ser2net(8)						      System Manager's Manual							ser2net(8)

NAME

       ser2net - Serial to network proxy

SYNOPSIS

       ser2net [-c configfile] [-C configline] [-p controlport] [-n] [-d] [-b] [-v] [-P pidfile]

DESCRIPTION

       The ser2net daemon allows telnet and tcp sessions to be established with a unit's serial ports.

       The program comes up normally as a daemon, opens the TCP ports specified in the configuration file, and waits for connections.  Once a con-
       nection occurs, the program attempts to set up the connection and open the serial port.	If another user is already using the connection or
       serial port, the connection is refused with an error message.

OPTIONS

       -c config-file
	      Set the configuration file to one other than the default of /etc/ser2net.conf

       -C config-line
	      Handle  a single configuration line.  This may be specified multiple times for multiple lines.  This is just like a line in the con-
	      fig file.  This disables the default config file, you must specify a -c after the last -C to have it read a config file, too.

       -n     Stops  the  daemon  from	forking  and  detaching  from the controlling terminal. This is useful for running from init.

       -d     Like -n, but also sends the system logs to standard output. This is most useful for debugging purposes.

       -P pidfile
	      If specified, put the process id (pid) of ser2net in the pidfile, replacing whatever was in that file previously.  A pidfile is  not
	      created  by  default,  you  must	specify  this to create one.  Note also that this filename must be specific with the full path, as
	      ser2net will change directory to "/" when it becomes a daemon.  when it

       -u     If UUCP locking is enabled, this will disable the use of UUCP locks.

       -b     Cisco IOS uses a different mechanism for specifying the baud rates than the mechanism described in RFC2217.  This  option  sets  the
	      IOS version of setting the baud rates.  The default is RFC2217's.

       -v     Prints the version of the program and exits.

       -p controlport
	      Enables  the  control  port  and sets the TCP port to listen to for the control port.  A port number may be of the form [host,]port,
	      such as 127.0.0.1,2000 or localhost,2000.  If this is specified, it will only bind to the IP address specified for the port.  Other-
	      wise, it will bind to all the addresses on the machine.

	      If  the  port  number  is  zero, that means that standard in/out will be used for the only input/output, and only one port should be
	      specified in the config.	This way, it can be used from inetd.

CONTROL PORT

       The control port provides a simple interface for controlling the ports and viewing their status. To accomplish this, it has  the  following
       commands:

       showport [<TCP port>]
	      Show information about a port. If no port is given, all ports are displayed.

       showshortport [<TCP port>]
	      Show information about a port, each port on one line. If no port is given, all ports are displayed.  This can produce very wide out-
	      put.

       help   Display a short list and summary of commands.

       exit   Disconnect from the control port.

       version
	      Display the version of this program.

       monitor <type> <tcp port>
	      Display all the input for a given port on the calling control port.  Only one direction may be monitored at a time.  The type  field
	      may be tcp or term and specifies whether to monitor data from the TCP port or from the serial port Note that data monitoring is best
	      effort, if the controller port cannot keep up the data will be silently dropped.	A controller may only monitor one thing and a port
	      may only be monitored by one controller.

       monitor stop
	      Stop the current monitor.

       disconnect <tcp port>
	      Disconnect the tcp connection on the port.

       setporttimeout <tcp port> <timeout>
	      Set the amount of time in seconds before the port connection will be shut down if no activity has been seen on the port.

       setportconfig <tcp port> <config>
	      Set  the port configuration as in the device configuration in the /etc/ser2net.conf file.  If conflicting options are specified, the
	      last option will be the one used.  Note that these will not change until the port is disconnected and connected again.  Options 300,
	      1200,  2400,  4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200 set the various baud rates.  EVEN, ODD, NONE set the parity.  1STOPBIT, 2STOP-
	      BITS set the number of stop bits.  7DATABITS, 8DATABITS set the number of data bits.  [-]XONXOFF turns on (- off) XON/XOFF  support.
	      [-]RTSCTS turns on (- off) hardware flow control.  [-]LOCAL ignores (- checks) the modem control lines (DCD, DTR, etc.)

       setportcontrol <tcp port> <controls>
	      Modify  dynamic  port  controls.	 These do not stay between connections.  Controls are: DTRHI, DTRLO Turns on and off the DTR line.
	      RTSHI, RTSLO Turns on and off the RTS line.

       setportenable <tcp port> <enable state>
	      Sets the port operation state.  Valid states are: off to shut the TCP port down, raw to enable the TCP port transfer all I/O  as-is,
	      rawlp to enable the TCP port input and device output without termios setting, and telnet to enable the TCP port is up run the telnet
	      negotiation protocol on the port.

CONFIGURATION

       Configuration is accomplished through the file /etc/ser2net.conf.  A file with another name or path may be specified using the  -c  option,
       or individual config lines may be specified with the -C option.	This  file consists of one or more entries with the following format:

	      <TCP port>:<state>:<timeout>:<device>:<options>

       or

	      BANNER:<banner name>:<banner text>

   FIELDS
       TCP port
	      Name   or  number of the TCP/IP port to accept connections from for this device.	A port number may be of the form [host,]port, such
	      as 127.0.0.1,2000 or localhost,2000.  If this is specified, it will only bind to the IP address specified for the port.	Otherwise,
	      it will bind to all the ports on the machine.

       state  Either raw or rawlp or telnet or off.  off disables the port from accepting connections.	It can be turned on later from the control
	      port.  raw enables the port and transfers all data as-is between the port and the long.  rawlp enables the port  and  transfers  all
	      input  data  to device, device is open without any termios setting. It allow to use /dev/lpX devices and printers connected to them.
	      telnet enables the port and runs the telnet protocol on the port to set up telnet parameters.  This is most useful for using telnet.

       timeout
	      The time (in seconds) before the port will be disconnected if there is no activity on it.  A zero value disables this funciton.

       device The  name  of  the  device  to connect to. This must be in the form of /dev/<device>.

       device configuration options
	      Sets operational parameters for the serial port.	Values may be separated by spaces or commas.  Options 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600,
	      19200, 38400, 57600, 115200 set the various baud rates.  EVEN, ODD, NONE set the parity.	1STOPBIT, 2STOPBITS set the number of stop
	      bits.  7DATABITS, 8DATABITS set the number of data bits.	[-]XONXOFF turns on (- off) XON/XOFF support.  [-]RTSCTS turns on (-  off)
	      hardware flow control.  [-]LOCAL ignores (- checks) the modem control lines (DCD, DTR, etc.)  [-]HANGUP_WHEN_DONE lowers (- does not
	      lower) the modem control lines (DCD, DTR, etc.) when the connection closes.  NOBREAK Disables automatic clearing of the  break  set-
	      ting  of the port.  remctl allows remote control of the serial port parameters via RFC 2217.  See the README for more info.  <banner
	      name> displays the given banner when a user connects to the port.

       banner name
	      A name for the banner; this may be used in the options of a port.

       banner text
	      The text to display as the banner.  This may contain normal "C" escape strings, and it may also contain, d for the device name,	p
	      for the TCP port number, and s for the serial port parameters (eg 9600N81) of the given connection.

       Blank lines and lines starting with `#' are ignored.

SECURITY

       ser2net	uses  the  tcp wrappers interface to implement host-based security.  See hosts_access(5) for a description of the file setup.  Two
       daemons are used by ser2net, "ser2net" is for the data ports and "ser2net-control" is for the control ports.

SIGNALS

       SIGHUP
	    If ser2net receives a SIGHUP, it will reread it configuration file and make the appropriate changes.  If an inuse port is  changed	or
	    deleted, the actual change will not occur until the port is disconnected.

Error
       Almost all error output goes to syslog, not standard output.

FILES

       /etc/ser2net.conf

SEE ALSO

       telnet(1), hosts_access(5)

KNOWN PROBLEMS

       None.

AUTHOR

       Corey Minyard <minyard@acm.org>

Serial to network proxy 					     06/02/01								ser2net(8)