC it is you might need to type "help" at the SRM console for the correct syntax of the "set ewa0_mode auto" command.

If you have time for some background reading about DECnet networking, try here: http://www.downloads.xdelta.co.uk/vmstjv5%20feb2005/decnet%20article%20vms%20tj%20v5%20feb2005.pdf and here: http://www.downloads.xdelta.co.uk/bootcamp%20jun2005/i220_decnet-plus_issue_1-1_10jun2004.pdf

Do try to get to the "bootcamp" if you can: http://h71000.www7.hp.com/symposium/index.html?jumpid=symposium.

Good luck!
Cheers, Colin (www.xdelta.co.uk).

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Darijo — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 06:55:17 GMT

Thank you all very, very much.

I came to work this morning and saw MAC address of that node in the MAC address table (switch).
Confused....I tried to ping the node but didnt recieved an echo. Then I typed command ucx sh int/full to check for any send/recieve packages and nothing. After I looked at NIC and LINK led was blinking. I first tought there might be a duplicated MAC address on the LAN but no.
Yeah the problem was on Physical or Data layer for sure...after I did the command that Andy suggested (mc lancp sh dev /char) and it showed the speed "100". I compared it with other nodes on the LAN and they were set to communicate on 10Mbit/s. Heureka!
-------------------------------------
So once again thanks Andy and everybody I learned some useful stuff here.
Still lot to learn so I might come back with more stupid questions. Thanks!

...and yeah...my boss is satisfied now :)

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Darijo — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:07:20 GMT

Yeah Colin the problem was on Speed and Duplex settings.
Also thx, for the links I will read them for sure. Especialy for DECnet.

This SRM(>>>)...what is it exacly? Something like BIOS or...?
I was typing some stuff at that prompt before VMS installation...

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Vladimir Fabecic — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:25:11 GMT

Darijo,

welcome to the OpenVMS ITRC forum and the world of OpenVMS from me, too.
There are two types of firmware on Alpha systems: SRM (Systems Reference Manual) and ARC (Advanced Risc Console).
Firmware is loosely synonymous with the BIOS software on PC systems.

By the way, what company are you working for (I am also from Croatia)?

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Jan van den Ende — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:56:06 GMT

Darijo,

from me also:
Dobro dosli to the VMS Forum.

As you already found out, on matters related to DecNet Colin really _IS_ a guru (and Steven is guru in so many fields that is incorrect to call him just a network guru).

>>>
and sry 4 bad Englsih. :)
<<<

No need.
To begin with, we have seen much wors.

The only thing you should be sorry about, is for _NOT_ asking questions that others in this forum could answer!!
No excuse necessary for lack of specific knowledge: NOBODY can know everything, and even the greatest gurus also have started as beginners!

Na zdravje

Have one on me.

jpe

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Peter Zeiszler — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 09:12:36 GMT

The SRM (>>>) is also referred to as the boot prompt. You can get alot of information about your system hardware from that point. Type "show all", "Show fru", "Show config", "help show".

Its useful information to keep.

In that information you should see the setting for the NIC card that it will star at. Determines the speed and duplex. I would suggest checking that value next time the system is down.

Usually "show ewa0*" - like ewa0_mode.

And welcome to the forum.

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Darijo — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:22:41 GMT

@Vladimir Fabecic
Croatia, Zagreb-Croatian Post! :)
I just wonder how many VMS admins/systems are here in Croatia. :)
------------------------------------
@Jan van den Ende
I guess now I know where you spend your hollydays... :)
Hehehe...I'm suprised!
Takodjer, na zdravlje!
------------------------------------
@Peter Zeiszle
Yes I studied help pages for a while...especialy in VMS, I found them even more user friendly then linux manuals!
Only directory structure is a bit confusing at first...it still is. :)
-------------------------------------
Ohhh yeah...I was messing with file security options.
Problem is, I started Anonymous FTP server on that node and once I connect to it I can't download files/directories because of security violations.
I typed command something like for that directory which I want to be managable by anyone, infact I just want the premission to download it.
I cheked with > and it showed that "world" has -R,W,E,D privilages, but still cant download it.
Any tips on how to solve this issue?
And how can I set on SRM promt to automaticly boot dka0 device on power-on and is it possible if booting of dkao fails that it tries to boot second device dka100?

Once again thank you for support. I tought that days will pass since I get first respond. :)

Re: NIC/Physical address problem

Hoff — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:45:11 GMT

>>>I typed command something like for that directory which I want to be managable by anyone, infact I just want the premission to download it.
I cheked with > and it showed that "world" has -R,W,E,D privilages, but still cant download it.<<<

You might want to provide some details on your goals, as there may be other ways to resolve this. If you're trying to create a wide-open anonymous FTP directory (which is itself quite hazardous if this box is accessible on a network, as various nefarious-minded folks are actively looking for these directories) then there is the anonymous logical name that needs to be set up, and the directory and file protections and ownerships need to be set.

As for tracking the specific NOPRIV error, if it's not the logical name or ownerships... Enable file access failure auditing via SET AUDIT (and you can view the current auditing settings via SHOW AUDIT) and use ANALYZE/AUDIT command to see what object is returning the failure. If this is a "real" NOPRIV error, full details will then get logged. And you can then see exactly why the failure is occurring.

As for setting up anonymous FTP, there's a section on this topic in the TCP/IP Services manuals (in the management manual), and the TCP/IP manuals (and others) are available in the left navigation at http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/

>>>And how can I set on SRM promt to automaticly boot dka0 device on power-on...<<<

SET AUTO_ACTION RESTART
SET BOOTDEF_DEV DKA0

There's a HELP command at the console, too.

>>>...and is it possible if booting of dkao fails that it tries to boot second device dka100? <<<

The usual approach is to resolve the problem with the device. There's not a particular concept of a sequence for bootstrap devices in SRM, as there's a general assumption that the primary boot device will work -- save for cases of serious hardware failures.