ETHERLINK II - Repeater
Manual
Page 50 of 106
Figure 4.1 Command set tree
4.2
Etherlink_II software
Every Etherlink_II device can contain up to two version of the software in EEPROM:
unchangeable (standby) software (software No. 1) and upgradeable software (software No. 2).
Two versions are necessary to prevent the device failure due to downloading of faulty or
damaged software or due to hardware failure (for example, power cutoff, etc.) during
downloading of the new software.
During downloading, the new software overwrites the upgradeable software. If the new software
downloading via X-modem is successful, a message appears that the modem should be
restarted to start operating under the new software. After the restart, i.e., when the new version
of the upgraded software is started for the first time, the operator should confirm the
downloaded software. After confirmation, this software becomes unchangeable. If downloading
was interrupted or there was a failure in the data transmission, a message is displayed. In this
case, if the data has already been partially downloaded into the modem and the upgradeable
software is damaged, the unchangeable software will be used to start the modem (repeat the
downloading of the software).
By default, the upgradeable software is the basic one, if it was confirmed. If the upgradeable
software was not confirmed after the first start or it was damaged (invalid data format, incorrect
checksum), the standby software is downloaded.
The ways of software downloading are presented in detail in Part 3 of the present document.
4.3
Configuration storage and application
On the whole the system stores four configurations: running configuration, startup configuration,
new configuration and backup configuration.
The
running configuration
contains all configuration values used to configure the device current
operation. Two modems, having the same version of the software and the same running
configurations, should operate similarly. The running configuration is stored in the device RAM.
The current parameters determine operation of the device till the next restart of the device or
actions on the running configuration (storage and etc.). During initialization the initial parameters
of the running configuration are dubbed from the startup configuration.
The
startup configuration
contains all configuration values which will be used to configure the
device after its restart. The startup configuration is stored in EEPROM and is used to initialize
the running configuration during the system start-up.
The
new configuration
stores changes in configuration parameters combined into groups of
parameters requiring confirmation of changes (i.e., this configuration stores setting, which
should be confirmed after being changed, for example, IP-address of the device). The new
configuration is stored in the device RAM. After setting all necessary changes from the group,
the system administrator confirms changes in the group, and values belonging to this group are
written from the new configuration into the running one. In this case, the simultaneous
application of all setting in the group is provided.
The
backup configuration
is a backup of the current configuration. The backup configuration is
stored in the EEPROM. During the configuration restoration, values from the backup
configuration are copied to the startup configuration.
