Target network configuration, Host network configuration – Comtrol eCos User Manual
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Chapter 1. Getting Started with RedBoot
Target Network Configuration
Each node in a networked system needs to have a unique address. Since the network support in RedBoot is based on
TCP/IP, this address is an IP (Internet Protocol) address. There are two ways for a system to “know” its IP address.
First, it can be stored locally on the platform. This is known as having a static IP address. Second, the system can
use the network itself to discover its IP address. This is known as a dynamic IP address. RedBoot supports this
dynamic IP address mode by use of the BOOTP (a subset of DHCP) protocol. In this case, RedBoot will ask the
network (actually some generic server on the network) for the IP address to use.
NOTE: Currently, RedBoot only supports BOOTP. In future releases, DHCP may also be supported, but such
support will be limited to additional data items, not lease-based address allocation.
The choice of IP address type is made via the fconfig command. Once a selection is made, it will be stored in flash
memory. RedBoot only queries the flash configuration information at reset, so any changes will require restarting
the platform.
Here is an example of the RedBoot fconfig command, showing network addressing:
RedBoot> fconfig -l
Run script at boot: false
Use BOOTP for network configuration: false
Local IP address: 192.168.1.29
Default server IP address: 192.168.1.101
DNS server IP address: 192.168.1.1
GDB connection port: 9000
Network debug at boot time: false
In this case, the board has been configured with a static IP address listed as the Local IP address. The default server
IP address specifies which network node to communicate with for TFTP service. This address can be overridden
directly in the TFTP commands.
The
DNS server IP address
option controls where RedBoot should make DNS lookups. A setting of 0.0.0.0
will disable DNS lookups. The DNS server IP address can also be set at runtime.
If the selection for
Use BOOTP for network configuration
had been
true
, these IP addresses would be de-
termined at boot time, via the BOOTP protocol. The final number which needs to be configured, regardless of
IP address selection mode, is the
GDB connection port
. RedBoot allows for incoming commands on either the
available serial ports or via the network. This port number is the TCP port that RedBoot will use to accept incoming
connections.
These connections can be used for GDB sessions, but they can also be used for generic RedBoot commands. In
particular, it is possible to communicate with RedBoot via the telnet protocol. For example, on Linux®:
% telnet redboot_board 9000
Connected to redboot_board
Escape character is ‘^]’.
RedBoot>
Host Network Configuration
RedBoot may require three different classes of service from a network host:
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