Using AUN with the TCP/IP Protocol Suite
(Release 2)
Number: 261
Issue: 1.00
Author: CAS
Date: 27th May 1994
Developer's Notes: -
Applicable Hardware: All RISC OS based machines
Related Application Notes: #264 - General information on Ethernet cards for RISC OS computers
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this document is
true and correct at the time of printing. However, the products described in
this document are subject to continuous development and improvements and
Acorn Computers Limited reserves the right to change its specifications at
any time. Acorn Computers Limited cannot accept liability for any loss or
damage arising from the use of any information or particulars in this
leaflet. Acorn, the Acorn Logo, Acorn Risc PC, ECONET, AUN, Pocket Book and
ARCHIMEDES are trademarks of Acorn Computers Limited.
ARM is a trademark of Advance RISC Machines Limited.
All other trademarks acknowledged.
©1994 Acorn Computers Limited. All rights reserved.
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Introduction
This document describes two ways in which software from the AUN Level 4
Fileserver product and software from Acorn's full standard TCP/IP software
product, can be used together. This will usually only be relevant to you if
you want to mix RISC OS/Level 4 Fileserver and UNIX (or RISC-iX) computers
on the same network.
The first way enables industry standard NFS protocol to run on top of an AUN
network, such as may be found in a school. This enables NFS file servers
(e.g. RISC-iX computers) to be connected to the AUN network as well as Level
4 Fileserver stations, if that is required.
The second way, to use the two software products together, enables Econet
protocols such as NetFS and NetPrint to run on top of a non-AUN TCP/IP
network, such as may be found on a University campus. This enables Level 4
Fileserver stations to be connected to the TCP/IP network as well as NFS
(and other) fileservers.
In either of the above environments you may access NFS file servers at the
same time as Level 4 file servers via different desktop windows on the same
RISC OS station. Following desktop conventions, you may then transfer files
between the different types of file server by dragging file icons between
their windows.
Connecting Level 4 Fileservers to a standard TCP/IP network
The AUN Managers Guide outlines the technical basis of an AUN network. In
essence, the range of TCP/IP addresses used "under the surface" in an AUN
network are pre-determined according to AUN rules and cannot be altered by
the user or network manager.
Although AUN understands only a very small subset of all possible TCP/IP
addresses, in most cases this limitation presents no real problem as TCP/IP
is used by AUN as suitable hidden technology; in practice the user and
network manager will only be interested in Econet-like user and management
interfaces. However the addresses used in a University campus TCP/IP network
will almost certainly not fall within the narrow range expected by AUN. In
this environment TCP/IP needs to be fully visible and accessible.
The AUN software product provides a special mechanism, not used in an
AUN-configured network, to solve this problem when used in conjunction with
TCP/IP Protocol Suite. The software components you will need are:
- !Internet (from TCP/IP Protocol Suite)
- !BootNet (from AUN/Level 4 Fileserver)
- !Server etc (from AUN/Level 4 Fileserver)
- Follow the configuration procedure for !Internet, to set up names and
addresses correct for your TCP/IP network. This procedure is described in
the Installation Guide included with the TCP/IP Protocol Suite product.
- Open up the !BootNet application.
In this case you may ignore !BootNet.!Configure; the equivalent
configuration information will already have been provided in !Internet.
Open up the directory !BootNet.Files and drag the file
AddMaps
into your text editor.
This file sets up the explicit mappings between the specific four-byte
TCP/IP addresses used on your TCP/IP network and two-byte Econet-style
addresses needed to address Level 4 Fileserver software.
Example:
addmap 89.0.2.0 130
will cause TCP/IP addresses 89.0.2.X to be seen by Econet applications in
the net.station format 130.X.
That is, addmap causes the top three bytes of a TCP/IP address to be handled
as a "pseudo-net number", and the bottom byte to be handled as a
"pseudo-station number".
- Run !Internet followed by !BootNet. This is usually done by adding two
commands to your main system !Boot, so that the Internet and BootNet
software starts up automatically when the computer is switched, e.g
*run $.net.!Internet
*run $.net.!BootNet
This run sequence must be followed.
- If a station is to function as a Level 4 Fileserver on the TCP/IP network
then you should configure it to run the Level 4 software after the Internet
and BootNet software have been initialised. You should see the Level 4
Fileserver Network Manager's Guide for instructions about how to set up
Level 4 Fileserver software.
It is not possible to use an AUN Client Boot ROM successfully on a standard
TCP/IP network since the software in the ROM uses AUN-specific addressing
conventions. If you are connecting a network interface card equipped with an
AUN Boot ROM to a standard TCP/IP network then you must ensure that its
configured state is 'BootNet Off'. This is the default state for the ROM,
but to make sure you may type:
*Configure BootNet Off
You must NOT run the AUN !GateWay application on a standard TCP/IP network,
under any circumstances.
Connecting NFS (UNIX) file servers to an AUN network
Although it only uses a restricted range of TCP/IP addresses, an AUN network
is a conformant TCP/IP network underneath the Econet-like veneer. This means
that other types of computer which support TCP/IP, such as UNIX and RISC-iX
computers, may connect into an AUN network provided that their own IP
addresses are configured in line with the underlying AUN-format IP
addresses. The AUN Managers Guide describes the format of IP addresses in
AUN.
The software components you will need to run on a RISC OS client station to
access an NFS file server on an AUN network are:
- !BootNet (from AUN / Level 4 Fileserver - or AUN Client Boot ROM)
- !NFSFiler (from TCP/IP Protocol Suite)
You should start up your AUN client station software before running
!NFSFiler. Full information about using NFSFiler to access files on remote
NFS file servers is given in the User Guide included in the TCP/IP Protocol
Suite product.
© 1995 Acorn Computer Group plc.
Design: © 1995 Cave Rock Software Ltd.