pcf(4) Kernel Interfaces Manual pcf(4)
NAME
pcf - port configuration file used by DDFA software
Description
A port configuration file is used by the Datacommunications and Terminal Controller Device File Access (DDFA) software to configure indi-
vidual terminal server ports. The generic name of the template file is In practice, it is renamed for each port that needs different con-
figuration values and the values are altered appropriately for the device attached to the port. A port configuration file is referenced by
an entry in the Dedicated Ports file The Dedicated Port Parser parses the file and spawns an Outbound Connection Daemon for each valid
entry in the file. A valid entry is one in which the fourth field is the name of a port configuration file.
The master port configuration file is and it should only be referenced in the file if the default values it contains are correct for the
ports. If different values are needed, should be copied to another directory and the copy should be modified and referenced in the file.
The recommended procedure is to create a directory to hold the port configuration files and the modified file.
See ddfa(7) for more information on how to configure the DDFA software.
A port configuration file consists of the names of variables and their values. The variables are shown terminated by a colon but this is
not mandatory. A variable and its value can be separated by spaces or tabs. Only one variable-value pair is allowed per line. Only the
value should be altered. The variable name should not be changed.
A file contains the following information:
This can have the value
or When it is enabled, data transfer over the network uses the Telnet protocol. This option be enabled for a DTC.
This can have the value
or When it is enabled, a telnet timing mark negotiation is sent to the terminal server after all user data has been
transferred. waits for a reply to the timing mark negotiation before closing the connection. This ensures that all
data has been output from the terminal server to the device before the buffers are flushed. It should be enabled for a
DTC.
This defines the time in seconds
during which the software waits for a response to the telnet timing mark and binary negotiation. If the timer expires,
an error message is logged to and the error is transmitted to the user application.
This can have the value
or When it is enabled, data transfer over the network is in binary mode and treatment of special characters (such as
XON/XOFF) is disabled.
Due to the absence of flow control, data integrity cannot be guaranteed when is enabled.
Note that even if is disabled, it can be negotiated at any time by the application setting to in the data structure.
This defines the number of times the software
tries to open a connection before giving up. If the value is the software tries ``forever'' (approximately 68 years).
If the retry process fails, an error message is logged to and the error is transmitted to the user application.
The retry process can be interrupted by sending the signal to the process using
Note that if the application exits after asking to open the connection to the terminal server, continues trying to open
until the combination of the and are exceeded.
This defines the time in seconds between open tries.
If the value is uses an exponential retry period algorithm up to 32 seconds (i.e., 1 2 4 8 16 32 32 32 ...).
This defines the time in seconds
between the close call made by the application on the pty slave and the moment when the connection is actually closed.
Setting this value to, for example, 5 seconds avoids the overhead of opening and closing the connection when a spooler
spools several files at a time. Setting a sufficiently high value effectively leaves the connection permanently open.
This can have the value
or When it is enabled, the software sends a status request to the device attached to the terminal server and processes
the reply as follows:
continues processing.
retries within the limits of the status timer.
retries within the limits of the status timer.
retries within the limits of the status timer.
retries within the limits of the status timer.
This defines the time in seconds
during which the software waits for the reply to the status request. If the timer expires, an error message is logged
to and the error is transmitted to the user application.
This can have the value
or Normally, data bytes processed by the pty have bit 7 stripped. If is enabled, the stripping is disabled. If is
disabled, stripping is enabled and bit 7 is stripped. This can also be achieved by changing the termio structure of
the pseudonym using ioctl() commands.
This can have the value
or When it is enabled, data is sent to the LAN as it is received. It can be disabled if the software is sending pack-
ets faster than the server can accept them.
The default values are:
WARNINGS
In order to ensure that commands (such as ps) display the correct device file name (that is, the pseudonym), all pseudonyms should be
placed into the directory If pseudonyms are not specified for placement in this directory, the correct display of device file names with
many commands is not guaranteed.
In addition, in order to ensure that commands (such as and work correctly, each pseudonym must be unique in its first 17 characters
(including the directory prefix If pseudonyms are not unique in their first 17 characters, the correct functioning of many commands is not
guaranteed.
FILES
SEE ALSO
dpp(1M), ocd(1M), ocdebug(1M), dp(4), ddfa(7).
pcf(4)
