GB . Knowledge . ACUhostSpecialConfiguration

Problem

What special configuration is required on the Antenna Control Unit (i.e. antenna manager) host? .

Solution

There are two ACU hosts: one active in service (currently prima) and a 'warm spare' (currently donna).

Operating System

Both systems run a generic version of RedHat enterprise 4. (Note: due to ethernet driver issues, only non-SMP kernels work correctly.)

Each system has a 2nd Ethernet PCI card (3C900B), with a 10base2 (i.e. BNC coaxial type cable). These cards use the linux 3c59x driver module. To force the BNC port to be used insert these lines into /etc/modprobe.conf:

The /etc/modprobe.conf file:
alias eth1 3c59x
options 3c59x options=3,3

Note that the 3,3 sets the option on the first and second instance of the driver. If a fiber card is installed as eth0, then the options field should be set to ",3".

To auto configure and activation the second ethernet interface on boot, add the following lines to the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:

ifcfg-eth1
DEVICE=eth1
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
IPADDR=172.24.1.25
NETMASK=255.255.255.240
BROADCAST=172.24.1.31

Since the servo SBC hosts are not in DNS, the following information should be added to the /etc/hosts file:

The /etc/hosts file:
172.24.1.17	xcu	#the old sparc ACU address
172.24.1.19	muccu muscu	# Lab use only
172.24.1.20	ccu	#the az/el servo
172.24.1.21	scu	#the receiver room servo
172.24.1.25	prima-acu	#the linux ACU address (Name does not matter)

CCU Boot Process

The CCU boots from a dedicated local hard disk. The startup file, OS, and sccu.ro loadable are all located in the root directory of this disk.

SCU Boot Process

The SCU still boots via the network from a linux host (prima). The process begins by booting the OS via tftp from /export/home/prima/services/tftpboot. Next the single board uses ftp to retrieve the startup file on prima in: /export/home/prima/services/sccu/gbt/etc/startup/realscu.startup. Finally the sccu.ro loadable is retrieved using ftp from /export/home/prima/services/sccu/gbt/exec/mv167-vxworks/sccu.ro

Services

FTP/TFTP Boot Service

Currently prima provides a boot service to the scu only. The CCU boots from its own hard disk.

The ACU provides ftp service to the SCU when booting. The startup files and load images are located in a '/home/gbt' style installation, located in the /export/home/prima/services/sccu/gbt directory. It should be noted that ftp must be enabled on this system for the SCU to boot. (The CCU is currently configured to boot from its own SCSI disk.)

The loadable for the ccu/scu comes from the sccu source installation in /home/gbt1/GBTservo. Follow direction in Readme file for building code from source, then scp sccu.ro onto the system. (There is no install makefile target.)

VSFTP (ftp daemon) Notes:

On Linux, the vsftp daemon is used which has a few additional config files. The changes required from a stock config are listed below.

Verify that the config file has userlist_enable=YES and userlist_deny=NO
If the config file has pam_service_name=vsftpd, verify that the file /etc/pam.d/vsftpd has the line with pam_shells commented out. (This is required because the passwd entry for wriver does not contain a login shell.) (Alternatively, add the wriver account shell to /etc/shells.)

Example vsftpd.conf and vsftpd files are attached to this webpage.

NTP (Network Time Protocol) Configuration

A 1-PPS signal is provided to the DCD pin of the serial port to aid in time synchronization. Since we are using a generic kernel (i.e. without the PPSTime patches) we must use a proxy program to handle the 1-PPS ticks and communicate time information via shared memory. Configuration files are stored in the local directory:

/export/home/_hostname_/services/ntp This directory holds the special shared memory clock daemon, and the ntp.conf configuration file. The file /etc/rc.d/init.d/ntpd was replaced with the attached version of the script.

NFS

Although not used in typical operations, NFS is used to transfer sccu loadables to the local scsi disk drive during maintenance. This requires entries in /etc/hosts.allow to allow SBC access to the portmap, mount and nfs daemons. It also requires an entry in the /etc/exports file to export the /export/home/prima/services/sccu directory.

-- JoeBrandt - 22 May 2006

ntp.conf: ntp configuration file
ifcfg-eth1: secondary interface configuration script

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Attachment:	Action:	Size:	Date:	Who:	Comment:
ntp.conf	action	789	22 May 2006 - 19:44	JoeBrandt	ntp configuration file
ntpd	action	5929	22 May 2006 - 20:03	JoeBrandt
hosts	action	335	22 May 2006 - 20:03	JoeBrandt
modprobe.conf	action	486	22 Feb 2008 - 18:24	JoeBrandt
ifcfg-eth1	action	117	22 May 2006 - 20:16	JoeBrandt	secondary interface configuration script
hosts.allow	action	514	01 Jun 2006 - 15:09	JoeBrandt
exports	action	59	01 Jun 2006 - 15:09	JoeBrandt
vsftpd.conf	action	4248	29 Nov 2006 - 20:20	JoeBrandt	ftp conf file /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
vsftpd	action	301	29 Nov 2006 - 20:21	JoeBrandt	pam conf file /etc/pam.d/vsftpd

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Revision r1.6 - 28 Jul 2008 - 02:06 GMT - JoeBrandt Parents: MnCKnowledge	Content copyright © 1999-2007 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.


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