Quick instructions ================== T. Straumann, 4/2019 Licensing Information --------------------- Consult LICENSE.txt for details. cpswTreeGUI ----------- 1. Source proper settings for environment variable: source env.slac.sh 2. Launch with python python cpswTreeGUI.py --help 3. Normal invocation requires path to YAML description and name of root node: python cpswTreeGUI.py /000TopLevel.yaml NetIODev 4. Some definitions in YAML can be tweaked from the command line (most notably IP address of AMC carrier) python cpswTreeGUI.py --ipAddress /000TopLevel.yaml NetIODev 5. In most cases the GUI should run on a Desktop without direct connectivity to the AMC Carrier. Read on for the RSSI Bridge... RSSI Bridge ----------- The RSSI bridge is software to be executed on the embedded CPU that is connected directly to an AMC Carrier. The bridge translates the UDP/RSSI protocol that is used by the firmware into TCP which is better at handling longer distances: Desktop CPU Blade AMC Carrier python/GUI <-- TCP --> RSSI Bridge <-- RSSI/UDP --> Firmware IMPORTANT NOTE: The RSSI/UDP protocol supports only !!ONE!! peer to be connected - but is not very good at detecting violations of this rule! YOU MUST MAKE SURE no other rssiBridge, EPICS IOC or other software is connected to the target IP/UDP prior to starting the bridge. The same applies to starting EPICS IOCs or any other software. On the embedded CPU (login as laci): $ /rssi_bridge -a -p 8183 -p 8194 The latest version is in (you may need to modify buildroot version and/or target architecture): /afs/slac/g/lcls/package/cpsw/framework/master/buildroot-2016.11.1-x86_64/bin/ Note that the RSSI bridge has no knowledge of YAML or anything about your firmware. In particular, it has no way of knowing how many ports are open and what kind (bare UDP vs. RSSI) they are. Thus, you must explicitly list all ports to be bridged -- otherwise the upstream client (python/GUI) will fail to connect. In the above example the bridge is established on UDP/RSSI ports 8193 and 8194 (multiple '-p' may be given). A bare UDP port (e.g., for the backdoor service) can be bridged with '-u' (e.g., -u 8192). cpswTreeGUI in combination with rssi_bridge ------------------------------------------- So to use the GUI on a desktop you have learned how to start a bridge on the embedded CPU. The bridge must be established before starting the GUI. Once you have the bridge e.g., on 'cpu-b084-hp01' running: $ rssi_bridge -a 10.0.1.102 -p 8193 -p 8194 you start the GUI on your desktop: $ python cpswTreeGUI.py --ipAddress=10.0.1.102 --rssiBridge=cpu-b084-hp01 /000TopLevel.yaml NetIODev and you should be in business... SSH Tunneling ------------- In some cases it is desirable to run the python/GUI client on a remote desktop which only has SSH access. The GUI supports tunneling via SOCKS: 1. start the rssi bridge in the exactly same way as described above 2. on your remote desktop, start an ssh connection to a machine which has connectivity to the rssi_bridge and *enable the SOCKS proxy* built into openssh: ssh -D 1080 firewall 3. on your remote desktop start the cpswTreeGUI as described above (same options for --ipAddress, --rssiBridge) but add --socksProxy=localhost Of course, you have to download the YAML description to your desktop since CPSW (which runs on your desktop) needs direct access to this file. Background Info - - - - - - - - You can skip this section if you are not interested in details. In order to allow for running multiple instances of rssi_bridge to execute on a CPU blade (serving multiple AMC carriers from a single CPU) the bridges use ephemeral TCP ports in combination with a RPC portmap service. When establishing a TCP connection to the embedded CPU (as directed by the --rssiBridge option) CPSW first contacts the RPC service in order to find the TCP port which bridges to the requested IP/RSSI-port on the UDP side.