FarSync X.25 for Linux Version 3.5 FarSync X.25 Drivers FarSite Communications Ltd (www.farsite.com) Release 3.5.6a 15th July 2022 1. Introduction --------------- The FarSync X.25 family of products for Linux (Version 3.5) is an implementation of X.25 as a collection of Kernel drivers, daemon applications, and supporting utilities. FarSync X.25 is supported the following FarSync cards: T1U a bus mastering 1-port Universal PCI card T2U a bus mastering 2-port Universal PCI card T4U a bus mastering 4-port Universal PCI card T4E+ a bus mastering 4-port Universal PCI card TE1 a single port E1/T1 Universal PCI card T2Ue a bus mastering 2-port Universal PCI Express card T4Ue a bus mastering 4-port Universal PCI Express card T2Ee a bus mastering 2-port Universal PCI Express card T4Ee a bus mastering 4-port Universal PCI Express card (New) TE1e a single port E1T1 Universal PCI Express card T2U-PMC a bus mastering 2-port PMC card Flex a single port USB 1.1 and 2.0 device FlexV2 a single port USB 1.1 and 2.0 device FlexV3 a single port USB 1.1 and 2.0 device (New) 2. Software Installation ------------------------ This release installs for all "Red Hat" like platforms (e.g. RHEL, Fedora Core etc), SuSe, Ubuntu and Debian based distributions. It has been tested with Kernel versions from 2.6.10 up to 5.8.0. If you have difficulty installing on other platforms please contact FarSite Support for assistance. If your distro uses a later Kernel version and there appears to be an install issue then please check the support section of our website to see if there are any product updates that may resolve the issue. After you have expanded the fsx25-3.5.x.tar.gz archive you should change directory to fsx25-3.5.x and issue the install command as follows: ./install Please see the html documentation on the install CD, or in the doc/ directory for more information about the install process. 3. Changes ---------- 3.0 Changes since 3.5.6 ----------------------- 3.5.6a includes a minor log level change to eliminate, by default, SELinux-related log output that can be produced regardless of whether SELinux is enabled or not. 3.1 Changes since 3.5.4 ----------------------- This is a minor release to provide several new features and fix several small bugs. 1) Support has been added for Kernel Version 5.8.0 2) Sometimes the fsxotd could have a segfault. This was a problem in libxmldb 3) Fixed a problem with the calcualtion of the delayed ack timer. 4) Fixed a PVC routing problem in the fsxotd 5) Fixed an issue for SELinux. When SELinux was enabled it was not possible to make and recieve X.25 calls. The fsx25 driver had to initialise a state variable in an SEWLinux structure that we believe should have been enabled in the SELinux layer itself. 6) Fixed issue with fsxotd script and pidof confusion where process had same name as script 7) Add support for the presence of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu folder 3.2 Changes since 3.4.2 ----------------------- This is a minor release to provide several new features and fix several small bugs. 1) Support has been added for Kernel Version 4.1.x 2) The fsxot daemon has been corrected to not spin while waiting for a connection to establish, or a transmit to complete. 3) As recent Linux distributions have adopted the Consistent Network Device Naming standard (or a variation of it), the licensing utilities have been updated to allow for Ethernet devices that are not called "eth0". 4) The fsx25 daemon has been update to support the new licensing procedures. An enhancement has been made to allow up to 64 x25 lines to be supported. 5) The X.25 API driver has been corrected in several areas: a) listens can now be interrupted successfully. b) The fsx25 driver memory allocation functions have been updated to wait for memory to become available. When memory is fragmented this can avoid calls failing to connect. c) A new example application has been added that demonstrates M-Bit control. d) A new example application has been added that demonstrates mulit-threaded operation. There have also been documentation enhancements. 3.2 Other Changes ----------------- dependencies on the modprobe.conf file have been removed. 5. Limitations and Known Problems --------------------------------- 1) As a minimum the Kernel version should be 2.6.9 or later. 2) The fsx25admin program has two minor limitations as follows: a) The maximum number of sessions which can be listed in the connections menu is limited to 1024. b) By default, the maximum number of lines that can reported and monitored is 4. This is because each line is viewed as a single adapter of 1 line. This can be changed by setting the adapter/line explicitly with fsx25config, i.e. changing the assignments of adapter/line under the API tab to match the physical port layout. However, if this is done then the FarSite routing feature will not work correctly. 3) IP/X25 connections can stop working if the fsx25d application is restarted or the line used for IP/X25 is restarted (e.g. with the configuration gui). The workaround for this issue is to set the fsxskX line down and then up again, e.g. ifconfig fsxsk0 down ifconfig fsxsk0 up 4) When monitoring XOT PVC interfaces the following may appear in the x25 trace: Tx 01 0 0 INFO 2058 Unknown Command=0xf5 This is just some private protocol between the X25 Daemon and the XOT daemon and can be ignored. 5) Under heavy load conditions, the internal buffer in the fsx25mon and fsfmonUdp applications may overrun and therefor report frame loss. 6) The support for XOT Keep Alives is limited to just sending the Keep Alive messages. There is no support for incoming XOT Keep Alives. 7) When using XOT loopback testing it has been noted that sometimes using the IPV6 loopback address of ::1, the loopback call cannot be established. This can typically occur on Ubuntu. The problem is thought to be in the underlying networking in the resolution of the IP address. A workaround for this issue is to use "localhost6" instead. 8) It has been found that on some Distro's, for example Ubuntu 15.10 and later, Netowork Manager will try and configure the syncX devices, which in turn can prevent the farsync driver from unloading. It is recommended that the syncX devices are excluded from the list of devices that Network Manager manages. 6. Support contacts ------------------- Support information and updates can be found on the FarSite web site at http://www.farsite.com For general support enquiries: UK Office: email or telephone +44 (0)1256 330461 during normal UK office hours. China Office: email or telephone +86 (0)755 26528435 during normal China office hours. (Chinese and English spoken) Comments or queries specifically about this Linux product should be directed to .