Copyright (c) 1991 - 2001 Digi International. All Rights Reserved.
EtherLite(R) 2 EIA 485 Release Notes
03/07/2001
Table of Contents
-----------------
Firmware Package Contents
Firmware Update Instructions for NT
Firmware Update Instructions for UNIX
Revision History
Firmware Package Contents (p/n 42000521 rev C)
----------------------------------------------
readme.txt p/n 93001265 rev C
el2485.prm p/n 82000539 rev C
Firmware Update Instructions for NT
-----------------------------------
To update EtherLite firmware from a NT host, download the
utility package ELFIRMNT.EXE from our web or FTP site, and
refer to the included instructions.
Firmware Update Instructions for UNIX
-------------------------------------
The EtherLite Units use TFTP in conjunction with BOOTP to update their
firmware. In order to update your units, you will need to enable the
TFTP Server on the same host that provides BOOTP service.
We recommend that you disable this service as soon as you are done
updating the firmware, as TFTP does no user authentication and allows
file transfers. As a result, it can be a security risk.
The BOOTP service is typically launched at boot time by the system, and is
configured according to an entry in /etc/inetd.conf, even though current
versions of bootp server software no longer uses inetd. The bootp server
line in that file may look much like this:
bootps dgram udp wait root /etc/bootpd bootpd
TFTP service is typically enabled by "inetd". An entry in the
"/etc/inetd.conf" file specifies how to start the service. Most
systems will already have an entry for TFTP, but it will be commented
out, which disables it for security reasons mentioned above. It may
look similar or identical to this:
tftp dgram udp wait root /usr/etc/in.tftpd in.tftpd -s /tftpboot
There should also be entries in your "/etc/services" file, specifying
BOOTP server service on UDP port 67 and the TFTP service on UDP port
69. The entries in your /etc/services file should appear as shown
below. If your system differs from the example given below, refer to
the man pages on your system for "tftpd" and "inetd" for details on how
to enable TFTP service.
bootps 67/udp # bootp server
bootpc 68/udp # bootp client
tftp 69/udp # tftp server
To get the EtherLite Unit to download the new firmware, you need to
specify the bootfile option in the BOOTP entry for the unit. To do
so, edit the "/etc/bootptab" file. Add the field ":bf=filename" to
the entry for the EtherLite Unit, where "filename" is the full path
to the new firmware. Please note that most TFTP implementations
perform a "chroot" (change root directory) when started. If your TFTP
server does this, you will need to place the firmware image in its
directory tree and specify the path relative to TFTP's root directory.
For example, most TFTP servers have a "root" directory of /tftpboot on the
host, which means that a file whose path to TFTP is /files/bootfile, is
actually /tftpboot/files/bootfile to the UNIX system. Your bootptab entry
may look like:
el16_0:\
sm=255.255.255.0:\
gw=192.9.200.1:\
ht=ethernet:\
ha=00A0E7000004:\
ip=192.9.200.2:\
bf=/bootp/sts/el16.prm:
In this case, the full path to the file on the UNIX side would be:
/tftpboot/bootp/sts/el16.prm
To actually update the EtherLite Unit, you simply power cycle it. Each
time it boots, it downloads the bootfile specified by BOOTP. If the
bootfile differs from the firmware it is currently running, it will
update its Flash EPROM with the new firmware.
Once you have updated your EtherLite Unit, it is not necessary to leave
the TFTP server enabled. As mentioned earlier it can be a security
risk. Unless you are sure that your configuration is secure, we
recommend that you disable TFTP service by commenting out its entry in
"/etc/inetd.conf". It is ok to leave in the bootfile entry in the
"/etc/bootptab".
Revision History
----------------
This revision history applies to both the SCSI Term Server
and EtherLite product lines.
03/07/2001 - v7.9
- EtherLite Products - The FAS socket timeout was changed
from being fixed at 2 minutes, to being settable from
the driver. The default value is 2 minutes in order
to inter-operate with drivers that do not support setting
the timeout value. At the time of this release, we only
have AIX support for this feature.
11/16/2000 - v7.8
- Release of the EL-160 and EL-162 virtual port firmware.
- EtherLite Products - Up to 5 host-tab entries can be
store to non-volatile memory from either the boot console
or from bootp/dhcp. Previously, only one entry could be
stored.
04/01/2000 - v7.7
- Beta release of EL-160 and EL-162 virtual port firmware.
This firmware assigns two virtual ttys or com ports to
one physical port. In other words, the unit appears
to have 32 ports. Ports 1 and 17 map to the first physical
serial port. Ports 2 and 18 to the second port, etc. Both
ports can be opened simultaneously. Data incoming from the
port is duplicated and sent to both virtual ports. Outgoing
data from the host(s) is combined and sent out the one
physical port. The purpose of this firmware is for console
monitoring. It allows two different hosts to monitor a single
console.
03/13/2000 - v7.6
- EtherLite products, a low latency version of the firmware
was added to the .tar and .zip upgrade packages. It runs
at a 500 packet-per-second muxing rate instead of the normal
60 packet-per-second rate. Its use is not recommended over
WANs or in any application where there is a high volume of
data. Average latency on small bursts of data is reduced
from 30ms to 4ms. The low latency version of the firmware
has a "_ll" appended to the base name. For instance, the
"el16_ll.prm" file is the low latency firmware for the el16.
- All Products, corrected a problem where the units could
return more input data than was requested by the driver.
- EtherLite products, the stored IP configuration now
includes a boothost IP address. If set, the unit will
attempt to TFTP a bootfile from the boothost.
- EtherLite products, during DHCP the units will now request
the subnet mask and router in the options list.
- EtherLite products, gratuitous arp test will check for
arp proxy responses.
- SCSI products, the break timing was incorrect on units
where the tick rate is changed by the driver. The unit
will now compensate break timing for the tick rate change.
11/13/1999 - v7.5
- ST-1032 only. The ST-1032 hardware is being modified to
use a Qlogic 216 SCSI controller running from a 40mhz clock.
The firmware was modified to detect the hardware change
and to configure the SCSI controller accordingly.
09/07/1999 - v7.4
- The firmware was not correctly reporting multiple command
errors on the FAS_RECV command. This was corrected.
- The firmware was modified to validate the Max_Buf field
in the FAS_FLOW_CTRL command and to return a parameter
error if it is out of range.
- Corrected a problem with the low and high watermark checks
which prevented the drivers from setting the Max_Buf field
to the maximum size.
(Note to users: The above changes are primarily for driver
development and debugging.)
- ST-1032 only. Increased the number of SCSI buffers from 6 to
12. When pushing a large amount of data through the unit, we
were seeing SCSI_BUSY errors, which is caused by the unit not
having enough buffers.
08/24/1999 - v7.3
- EL-2 and EL-2.2 only. Increased the max number of host
connections from 2 to 6.
08/09/1999 - v7.2
- Added support for ST Micro and Micronix flash EPROM
devices. (All products)
- Corrected a problem with TCP error recovery. The unit
would recover, but after a possibly long delay.
(All EtherLite products)
- Corrected a problem with network retry limit error
handling. Garbage packets may be sent, or in rare
cases, the Ethernet controller may lock up.
(EL-2, EL-8+, EL-16, EL-32)
07/01/1999 - v7.1
- Added support for new the EL-2-EIA485 product.
- Firmware was modified to disable automatic flow control
modes when the host disables a port. (EL-2, EL-160, EL-162
ST-1002S, ST-1008S, ST-1400B, ST1800B, ST-1616B)
10/30/1998 - v7.0
- Initial Digi International Release.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.