Following are the major tasks for configuring software so the ISA Sync board can communicate with the host system and ultimately run a synchronous protocol such as X.25 or SNA.

The first step in configuring the ISA Sync board is to ensure that your system has the correct hardware and software installed:

You need an ASCII configuration file for each channel (or port) that is to be active on the ISA Sync board.

Sample configuration files are located in the directory /opt/vcom/etc and are named wan_sample.*. You can rename and copy these files into /var/opt/vcom/cfg or create your own files within /var/opt/vcom/cfg by using a system editor and using the naming conventions and file content recommendations as follows.

MAXFRAME=1024
BAUD=0
PHY_IP=DTE
SDLC_ENC=NRZ

The xcf(1M) utility processes the configuration information in the xcf_input.* ASCII configuration file and transforms the text into a binary image. Later, this image is downloaded to the ISA Sync board using the vcom_cfg(1M) utility, as described in the section “Downloading the Configuration Files to the Board.”

The location of xcf is /opt/vcom/bin/xcf. The syntax of the xcf command is

xcf [-b Boardnum ] [ -c Channel ]

where

The input configuration filename is /var/opt/vcom/cfg/xcf_input.<BoardnumChannel> where Boardnum is the board number (0-3) and Channel is the channel (A-D). For details about creating these files, refer to “Creating the Configuration Files.”

With no arguments, xcf generates 16 binary configuration files: one for each of four boards times the four channels, using the default values.

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Note: These 16 files are created regardless of the number of boards that are present in the system or the number of existing configuration files.

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The xcf command creates output binary image files in the directory /var/opt/vcom/etc. The output filename uses the same suffix as the input filename, and the wancfg basename is used instead of xcf_input. The format of the output filenames is

wancfg.<BoardnumChannel>

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Caution: The files /var/opt/vcom/etc/XNET and /var/opt/vcom/etc/XNET.lck are also created by xcf and are used by the ISA Sync board software utilities to retrieve information about the board configuration. Do not modify or remove either of these files.

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Reset the board using the vcom_rst(1M) command. The location of the vcom_rst command is the directory /opt/vcom/bin. The syntax of the command is

vcom_rst -b Boardnum

where Boardnum specifies the board you want to reset.

Continue by downloading the board microcode image, as described in the section “Downloading the Microcode Image File to the Board.”

Before the board can run, it must have its processing code downloaded from the Silicon Graphics host system. The vcom_vld(1M) command downloads this image file, which, by default, is contained in the file /opt/vcom/mcode/x25.lod. The syntax of the vcom_vld command is

vcom_vld [ -a ] [ -c ] [ mcode_file [ Boardnum ... ]]

where

-a		Downloads the microcode image file to all boards.
-c		Configures the board by automatically executing vcom_cfg(1M). Tip: Using this option allows you to skip the procedure in the next section, “Downloading the Configuration Files to the Board.”
mcode_file		The microcode image file, by default is, /opt/vcom/mcode/x25.lod.
Boardnum ...		One or more board numbers to be downloaded. This option must be used if the -a option is omitted

Two vcom_vld Command Examples

Following are two examples of the vcom_vld command.

Example 1: To load all boards in the system, type

vcom_vld -a

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Note: Be sure to continue to the next section, “Downloading the Configuration Files to the Board,” if you did not use the -c option.

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Example 2: To load and configure all boards in the system, type

vcom_vld -a -c

The board and channel configuration information is contained in binary image files (wancfg.*) that were created with xcf. (Refer to “Creating the Binary Image Files” for more information.) These files can be downloaded in one of two ways:

The vcom_cfg utility must be run before any synchronous communication can occur, or to reconfigure ports at any time. The location of vcom_cfg is in the directory /opt/vcom/bin. The syntax of the vcom_cfg command is

vcom_cfg [ -a ]

or

vcom_cfg [Boardnum[Channel]]

where

Once the board software has been configured and downloaded, as described in the preceding sections, a protocol such as X.25 or SNA can be configured to run on the ISA Sync board.

The ISA Sync board can be used in an X.25 network using the optional SX25 product. The procedure for configuring X.25 to run on the ISA Sync board is fully described in the SX25 Administrator's Guide.

For SNA networking, the ISA Sync board runs the optional IRIS SNA SERVER software. The procedure for configuring the IRIS SNA SERVER software to run on the ISA Sync board is fully described in the IRIS SNA SERVER Administration Guide.