Link State Detection

[Jack Trachtman]

I have a test Alphaserver w/multiple e-net ports. I connect different ports depending on my testing.

I would like to detect, from within the boot script, which ports are live. One idea is to PIPE the output of LANCP SHOW DEV EIxx/CHAR & SEARCH for the "Link state" status.

Is there a way to get link state via F$GETDVI?

tia

[Hoff · Accepted solution]

If you're optimizing for schedule and not for elegance and if this PIPE scheme is maintainable and works well enough for your current needs, then ship it as is. Premature optimization and all...

If you're optimizing for elegance and not for schedule, have a look at the HELP text for your OpenVMS version. Specifically, have a look at the HELP lexical f$getdvi text on recent releases. The following is from the OpenVMS Alpha V8.3 HELP:

LAN_ALL_MULTICAST_MODE,
LAN_AUTONEG_ENABLED LAN_DEFAULT_MAC_ADDRESS
LAN_FULL_DUPLEX
LAN_JUMBO_FRAMES_ENABLED
LAM_LINK_STATE_VALID (sic)
LAN_LINK_UP
LAN_MAC_ADDRESS
LAN_PROMISCUOUS_MODE
LAN_PROTOCOL_NAME
LAN_PROTOCOL_TYPE
LAN_SPEED

And of all that and the bag of chips that's listed in the HELP text, LAN_LINK_UP looks like your target.

[Jack Trachtman]

Hoff thanks.

My bad - I had looked into HELP on a 7.3-2 system and not 8.3

[Robert Brooks_1]

The entire "bag of chips" was backported to v7.3-2, V8.2, and V8.2-1 even if nothing official will state that. However, only the SYS$ and F$ variants were backported, not the LIB$ form.

Please use LAN_LINK_STATE_VALID first to verify
whether or not LAN_LINK_UP is reliable.

The help text for LAN_LINK_STATE_VALID lists
which adapters will return a reliable answer.


-- Rob (potato chip chef)

[Jack Trachtman]

Thanks much for chiming in Rob (potato chip chef). I do need that function on a V7.3-2 system and I just confirmed that the functionality works there as you stated.