WNOS (WAMPES NOS) User Guide Mike Chace (G6DHU) 21 July 1991 (Version 2b by DB3FL) A short user guide (translated from DB3FL's German text) concerning new features and changes in the WNOS version of the KA9Q Network Operating System. You are advised to read this before using WNOS. 1. StartUp File The startup file is now called 'autoexec.nos'. It was thought better to do this since NOS features are so dramatically different from those of NET. 2. AX25 Server The complete AX.25 server has been rebuilt to be WAMPES compatible and this means that in some cases behaviour is a little different. 3. Status Line At the top line of the screen there is now a line showing various pieces of system information. The clock is obvious and also gives a good indication as to whether the program is still running :-) Each active session gets an entry on the status line in the form of session number:callsign. Incoming IP sessions (eg Chats), including those initiated from the mbox will show 'chat' instead of 'callsign'. New data arriving on unselected sessions will show as flashing. The flashing is then removed when that session is selected. An additional field after the clock shows 'CMD' if the user is at net> command level, '*' if a session is currently selected and 'TRACE' if the trace screen (see below) as active. 21 July 1991 - 2 - 4. Session Selection Note: Session selection in WNOS is by the Function keys. For instance if there are two active sessions, F1 selects Session 1 and F2 session 2. The default key for return the net> command level in WNOS, is rather than F10 as in most other versions. Change this by setting the 'escape' command (see below). 5. Trace Screen WNOS keeps all output from the trace command in a separate window. The trace screen is selected by the function key F9. The status line then shows 'TRACE'. 6. Timers (AX25 und IP) Since the rebuilding of the AX.25 servers for WAMPES comaptibility, the range of AX25 timers has been extended. The AX.25 timers and their settings are explained in the section - 'ax25 subcommands'. Changes were also made to the IP/TCP timers. All timer are now dynamically altered according to link conditions. The TCP round trip timer (SRTT) is aletered according to which 'mode' the current connection is using. If datagram mode (UI frames) is used, the old style timing is employed. If connected modes (I frames - mode vc, ipcam or auto) is used, the timer is set in a 10-step mode as the frames is sent. The highest step equates to about 300s. The achieves two things :- 1) Unnecessary Level 4/5 retransmissions are reduced when an AX.25 based link layer is used. 2) If the link should be particularly poor, the 300s time will mean that the link layer connection will be restarted as soon as this time is reached. 7. Mailbox Since version 1k, the mailbox has been substantially changed. I suggest that users previously using KA9Q, G1EMM or PA0GRI NOS should login to the mailbox (using the 'bbs') command and see for themselves. System prompts are returned according to the type of link 21 July 1991 - 3 - used. At the moment, these types are NET/ROM and everything else. Prompts, commands and output are purposely designed to resemble those given by the FlexNet system. This makes interoperation with other (Level2) packet terminal programs (eg SP) much easier. NET/ROM connections are prompted in the TheNetNode software style. A welcome text can be sent to a newly arrived user. This requires a file in /spool/help named 'host.hlp' containing a short welcome text. If this file does not exist, then the default text, '?' for help is sent. The contents of the string in the mailbox message of the day string (mbox motd ... command) are then sent. The next thing to be sent depends in the setting of some timers since it informs the user of any inactivity timeouts set by the mailbox op. If 'ax25 t3disc' is set to 1 and the 'ax25 t3' timer is set to something other than 0 then the user will receive the text Inactivity Timeout: xx min Should the mailbox register no activity from the connected user after the timeout set, they will be automatically disconnected. The mailbox prompt carries the form :- () de more useful than previous NOS prompts because the user always knows the default mailbox 'area' in use. 8. Mailbox Commands 8.1. area Select mail area. 8.2. bye Log off system 21 July 1991 - 4 - 8.3. chat Chat to sysop 8.4. connect Attempt AX.25 Level 2 connection to destination. May also use autorouted paths. 8.5. download Download a file. 8.6. escape Set the character to escape from sessions back to mailbox command mode. 8.7. finger Send the station finger file. 8.8. help Send general or command specific help. 8.9. info Sends the contents of the file info.hlp in the /spool/help directory. This should contain a short description of the location, equipment, etc. 8.10. kill Erase given mail message. 8.11. list List mail. 8.12. mheard List most recently heard callsigns. 21 July 1991 - 5 - 8.13. nodes Displays NET/ROM nodes available from here. 8.14. nconnect Attempt NET/ROM connect to given node. 8.15. path Display autorouting path destinations or show information on path to given destination. 8.16. quit Log off mailbox. 8.17. read Read given mail message. 8.18. send Send mail. 8.19. telnet Initiate connection using TCP/IP to given host (optional port). 8.20. users Who is doing what on this system. 8.21. upload Upload file. 8.22. verbose Show all mail headers on mail message. 21 July 1991 - 6 - 8.23. what List files available. 9. DOS-Shell Initial tests with the DOS 5.00 shell (beta version) suggested that there maybe problems when used with WNOS. It was also noted that DOS with XMS loaded into hi memory would also cause problems. Of course, systems runnign WNOS vary so you may not see these problems at all. If you do experience these problems then try setting the multitasking flag (multi off) thereby stopping the immediate processing of incoming frames. Input Editing CTRL-U erases the current line CTRL-W erases the last word CTRL-R retypes the current line (before a ) CTRL-B recalls the last line Up Arrow recall previous lines input Down Arrow ditto 10. WNOS Commands and Changes 10.1. arp The ARP table is now built up dynamically. Monitored IP frames (both connected and datagram mode) are analysed and stored. The complete ARP table is saved to disk about every 10 minutes in the (root) file 'arproute.dat'. The saving of the ARP table is only done if any new IP frames are heard. 10.2. attach Buffers should be set to at least one quarter of the speed of the attached ports. Failure to do this could result in buffer problems and crashing of the program. If WNOS is run on a floppy only system, this is especially important and buffers should be increased as much as possible. 10.3. attended Syntax: attended <0|1> This command allows incoming connects to be notified to the console. A bell alert tone is sounded when attended and bell are set to 1 only. 21 July 1991 - 7 - Default: 1 (The system is attended) 10.4. attribute Syntax: attribute This changes the attribute of the WNOS system status line. The mono attributes are normal, inverted and blinking text. 10.5. bell Syntax: bell <0|1> Toggles the connect alert tone on and off. It is only sounded when bell and attended are set to 1. Default: on (1) 10.6. buffers See "mem" command 10.7. chat Syntax: chat This command is short for "telnet 87" thereby connecting directly to the chat port of the given host. Of course, this will only work if the other end is running NOS. 10.8. connect Syntax: connect | [] It is possible to start an AX.25 Level 2 connect with only "c " as long as the desired call as stored in the AX.25 autorouting table. The alternative is to enter all information including interface and digipeater path. In this case, the given digipeater route is added to the autorouting table, if the destination is not already in the table. If the short version is used and no route to that destination exists, an error message is given. 21 July 1991 - 8 - 10.9. domain dfile Syntax: domain dfile On some systems, the time spent by the program searching the domain file at startup is quite considerable. This command can be used to alter the path locating the domain file. must be a complete pathname. Particularly useful for storing the domain file in a RAMdisk on floppy only machines. 10.10. escape Syntax: escape Changes the escape character so that for instance, it is possible to use WA8DED style firmware on a tip session where selects WA8DED command mode. Default: 10.11. mbox log Syntax: mbox log Selects logging for the mailbox activity. If set on, all mbox activity is logged in the file /spool/node.log. The filename and path are fixed. Default: off 10.12. mbox motd Syntax: mbox motd "text" A short message to send connected mbox users. The number of characters sent should not exceed that allowed in a single packet (ax25 paclen). Users should take care when using the < and > characters in this text which may of course, cause problems with NTS BBS operation. 10.13. mem efficient Syntax: mem efficient <0|1> Toggles efficient memory management mode. Setting efficient mode on with "mem eff 1" will reduce the programs memory useage but also slows down the program operation, as memory allocation takes longer. 21 July 1991 - 9 - This parameter should be tested by experimentation on slow machines. Default: 1 (efficient mode on) 10.14. mem freelist Syntax: mem freelist Shows free memory list. 10.15. mem garbage Syntax: mem garbage <1> Forces a garbage collection of the main memory. An input of 1 makes the program attempt some memory compaction. 10.16. mem ibufsize Syntax: mem ibufsize Sets the size of the interrupt buffers. Default: 2048 - Range: 1 .. 32768 10.17. mem nibufs Syntax: mem nibufs <#> Sets the number of interrupt buffers (of size ibufsize). Default: 5 10.18. mem sizes Syntax: mem sizes Shows the size of allocated memory blocks. 10.19. mem status Syntax: mem status Shows a summary of memory useage. 21 July 1991 - 10 - 10.20. mem thresh Syntax: mem thresh Sets the memory threshold at which the program refuses further incoming connections. If there is less than thresh bytes of memory left, WNOS will ignore incoming frames or send ICMP Source Quench messages. The setting of this parameter also affects the number of active processes since they reserve memory for each new call. Default: 8192 10.21. mode Syntax: mode [] Sets the mode to be used over the AX.25 link layer. da Sets datagram mode where all frames are sent unconnected (UI) but note the IP can force the use of connected mode according to the prevailing conditions and under instruction from TCP. vc Sets connected (virtual circuit) mode where the link layer is controlled by the complete AX.25 protocol. ipcam Causes a level 2 connection to be established but IP frames are sent with PID=F0 (text) rather than PID=IP. This allows the use of different transport systems (NET/ROM, FlexNet etc) for carrying IP traffic. auto Sets up a level 2 connection only if the AX.25 path has more than one digipeater, else datagram (UI frames) mode is used. WARNING! If mode auto is used and there is an existing AX.25 link to the given host, it will be used to send the frames upon. This can sometimes corrupt existing sessions. 10.22. netrom bcnodes Syntax: netrom bcnodes [] This command has been enhanced to allow the sending of NET/ROM routing broadcast to a given destination. If the destination callsign is not supplied, the broadcast is sent to destination NODES. 21 July 1991 - 11 - 10.23. smtp batch Syntax: smtp batch <0|1> A setting of 0 causes the SMTP client to wait for responses from the remote end. A setting of 1 allows the necessary SMTP commands to be sent using the minimum number of frames. WARNING! This option can cause problems when other remote end expects a traditional command sequence - especially MSYS. Default: 0 10.24. smtp quiet Syntax: smtp quiet <0|1> All incoming mail is notified to the console. smtp quiet set to 1 will also add an alert tone. Set to 0 if no tone should be added. Default: 1 10.25. smtp usemx Syntax: smtp usemx <0|1> The domain file (domain.txt) can include mail server records (MX = Mail Exchange) for mail routing too. On sending mail, the server will search domain.txt for such MX records if usemx is set to 1. A setting of 0 will disbale this search. Default: 0 10.26. sysop Syntax: sysop Sets the password number for the remote sysop operation of the mbox (the bbs @ command). Five numbers must be specified and should not include 0. 10.27. tcp close Syntax: tcp close Allows 'sleeping' TCP connections to be closed in an orderly fashion. 21 July 1991 - 12 - 10.28. tcp retry Syntax: tcp retry This command has been added in an effort to reduce the number of retries on opening TCP connections (especially SMTP). The value set will affect all TCP sessions not in the ESTABLISHED state. A value of 0 disables this feature. Default: 5 10.29. wrap Syntax: wrap Sets the value at which a line should be wrapped, that is, a added and the next line started automatically. This prevents the annoyance of forgetting to press at the end of a line and then overflowing the line at the other end! A value of 0 disables this feature. Default: 70 - Range: 0 .. 132 10.30. write Syntax: write Sends "text" to all specified sockets simoultaneously. Useful for when it's time to go to bed :-) 11. ax25 Sub-commands 11.1. ax25 bc Syntax: ax25 bc Send a frame to destination "ID" on the specified interface. 11.2. ax25 bcinterval Syntax: ax25 bcinterval Sends frame to destination ID on all interfaces after the given time has elapsed. Disable with ax25 bcinterval 0. Default: 0 21 July 1991 - 13 - 11.3. ax25 bctext Syntax: ax25 bctext Sets the text to be sent. 11.4. ax25 close Syntax: ax25 close Disconnect the outstanding AX.25 Level 2 link. This is only done once all outstanding frames are sent and acknowledged. Useful when mode vc or ipcam is used and the TCP session has closed but the link layer connection needs to be shut down. 11.5. ax25 digipeat Syntax: ax25 digipeat <0|1|2> Controls the method of digipeating to use. 0 = No Digipeating 1 = Normal Digipeating 2 = Autorouting with Hop-to-Hop Acknowledgement Default: 2 11.6. ax25 heard Syntax: ax25 heard Shows the list of stations heard on the given interface. At most, 40 calls are stored on all interfaces. The list is alphabetically sorted. 11.7. ax25 idigi Syntax: ax25 idigi Yet to be implemented. 11.8. ax25 kick Syntax: ax25 kick Simulates timeout of the T1 Retransmission timer. 21 July 1991 - 14 - 11.9. ax25 maxframe Syntax: ax25 maxframe Number of outstanding unack'ed frames. Set to 1 for best performance on busy, normal (ie not full duplex) channels. Default: 2 - Range: 1 .. 7 11.10. ax25 mycall Syntax: ax25 mycall Sets the source callsign for AX.25 frames. Only effective BEFORE an attach command. 11.11. ax25 paclen Syntax: ax25 paclen Maximum size of a I frame. Default: 256 - Range: 1 .. 256 11.12. ax25 pthresh Syntax: ax25 pthresh Frames longer than are retried with an RR frame (Poll bit set) when the T1 timer timesout. Shorther frames are retried with the whole I frame. Default: 64 - Range: 1 .. 256 11.13. ax25 reset Syntax: ax25 reset Causes the given AX.25 control block to be deleted. This is the 'dirty' way of severing an AX.25 connection. 11.14. ax25 retry Syntax: ax25 retry Shows (sets) the number of retries on AX.25 Level 2 connections according to the status of that connection. Status Retries ----------------------------------------- 21 July 1991 - 15 - Conn pending + Connected retries * 2 Disc pending retries / 2 ----------------------------------------- Default: 8 11.15. ax25 route Controls the AX.25 autorouting table. Each connect attempt will cause the route to be saved in a table. Every 10 minutes, these routes are saved in the file 'axroutes.dat' in the root directory. Route information is saved in an internal (non ASCII) format. This file is read in at startup with routes older than a given timeout (see ax25 route hold) deleted. AX.25 routes are disassembled in a chained way, so that digipeater routes give rise to all intermediate routes too. This work follows the concept within the German WAMPES packet system. Faulty routes cannot be deleted but they can be corrected by the ax25 route add command. 11.15.1. ax25 route sub-commands 11.15.1.1. ax25 route add Syntax: ax25 route add [permanent] <"default"|call> Allows manual setting of AX.25 routes. These routes are also used for outgoing IP sessions. If the link is started with the "connect" command then the entry into the routing table is automatic. The "permanent" flag, secures the route so that it cannot be changed. Example: ax25 route add permanent 144 gb7zz-2 Judicious use should be made of the "perming" feature. It is suggested that one route on each interface be made permanent. Note that the keyword permanent must be typed in full. The option "default" indentifies the given interface as default. All frames that do not have a route found in the routing table, will be sent over this interface. Again, note that default must be typed in full. Example: ax25 route add 144 default 21 July 1991 - 16 - Routes added with "ax25 route add..." are held in chained form. For each digipeater, a route is added :- Example: ax25 route add 144 db0wst db0gv-7 db0kt db0da is stored as... 144 db0wst v db0gv-7 db0kt db0da 144 db0da v db0gv-7 db0kt 144 db0kt v db0gv-7 144 db0gv-7 This makes it possible to enter only "c db0da" to autoconnect to DB0DA. Routes of the form of "dg8fbv v db3fl db0da" are also supported. In this case, digipeaters are also expanded and new routes added. Suggested entries for the autoexec.nos file: One interface made the "default" Each interface has a permanent route marked (to a reliable neighbour) 11.15.1.2. ax25 route list Syntax: ax25 route list [] Shows the route to the given destination callsign. 11.15.1.3. ax25 route stat Syntax: ax25 route stat Shows the number of known routes per interface. 11.16. ax25 status Syntax: ax25 status Shows the outstanding AX.25 connections. On specifying a given AX.25 control block, detailed information is shown. Several changes have been made here in terms of the previuos versions of NOS. After changover to the WAMPES like system, various parameters had to be altered or added. New are a recieve and send Framesammler with a window of upto 8 frames. This allows out of sequence AX.25 frames to be saved and reassembled in memory. When the sequence is completed, the whole sequence is ack'ed. This can save multiple retransmissions for the out of sequence frames. 21 July 1991 - 17 - The time to wait for the next out of sequence frame set by the Reassembly timer (T5). 12. AX.25 Timers 12.1. ax25 t1|t2|t3|t4|t5 Syntax: ax25 tx - where "x" is from 1 to 5 12.1.1. Timer 1: Retransmission timeout A frame is resent if this timer runs out under control of the ax25 pthresh setting, which may send an RR frame rather than the I frame. The value is set according to the number of digis used in the path :- Timer1 * (1 + (Number of Digis / 2). It is set dynamically in accordance with the AX25 SRTT and MDEV. Default: 10 - Range: 1 .. 15 12.1.2. Timer 2: Acknowledgement delay timeout Incoming frames are acknowledged when this T2 times out. So that the framesammler is effective, T2 should be smaller than the reassembly timeout (T5), this prevents having to ACK every single incoming frame. Default: 2 - Range: 1 .. 15 12.1.3. Timer 3: Link redundancy timer According to the setting of ax25 t3disc, T3 timeout causes either immediate disconnection of the outstanding link or the sending of a polled RR frame when no activity has occurred on th link. Any queued frames are sent before disconnection. It is recommended that this timer be set to a value not less than 360 seconds. Should T3 be set to a value greater than 0 and 'ax25 t3disc' set to 1, mbox users will be sent text informing them of timeout. Default: 900 - Range: 1 .. 3600 21 July 1991 - 18 - 12.1.4. Timer 4: Busy timeout This timer is started after receipt of an RNR frame and when timed out, the other link partner is polled to check if there is any change in link status. Default: 60 - Range: 1 .. 600 12.1.5. Timer 5: Packet assembly timeout On timeout of T5, all (unacked) queued packets are sent. They are reassembled so as to make maximum use of the current paclen setting. Default: 1 - Range: 0 .. 600 12.1.6. ax25 t3disc Syntax: ax25 t3disc <0|1> In some situations it is not wise to just sever an outstanding AX.25 connection. If ax25 t3disc is set to 0 and the AX25 T3 timer times out, the link partner is polled. If the setting is 1 and the AX.25 T3 timer is non-zero then the mbox user is sent some text informing them of timeout and they are then disconnected. Default: 1 12.2. ax25 window Syntax: ax25 window Sets the maximum number of bytes in the RX queue before an RNR is sent. Default: 2048 - Range: 1 .. 32767 21 July 1991