[Simh] EXT : simh on openvms (to get a VAX on top of an OpenVMS Itanium) >> network issue

[Hittner, David T (IS)]

PCAP-VMS is kind of strange software.
OpenVMS provides a PCAP library, which is not a full or complete implementation of the PCAP functionality found on other platforms. It is good enough for Ethernet packet dumping, but was not good enough for full—featured PCAP, which is why PCAP-VMS was written. PCAP-VMS is unsupported software that was written by a Digital/Compaq/HP OpenVMS engineer and depends on some undocumented interfaces in the OpenVMS network drivers to implement functionality. If VSI changed those undocumented APIs, it may have broken PCAP-VMS. You may need to contact VSI support and ask them if any of the network interfaces has changed that might break PCAP-VMS, and what might need to be fixed in PCAP-VMS to work with VSI OpenVMS.
You might also ask them to support a full-featured PCAP library in the future, so that we don’t need PCAP-VMS any more. ☺
Just as a guess, does the newer rx2800 use TOE (TCP Offload Engine) network cards or use jumbo packets? That could change the “standard” Ethernet packet behavior enough that PCAP-VMS may no longer work.
Dave

From: Simh [mailto:simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com] On Behalf Of gérard Calliet
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2016 6:37 PM
To: simh at trailing-edge.com
Subject: EXT :[Simh] simh on openvms (to get a VAX on top of an OpenVMS Itanium) >> network issue

Hello,
I need help for pcap-vms. I use (vax-)simh on top of OpenVMS (VSI) Itanium i4.
I tested vax-simh (simh 4.0 beta) and pcap-vms on OpenVMS on an Itanium rx2660, and it worked fine.
On OpenVMS i4 (rx2880), with exactly the same configuration, and images, I can see my NICs from the simh prompt (sho eth), I can attach a device (attach xq0 ethn), assign it a mac address, and my VAX-VMS on top of simh sees the emulated device, can send data, but does not receive anything.
Can you give me advice, way of tracing the problem, hypothesis ?
I tried to boot the OpenVMS host in startup_p1 MIN, to test if I get the same problem when there is no network software on the host (like DecNet, or Tcpip), and the problem remains.
I rebuilt the pcap-vms from scratch on the i4 host, and the problem remains.
Do you think there could be an hardware issue, like the NIC which cannot work in promiscuitus mode ?
Any help should be welcomed,

Gérard Calliet
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