Mfile

Purpose

     Contains the log of medium access control (MAC) frames.

Description

     When Token-Ring diagnostics are started with the -M flag,
     MAC  frames that  are received  and analyzed  are logged.
     The /etc/trdconf  file specifies  the default  file where
     MAC frames  are logged.   The /etc/trdconf  file provided
     with the system  contains the default MAC  frame log file
     name of  /usr/adm/ras/Mfile.  Data  contained in  the MAC
     frame log file is in binary form.

     Each MAC  frame record in the  log file is preceded  by a
     header that has  the same format as  the errhdr structure
     defined for  the error log  in the sys/erec.h  file.  The
     structure definition  for this  header has  the following
     format:

       struct errhdr {
           unsigned  e_len;      /* bytes in record (with header) */
           time_t    e_time;     /* time of day */
           long      e_timex;    /* clock ticks */
           char      e_nid[8|;   /* Node ID */
           char      e_vmid[8|;  /* Virtual Machine ID */
           union {
              struct  {
                 char  ex_class;
                 char  ex_subclass[2|;
                 char  ex_type;  /* record type */
              } ex;
              int csmt;
           } exx;
       };

     The fields  in the structure  above are used in  the fol-
     lowing manner by the MAC frame log file:

     e_len          The   number  of   bytes  in   the  record
                    (including the header).

     e_time         The  time in  seconds as  returned by  the
                    time system routine.

     e_timex        This field is not used and is set to 0.

     e_nid          The node ID of the machine.

     e_vmid         This  field  is not  used  and  is set  to
                    blanks.

     ex_class       Set to E_INFO as defined in erec.h.

     ex_type        Set to E_INFO as defined in erec.h.

     ex_subclass    The  first byte  of this  field is  set to
                    E_APPL  and the  second byte  to E_TRD  as
                    defined in erec.h.

     The format of the MAC  frame data varies with the partic-
     ular MAC  frame.  The  following MAC frames  are received
     and processed by the Token-Ring diagnostics:

     o   Beacon
     o   Report Neighbor Notification Failure
     o   Report Monitor Error
     o   Report Soft Error
     o   Report Ring Station Addresses.

     For a description  of the individual MAC  frames, see IBM
     Token-Ring Network Architecture Reference.

Files

     /usr/adm/ras/Mfile
     /etc/trdconf

Related Information

     In this book:  "trdconf."

     &ldq.Token-Ring  Diagnostics&rdq.  in  Managing  the  AIX
     Operating System.

     The trdiag command in  AIX Operating System Commands Ref-
     erence.