The Token Ring (TR) ports

Configuration of the token ring ports
State and statistics of the token ring ports
SNMP traps generated for the TR ports


The TR ports represent the drivers of the Token Ring (IEEE 802.5) adapters, providing serivces of frames transmission and reception on Token Ring LAN types. They manage the physical layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) one, according to the standard IEEE 802.5.

The TR driver supports the IP, ARP, RARP protocols.

Configuration of the Token Ring ports top

The Token Ring port is labeled within the Abilis CPx with the acronym "TR" and it is provided with the parameters described in this section.

Here is an example on how to display the TR port parameters. Shown values are the default ones.

[18:22:37] ABILIS_CPX: D P PO:57

PO:57  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
TR     LOG:NO      AUTOSENSE:YES  highspeed:16M  DUPLEX:AUTO
       rxbuf:25    txbuf:25

To activate any change made on the lowercase parameters, the system has to be started again, on the contrary for the uppercase parameters it is enough to submit the initialisation command INIT PO:. Changes made on the parameter LOG: are immediately active.

Detail of the TR port parameters


LOG: Events logging activation and generation of alarm signals
DS NO, D, S, A, L, T, ALL, +E

Usually this parameter makes possible to activate/deactivate logging functionalities of meaningful events of the port as well as the detection and signalling of alarms in case of critical events.

The following table shows the available options and the related functionalities usable by the parameter:

Option Meaning
D Recording of the driver state changes and/or the meaningful events in Debug Log
S Recording of the driver state changes and/or the meaningful events in the System Log
A Periodic detection of possible alarms. The detected alarms can be displayed the command ALARM VIEW or by the analogous command available on the UTILITY of the LCD display on the front panel
L On alarm detection, acoustic signal generation plus a message on the LCD display. This function depends on activation of alarms detection by the "A" option
T Generation by the Agent SNMP of Abilis CPX of SNMP traps corresponding to any change of the driver state and/or occurring of meaningful events

Beside the already described options the following values are also allowed:

Option Meaning
NO It means that all the logging functionalities, alarms detection and generation, above mentioned, are disabled.
ALL It means that all the logging functionalities, alarms detection and generation, above mentioned, are enabled.
+E This option added to one or more of the previous ones, extends its (their) set of meaningful events.
The value "ALL+E" activates all the options and extends the set of meaningful events.
The value "NO+E" is meaningless so it is ignored.

Options can be combined together.

Some examples:

By using the characters "+" and "-" as prefix of one or more options is possible to add or delete one or more functionalities without setting from the scratch the value of the parameters.

Some examples:

warning! The changes made on this parameter are immediately activated, without the need of initialization commands.


AUTOSENSE: Enabling the negotiation function
YES NO, YES

It activates the negotiation procedure to detect and automatically configure the working characteristics.


HIGHSPEED: Activation of the highest transmission speed
16M 4M, 16M

It allows the selection of the highest transmission speed.


DUPLEX: Enabling the full-duplex mode
AUTO NO, AUTO

It selects the full-duplex transmission mode. By setting this parameter to "NO" the full-duplex mode is disabled a priori. If it is set to "AUTO", the full-duplex transmission mode is automatically managed by the driver.


RXBUF: Number of receiving buffers
25 1 - 255

It sets the number of receiving buffers.


TXBUF: Number of transmission buffers
25 1 - 255

It sets the number of transmission buffers.

State and statistics of the Token Ring ports top

How to check state and statistics of the TR ports by the command D S.

[18:22:37] ABILIS_CPX: D S PO:57

PO:58  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
ETH100 STATE:READY          MAC-ADDR:00:80:48:B3:07:6C 
       MODE:AUT-16Mbps      DUPLEX:AUT-HALF
       -----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|-----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|
       SUCC       |9043       |142        |CHAR       |871740     |8535       |
       BROADCAST  |8920       |2          |MULTICAST  |0          |0          |
       NOBUF      |0          |           |LOST-IP    |0          |           |
       LOST-ARP   |0          |           |LOST-RARP  |0          |           |
       FCS        |0          |           |RX-OVR     |0          |           |
       ALIGN      |0          |           |TX-UND     |           |0          |
       TBE        |0          |0          |SHORT      |0          |0          |
       QED        |0          |0          |LONG       |0          |0          |
       NEG-FAIL   |0          |           |BUS-ERR    |0          |           |
       LINK-FAIL  |0          |           |DSC-ERR    |0          |           |
       FILT-FAIL  |0          |           |CARD-RESET |0          |           |
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extended statistics are not available for TR ports. The command D SE execution will display again the not extended statistics by the following format:

[18:22:37] ABILIS_CPX: D SE PO:55

PO:57  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
TR     --- Cleared 021:07:37:12 ago, on 14/04/2000 at 11:22:52 ----------------
       -----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|-----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|
       SUCC       |9043       |142        |CHAR       |871740     |8535       |
       BROADCAST  |8920       |2          |MULTICAST  |0          |0          |
       NOBUF      |0          |           |LOST-IP    |0          |           |
       LOST-ARP   |0          |           |LOST-RARP  |0          |           |
       FCS        |0          |           |RX-OVR     |0          |           |
       ALIGN      |0          |           |TX-UND     |           |0          |
       TBE        |0          |0          |SHORT      |0          |0          |
       QED        |0          |0          |LONG       |0          |0          |
       NEG-FAIL   |0          |           |BUS-ERR    |0          |           |
       LINK-FAIL  |0          |           |DSC-ERR    |0          |           |
       FILT-FAIL  |0          |           |CARD-RESET |0          |           |
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------

The information "Cleared DDD:HH:MM:SS ago, at DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS", referred by the extended statistics, shows the time interval elapsed from the last reset of statistics (by the format "days:hours:minutes:seconds") and date/time of its execution (by the format "day:month:year" and "hours:minutes:seconds").

Detail of the state fields and statistics of the Token Ring ports


STATE: Current state of the TR port driver
HWRESET, SWRESET, TXRESET, INITIALISING, INITILISED, OPENING, OPEN, CLOSING, CLOSED, DOWN, READY, HALTED, FAILED, ERR

It shows the current state of the TR port driver:

Driver States Meaning Values shown in:
System Log Debug Log Display LCD
TR HWRESET   HR
SWRESET   SR
TXRESET   TR
INITIALISING   IG
INITIALISED   ID
OPENING   OG
OPEN   ON
CLOSING   CG
CLOSED   CD
DOWN Port is not active DN
READY Port is active RD
HALTED Port is halted owing to a fatal error HD
FAILED Port is halted owing to an initialisation error FD
ERR Software error, contact the Abilis assistance NA


MAC-ADDR: MAC address of the TR driver
6 hexadecimal digits spaced by the character ":" (colon)

The parameter MAC-ADDR: shows the MAC (Media Access Control) address used by the TR port driver.

warning! MAC addresses are usually made of a sequence of 6 octets (48bits) and they are displayed as a sequence of 6 hexadecimals spaced by the character ":" (colon).


MODE: Speed mode currently in use
UNKNOWN, 4Mbps, 16Mbps

The prefix "AUT-" means that the speed mode, currently used, is the result of the negotiation procedure.

The prefix "FIX-" means that the speed mode, currently used, was selected manually.

The value UNKNOWN means that the negotiation procedure is active but no valid signal has been yet detected, owing to, for example, the link absence.


DUPLEX: Transmission mode in use
UNKNOWN, HALF, FULL

The prefix "AUT-" means that the transmission mode, currently used, is the result of the negotiation procedure.

The prefix "FIX-" means that the transmission mode, currently used, was selected manually.

The value UNKNOWN means that the negotiation procedure is active but no valid signal has been yet detected, owing to, for example, the link absence.


SUCC: Number of frames successfully received/sent
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter SUCC (INPUT/PUTPUT) shows the number of frames successfully received/sent.


CHAR: Number of received/sent characters
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter CHAR (INPUT/PUTPUT) shows the number of characters received/sent


BROADCAST: Number of "broadcast" frames received/sent
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter BROADCAST (INPUT/OUTPUT) is incremented every time a "broadcast" frame is received/sent.

warning! The "broadcast" frames are sent to all the LAN stations.


MULTICAST: Number of "multicast" frames received/sent
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter MULTICAST (INPUT/OUTPUT) is incremented every time a "multicast" frame is received/sent.

warning! The "multicast" frames are sent to a group of the LAN stations.


NOBUF: Number of frames discarded because of the unavailability of receiving buffers
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter NOBUF (INPUT) is incremented every time a frame is discarded because of the unavailability of receiving buffers.

warning! Hihg values of this parameter compared to the overall data exchanged could mean that the Abilis system is overloaded, so that it is convenient to contact the seller and consider to upgrade it.


LOST-IP: Number of received frames discarded because of the unavailability of IP buffers
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter LOST-IP (INPUT) is incremented every time a received frames is discarded because of the unavailability of IP buffers.


LOST-ARP: Number of received frames discarded because of the unavailability of ARP buffers
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter LOST-ARP (INPUT) is incremented every time a received frames is discarded because of the unavailability of ARP buffers.


LOST-RARP: Number of received frames discarded because of the unavailability of RARP buffers
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter LOST-RARP (INPUT) is incremented every time a received frames is discarded because of the unavailability of RARP buffers.


FCS: Number of received frames with a wrong FCS
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter FCS (INPUT) is incremented every time the FCS (or CRC) check procedure, of each frame, fails

warning! High values, especially if growing, of this counter could mean a bad quality of the transmission line, corrupting the received data; it surely points out erros into the received data. A bad quality turns into a performance lowering and into possible breaks out of the link.


RX-OVR: Number of "overrun" occurred during reception
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter RX-OVR (INPUT) is incremented every time the communication board reports an "overrun" due to the received data.

It occurs whenever the Token Ring driver, due to an excessive payload within the Abilis CPX, is not fast enough to take data from the communication board.

Up to now, no Abilis CPX application gave such "overrun" problems, however if the value of this counter get more and more significative compared to the amount of data exchanged, it should be convenient to contact the seller and consider the Abilis CPX upgrade.

However, if high numbers of FCS are also detected, then it is more probable that the "overload" is caused by the excessive number of errors on the transmission line, which, as consequence, should be repaired.


TX-UND: Number of "underrun" occurred during transmission
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter TX-UND (OUTPUT) is incremented every time the communication board reports an "underrun" due to the sent DATA. In the actual implementation this counter has to always be zero, however if other values would be displayed, please contact the technical support


ALIGN: Number of "align error"
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter ALIGN (INPUT) shows the number of received frames with an align error.

Non-zero values could stand for problems in LAN station, or for a bad transmission line quality.


TBE: Number of times that the buffers have been completely emptied
0 - 4.294.967.295

Only internal use.


QED: Number of times that the frames have been queued
0 - 4.294.967.295

Only internal use.


SHORT: Number of too short frames
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter SHORT (INPUT) is incremented every time the length of the received frame is shorter than the minimum value. Non-zero values could stand for problems in LAN station, or for a bad transmission line quality.

The counter SHORT (OUTPUT) is incremented every time the "higher level port", such as IPLAN, requests to send a frame whose length is shorter than the minimum value.

In the actual implementation this counter has to always be zero, however if other values would be displayed, please contact the technical support


LONG: Number of too long frames
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter LONG (INPUT) is incremented every time the length of the received frame is longer than the maximum value. Non-zero values could stand for problems in LAN station, or for a bad transmission line quality.

The counter LONG (OUTPUT) is incremented every time the "higher level port", such as IPLAN, requests to send a frame whose length is longer than maximum value.

In the actual implementation this counter has to always be zero, however if other values would be displayed, please contact the technical support.


NEG-FAIL: Number of "negotiation failures"
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter NEG-FAIL (INPUT) shows the number of negotiation failures


LINK-FAIL: Numero di "link failures"
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter LINK-FAIL (INPUT) shows the number of "link failure" events occurred.

warning! Growing values, not due to intentional disconnections, could mean a bad quality of the transmission line.


FILT-FAIL: Number of "filtering failures"
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter FILT-FAIL (INPUT) shows the number of "filtering failure" events.

Only internal use.


BUS-ERR: Number of errors detected on the PCI bus
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter BUS-ERR (INPUT) shows the number of errors detected on the PCI bus.

warning! A significative value of this parameter, especially if growing, could represent a CPX hardware problem, please contact the technical support.


DSC-ERR: Number of "descriptor errors"
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter DSC-ERR (INPUT) shows the number of "descriptor errors" occurred.

Only internal use.


CARD-RESET: Number of times that the board has been reinitialised ("hardware restart")
0 - 4.294.967.295

The counter HW-RST (INPUT) is incremented every time the board is reinitialised during the normal working mode of the system.

warning! A significative value of this parameter, especially if growing, could represent an imminent failure of the board.

SNMP traps generated for the TR ports top

The Abilis CPX Agent sends traps corresponding to the most significative state changes of the TR ports.

Trap own code Trap mnemonic SNMP variables shown in the trap Description
43 cxTrapTrDown cxPortIndex, cxPortType, cxTrDiagState, sysUpTime The SNMP Agent of the Abilis CPX generates this kind of trap every time the TR port driver leaves the OPEN state
44 cxTrapTrOpen cxPortIndex, cxPortType, cxTrDiagState, sysUpTime The SNMP Agent of the Abilis CPX generates this kind of trap every time the TR port driver reaches the OPEN state

Detail of the SNMP variables shown in the TR port traps


cxPortIndex TR port which the SNMP trap refers to
0 - 999

This variable shows the CPX port number which the SNMP trap refers to.


cxPortType Type and description of the TR port which the trap refers to
type - description

This variable shows either the port type which the trap refers to (in this case TR ) and the description eventually associated to it.


cxTrDiagState Current state of the TR port driver which the trap refers to
hwReset(0), swReset(1), txReset(2), initialising(3), initialised(4), opening(5), open(6), closing(7), closed(8), down(9), ready(10), halted(11), failed(12)

This variable shows the current state of the TR port driver which the trap refers to. The following table shows the relationship among the state value stored in the SNMP variable and the ones obtained executing the command D S.

Value of the SNMP variable Correspondent state of the TR driver
hwReset(0) HWRESET
swReset(1) SWRESET
txReset(2) TXRESET
initilising(3) INITIALISING
initialised(4) INITIALISED
opening(5) OPENING
open(6) OPEN
closing(7) CLOSING
closed(8) CLOSED
down(9) DOWN
ready(10) READY
halted(11) HALTED
failed(12) FAILED


sysUpTime Elapsed time from the system start to the event occurrence
0 - 4.294.967.295 or "ddd:hh:mm:ss"

This variable stores the elapsed time (in cent of second) from the system start to the SNMP trap event occurrence.

This value is usually shown by the format days:hours:minutes:seconds.

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