Subject: atalkd.conf get rewritten by netatalk 1.4b2+asun2.1.4-39_test

From: Stephen Welker <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 13:28:00 +1000

It appears that atalkd.conf gets rewritten by netatalk.

For example my atalkd.conf file originally had...

ne1 -phase 2 -zone "printing"
rl0 -phase 2

but after a reboot it became...

ne1 -phase 2 -net 65280-65534 -addr 65280.83
rl0 -phase 2 -net 65280-65534 -addr 0.0

It was accompanied by the following error messages...

Apr 24 18:35:31 alpha atalkd[212]: restart (1.4b2+asun2.1.4)
Apr 24 18:35:33 alpha atalkd[212]: zip_getnetinfo for ne1
Apr 24 18:35:51 alpha last message repeated 2 times
Apr 24 18:36:01 alpha atalkd[212]: as_timer multiple interfaces, no seed
Apr 24 18:36:01 alpha atalkd[212]: as_timer can't configure ne1
Apr 24 18:36:01 alpha atalkd[212]: as_timer waiting for router
Apr 24 18:36:01 alpha atalkd[212]: ready 0/0/0
Apr 24 18:36:28 alpha afpd[227]: Can't register alpha:AFPServer@*
Apr 24 18:36:28 alpha afpd[227]: ASIP started on 192.168.1.2:548(1)
(1.4b2+asun2.1.4)
Apr 24 18:36:28 alpha afpd[227]: uam: uams_clrtxt.so loaded
Apr 24 18:36:28 alpha afpd[227]: uam: "Cleartxt Passwrd" available

Not knowing whether the messages referred to my configuration or the newly
created version, I rebooted...

Apr 24 18:47:44 alpha atalkd[212]: restart (1.4b2+asun2.1.4)
Apr 24 18:47:44 alpha atalkd: difaddr(0.0): Can't assign requested address
Apr 24 18:47:44 alpha last message repeated 2 times
Apr 24 18:47:45 alpha afpd[227]: main: atp_open: Can't assign requested
address
Apr 24 18:47:45 alpha afpd[227]: ASIP started on 192.168.1.2:548(1)
(1.4b2+asun2.1.4)
Apr 24 18:47:45 alpha afpd[227]: uam: uams_clrtxt.so loaded
Apr 24 18:47:45 alpha afpd[227]: uam: "Cleartxt Passwrd" available

*** plus a few more that appear on the console but not in the log file...

Net (0) not in net range (65280-65534).
AppleTalk not up! Check your syslog for reasons. Child died.
Apr 24 18:47:44 alpha atalkd: difaddr(0.0) Can't assign requested address.
...

So I changed to config to...

ne1 -phase 2 -net 1-2 -addr 1.1 -zone "printing"
rl0 -phase 2 -net 3-4 -addr 3.2

Following a reboot, the following messages were observed...

Apr 24 19:27:48 alpha atalkd[212]: restart (1.4b2+asun2.1.4)
Apr 24 19:27:50 alpha atalkd[212]: zip_getnetinfo for ne1
Apr 24 19:28:08 alpha last message repeated 2 times
Apr 24 19:28:18 alpha atalkd[212]: as_timer multiple interfaces, no seed
Apr 24 19:28:18 alpha atalkd[212]: as_timer can't configure ne1
Apr 24 19:28:18 alpha atalkd[212]: as_timer waiting for router
Apr 24 19:28:18 alpha atalkd[212]: ready 0/0/0
Apr 24 19:28:45 alpha afpd[227]: Can't register alpha:AFPServer@*
Apr 24 19:28:45 alpha afpd[227]: ASIP started on 192.168.1.2:548(1)
(1.4b2+asun2.1.4)
Apr 24 19:28:45 alpha afpd[227]: uam: uams_clrtxt.so loaded
Apr 24 19:28:45 alpha afpd[227]: uam: "Cleartxt Passwrd" available

And the atalkd.conf was changed again!

ne1 -phase 2 -net 1-2 -addr 1.1
rl0 -phase 2 -net 3-4 -addr 0.0

Gone has the zone name and now have the return of the bad address (0.0)

Even when I have removed the rl0 NIC and use the following in atalkd.conf...

ne1 -phase 2 -zone "printing"

Still do not get AppleTalk services visible (get a large number of error
messages) and the atalkd.conf file is changed to...

ne1 -phase 2 -net 0-65534 -addr 65280.210

The problems are:

(1) rl0 does not fully support hardware multicast (yet), its services are
not visible in the chooser. Will get updated driver when available.
(2) My zone names get clobbered/removed
(3) The substituted net ranges do not make sense - they are reserved
addresses.
(4) The address value for the second interface is incorrect (see error
message)
(5) To disable a NIC, it has to be physically removed from the computer.
(6) I do NOT need routing of AppleTalk services - seems to be close to
impossible to to set this configured when there are two interfaces.

Some background:

System = NetBSD/i386 1.4.2, 32MB RAM
Netatalk = 1.4b2+asun2.1.4-39_test (however the rewriting behaviour has
existed on previous versions)
ne1 = ne2000 NIC (DLink DF-200) - supports hardware multicast
rl0 = RealTek 8139 NIC (DLink DFE-530TX+)

IP(ne1) = 192.168.2.1
IP(rl0) = 192.168.1.2

Overall, what I am trying to do is to put Appletalk printers on a separate
non-routable network and get the workstations to use the spoolers. This is
so that the printers would not be visible in the chooser only the netatalk
spoolers would be.

But what is confusing is the self-modifying config files that exist in
netatalk. It makes it very hard to diagnose problems with configurations.

Any constructive suggestions would be appreciated.

Is there any way of disabling the self modifying atalkd.conf in netatalk?

-- 
Stephen Welker

---

From: andrew morgan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:34:26 -0700 (PDT)

> rl0 -phase 2 -net 65280-65534 -addr 0.0

It will rewrite it unless you use -seed, like so:

ne1 -seed -phase 2 -net 1-10 -addr 1.1 -zone "printing"
rl0 -seed -phase 2 -net 11-20 -addr 11.1 -zone "otherzone"

If you don't use -seed, it will ask the appletalk network for the correct
settings.  If there is no other appletalk router (which appears to be the
case above), then it comes up with some defaults.

	Andy

---

From: Stephen Welker <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 00:35:30 +1000

Andy

Thanks for your reply.

Was it a decision by the original netatalk architects to have the software
rewrite the config file?

Is there a way to disable netatalk modifying the config file?

Why couldn't netatalk simply report an error in a log file and allow the
sysadmin fix it as they please?

The current/default situation is confusing to say the least. Especially when
you are debugging one configuration and netatalk is giving you another!

This gets even more confusing when dealing with seeded versus non-seeded
networks, (sometimes an easy network requires some clever magic ;-) ever
tried to switch between seeded and unseeded?

I gather by your response that only the "seeder" is the only node that is
permitted to set a zone name?

Please excuse my novice AppleTalk expertise - I am used to plugging a few
Macs & printers together - of course they work! However, I am trying to
configure two independant networks on one host, as mentioned in my original
post.

-- 
Stephen Welker

---

From: andrew morgan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 08:23:28 -0700 (PDT)

> sysadmin fix it as they please?

It can be a pain sometimes, but it is nice that atalkd tells you what the
real network settings are.  I don't think there is a way to prevent atalkd
from rewriting the config file (maybe chmod 000 atalkd.conf?), but you
wouldn't want to do that anyways.  All the routers on an appletalk network
must agree on the netrange and zone for that cable, so atalkd needs to
change to match the current network settings if you aren't trying to seed
the network.  I think bad things happen if you have two machines seeding
different numbers.  There should really only be one seed router.

> tried to switch between seeded and unseeded?

Nope.  I've worked on a network with a set appletalk router (a Cisco
router) and on a network with no router (I setup atalkd to seed it).

> permitted to set a zone name?

Yes.

> configure two independant networks on one host, as mentioned in my original

Check out this web site for lots of useful Appletalk networking
information.  It is not too complicated.

http://www.neon.com/atalk_routing.html

	Andy