LAT ports to modem has gone inactive

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Hi,
As I've posted earlier I'm quite the rookie at openvms, so I hope I can explains this properly :)

I have 8 LAT ports that should be connected to modems. But recently all but 3 has gone inactive. Restarting the modems doesn't solve anything and I can't seem to find a failure reason.

Is there anyway to reset the port or have it try to connect again?

I've tried the following to figure out why they all got disconnected, but it hasn't really given me anything solid.

VMS1>mc latcp show ports

Port Name Port Type Status Remote Target (Node/Port/Service)
--------- ----------- ------------- -----------------------------------------
_LTA5004: Application Inactive SERVER200-1/PORT_1/
_LTA5010: Application Inactive SERVER200-2/PORT_2/
_LTA5016: Application Inactive SERVER700-1/PORT_4/
_LTA5031: Application Inactive SERVER200-2/PORT_7/
_LTA5034: Application Inactive SERVER200-2/PORT_8/
_LTA5037: Application Active SERVER200-2/PORT_3/
_LTA5040: Application Active SERVER200-2/PORT_5/
_LTA5043: Application Active SERVER200-1/PORT_6/

VMS1>mc latcp show port lta5004/full

Local Port Name: _LTA5004: Local Port Type: Application (Queued)
Local Port State: Inactive
Connected Link:

Target Port Name: PORT_1 Actual Port Name:
Target Node Name: SERVER200-1 Actual Node Name:
Target Service Name: Actual Service Name:

VMS1>mc latcp show port LTA5004 /counters

Port Name: _LTA5004:

Seconds Since Zeroed: 9070820
Remote Accesses: 0 Framing Errors: 0
Local Accesses: 0 Parity Errors: 0
Bytes Transmitted: 0 Data Overruns: 0
Bytes Received: 0 Password Failures: 0
Solicitations Accepted: 0
Solicitations Rejected: 0
Incoming Solicits Accepted: 0
Incoming Solicits Rejected: 0
Last disconnect reason code: 0
(%LAT-F-LRJUNKNOWN, unknown)

Is it so easy that I just have to recreate them?

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[marsh_1]

hi fredrik,

i take it these modems are connected via a decserver (200)? , if so have you logged on to the decserver to check the ports and their settings ? it sometimes helps if you log them out then check port with a mon port (port num) stat. has anything else changed recently ?

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Yes ofcourse, I should have mentioned that they're connected via 2 DECservers.

I haven't logged on to the decservers yet, because we're having abit of password trouble since the guy who set them up about 8-9 years ago has left and there aren't that many that was involved in it in the later years.

I was thinking that I should log on and see if I could see anything from there thou.

Nothing has changed regarding those. It started about 2 weeks ago when our application started acting up and lost processes and then they just stopped working.

There is something wierd on them thou. There's a led named "CD" on the modems that isn't active on the ones that aren't working. But figuring out what "CD" means by googling doesn't seem to be an easy task (obviously).

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Volker Halle]

Fredrik,

CD = Carrier Detect

this signal should be ON, if a working connection exists to the remote modem.

A LAT session being Active means, that a LAT connection exists betwwen your VMS system and the specified port on the DECserver.

Are these dial-in or dial-out modems ?

For Application LTA devices, you normally establish the LAT connection to the DECserver port by doing a WRITE IO to the LTAxx: device from the OpenVMS system or application. I would expect an application process as the owner process of those LTA devices, check with SHOW DEV/FULL LTA5040:

Are the inactive LTA devices owned as well ? Has their owner process disappeared ?

Volker.

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Hi Volker,

They are dial-out modems. Some of them is associated with sending faxes.

This is what i get from an active/inactive lat port.

The Active one:
VMS1>show dev /full lta5040:

Terminal LTA5040:, device type unknown, is online, record-oriented device,
carriage control, device is busy.

Error count 0 Operations completed 31143055
Owner process "TEXCOM_TFX_001" Owner UIC [SYSTEM]
Owner process ID 26C002A1 Dev Prot S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G,W
Reference count 1 Default buffer size

The Inactive one:
VMS1>show dev /full lta5004:

Terminal LTA5004:, device type unknown, is online, record-oriented device,
carriage control.

Error count 0 Operations completed 3
Owner process "" Owner UIC [SYSTEM]
Owner process ID 00000000 Dev Prot S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G,W:RW
Reference count 0 Default buffer size 80

You're correct that there is now owner process.

As a late addition. I've now found out that we have a decserver 700 that's also in the loop :P. Which I can't connect to obviously (just getting "no response from remote system"). The 5 modems that isn't responding properly seems to be connected to that decserver.

I'm guessing I'll have to go down to the datacenter and connect a terminal and see if there's something iffy with it.

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Oswald Knoppers_1]

You can try the command:

$ set host/dte lta5004:

And hit a few returns. This should setup the connection.
If you get an error (dataset hangup or something like that) then the lat software is unable to setup the connection.

You can also remotely login to the decsever with the command:

$ set host/mop/addr=08-00-2b-xx-xx-xx

Or using NCP connect (decnet IV).

Regards,

Oswald

[Fredrik.eriksson]

The modems just says data hangup and when I try to connect to the decserver it as follows:
VMS1> set host/mop/circuit=CSMACD-1/address=08-00-2B-BE-4E-74
%CCR-F-NORESP, no response from remote system
VMS1>set host/dte lta5004

%REM-I-TOQUIT, connection established

Press Ctrl/\ to quit, Ctrl/@ for command mode



%REM-E-PORTRXERR, port receive error
-SYSTEM-F-HANGUP, data set hang-up

%REM-S-END, control returned to node BASNG1
%SYSTEM-F-HANGUP, data set hang-up

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Oswald Knoppers_1]

Can you do a set host/mop to the decservers still working?

Also your remark about the CD led not on suggest that the decserver died.

Oswald

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Okey... I've figured something out now.

It has to be something with the DECserver700 because the other modems connected to my DECserver200's is working fine. I can connect to them via set host/dte and I can send ath and atz without any problems.

And the first 3 modems (named mtu_1, _2 and _3) is the ones that is working as they should.

_4 throu _8 thou is not doing as they should. They're just not giving me anything then throws me out (as i described in my previous post).

If I've understood it correctly _4 to _8 is connected to the DECServer700 and it's not responding to my set host/mop... So I'll take a look at them in the upcoming days and get back if there's something I can solve or need help with :)

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Volker Halle]

Fredrik,

look at your inital LATCP> SHOW PORT output.

There are 3 different Target Node names:

SERVER200-1
SERVER200-2
SERVER700-1

There are active LTA devices on both SERVER200-n nodes, so those DECserver-200s seem to work. There are some other LTA ports on those servers, that are NOT active.

Note that the LTA devices will also become in-active, if the host application process aborts or does not run.

Verify, that you can connect to the working DECservers with NCP CONNECT (or SET HOST/MOP). Then verify, that you CAN'T connect to the DECserver-700 - the MAC address is at the back of the actual hardware unit.

Volker.

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Hi again Volker,

Sry for the late reply, I'm on site 2 days a week.

I can connect to the DECserver-200's. Even thou I still don't have the password i atleast get the "#" prompt for it.

The DECserver-700 just doesn't reply and says that there is no response from that system.

I'll get back when I've plugged in a terminal to the DECserver-700 and seen if has some perculiar things to tell me :P

Thanks for all the replies so far :)

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Steven Schweda]

> Even thou I still don't have the password i
> atleast get the "#" prompt for it.

The default (factory-set) password is: ACCESS

When you get to the point when you need to
SET PRIVILEGED, try: SYSTEM

[Chris Scheers]

When you check the DECserver 700, check the LED by the ports. It should show a "rotating infinity sign". Basically, the LED segments should be cycling.

If they are not cycling, the DECserver is not running. Please report back with what is shown on the LEDs.

If they are, the network connection is probably bad.

Good luck!

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Chris,

The leds are lit, but they're displaying a number alternating between 3 and 4 :/

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Volker Halle]

Fredrik,

4 = Requesting load
3 = Load request backoff

Check any OpenVMS systems, which have MOP enabled, whether they are receiving download requests from that DECserver 700. They may not have the desired download file.

There could also be a network problem causing the DECserver-700 download requests not to reach any hosts, which are able to download the requested iamge.

Volker.

[Oswald Knoppers_1]

Ik think the DECserver can also use bootp/tftp for downloading its software.

Also you can connect a terminal to port 1 of the server, by default this is the console port.

If you know what the load host should be do a reply/enable on that host. Mop and bootp requests will trigger opcom messages.

Regards,

Oswald

[Fredrik.eriksson]

A network issue sounds reasonable. It started doing this after we yanked the power cable in a feeble attempt to get it up again :P.

Before we did this it wasn't accessable anyway. I'll run down and check if there's any network issues with it later today.

Thanks for the suggestions :)

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Okey, I've done some checks now. The NOC group says there's not issue with the network connection to that machine (there exact words was "there is no duplex problems" which I interpret as a confirmation that they have a link up).

I connected a terminal to the machine (potr 1 as suggested above, and even tried port 2)and that didn't give me much.
I got some jibberish writeout (ë,ü,x about half a screen) every time it switched between 3 and 4 on the little led display.

Any other ideas?

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Volker Halle]

Fredrik,

the DECserver will send it's messages on Port 1 in clear ASCII text. You may need to adjust the speed of the serial port (default would be 9600 bd) of your terminal/PC.

You need to find an OpenVMS system with the DECserver-700 software installed, and connected to the same LAN as the DECserver-700 - assuming it tries to download it's software image via the MOP protocol.

Volker.

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Hi Volker,

I'm going to try and get ahold of a laptop and a usb->serial cable and go down there again and this time try with the hyperterminal or something like that.

The DECServer700 is on the same LAN, and I know which machine I'm supposed to try to connect from, that much is in my documentation that the guys managing this before me wrote (thou they forgot some things... like passwords :P).

The NOC group told me that they've been down there now and the port is active and has link. So something else must be the problem... What happens if I do a system reset of it? Does it loose all the configuration made?

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[Oswald Knoppers_1]

By just rebooting (or a power cycle) the server will not loose its settings.

If you apply power while pressing the reset switch the server will reset to factory settings.

Oswald

[marsh_1 · Accepted solution]

fredrik,

can your network guys confirm that the port for the decserver is at 10 half duplex

[marsh_1]

fredrik,

just a thought , has the silver switch on the network connection been accidentally moved from/to rj45/aui ?

[Fredrik.eriksson]

Hi Mark,

I'll check with them today if they can confirm that.

I've checked the silver switch and it's on left side (looking from behind) which has a marking leading to the rj45 outlet.

Best regards
Fredrik Eriksson

[marsh_1]

fredrik,

i take it that you have the network cable in the rj45 not the aui side and the green connection light is on :-)