1.1. Identification

This document describes the Inputs and Outputs of a Protogate Freeway® .

1.2. System Overview

The Protogate Freeway is a data communication system which connects one or more serial link channels of various types to one or more IP (Internet Protocol) networks. The Freeway acts as a gateway, providing serial link channel access to clients on the IP network.

All Protogate Freeways run custom-built software which is written and provided by Protogate, and which completely controls the Freeway. The Freeway software is based on a version of the FreeBSD operating system which has been modified to control one or more Protogate Intelligent Communications Processor (ICP) boards. ICP boards are Protogate-manufactured boards which can be installed into a Freeway chassis, plugged into one or more serial-link channels, and configured to implement a data communications protocol. Each ICP board installed into a Freeway provides 2, 4, or 8 serial link ports.

1.3. Document Overview

This document describes the Inputs and Outputs of a Protogate Freeway® . This document is not sensitive or private, and may be disseminated as widely as desired, with no restrictions.

3.1. Serial Console Port

Each Freeway model provides one serial console connection, as a male DB-9 on the rear of the Freeway chassis. This connection uses the EIA-232 electrical interface and a standard asynchronous protocol with 8 data bits, no parity bit, and 1 stop bit, full-duplex, at 9600 bits per second. The service provided by this port is direct login access: a serial terminal such as a VT-100 can be connected to this DB-9 connector, and the VT-100 can then be used for console-level access to the Freeway (a login prompt will appear on the VT-100 when the Freeway is booted, and a user can login and execute commands). A software terminal program such as tip (in Unix) or hyperterm (in Windows) can be used instead of a VT-100, if desired. See the Freeway User's Guide, Protogate document DC-900-1333, for more details.

3.2. VGA Video Port

Each Freeway model provides one VGA connection, as a 3-row female DB-15 on the rear of the Freeway chassis. A VGA monitor can be plugged into this connector, and used to view status displays of the early boot sequence processing of the Freeway. In addition, the VGA monitor will display a login prompt when the Freeway is booted, and if a keyboard is plugged into either the keyboard connector or one of the USB connectors, then a user can login and execute commands, using the keyboard and VGA monitor. See the Freeway User's Guide, Protogate document DC-900-1333, for more details.

3.3. PS/2 Keyboard Port

Each Freeway model provides one PS/2 keyboard connection, which is a round 6-pin mini-DIN connector on the rear of the Freeway chassis. A PS/2 keyboard can be plugged into this connector, and used to login to the Freeway (a VGA monitor must also be plugged into the Freeway to see the results of what is typed on the keyboard). See the Freeway User's Guide, Protogate document DC-900-1333, for more details.

3.4. USB Keyboard Port

Each Freeway model provides one or more USB ports, which can be used to connect a USB keyboard (the BIOS is normally configured to deny use of anything other than a keyboard, in all USB ports). These USB ports are on the rear of the Freeway chassis, and some Freeway models also include USB ports on the front of the chassis. When a USB keyboard is plugged into this connector, that keyboard can be used to login to the Freeway (a VGA monitor must also be plugged into the Freeway to see the results of what is typed on the keyboard). See the Freeway User's Guide, Protogate document DC-900-1333, for more details.

3.5. Ethernet (IP) Ports

Each Freeway model has one or more Ethernet connections. These are RJ-45 sockets, in the rear of the Freeway chassis. These provide 802.3-standard Ethernet ports for the Freeway, at 10baseT/UTP (half-duplex or full-duplex), 100baseTX (half-duplex or full-duplex), 1000baseSX (full-duplex only), or 1000baseTX (full-duplex only). These RJ-45 Ethernet sockets can be configured as IP connections to the Freeway, either with their own IP address, or as failover connections, which become active only when another, primary IP connection, fails or is disconnected. See Section 3.7 for descriptions of the TCP/IP and UDP/IP ports and services which may be implemented on a Freeway's IP network.

3.6. Serial Link Ports

Freeways can be built to include one or more ICP (Intelligent Communications Processor) boards. When installed into a Freeway, each ICP board adds support for 2, 4, or 8 serial data communication ports. These ports are configured by the Freeway to support one of a variety of serial-link protocols; the Freeway configures each ICP board by downloading software into it which implements the desired protocol.

Once downloaded and initialized, each serial link port on an ICP board can be individually configured for a wide variety of electrical interfaces, data rates, encoding types, etc., and is then available to be used by clients to send or receive data, via whatever methods the protocol allows. The clients which send and receive data through the ICP board ports may reside within the Freeway, or they may reside on another machine on the network, and connect to the Freeway across the Ethernet (IP) network, using the service described in Section 3.7.8. See the Freeway User's Guide, Protogate document DC-900-1333, for general information about the ICP serial link ports, and any of Protogate's specific protocol documents (for example, the Asynchronous Wire Service (AWS) Programmer's Guide, Protogate document DC-900-1324), for details about a particular protocol.

3.7. IP Ports

Freeways usually have several IP (Internet Protocol) ports open, with one or more daemons listening for clients to connect on those ports. Some Freeways also have processes which use the IP network to connect to IP ports on other servers. This section describes those IP ports and the services that use them.

The following list of IP ports includes those which are commonly open or used on Freeways. However, this list is not exclusive or exhaustive; any or all of the ports listed here may be disabled or blocked on any specific Freeway, and other ports not listed here may be enabled. The specific configuration of each Freeway must be checked to determine which ports are open and useable on that Freeway. To discover directly which IP ports are open or in use on a specific Freeway, login to the Freeway and run the sockstat command. And to find which IP ports are blocked by the Freeway firewall, run the ipfw show command.

Some Freeway systems have custom-written SRA (Server Resident Application) daemons running. SRAs usually open and listen on one or two TCP/IP ports, which are used by clients to connect to that SRA to send commands to it, and to send and receive data. Those TCP/IP ports are specific to those Freeway systems, and are not included or described here.