How do I reset my modems using SCO Openserver 5.0.6?

[apeasecpc]

Since nobody answered my post from 7/29/2002, I'll try wording it a different way that isn't so...intimidating? I know there are several experts on this forum who are familiar with modem setup, because of all the previous posts about it, so there should be someone here who can help me.

My problem is this. I have a bank of 6 modems that I use for both dialin and dialout (see my earlier post for the details). They were working fine on Openserver 5.0.0 before I upgraded. Before the upgrade, if I disabled and re-enabled the ports, the modems would reset (I would physically see the lights flashing on the modem indicating that it was processing the init string). Now in 5.0.6 this doesn't happen, which means one of two things, either 5.0.6 doesn't work the same as 5.0.0, or else there is something broken from my install.

Can someone please respond this time? If nothing else, can someone out there running 5.0.6 tell me whether their modems reset when they disable and re-enable the ports?

 

[patw]

What are the modems installed on? perhaps the driver for the Digi or whatever needs to be updated to the latest version.

And what are you using to dial out? uucp or a third party like Century's TERM for Unix? Pat Welch, UBB Computer Services
Caldera Authorized Partner
Unix/Linux/Windows/Hardware Sales/Support
(209) 745-1401 Fax: (413) 714-2833

 

[apeasecpc]

Hi PatW. Most of the details you are wanting are listed in my 7/29/02 post. My server is a generic Intel Duel Pentium III box. I am using straight UNIX uucp and cu for modem communications. My modems are all external US Robotics 56k fax modems.

I am going to attempt to update my rocketport driver to the latest version today, but I don't really think that is the problem because both dialin and dialout are working with the existing driver. The only thing that isn't working correctly is the modem reset on enable or disconnect. I'll append to this post if the upgrade actually solves the problem.

Meanwhile, can somebody with a 5.0.6 system please tell me if your modems are being reset when you disable and re-enable the modem ports. I still don't know if I am having this problem because SCO broke the modem reset with version 5.0.6, or if it is just a problem related to my install. I want to know if it is "supposed to work" with 5.0.6.

 

[apeasecpc]

Additional followup: Updating my rocketport driver from version 2.0 to 2.06 didn't resolve anything.

 

[GOSCO]

We run sco 5.0.6 servers, I checked and when I disabled the ports on one of our modems the lights did flash...

If I was you I would try and setup one of the modems again...

Take a look at this link which details the official instructions...

http://support.caldera.com/caldera/...2715=31&15=0&2716=&57=faq&58=&2900=Dc0hwNGaG8

Andy
++

 

[apeasecpc]

GOSCO, thank you very much for the info. Did the send and receive lights on the modem flash briefly, or did just the terminal ready light go off when you disabled and come back on when you enabled? If the send and receive lights don't flash, the modem isn't actually being reset.

Can you post the relevant lines of your Dialers, Devices, inittab, and gettydefs files for the modem you tested? Also please include the permissions and ownership settings you have for these files.

I have already been through the caldera setup instructions and they weren't any help. The modem manager takes about 10 minutes per port to configure because it doesn't know the difference between a psudo-tty port and a modem port, so it searches for a modem on every psudo-tty each time I change anything. Also the modem manager doesn't recognize any of the Dialers listed in my /usr/lib/uucp/Dialers file, but only compiled Dialers. And if I do let the modem manager do its thing and choose the appropriate listed dialer for my modems, the caldera provided dialer doesn't work for dialout (this is nothing new, I've had to create my own dialers since 5.0.0). To make anything work I have to manually configure it myself, and the SCO documentation for manual configuration is very poor and incomplete. My personal opinion is that the SCO documentation and support for modems has been pretty much worthless ever since they came out with high speed modems. You can get far better information from forums like this one.

I think the real reason my modems aren't resetting is because getty isn't correlating the port named in the inittab file to the port identified in the Devices file, even though they are both referenced exactly the same way. I think that getty doesn't know the port is a modem port and that is why it isn't sending the reset string to the modem when the port is enabled, but I don't know anywhere else to look for setup problems.

 

[edfair]

To get around some similar problems with earlier versions I change the getty entries 1, 2, and 3 to point back to themselves, then change one of them to the speed I want to connect and use it as the modem entry.
I also use the dialers entry for USR 2400 as the Devices entry and modify the init codes to setup anything special I need. (floor and ceiling speeds locked to 9600 for my app)
Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[apeasecpc]

I am not using the numeric gettydef entries. I set up my own getty entry just for modems. Doing it this way accomplishes the same thing as your method.

o1 # B38400 HUPCL # B38400 CS8 SANE HUPCL TAB3 RTSFLOW CTSFLOW IXANY #\r\nlogin: # o1

I already have a dialer that works just fine. I don't have a problem there. I was just explaining that the one specific for my modem that comes with SCO doesn't work.

I've checked the Dialers, Devices, Systems, inittab, gettydefs, permissions, and everything else I can think of but when I disable and re-enable the modem ports the modems are not resetting. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[apeasecpc]

Hey folks, I'm still having the problem and waiting for someone with new ideas. Can someone please post the config lines from a working SCO 5.0.6 system.

 

[trikk]

Try putting this in /usr/bin Login as the root user and execute using the file name you saved it as..

#!/bin/ksh
PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib:/usr/bin:/etc:/usr/lib/uucp:/usr/spool/uucp
export PATH
eo=`more /etc/inittab | grep respawn | awk ' { print $3 } ' | grep -v n | grep -v m| grep -v off | grep -v lee`
ec=`more /etc/inittab | grep -v respawn | awk ' { print $3 } ' | grep tty | grep -v m | grep -v n| grep -v respawn`

set -A inports $eo
set -A cports $ec

killall() {
for i in inports
do
enable "${inports[@]}"
fuser -uk /dev/"${inports[@]}"
disable "${inports[@]}"
enable tty1A
enable tty2A
done
}
#
closeport() {
clear
echo -n " Enter the tty You Wish to Close... "
read portname
for i in $portname
do
clear
disable "$portname"
fuser -uk /dev/"$portname"
rm /usr/spool/uucp/LCK.."$portname"
clear
echo ; echo ;
echo -n " $portname is Now Closed "
echo ; echo ;
done
}
#
openport() {
clear
echo -n " Enter the tty You Wish to Open... "
read portname
for i in $portname
do
clear
disable "$portname"
fuser -uk /dev/"$portname"
rm /usr/spool/uucp/LCK.."$portname"
clear
enable "$portname"
echo; echo ;
echo -n " $portname is Now Open "
echo ; echo ;
done
}
#
listprocs() {
for i in inports
do
ps -ef | grep "${inports[@]}"
done
}
#
picker() {
clear
echo -n " Enter the tty You Wish to Reset... "
read portname
for i in $portname
do
clear
disable "$portname"
fuser -uk /dev/"$portname"
rm /usr/spool/uucp/LCK.."$portname"
enable "$portname"
done
}
#
#Menu #
#
menu() {
while :
do
clear
cat <<++


Modem Menu


1) List Enabled Modem Ports
2) List Closed Modem Ports
3) Kill ALL Modem Processes
R) Reset One Modem Port
C) Close One Modem Port
O) Open One Modem Port
X) Exit this menu



++
echo -n &quot; Please Enter Your Selection: &quot;
read selection
case $selection in

1) clear ; echo ; echo ; echo &quot; ${inports[@]} &quot; ; echo ; echo
;;
2) clear ; echo ; echo ; echo &quot; ${cports[@]} &quot; ; echo; echo
;;
3) clear ; killall
;;
c|C) closeport
;;
o|O) openport
;;
r|R) picker
;;
x|X) exit
;;
*) echo &quot; Invalid Choice. Try Again.&quot;
;;
esac
echo -n &quot; Press Return to Continue...&quot;
read hold
done
}

menu


Should allow you to reset All...of selected ports...

Please note this was written to reset both &quot;Local Server&quot; ports tty1[Aa]and tty2[aA] as well as any other ports found in /usr/lib/uucp/Devices setup as modems...Tewwking may be required as we use Stallion boards primarily. (may have to at a ditty tty<whatever> flush line or the like.

 

[apeasecpc]

Hey, nice script. Unfortunately it isn't quite what I need. I already know the commands to disable and enable ports, clean lock files, and kill processes. The problem is that after I do all of that, when I re-enable the port the system is not sending any initialization commands (that is &quot;AT...&quot; commands) to my modem to reset it for dialin. The best I have been able to do is a fake reset by piping the AT commands to the modem through cu. Here is my reset script, which obviously isn't as fancy as yours, but it does the same job (if I have to kill processes I have another utility for that). I have a separate script for each port:

#cleanline1
disable ttyr2a
disable ttyr2A
rm /usr/spool/uucp/LCK..ttyr2a
rm /usr/spool/uucp/.Status/*
sendmodemATcommands | cu -lttyr2A dir
enable ttyr2A

#sendmodemATcommands
sleep 1
echo &quot;&quot;
sleep 1
echo &quot;ATE1F1Q0V1M1X4&quot;
sleep 1
echo &quot;AT&A3&B1&C1&D2&H1&I0&K1&M4&R2&S1&quot;
sleep 1
echo &quot;ATS0=1S2=128&U0&N0Y0&quot;
sleep 1
echo &quot;AT&W0&quot;
sleep 1
echo &quot;~.&quot;

This script works, but not 100 percent. Sometimes the modems still drop the carrier immediately upon connect.

Back in sco 5.0.0 I didn't need the sendmodemATcommands part of the script because the system did this automatically using the initstring from my Dialers file.

 

[Megabitman]

While I have installed and trouble-shot SCO boxes for many years, I've never moved any of my clients to 5.0.6, so I don't have any advice in that arena. However, personal experience with USR modems has shown me that as a general rule, they are of very low quality and typically exude many of the problems that you are experiencing (and yes, I know that you said they were working prior to the upgrade), I'd be of a mind to replace them to something of a better quality. One thing that I wonder about in the difference between 5.0.0 and 5.0.6 is whether perhaps in 5.0.6, DSR or some of the lesser used signals are being implemented. If that's the case, you may need to check your wiring or review the initialization script for your modems. Just a thought.

 

[Megabitman]

There is one other thing that I had forgotten about until this am. Check your files under /etc/conf/init.d to ensure that the settings in the files there match what you have set up in /etc/inittab. I had forgotten that when you manually edit inittab, the files that call the initialization processes here do not get updated. For example, you may set tty1A to 38400 in inittab eg # o but the &quot;sio&quot; file under /etc/conf/init.d is not altered. When the port is reset after a logout ( and I've never bothered to find out why this happens ), the port will fall back to the speed specified in this directory. The default for tty1A is 3 so the login will be offered at 2400. Each serial manufacturer ( I believe...) delivers a different file into this directory. I use primarily Computone so the ports are delivered in a file called ncxa. When you disable and then re-enable your ports, a second line will be listed as being updated. That will be the file in this directory. See if this helps your serial communications (this is true for ANY serial logins being offered!)

HTH,

Ken

 

[apeasecpc]

Megabitman, you are entitled to your own opinion about USR modems, but my personal experience is that they are a good modem. We are a non-profit agency and can't afford much, so these are bottom line sportster modems not the expensive top of the line models, but I have never had any problems with them.

These are external modems, and the signal lights for DTR and CD are working correctly. I also have a serial line led display I can plug in directly between the modem and the cable, and it also shows the lines working properly.

Yes I did update the appropriate /etc/conf/init.d file (for rocketports it is /etc/conf/init.d/rckt) as well as /etc/inittab.

 

[apeasecpc]

Update:

I finally broke down and set a modem up on COM2 to see if it behaves the same as the rocketport modems. Guess what? It doesn't. The COM2 modem resets correctly so my problem has to be related to the rocketport driver.

Does anyone else out there on 5.0.6 use rocketports?

I've got an open RFA with Comtrol now so hopefully they'll come up with a patch soon.

 

[apeasecpc]

Update:

Well I've finally heard back from Comtrol about the SCO Openserver 5.0.6 drivers for my rocketports. I was hoping I would be able to provide a link to their driver updates by this time, but it seems they are unwilling to put any resources into driver updates for the latest SCO OS, in fact my conversations with them seemed to suggest that they intend to discontinue supporting Openserver. I guess they feel there is enough business in the Windows market that they don't need our business anymore.

This means I will have to replace the rocketports with something else that actually works, which also means my OS upgrade costs have now more than doubled. I'm thinking of going with Digiboards (

http://www.digi.com/solutions/mportserialcards/index.html).

Anyway be warned SCO users, stay away from Comtrol products, or if you use them don't plan on ever upgrading your OS.