ni(4)
NAME
ni − BVP DEBNT/NI interface
SYNTAX
controller aie? at vaxbi? node?
device bvpni0 at aie? vector bvpniintr
DESCRIPTION
The ni driver provides access to a 10 Mb/s Ethernet network through the NI port of the DEBNT controller. The DEBNT also has a tape port that shares the controller structure with the NI port.
The host’s Internet address is specified at boot time with an SIOCSIFADDR ioctl. The ni interface employs the Address Resolution Protocol described in arp() to dynamically map between Internet and Ethernet addresses on the local network.
The interface normally tries to use a “trailer” encapsulation to minimize copying data on input and output. This can be disabled for an interface by setting the IFF_NOTRAILERS flag with an SIOCSIFFLAGS ioctl. Trailers are only used for packets destined for Internet hosts.
The SIOCSPHYSADDR ioctl can be used to change and SIOCRPHYSADDR can be used to read the physical address of the NI. SIOCADDMULTI and SIOCDELMULTI can be used to add or delete multicast addresses. The NI supports a maximum of 32 multicast addresses. The argument to the latter ioctls is a pointer to an ifreq structure found in <net/if.h>.
SIOCCRDCTRS and SIOCRDZCTRS ioctls can be used to read or "read and clear" network counters. The argument to the latter two ioctls is a pointer to a counter structure "ctrreq" found in <net/if.h>.
The ioctls SIOCENABLBACK and SIOCDISABLBACK can be used to enable and disable the interface loopback mode respectively.
RESTRICTIONS
The PUP protocol family is not supported.
DIAGNOSTICS
ni%d in wrong state. DEBNT is unable to be attached during autoconfiguration time because it is not in the undefined state.
ni%d cannot initialize. DEBNT failed to become initialized after a request to become initialized.
nid%d cannot enable. DEBNT failed to become enabled after a request to become enabled.
reset ni%d %x %x %x %x. DEBNT has requested a software reset. Values of port control, port status, port error, and port data are given to help identify what caused the reset request.
ni%d SUME error detected %x %x %x %x. Some error has been detected. Values of port error, port data, port status, and port control are given to help identify the cause of the error.
ni%d cant handle af%d. A packet with an undefined protocol type has been sent to DEBNT. ni%d multi failed, multicast list full. Too many multicast requests have been made.