








                                      WATTCP

                                  Installation Notes

                                   by Erick Engelke



          Introduction          Introduction

               TCP/IP is not a program, it is a set of protocols which have
               been  implemented on many machines.  All machines running an
               implementation  of TCP/IP  and connected  to the  world wide
               Internet are capable of communicating with each other.

               There    are    several   popular    non-commercial   TCP/IP
               implementations for MS-DOS computers.   Each offers  special
               features but with  varied drawbacks.  I  don't believe there
               is a clear choice  of one implementation for all  needs, but
               users  are free to pick the best or most useful applications
               from each offering.

               These  notes  describe  the various  applications  available
               today.    Please remember  that  the  applications are  free
               software, you  may use them and pass  them on to others, but
               there is no warranty  and the support is very  limited.  You
               also may not sell the included programs.


          Installation          Installation
               WATTCP  only works  if you  have  a packet  driver, a
               special program which allows  your network interface card to
               talk with the WATTCP applications.

               Thanks to  some very  generous people,  particularly Russell
               Nelson, you probably will  not have to buy a  packet driver.
               If you are  using Ethernet  hardware you  can probably  find
               free  packet drivers  for  your cards  via anonymous  ftp to
               www.crynwr.com.
                           ____________________        ___________

               WATTCP only  supports  Class 1  drivers.   Officially
               these  are called  Ethernet  class drivers,  but many  other
               types  of  networks have  drivers  which  make them  emulate
               Ethernet hardware.  For example, any Novell system using IPX
               or any IBM compatible Token Ring  network can be made to act
               like Ethernet.  Even serial lines (SLIP) emulate Ethernet if
               you use  Michael Martineau's  ETHERSLIP driver  available by
               anonymous ftp from owl.nstn.ns.ca in in.coming/etherslip.                                  ______________    ___________________

               To start using WATTCP software you will need to get it
               configured.    There  are  two  options,  using BOOTP  or  a












               configuration file.

               If  you think  you may  have a  BOOTP server  on  your local
               subnet, copy  the file  TCPINFO.EXE into a  new subdirectory
               and  run the command  TCPINFO.  It  may take  a few seconds.
               After a maximum of 30 seconds, TCPINFO should tell you if it
               could get configured via  BOOTP.  If it could  not, or BOOTP
               is too slow, you will have to use a configuration file.

               You will  probably want a configuration file  anyways, as it
               allows some  extra things which  are not inherent  in BOOTP.
               WATTCP lets  you use a config file,  and pick up extra
               things from BOOTP.

               If you don't  really know  what you are  doing, continue  on
               with this section and make a config file.

               First  you will  need  some important  information from  you
               local TCP/IP guru.   Do not merely guess, these  values must
               be correct or you may do some damage and get yourself on the
               death threat list from your local network people.


               IP address (eg. 4.1.2.23)


                    my_ip =  ______.______.______.______


               local subnet mask (eg. 255.255.254.0, never 255.255.255.255)


                    netmask = ______.______.______.______


               local gateway (eg. 4.1.2.1)


                    gateway = ______.______.______.______


               primary name server (eg. 129.97.128.1)


                    nameserver = ______.______.______.______


               alternate name servers (up to 9 more if so desired)
               just keep repeating this line with new addresses.


                    nameserver = ______.______.______.______














               name domains list, (eg. UWaterloo.ca  or  edu)



               d   o   m   a   i   n   s   l   i   s   t                  =
                         __________________________________________________


               These  values must be  placed in  a file  called WATTCP.CFG.
               Below is a sample copy, remember, do  not use my values, get
               the correct ones!

                    print="using sample configuration" # sample comment
                    print="contact local network guru for more details"
                    my_ip=129.97.176.99
                    netmask=255.255.254.0              # sample comment
                    nameserver=129.97.128.24           ; sample comment
                    nameserver=129.97.128.196          # alt nameserver
                    nameserver=129.97.128.1            # 3rd nameserver
                    gateway=129.97.176.1
                    domainslist="uwaterloo.ca"

               The rules are simple, directive=value.  

               If quotes are not used in the value field, the value will be
               terminated by  the start of a  comment or by a  newline, and
               all white space (spaces and tabs) are removed.

               If you specify quotes around the value, only a second set of
               quotes  or a newline will  end the value  field and comments
               must  be preceded  by  an end  quote  mark.   Whitespace  is
               preserved inside quotes.


               Place the  WATTCP.CFG file in  the same subdirectory  as the
               TCP  application programs.  If  the file is  not found there
               the programs automatically look for the file in the  current
               subdirectory of the current  disk.  Failing that, a  message
               will  be  displayed but  the  program  will not  necessarily
               abort.

               You may  override the above directory  choices by explicitly
               setting the path in an environment variable.

               eg.  set wattcp.cfg=n:\internet

               The environment  variable is  checked first,  and  if it  is
               defined  that   configuration  file   is  used.     This  is
               particularly  useful on installations  where the software is
               located on  a fileserver,  but individual  workstations will
               need separate configuration files.


          Testing          Testing












               First,  to  ensure  that  you  entered  all  the  parameters
               correctly, run  TCPINFO.  It will list all system constants.
               If one or more  of them seem incorrect, check  your spelling
               in the WATTCP.CFG file.

               Next  we will test the  PING command to  see that everything
               works  and asks  another computer  if it is  up.   The first
               argument to  PING is  the name of  the other computer.   The
               second argument is the  number of retries.  Since  your guru
               supplied  the ip  address of  a gateway,  we will  first try
               that.

                    ping  129.97.128.1  5         don't  use  129.97.128.1,
                                                  use  your   gateway's  IP
                                                  address

               This will generate five attempts.  You should have more than
               0  % success.   Otherwise  your gateway is  down or  your ip
               address or gateway is wrong.

               If  you  had success,  try pinging  the  ip address  of your
               nameserver.

               eg.  ping  129.97.128.196  5

               Now check your nameserver by trying to resolve the name of a
               local machine.  Near me is a machine named 'cupid'.

                    ping  cupid  5

               If that did  not work, your  various nameserver entries  are
               incorrect, your  gateway or network mask  is incorrect, your
               nameservers did not want to provide name service, or you did
               not specify a valid name.

               These tests will  help your  guru figure out  what might  be
               wrong.





























          Applications          Applications
               TCPINFO               TCPINFO
                    Displays the current Ethernet/TCP configuration.  It is
                    useful for  testing spelling and contents  of files and
                    for determining ethernet addresses.


               PING               PING

                         PING  [-d|/d]  [-s|/s]  hostname  [attempts]

                    You  have already  seen PING  described briefly  in the
                    installation section.  PING will not generate more than
                    one  request  per second,  it  also  attempts to  block
                    broadcast attempts.


                    PING can be used in a debugging mode (-d or /d).
                    eg.  PING  -d  129.97.128.1

                    If  you do  not specify  the number  of attempts  to be
                    made, only one attempt will be made.
                    eg.  PING  129.97.128.196

                    Specifying  /s will  ping  the other  machine once  per
                    second for a very long time.
                    eg.  PING  -s  129.97.128.196


               COOKIE               COOKIE

                         COOKIE [host]
                    eg.  COOKIE
                         COOKIE  conehead.uwaterloo.ca

                    Print a witty saying from one of the cookie servers.


               DAYTIME                DAYTIME
                    Print the time of day using TCP

                         DAYTIME  host
                    eg.  DAYTIME  129.97.128.1
                         DAYTIME  watmath.uwaterloo.ca

                    If the  host supports TCP based  DAYTIME text services,
                    the time of  day will  be displayed as  a text  string.
                    See also NTIME


               FINGER               FINGER
                    Determine user or system information
                         FINGER [user]@host
                    eg.  FINGER  erick@engmail.uwaterloo.ca












                         FINGER  @engmail.uwaterloo.ca

                    Finger returns  the remote computer's information  on a
                    particular user.

                    If no user  is specified, FINGER will return  the names
                    of currently logged users on that machine.


               LPR               LPR
                    Spool print jobs
               LPQ               LPQ
                    Query the print queue

                         Run these commands with no arguments for the exact
                         syntax.   Check to  see that the  appropriate host
                         privileges are extended to the pc.

                         An explanation beyond this  is beyond the scope of
                         this brief document, see your local UNIX guru with
                         HOSTS.LPR   or   whatever   s/he   feels   is     
                         appropriate.


               NTIME               NTIME
                    Set DOS time from the Network.

                    NTIME  host  [addminutes]

                    NTIME contacts the host  and requests the current time.
                    Computers are  supposed to  respond with the  number of
                    seconds  since Jan 1, 1900 GMT.  Many simply return the
                    current time adjusted to  the daylight savings time and
                    time  zone.  I allow  you to specify  addminutes if you
                    need  to add or subtract a certain number of minutes to
                    the returned time.

                    I was considering using  a DST conversion algorithm but
                    have not yet done so.

               TCPPORT                TCPPORT
                    Treat the serial port as a TCP connection

                         TCPPORT host port "program options"

                    Host is the name  or ip address of the  remote computer
                    and port is the TCP port number on that computer.

                    You  may  specify  the  terminal  emulation desired  by
                    setting the environment variable
                         set  tcpterm=termtype
                    eg.  set  tcpterm=vt102

                    See the section on TCPPORT below













               REXEC               REXEC
                    Execute the following command on a remote host
              
                    REXEC  host  [user [pass]] cmd

                    The  "cmd"  command  will  be executed  on  the  remote
                    computer.  If  you fail to specify  either the password
                    or the userid, you will be prompted for them.

                    eg.  rexec  hq.iraq  "ls -l"
                         rexec  hq.iraq  saddam  "ls -l"
                         rexec  hq.iraq saddam white_flag_of_victory "ls"

                    REXEC does not do terminal interpretation, you may wish
                    to  have  NANSI.SYS  loaded  to  provide  the necessary
                    emulation.  WATTCP REXEC is good when you wish to
                    redirect output to a file.


          Other WATTCP Programs          Other WATTCP Programs

               The above  programs are relatively  simple demonstrations of
               the  capabilities of  the  WATTCP TCP/IP  kernal.   Advanced
               programs are usually distributed  separately as they tend to
               be  updated   in  a  different  schedule   from  the  kernal
               libraries.

               MSKERMIT 3.11               MSKERMIT 3.11
                    One  of  the first  popular  uses  for WATTCP  was  its
                    ability to make communication programs such as MSKERMIT
                    act like  TELNET facilities.   So overwhelming  was the
                    number of  requests that  MSKERMIT 3.11 now  includes a
                    derivative  of   the  WATTCP  kernal  and  the  TCPPORT
                    application.

               TELNETD               TELNETD
                    The next  most popular use is easily TELNETD, a program
                    which  allows you to TELNET into your pc and control it
                    using  any  TELNET program  on  any  computer platform.
                    TELNETD   can   be   found   via   anonymous   ftp   to
                    dark.uwaterloo.ca in pub/wattcp/telnetd.zip.



          Using Communications Programs with TCPPORT          Using Communications Programs with TCPPORT

               You may wish to use  a terminal communication program rather
               than TELNET.  WATTCP  makes this very easy to do  with
               its  TCPPORT  program.    Now  that  TCPPORT  is built  into
               MSKermit I don't really have a good example, but here goes:

               Start by creating a configuration  file which tells your com
               program  to use the BIOS  ports rather than  hardware.  Then












               create a batch file which looks like:

               TNCOMM.BAT
                    echo off
                    tcpport %1 23 "c:\comm"

               Here I was assuming you kept comm.exe in the root  of C: and
               tcpport could be found somewhere in  the path.  Now you  can
               easily TELNET to any host by typing:

                    TNCOMM  host
               eg.  TNCOMM  129.97.128.1
               or   TNCOMM  watmath.uwaterloo.ca

               After  you  log off,  WATTCP  returns the  characters
               forming  [??Host  closed   connection??]  or  some   similar
               message.  You simply need to exit your com program.  Exiting
               kermit without logging off  will simply close the connection
               and typically log you off.

               You may  select a specific terminal  emulation which TCPPORT
               should  try  to  run  by  setting  the  tcpterm  environment
               variable before running tcpterm:
               eg.  set tcpterm=vt102










































          Advanced WATTCP.CFG Options          Advanced WATTCP.CFG Options
               This  section  is  useful  once  you  have  determined  that
               WATTCP actually works for you.

               Including Sub-Config Files
                    You may wish to use a combination of generic WATTCP.CFG
                    file  and  a  smaller  sub-config file  which  will  be
                    located  on  the  user's  private  subdirectory.    Any
                    command which can be placed in the main config file may
                    also be placed (or replaced) in the sub-command file.

                    eg. 
                         include = c:\local.cfg

                    After the subcommand file  is parsed, Wattcp returns to
                    the  main config  file.   The depth  of this  system is
                    limited by  the number  of file  handles and  the stack
                    size.

                    If  the  subcommand  file  cannot be  found,  an  error
                    message will  be printed.   To allow for  the possible,
                    but not-essential existance of a file (i.e., include it
                    if  it is there, but don't  complain otherwise) you may
                    simply prepend the filename with a question mark.

                    eg.
                         include = ?c:\local.cfg


               IP Addresses
                    Most network  administrators would  prefer to  not have
                    many  copies of  the configuration  file, but  rather a
                    single  file  from   which  everyone   can  be   easily
                    configured.  

                    As  demonstrated above,  WATTCP  normally accepts
                    the ip number from within the WATTCP.CFG file.  

               BOOTP
                    Many  sites prefer  to use  BOOTP, a  standard protocol
                    which  requests  the  user's   ip  address  and   other
                    information from a BOOTP server.

                    To use BOOTP, you must specify the name 'bootp':

                         my_ip = bootp

                    in the config file.  This will broadcast the request on
                    the local subnet.   You  may specify  a specific  BOOTP
                    server which need not be on the same subnet, by using:

                         bootp = host
                    eg.  bootp = 129.97.128.1













                    The  default  timeout value  is  30 seconds.    You may
                    change that by using:

                         bootpto = seconds
                    eg.  bootpto = 50

                    If no  WATTCP.CFG file is found,  WATTCP programs
                    always resort to BOOTP.

               ETHERNET to IP Table

                    Another option currently  exists, I  allow multiple  IP
                    numbers in WATTCP.CFG  with each  one being  tied to  a
                    particular Ethernet address.  If your  Ethernet address
                    is found in list, your IP address will be assigned.

                         ETHIP=ethaddr,ipaddr
                    eg.  ETHIP=00:01:2F:BC:44:33,128.252.35.4

                    In  this   case,  the  machine  with  Ethernet  address
                    00:01:2F:BC:44:33  would  be  assigned  the  ip address
                    128.252.35.4.    Note   that  Ethernet  addresses   are
                    hexadecimal with intermediate  colons, ip addresses are
                    dotted  decimal, and I use a comma to separate the two.
                    Also, since  WATTCP removes white  space, you may
                    place  a space between any  of the fields  if you don't
                    use quotes, and  you may  end the line  with a  comment
                    describing  where  the  station  lives or  to  whom  it
                    belongs.

                    You can quickly find the Ethernet  address of a station
                    by running the TCPINFO command.

               Subnets
                    The Internet is comprised of many, many subnets.  There
                    are several  protocols normally used to  help computers
                    reach computers on other subnets.

                    Most PC based  TCP kernals depend on  routing tables to
                    manage the possible  routes, so I  elected to use  that
                    strategy.

                    A  routing  table  exists  in  memory  with  a  current
                    capacity  for 12  different  routes.   Each route  must
                    specify a gateway, an  optional destination subnet, and
                    then an optional subnet mask.

                         gateway = gate_ip [, subnet [, subnet_mask ]]
                    eg.  gateway = 129.97.176.1        # default
                    eg.  gateway = 129.97.176.2, 129.97.0.0, 255.255,0,0


                    The  first  example  shows  how a  default  gateway  is
                    created.  A default gateway is used if no other choices












                    exist.

                    The second example shows how to specify a gateway for a
                    particular subnet.  In this example, whenever the 'top'
                    16 bits are 129.97, that gateway will be used.

                    Yes,  you need not always  specify the mask,  but it is
                    necessary for class B subnets, so I simply suggest that
                    you always do specify the mask.

                    You  may specify  the same  gateway several  times with
                    different routes.  

                    Non-contiguous subnet bits are supported.

                    To check  your configuration and to  see the precedence
                    of gateways, run TCPINFO.EXE.

               Host Name
                    Some applications will wish  to know your PC's name,  a
                    short  textual  name.    This   may  be  set  with  the
                    WATTCP.CFG line:

                         hostname = name
                    eg.  hostname = mole


                    Notice that  you do  not  specify the  domain, that  is
                    found from the domain string.

               Timeouts
                    Most WATTCP programs  have  a specified  timeout
                    value between activity  before a timeout error  occurs.
                    For  example,  the maximum  response  time  to an  open
                    request  before the  connection is  given up  should be
                    reasonably  long so  that distant  connections will  be
                    usable, but short enough that the user will not believe
                    the computer has hung.

                    Applications may specify  their own timeout value,  but
                    if  they  chose  to  use  the  system  default (all  my
                    applications do), the default value may be set from the
                    WATTCP.CFG file.

                         SOCKDELAY=seconds
                    eg.  SOCKDELAY=40

                    The  default value is 30  seconds.  A  smaller value is
                    unwise,   but  larger  values   may  be  necessary  for
                    particularly bad connections.

               Maximum Segment Size
                    If you understand MSS and know what you would like, you
                    can change it:












                         MSS=bytes
                    eg.  MSS=512

               Cookie Server
                    You may specify a cookie server in the  WATTCP.CFG file
                    with the line:

                         cookie = server
                    eg.  cookie = 129.97.128.1
                    eg.  cookie = sunee.uwaterloo.ca

                    Up to 10 separate cookie servers may be added.  TCPINFO
                    will  list  them  all.    BOOTP will  also  add  cookie
                    servers.

               BOOTP Features and Limitations
                    BOOTP is not the greatest  method of configuration.  In
                    fact  there  is   currently  a  committee   looking  at
                    implementing its successor.

                    WATTCP  programs  will  automatically  get  many
                    configuration parameters from the BOOTP server if those
                    values are returned:

                    IP address
                    subnetmask
                    gateway        (only one will be added)
                    nameservers    (all supplied will be added)
                    cookieservers  (all supplied will be added)
                    hostname

                    The domain name cannot be specified currently.   Of the
                    gateways,  only one is recorded by WATTCP as they
                    do not indicate subnets or anything else useful.
































          Notes:          Notes:
               The most up-to-date versions  of these files, their sources,
               and  new programs  are  available  on dark.uwaterloo.ca  by
               anonymous FTP.  Check out pub/wattcp.

               All  executables   there  are  copyrighted  but  are  freely
               available for use and non-commercial distribution.

               The library files which do the actual tcp communications are
               also there.   They too are copyrighted,  but may be used  in
               commercial and non-commercial work.   You are free to  do as
               you choose.   If you intend to program  with this package, I
               would  highly  recommend  the  developers  manual  described
               below.

               The  programmers manual includes  examples, a full reference
               of the approximately 50 functions, notes on conversions from
               UNIX.  The  cost is $50 ($US if you live in USA, $Cdn if you
               live in  Canada.  $50 US  for anywhere else.

                see: http://www.supro.com

          Erick Engelke
          Erick@development.watstar.uwaterloo.ca
          Waterloo TCP Architect
          July 8, 1992
