1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
4 <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="LinuxDoc-Tools 0.9.16">
5 <TITLE>The DXSpider Installation Manual v1.50: Setting up the AX25 Utilities</TITLE>
6 <LINK HREF="installation_en-4.html" REL=next>
7 <LINK HREF="installation_en-2.html" REL=previous>
8 <LINK HREF="installation_en.html#toc3" REL=contents>
9 <link rel=stylesheet href="style.css" type="text/css" title="default stylesheet">
12 <A HREF="installation_en-4.html">Next</A>
13 <A HREF="installation_en-2.html">Previous</A>
14 <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3">Contents</A>
16 <H2><A NAME="s3">3.</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3">Setting up the AX25 Utilities</A></H2>
18 <P>The aim of this section is not to fully cover the installation
19 and configuration of all the possible ax25 modules. I will
20 attempt to cover a simple installation and configure 2 serial
21 ports as if they had TNC's on them. I will also show what
22 additional configuration the DXSpider program requires.</P>
24 <P>Please bear in mind that I am basing this section on a RedHat
25 7.1 distribution, if you are using SuSe or any other distibution
26 then your mileage may vary. I will be happy to make any changes
27 and additions if you email me any errors or distribution specific
30 <P>You would probably benefit from reading the
31 <A HREF="http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/HOWTO/html_single/AX25-HOWTO.html#AEN151">AX25-HOWTO</A> which is much more
32 comprehensive and an interesting configuration program is also available
34 <A HREF="http://1409.org/projects/index.html">ax25-config</A> which
35 may help you to configure things.</P>
37 <P>The following files are extracts from the working files at GB7MBC and
38 are in daily use. However, there are many ways that you can configure the
39 ax25 utils, this is just the one I use, it does not mean it is necessarily
40 the best or for that matter, the right way!</P>
42 <H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.1">Getting Started</A>
45 <P>There are 2 things you need to do initially. You need to get the
46 3 files required for the ax25 installation and you need to make
47 some changes to the kernel configuration.</P>
49 <P>The first thing is to get the versions of the ax25 utils that match
50 your kernel. You may also wish to get a node package of some kind.
51 There are 2 main node packages in use of which I shall keep to the
52 original by Tomi Manninen, OH2BNS as this is included in the ax25
53 rpms as standard. The other is
54 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/ham/packet/linux/awznode/">AWZNode</A> by IZ5AWZ.</P>
56 <P>NB: The AX25 stuff in 2.4 kernels appears to have been broken until 2.4.18. I
57 strongly suggest you get at least this kernel.</P>
59 <P>For 2.4 kernels you need these files...</P>
64 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.rpmfind.net/linux/redhat/7.1/en/powertools/i386/RedHat/RPMS/libax25-0.0.7-7.i386.rpm">libax25-0.0.7-7.i386.rpm</A></LI>
66 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.rpmfind.net/linux/redhat/7.1/en/powertools/i386/RedHat/RPMS/ax25-tools-0.0.6-13.i386.rpm">ax25-tools-0.0.6-13.i386.rpm</A></LI>
68 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.rpmfind.net/linux/redhat/7.1/en/powertools/i386/RedHat/RPMS/ax25-apps-0.0.4-9.i386.rpm">ax25-apps-0.0.4-9.i386.rpm</A></LI>
72 <H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.2">The kernel</A>
75 <P>First you need to add Amateur Radio Support to your kernel. This is
76 a main menu item and should be easily found. Within this header you
77 will find lots of options. For our purposes you need to enable
78 Amateur Radio AX.25 Level 2 Protocol, NET/ROM and the Serial Port
79 KISS Driver. For the purposes of this document I will work under the
80 assumption that you include them in the kernel fully, ie not as modules.
81 If you need to look at compiling your kernel for ax25 more fully, I would
82 refer to the excellent
83 <A HREF="http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/HOWTO/html_single/AX25-HOWTO.html#AEN151">AX25-HOWTO</A></P>
85 <P>I should say at this stage that NET/ROM is not mandatory. If you do not use it
86 simply ignore any instruction concerning it.</P>
88 <P>Now recompile your kernel in the normal way and reboot your system.</P>
90 <H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.3">Installing the RPM's</A>
93 <P>Now install the RPM's you downloaded, libax25 first, then ax25-tools,
98 rpm -ivh libax25-0.0.7-7.i386.rpm
99 rpm -ivh ax25-tool-0.0.6-13.i386.rpm
100 rpm -ivh ax25-apps-0.0.4-9.i386.rpm
105 <H2><A NAME="ss3.4">3.4</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.4">Configuration</A>
108 <P>You will find the configuration files in /etc/ax25. These consist of
109 several files ...</P>
120 <P>These are the main files. You will find other files but they do not
121 have any use unless you are wanting to use that particular protocol,
122 Rose or axip for example.</P>
124 <P>NOTE:- before we start it is important to realise that every interface
125 requires a different SSID. You should be able to follow this in the
126 following examples.</P>
128 <H2><A NAME="ss3.5">3.5</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.5">axports</A>
131 <P>This file sets up the ax25 ports you want to use. An example is below
132 for a standard TNC2 ...</P>
136 #portname callsign baudrate paclen window description
137 2m gb7mbc-2 19200 256 2 2m port on 144.900MHz
138 4m gb7mbc-4 19200 256 2 4m port on 70.325MHz
143 <P>Note that the portnames have to be unique.</P>
145 <P>The file headings are as follows ...</P>
148 portname - The name you will refer to the port by
149 callsign - The ax25 callsign you want to assign to the port
150 baudrate - The speed you communicate between TNC and computer
151 paclen - The maximum packet length for ax25 connections
152 window - The ax25 window parameter. This is like 'maxframe'
153 description - A textual description of the port
157 <H2><A NAME="ss3.6">3.6</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.6">nrports</A>
160 <P>This file sets up the netrom ports you want to use. An example is below
161 and includes a port for both cluster and node. You will see why we need
162 2 ports later ...</P>
166 #portname callsign alias paclen description
167 netrom gb7mbc-8 BARE 236 Node Netrom Port
168 netrom2 gb7mbc-9 MBCDX 236 Cluster Netrom Port
173 <P>Note that the portnames have to be unique.</P>
175 <P>The file headings are as follows ...</P>
178 portname - The name you will refer to the port by
179 callsign - This is the callsign that NET/ROM traffic from this
181 alias - The NET/ROM alias this port will be assigned
182 paclen - The maximum size of NET/ROM frames transmitted
183 description - A textual description of the port
187 <H2><A NAME="ss3.7">3.7</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.7">nrbroadcast</A>
190 <P>This file sets up the netrom broadcast qualities. An example is below ...</P>
194 #axport min_obs def_qual worst_qual verbose
200 <P>The file headings are as follows ...</P>
203 axport - The port name in axports that you wish to broadcast
205 min_obs - The minimum obsolescence value for the port
206 def_qual - The default quality for the port
207 worst_qual - The worst quality for the port. Any routes under
208 this quality will be ignored
209 verbose - This flag determines whether you will only broadcast
210 your own node (0) or all known nodes (1)
214 <H2><A NAME="ss3.8">3.8</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.8">ax25d.conf</A>
217 <P>This file controls any incoming ax25 and NET/ROM connections and steers
218 them to the relevant program. There are lots of configuration options
219 you can set here, however they are well covered in the AX25-HOWTO. For
220 our purposes I will show a typical set of parameters. An example is
226 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
228 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
231 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
233 default * * * * * * 0 root /usr/sbin/node node
236 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
238 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
241 parameters 2 1 6 900 * 15 0
243 default * * * * * * 0 root /usr/sbin/node node
246 parameters 1 10 * * * 3 *
248 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
251 parameters 1 10 * * * 3 *
253 default * * * * * * 0 root /usr/sbin/node node
258 <P>There are a few things to take note of here. Firstly, all ax25
259 sections are wrapped in [ ] and all NET/ROM sections are wrapped in
260 < >. Secondly you should be able to see that anyone who forgets to
261 set their callsign in a TNC and tries to connect with the standard
262 NOCALL set into their TNC will not connect, the 'L' means 'lockout'.
263 Lastly and importantly, notice the order of the sections. They are
264 all done in interface order.</P>
266 <P>You should be able to see that the normal line for access to the
267 cluster is like this ..</P>
271 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
276 <P>however, if you wish your users to be able to use SSID's on their callsigns ..</P>
280 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %s ax25
285 <P>For most purposes this is not desirable. The only time you probably will
286 need this is when you need to allow other cluster nodes that are using SSID's
287 in. In this case it would probably be better to use the first example and
288 then add a specific line for that node like this:</P>
292 GB7DJK-2 * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client gb7djk-2 ax25
293 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
298 <H2><A NAME="ss3.9">3.9</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.9">node.conf</A>
301 <P>For those of you that wish to run the node, you need to set up the
302 node.conf file. There are a couple of additional files, node.perms is
303 very similar to the way ftp permissions are set up in NOS systems and
304 node.motd is the message anyone logging into the node will get.
305 The node.conf file sets all the parameters of the node as you would
306 expect. An example is below ...</P>
310 # /etc/ax25/node.conf - LinuxNode configuration file
314 # Idle timeout (seconds).
318 # Timeout when gatewaying (seconds).
322 # Visible hostname. Will be shown at telnet login.
324 HostName gb7mbc.ampr.org
332 #LocalNet 44.139.8.48/32
334 # Command aliases. See node.conf(5) for the meaning of the uppercase
335 # letters in the name of the alias.
337 ##Alias CAllbook 'telnet %{2:44.17.0.53} 1235 %1 s'
338 #Alias CONVers 'telnet %{2:oh2ti} 3600 "/n %u %{1:139}\n/w *"'
339 #Alias CLuster 'c hkiclh'
340 Alias CONV "telnet lurpac 3600"
341 Alias BBS "c 70cm gb7crv"
342 Alias DXC "telnet localhost 9000"
343 Alias MUD "telnet homer 4000"
344 ##Alias TEMP "finger temp@mary.g6phf"
345 ##Alias TNOS "c ip1 gb7mbc-5"
346 ##Alias TUtor "telnet gb7mbc 3599"
352 # External commands. See node.conf(5) for the meaning of the uppercase
353 # letters in the name of the extcmd.
355 # Flags: 1 Run command through pipe
358 #ExtCmd TPM 3 nobody /usr/bin/finger finger tpm
359 #ExtCmd ECho 1 nobody /bin/echo echo \%U \%u \%S \%s \%P \%p \%R \%r \%T \%t \%\% \%0 \%{1:foobar} \%{2} \%3 \%4 \%5
363 NodeId "\nBARE:GB7MBC-1"
364 #NodeId \033[01;31m***\033[0m
366 # Netrom port name. This port is used for outgoing netrom connects.
374 # The escape character (CTRL-T)
378 # Resolve ip numbers to addresses?
385 #NodePrompt "%s@%h \%i> "
386 NodePrompt "\nBARE:GB7MBC-1 \%i > "
387 #NodePrompt "\a\033[36m%U\033[0m de \033[01;32m#LNODE\033[0m:\033[01;33mOH2BNS-10\033[0m> "
392 <P>This should be fairly obvious I hope.</P>
394 <H2><A NAME="ss3.10">3.10</A> <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3.10">Getting it all running</A>
397 <P>Ok, now we have all the relevant files configured, the next step is to get
400 <P>The first thing to do is attach the TNC's. Your TNC's should be in KISS mode
401 and connected to the serial ports involved.</P>
403 <P>You now use the 'kissattach' command to connect the TNC's to the system like this ...</P>
407 kissattach /dev/ttyS0 2m 44.131.96.199
408 kissattach /dev/ttyS1 4m 44.131.96.199
413 <P>Assuming that 44.131.96.199 is your IP address. The devices ttyS0 and ttyS1 are com1 and
414 com2 respectively. Now we can set some parameters ...</P>
418 kissparms -p 2m -t 150 -l 150 -s 50 -r 50
419 kissparms -p 4m -t 150 -l 150 -s 50 -r 50
424 <P>The command 'man kissparms' will give you the explanation of the switches.</P>
426 <P>Now we need to attach the NET/ROM ports in the same way ...</P>
436 <P>All of the above can be put in a file and called from /etc/rc.d/rc.local. Put all
437 the above commands in a file called rc.ax25 and put a line in rc.local to call it.</P>
439 <P>Now you can start the daemons that set everything in motion ...</P>
449 <P>All should now be running. All that remains is to get the node working for telnet
450 connections. If nothing else, this will allow you to connect to the node yourself
451 to check on connection status etc. There are 2 files that need to be edited.</P>
453 <P>First edit /etc/services and add</P>
457 node 3000/tcp #OH2BNS's Node Software
462 <P>Assuming you want it to run on port 3000</P>
464 <P>Now cd /etc/xinetd.d and edit a new file called node. It should look like this ...</P>
469 # unencrypted username/password pairs for authentication.
475 server = /usr/sbin/node
476 log_on_failure += USERID
483 <P>You now need to restart the xinetd daemon. First find out what the PID is
493 <P>You will get a reply something like this ...</P>
497 root 592 0.0 0.1 2256 620 ? S Feb07 0:00 xinetd -stayalive -reuse -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid
502 <P>The PID or Process ID is 592 in this case so now we can issue the command ...</P>
511 <P>All should now be operational and you should be able to log into the node by
512 using a telnet session to the relevant port, like so ...</P>
516 telnet localhost 3000
521 <P>If that works, you are just about there. you should (assuming you have radios connected
522 to the TNC's) be able to connect out to other stations and receive incoming ax25 and
523 netrom connections.</P>
526 <A HREF="installation_en-4.html">Next</A>
527 <A HREF="installation_en-2.html">Previous</A>
528 <A HREF="installation_en.html#toc3">Contents</A>