June 2005 - Udpcast

UDPCast source code issues...
by Saikrishna Dasari 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

Hi Alain, I was studying the UDPCast source code for some experimental purposes. I have the following question. 1. The whole data to be transfered into is divided into slices which again contains a series of blocks to transfer. Can we consider the whole data to be transfered as a single slice ( By setting appropriate parameters in code) and what kind of performance issues we can expect if we do a change of this kind at code level. Thanks in advance, Sai --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Y! Messenger - Communicate in real time. Download now.

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Buggy tg3 ethernet
by Donald Teed 04 Apr '06

04 Apr '06

The option of ipappend 1 in the default file and retransmission of HELLOs in udp-sender (--rexmit-hello-interval) has been valuable to getting udpcast working with the Dell notebooks we have with Broadcom 5700 series ethernet. Today, with a slightly newer broadcom chipset appearing in the most recent shipment, we noticed that udp-receiver was intermittantly not showing the "hit any button to start transfer" message. With some trial and error I found that if I watched the tail of /var/log/message on the receiver (server) and waited for the messages on TX and RX flow control to complete before running udp-receiver, it would always initiate a good connection. If I had started the udp-receiver prior to the TX/RX flow control appearing in the message log (in which case there was no "hit any key" message), I could ^C the receiver, run it again and it would signify the ready state with 100% success. In conclusion, we have a workaround of starting udp-receiver after a few seconds past the client PXE machine booting and showing the udp-sender status ready (but not yet "hit any key..."). Another solution would be if udp-receiver also supported --rexmit-hello-interval. It isn't a flaw in the udpcast system but a kludge for a network device that is proving itself to be sluggish in initialization in general. --Donald Teed

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How to do an automatic reboot
by david aimé 05 Dec '05

05 Dec '05

Hello I use udpcast with several computers. After duplicating one hard disk to the others, i would like that the computers that received the data reboot automatically. But i don't know how to do this because udpcast don't allow us to do that with it's options. I'm waiting for your advice Aimé David _________________________________________________________________ MSN Messenger : personnalisez votre messagerie instantanée ! http://g.msn.fr/FR1001/866

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Speed and number issues
by Lasse Riis 29 Jun '05

29 Jun '05

Hi Well so far so good, now our gbit switch is finally playing nice. So'i attempted to udpcast all 36 clients simultaneously. This didn't work, usually after a few gigs or so udpcast will output Timeout notAnswered=[x] where x is a random client (34 and 22 so far). So now I'm just broadcasting to 12 to see if that'll work, hoping it might work with 24 too. What culd be the cause of this issue? And can I fix it with some parameters. Also there's definately a speed issue, they're all gbit NICs and it's a gbit switch, but with 36 nodes they run at ~76 Mbps and with 12 it's ~114 Mbps. With a crossed cable between two machines I can get ~360 Mbps. Any ideas on how to speed things up? Lasse Riis

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Automatic reboot and DHCP-timeout
by Lasse Riis 28 Jun '05

28 Jun '05

Hello I have 2 problems with udpcast currently: 1. I need to make the nodes reboot automatically efter udprcv has run. (Otherwise I'll need a ladder to go around and reboot 36 nodes :) ) I don't know how I do this I've tried unzipping and "un-cpio-ing" the initrd but averything seems to be embedded in busybox, so I don't know what to add. Is there a "recipe" for this somewhere. 2. We are using a Cisco switch here, which has an annoying habbit of closing ports once linux releases the device just prior to a dhcp discover request. The port won't get opened till at least 5-6 seconds later. Hence udpcasts automatic dhcp-attempt fails. Is there a way to increase the number of tries, or the timeout? The netwait= option is no good here, because the port gets closed just when the dhcprequest is initialised, so I need 5-6 secs from there. And this I guess can only be done with a higher number of tries or a higher timeout. Lasse Riis

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Automatic reboot and DHCP-timeout
by Lasse Riis 28 Jun '05

28 Jun '05

Hello I have 2 problems with udpcast currently: 1. I need to make the nodes reboot automatically efter udprcv has run. (Otherwise I'll need a ladder to go around and reboot 36 nodes :) ) I don't know how I do this I've tried unzipping and "un-cpio-ing" the initrd but averything seems to be embedded in busybox, so I don't know what to add. Is there a "recipe" for this somewhere. 2. We are using a Cisco switch here, which has an annoying habbit of closing ports once linux releases the device just prior to a dhcp discover request. The port won't get opened till at least 5-6 seconds later. Hence udpcasts automatic dhcp-attempt fails. Is there a way to increase the number of tries, or the timeout? The netwait= option is no good here, because the port gets closed just when the dhcprequest is initialised, so I need 5-6 secs from there. And this I guess can only be done with a higher number of tries or a higher timeout. Lasse Riis

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RE: Udpcast Digest, Vol 24, Issue 7
by Jeff Michels 19 Jun '05

19 Jun '05

Hello Everyone, I successfully compiled the kernel and was able to make an iso image. For this I would like to thank everyone who helped me. I didn't realize that compiling the Linux kernel was a fairly easy process. I do have bad news however. The image still didn't work after the recompile. After doing some investigating with Intel, I discovered that the motherboard was custom made for MPC. It does use the Marvell Yukon adapter however this board currently does not have Linux support. I tried flashing the BIOS with the standard BIOS provided by Intel but it would not let me. Needless to say we will not buy this specific computer from MPC anymore. Even though I couldn't get the onboard NIC working, I still see this as a great learning experience. Once again I would like to thank everyone for their help. In the future I will not be afraid of compiling a new kernel. Speaking of which, I see that 2.6.12 is out. Thanks, Jeff Michels -----Original Message----- From: udpcast-bounces(a)udpcast.linux.lu [mailto:udpcast-bounces@udpcast.linux.lu] On Behalf Of udpcast-request(a)udpcast.linux.lu Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 5:00 AM To: udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu Subject: Udpcast Digest, Vol 24, Issue 7 Send Udpcast mailing list submissions to udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lll.lgl.lu/mailman/listinfo/udpcast or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to udpcast-request(a)udpcast.linux.lu You can reach the person managing the list at udpcast-owner(a)udpcast.linux.lu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Udpcast digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (Alain Knaff) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 09:41:05 +0200 From: Alain Knaff <alain(a)knaff.lu> Subject: Re: [Udpcast] Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Adapter To: udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu Cc: Jeff Michels <michelsj(a)sdb.k12.wi.us> Message-ID: <200506160941.06825@linuxrulz> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" On Monday 13 June 2005 13:00, D Teed wrote: > The easiest solution for you would be if our udpcast > developer updated the web-enabled udpcast configurator > with the Intel Marvell Yukon ethernet support. The Intel Marvell Yukon was already present (as "sk98lin, SysKonnect SK-NET Gigabit Et hernet SK-98xx driver"), however I updated cast-o-matic anyways, in order to take into account some other "new" cards (Broadcomm 4400 10/100, ...). The new cast-o-matic now also has the module name in the label, rather than only the description. Regards, Alain ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Udpcast mailing list Udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu https://lll.lgl.lu/mailman/listinfo/udpcast End of Udpcast Digest, Vol 24, Issue 7 **************************************

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Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
by Jeff Michels 16 Jun '05

16 Jun '05

Hello, Our school district has been using udpcast for over a year with great success. Recently our district has been purchasing computers with Intel motherboards using onboard Marvell Yukon Ethernet adaptors. I am new to Linux and would like to know how to include the module for the adaptor into the PXE image. We are installing five new computer labs this summer. Currently to image these new computers, I open up the computer and add a PCI network card. This will be time consuming with each lab containing 30 computers. I've been using the online image generator to create the PXE images we use on our image server. The Intel Motherboard used on the computers is the D915GAV. Downloads for the board can be found here: http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?Prod uctID=1673 <http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?Pro ductID=1673&lang=eng> &lang=eng I guess I'm not sure where to start. If someone could help me or just point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance for you help. Jeff Michels Technology Support Specialist School District of Beloit (608) 361-4087

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No success yet
by Jeff Michels 14 Jun '05

14 Jun '05

Hello, I don't know if my last submission went through so I'll send it again. I have an extra computer with CentOS 4.0 installed. I installed the rpm provided by Intel and then made an iso using makeImage. That didn't work. The onboard module was not in the list. I have tried G4U on these new machines and the onboard NIC is not recognized. I have not tried Clonzilla however I think I'll come across the same problems like Donald said. It appears that I may need to compile a new kernel which is something I have not done. It would be great if the module could be added to the online Image Generator. That would save me time in the short term but I would still like to learn from this experience. Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jeff Michels Technology Support Specialist School District of Beloit (608) 361-4087 -----Original Message----- From: udpcast-bounces(a)udpcast.linux.lu [mailto:udpcast-bounces@udpcast.linux.lu] On Behalf Of udpcast-request(a)udpcast.linux.lu Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 5:00 AM To: udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu Subject: Udpcast Digest, Vol 24, Issue 5 Send Udpcast mailing list submissions to udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lll.lgl.lu/mailman/listinfo/udpcast or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to udpcast-request(a)udpcast.linux.lu You can reach the person managing the list at udpcast-owner(a)udpcast.linux.lu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Udpcast digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (D Teed) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 08:00:40 -0300 (ADT) From: D Teed <dteed(a)artistic.ca> Subject: Re: [Udpcast] Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Adapter To: "Michael D. Setzer II" <mikes(a)kuentos.guam.net> Cc: Jeff Michels <michelsj(a)sdb.k12.wi.us>, udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.58.0506130747440.17844(a)artistic.localdomain.domain> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=ISO-8859-1 He doesn't need new software, he needs driver support. Any of the suggested alternatives might be met with the same problem if they don't have this chipset's integrated NIC supported in their kernel yet. I'd think that if they have a system that works with udpcast, it will be less effort to make a kernel and modules that support the NIC, than reinvent the process around different software. The easiest solution for you would be if our udpcast developer updated the web-enabled udpcast configurator with the Intel Marvell Yukon ethernet support. If you are familiar with compiling your own kernel from a Linux machine, you could go that way and use the udpcast boot image generator. Later today I'll check the kernel sources and see if that Intel device is available in the vanilla kernels. --Donald Teed On Mon, 13 Jun 2005, Michael D. Setzer II wrote: > You might want to check out g4l (use the sourceforge right now, > since the freshmeat site links to my server at the college, and the T- > 1 line has been down for the last 4 hours). > > G4L does images using dd, gzip, lzop, bzip, and I added the option > of using udpcast. I've used it a couple of time, but more often have > used the udpcast boot disk, since these all have 3com cards. > > Might be easier to boot from the g4l cd, and then run the udpcast > from the raw / network use menu. > > If someone doesn't come across with a better solution. > > > On 12 Jun 2005 at 17:01, Jeff Michels wrote: > > > > > Hello, > > > > Our school district has been using udpcast for over a year with great success. Recently our > > district has been purchasing computers with Intel motherboards using onboard Marvell Yukon > > Ethernet adaptors. I am new to Linux and would like to know how to include the module for the > > adaptor into the PXE image. We are installing five new computer labs this summer. Currently to > > image these new computers, I open up the computer and add a PCI network card. This will be > > time consuming with each lab containing 30 computers. > > > > Ive been using the online image generator to create the PXE images we use on our image > > server. The Intel Motherboard used on the computers is the D915GAV. Downloads for the board > > can be found here: > > > > http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?Prod uctID=1673&lang=eng > > > > I guess Im not sure where to start. If someone could help me or just point me in the right > > direction, I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance for you help. > > > > Jeff Michels > > Technology Support Specialist > > School District of Beloit > > (608) 361-4087 > > > > > > > +----------------------------------------------------------+ > Michael D. Setzer II - Computer Science Instructor > Guam Community College Computer Center > mailto:mikes@kuentos.guam.net > mailto:msetzerii@gmail.com > http://www.guam.net/home/mikes > Guam - Where America's Day Begins > +----------------------------------------------------------+ > > http://setiathome.berkeley.edu > Number of Seti Units Returned: 16,672 > Processing time: 31 years, 13 days, 18 hours, 48 minutes > (Total Hours: 271,891) > > > > _______________________________________________ > Udpcast mailing list > Udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu > https://lll.lgl.lu/mailman/listinfo/udpcast > ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Udpcast mailing list Udpcast(a)udpcast.linux.lu https://lll.lgl.lu/mailman/listinfo/udpcast End of Udpcast Digest, Vol 24, Issue 5 **************************************

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FFII: noepatents.eu.org and the economic-majority
by Michael [economic-majority helpdesk] 04 Jun '05

04 Jun '05

Hello, I imagine that working in the multimedia area you may very well have to face patent troubles already. I'm related to the FFII who organizes the webdemo (noepatents.eu.org) Apparently someone subscribed you to the participant list (i hope it was you yourself, or it is still ok), and this way i found to your website. I'm joining another FFII [1] campaign against software patents, and my question to you is, would you give our campaign your statement (no, it's not about money :) against software-patents in Europe ? This is about the new EU proposal for a law on patenting computer-aided inventions, which was turned into something different that will legalise all software granted already and in the future. In June 20 there will be a pre-vote of the European Parliament in Brussels [2]. At the moment the discussion focuses on the question if software-patents are rather good or bad for European IT companies. The small-and-medium-sized ones (SME) are at the centre of that discussion, because it is acknowledged that they represent the 'economic majority' in respect to tax, employment, and innovation. Some weeks ago, the hardly lobbying international (partly non-european) patent-attorneys and -brokers (who claim to also represent the big multinational corporates) carried so called 'SME' CEOs into the European Parliament, who demanded in the name of all SME for software-patents. In fact it was a colourful pack of companies which partly aren't busy in the software sector in first instance, or wanted their hardware patents protected (which is plainly off-topic to the issue), and there were even Ex-CEOs of Microsoftm [3]. The FFII, representing 400,000 voices against software-patents (including 3000 CEOs) is determined to fight this counterfeit with a special campaign action now. We ask companies for a short statement, which we will publish (together with a short description of the company, a photo and the company logo) on a special website. This is running for only a few weeks now, but there are already more than 550 participants with ini summary more than 15.000 emplyees and annual turnover of 1.500.000.000 EUR. Note this figure includes only approx. 2/3 of them, since specifying employees or turnover it is not mandatory, of course. I invite you to have a look yourself [4]. While the Parliament already is rather suspicious against software-patents, this action could be a very vital strike against the concentrated lobby efforts of 'the other side'. It would be especially helpful to convince the Commission, and the Council, to change their adamantine position when the 'ball is back in their court' after the parliament has decided. All of these urgently need clear facts, and the statements of those who will be hit, now to take the right decision. The goal is a software-patent-free Europe which could gain, through the power of their innovative SME, an advantageous position in the international competition. A German participant expressed it this way (my translation): "The situation with software-patent (which is all over accused even in the US) does not at all urge Europa to adapt our patent law to the US. It would be obvious, instead, in be freely innovative in Europe while the US-Americans are sitting in the courts waiting rooms. Who want, or has to, patent, can do it in the USA anyway. Would the EU only invest even a small percentage of the money wasted with long software-patent wars into supporting European patent applications in the US, then that would be a much bigger contribution to the competitiveness of the European, than the recent draft law." On the opposite we see a future with european SMEs wasted away, with no chance against annual application rates of 1000 - 3000 softwarepatents by the big players. Feel free to find out yourself if your core business is already patented by someone else [5,6]. If you will be able to take a stand, and decide to join this campaign, we will assign you a personal email-support helper. What would be necessary is not much: A short statement that you would send by mail. A company logo (banner), and a short description of your business can be done by the helper, if you have it already on your website. The helper will then send you a link to the draft webpage, which will not be public by now. You can have a look, tell your improvements, and only if you give 'green light' the page will be published. A financial contribution is not necessary, but of course it would be welcomed. I suggest you to feel completely free in this respect. At the moment, your statement is much more important than money. PLease reply to the helper list <economic-majority(a)ffii.org>. With kind regards -- Michael. ___________________ links: ___________________________- [1] http://www.ffii.org http://europarl.ffii.org [2] http://swpat.ffii.org/log/intro/index.en.html http://www.ffii.org/~zoobab/bh.udev.org/filez/photos/eurep/article.txt [3] http://swpat.ffii.org/log/05/eictasme04 [4] Supporters: http://www.economic-majority.com/supporter.en.php Main page with registration: http://www.economic-majority.com Published Online: http://www.economic-majority.com/testimony/index.en.php [5] http://webshop.ffii.org [6] http://swpat.ffii.org/patents/txt/ep/last/last100.en.html

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