RackInjector and SiteMonitor Base3 Firmware Operation Manual

This manual describes the operation of the web interface on the RackInjector and SiteMonitor Base 3 Products.

Documentation Applicable to Both Products

Both the RackInjector and SiteMonitor use the same underlying firmware. This documentation is applicable to both, with differences noted where applicable.

Images used to demonstrate a concept may be from either product. Even if the image says "RackInjector", you should assume it also applies to the Base3.

Notice

Unfortunately this documentation is somewhat out of date. If something doesn't match which you need clarification on, please contact us at custsvc@packetflux.com. We are in the process of releasing the next generation of firmware and this manual is in the process of being updated to match.

Initial Login

Before login, you should have wired at least one power source and powered on the Base Unit or RackInjector. Also, you should have connected a computer with a web browser to the Ethernet port. The Hardware Manuals describes how to perform these steps.

Note

The web interface requires a modern web browser. If you are having problems using the web interface, please check that you are using an up to date browser.

The factory setting for the web interface is as follows:

Parameter	Value
IP Address	169.254.1.20
Netmask	255.255.0.0
Default Gateway	169.254.1.1
Admin User Name	admin
Admin Password	password

Warning

Be sure to change the admin password of the RackInjector before connecting it to an active network. With the prevalence of hacker activity today, failure to do so is likely to result in an unauthorized user gaining access to the RackInjector.

Configure your computer to be able to connect to the IP address above. For some computers, they may automatically do this if powered on without being attached to a network. Others will require you to set the IP address manually to an IP address in the 169.254.x.x range (other than the addresses listed above).

Once you have configured your computer and connected it to the Ethernet interface, you should be able to reach the web interface by browsing to the IP address above. Upon initial connection, a window will pop up asking you for your username and password. Please enter the admin username and password and click on OK or whatever the equivalent button is in your web browser. The format of this screen will vary from browser to browser.

Once you have successfully logged in, the main user interface for the RackInjector will display.

Menu Interface

Across the top of the interface (just below the logo) are several menu options. The selected menu option is always shown with a green background.

Hovering over a particular menu item will turn it red, indicating it can be clicked on. Clicking on each menu option will then switch to the page indicated by the description.

The function of each page will be covered in detail below.

Slots and Ports Page

This page displays data about each slot and port on the RackInjector. It is organized hierarchically, using graphical elements to indicate the slots and ports within the RackInjector.

Each slot (which corresponds to a single injection board or expansion module) is indicated separately on the page.

If a slot is empty (doesn’t contain a board), then the web interface will not show the slot unless it previously contained a board.

If a slot contains (or previously contained) a board, the type of board and the board’s serial number is displayed. Each port controlled by that slot is also displayed.

Port Section

Each port has a separate section of the web interface. At the top of this section is a header which contains the Port Number and description of the powered device.

The Port number is listed in the form slot/port. So Port 1/1 is found in slot 1, port 1.

Immediately following the port number is a user settable description of that port. It can be changed by clicking on the gear icon to the right. This description is stored in the memory in the control board, so that even if a board is replaced, the description will remain.

Below the header are two buttons. One provides the power status and one provides the status of Canopy sync on this interface. The color and icon of each button changes depending on the status.

Below the buttons are various statistics about the port:

• Port Voltage. This shows the power being provided to the port by the selection jumper. Even if the port is off, the voltage will still display, however it will have a strike-through over it. It is important to understand that this voltage is read before the power switching circuitry so that you can determine the configured voltage for a port even if it is off.

• Current. This is a relatively inaccurate indication of the current being consumed by the port. This current readout is a side effect of the way we have implemented over current protection on the RI-PIPS board. It has been designed to handle lots of abuse, including high current short circuit conditions and similar. As a result, the accuracy at the lower currents which are typically found in normal operations is marginal. We find that this reading is close enough to provide a rough idea of how much power a powered device is taking, but should not be utilized in the same way that a high accuracy current reading would be.

• Number of Power Transitions. This is a count of how many times this port has turned from on to off, and from off to on. Thus, turning a port off and then back on will result in this counter increasing by two.

• Number of Overcurrent Trips. This counts how many times this port has been in the ‘tripped’ state which means that an over current condition has been detected.

Changing Port Power State

To change the power state of a port, simply click on the power button for the port. The dialog box below will pop up.

This window should be self-explanatory. The options will change based on the current state of the port (for instance, if a port is in the ‘tripped’ state due to an over current condition, it will give you options to reset the trip and turn the power back on).

Two specific portions of this dialog box need clarification.

The first is the option which says ‘turn power off for ___ seconds, then turn back on’. When this is selected, the power for the selected port will turn off, then a certain number of seconds later, it will turn back on. During the time period where the cycle is in effect, an additional row “Power Cycle Time Remaining” will be added to the port status screen to indicate that a cycle is in effect.

The second portion is the checkbox labeled ‘Power is on after injector startup’. By checking this box, you are indicating that after a power cycle or RI-PIPS board reboot that this port should be powered on. If you would prefer that a port be powered off after initial power on or after a reboot, then you should uncheck this box. The setting for this checkbox is stored in the RI-PIPS board to ensure that power will be restored correctly even if the control board fails.

Changing Sync Pulse State

Changing the sync pulse state is very similar to changing the power state. That is: click on the appropriate button, and follow the prompts on the dialog screen.

GPS and Sync Status page

If a PacketFlux GPS receiver is attached, the “GPS and Sync Status” page will display data about the status of the GPS receiver and sync pulse.

Like the Slots and Ports page, the page is subdivided into several sections:

GPS and Sync Status Section

This section provides basic information about the GPS receiver and an overview of the sync status.

• Timing Pulse Status Indicator. This indicator shows the status of the sync pulse coming from the GPS. It will show green and say ‘Timing Pulse Active’ if the sync pulse is currently being received. It will turn red and say ‘No Timing Pulse’ if the sync pulse has been lost.

• GPS Lock Indicator. This indicator shows the status of the lock of the GPS receiver. It will be green if the lock is sufficient to provide a good quality synchronization pulse.

• GPS Port Power Indicator and Button. This indicator shows the status of the power output to the GPS receiver. If the power is active, the indicator will be green and read “GPS Port Power Enabled.” If the power has been shut off or an overcurrent has been detected, this indicator will change to orange or red, and display the current status. Clicking on this button will pop up a screen which will permit you to change the status of the GPS power.

• Latitude, Longitude, Altitude. These fields show the position of the GPS receiver in 3D space.

• Map of Location. This section provides clickable links to take you to a Google or Bing map of the location the GPS receiver is reporting.

• GPS UTC Date and Time. These fields show the date and time last received from the GPS receiver. If the GPS quits providing updates, this will quit updating, and is a good way to ensure that the data is up to date.

• Sats In View and Used. These fields display how many satellites are in view of the GPS receiver (could be used), and how many the GPS receiver is using to determine its 3D position and synchronization pulse.

• Position, Horizontal and Vertical DOP. These give you an idea about the quality of the 3D fix for the GPS receiver. Lower numbers are better. If they seem high, you should check the GPS for position and/or failure.

Sync Pulse Statistics

This section provides details about the sync pulses received from the GPS receiver. Each statistic describes a certain type of pulse received.

To better understand the statistics below, it is helpful to know that a correct sync pulse arrives once per second. No more, no less. The statistics try to categorize when each sync pulse arrived in comparison to when it was expected.

It is important to understand that an occasional ‘incorrect’ pulse will not affect the operation of the system. Only when incorrect pulses occur regularly will you see any negative effects.

• Correct. This counter shows how many pulses were received exactly when they were supposed to be.

• Missing. This counter shows how many pulses the RackInjector has detected as missing. A missing pulse is counted whenever a pulse is not received for nearly two seconds, and then once per second after that.

• Missing In Row. In the condition where pulses are being continually missed, i.e., in a GPS receiver failure, it is helpful to know how long it has been since the most recent pulse. This counter counts how many pulses have been missed since the last correct pulse.
• Double. This counter counts how many pulses occur right after another. This type of pulse often is a result of coupling between the sync pulse being provided to the radios and the sync pulse being received from the GPS receiver, usually caused by bundling cables together. These pulses are ignored and should not affect the operation of the RackInjector. However, if these occur regularly, then it would be prudent to examine the routing of the GPS receiver cabling to determine if it can be re-routed to limit the cross-coupling.
• Very Early, Slightly Early, Slightly Late, and Very Late. These count pulses which are received outside any of the windows above. Each should be fairly self-explanatory.
• Total Failed Secs. This counter counts the total number of seconds which are missing enough pulses to likely negatively affect the attached radios. If this counter regularly increments, it is likely an indication of a problem.
• Click here to reset counters button. Clicking on this section of the web interface will reset the counters. This is useful after an event or after the RackInjector has been running for a long time.

GPS Satellite Positions

This section of the screen is used to determine if you are having visibility problems with a portion of the sky.

On this ‘radar’ screen each satellite in view is shown. The number of the satellite is drawn at the satellite’s approximate position in the sky. The box around the number is colored green if that satellite is used by the GPS receiver in determining its position. A red box indicates that the satellite is visible but was not used.

In the event of a partial blockage, often you will find satellites within a portion of the ‘sky’ are never used. In this case, you can consider moving the GPS receiver to another location.

GPS Satellite Information

This section provides a detailed version of the data shown on the Position screen. For each satellite, the following information is shown:

• Type. This columns displays the constellation the GPS satellite belongs to, for example GPS or GLONASS.
• Sat. This is the GPS PRN number of the satellite, which will correspond to the Satellite Position Chart.
• Az and El. This is the azimuth and elevation of the satellite, which places it in the sky. Azimuth is relative to north, and elevation is relative to the horizon.
• SNR. This is an indicator of the signal received from the GPS. Higher numbers are better.
• Use. This column indicates whether that satellite was used in the position fix.

System Status Page

This page provides status about various portions of the system. It is divided into two portions:

Hardware Status

This section provides information about the Base Unit or Control Board Hardware. It contains the following information:

• Uptime. This shows the current time since the last power on or reset of the control board.
• Reset Reason. This shows the reason why the control board last reset, such as power on or a software failure.
• Power A, B, and C. This shows the voltage being received by the RackInjector control board on each of the three power inputs.
• GPS Port. This shows the voltage being sent out of the GPS port. It is normal for this value to be slightly lower than the highest positive voltage available to the RackInjector.
• Board Temperature. This shows the temperature of an onboard temperature sensor on the RackInjector. It shows the temperature inside the RackInjector.
• CPU Temperature. This shows the temperature of the CPU silicon.
• Board Revision. This shows the hardware revision of the control board in the RackInjector.

Ethernet Statistics

This section provides statistics about the Ethernet Interface on the Control Board.

• Link Speed. This shows the speed at which the interface has negotiated.
• Link Duplex. This shows the duplex that the interface has negotiated.
• RX OK Packets. This shows the number of packets the RackInjector Control Board has received from the network.
• TX OK Packets. This shows the number of packets the RackInjector Control Board has sent to the network.
• Receiver Overflows. This shows the number of packets the RackInjector dropped because it was busy. It is normal for this to occasionally increment, especially during certain web interface activities or high network activity.
• Single and Multiple collisions. These counters show the number of collisions which have occurred when sending packets. These counters are only applicable to Half-Duplex Mode.
• RX FCS Errors, RX Alignment Errors, RX Symbol Errors. These counters show the total count of various receiver errors which can occur if there are problems with the Ethernet interface

Configuration Page

This page is used to configure various portions of the RackInjector’s operation. It is divided into two portions:

Network Configuration

This section allows you to display and set the network addresses for the RackInjector. It contains the following information:

• IP Address, Netmask, Gateway. These are the IP addresses currently active in the RackInjector.
• MAC Address. This is the MAC address/ESN of the control board in the RackInjector

To change the network configuration, click on the gear icon in this section of the interface. A dialog box will pop up, asking you for the updated IP address. After you click ‘Accept Changes’, the IP address will be saved and will take effect immediately.

Authentication

This section allows the setting of the administrative password for the RackInjector.

Currently the RackInjector supports a single password for its administration. We expect this to change in an upcoming release to permit the creation of users with different sets of permissions (read only, reboot radios, or change configurations, etc).

For right now, clicking on the gear icon in this section of the interface will permit you to change the password of the web interface. The dialog box which pops up will prompt you for the current password, a new password, and a confirmation of the new password. Once you click accept, if all of the entries are correct (old password matches, new password is valid and matches confirmation), the password will take effect immediately and a new authentication window will pop up. If something has been entered incorrectly, it will silently fail.

ICMP Watchdog

This section allows you to configure the ICMP Watchdog feature. This feature will send ICMP Pings to a specified IP address, and if a reply is not received within a certain amount of time, reset the RackInjector Control Board.

Note

This reset should not result in the radios connected to the expansion bus losing power. However for revision A2 and earlier control boards, the power to the GPS receiver will be interrupted briefly. This interruption will cause a brief interruption of the GPS synchronization pulse to those receivers which need it. This final caveat does not apply to revision B0 and later control boards which contain a hardware modification to allow the GPS power to stay on during a reset.

This section contains the following information:

• Status. Shows whether the Watchdog functionality is enabled or disabled.
• Address to Ping. This displays the address of the device to ping. We recommend a device close to the RackInjector to avoid network problems causing an unintentional reboot. The default gateway for the RackInjector would be a good choice.
• Reboot Timeout (mins). This is the delay before the RackInjector will reboot. The Last Response value must reach this time before the reboot occurs. If you use the ICMP Watchdog Feature, we recommend you set this value to a fairly high number – 10 minutes or even more. This will prevent short network events from causing repeated reboots of the RackInjector.
• Last Response. This displays how long it has been since the RackInjector has last seen a response to its ping. Once this value reaches the “Reboot Timeout (mins)” value the RackInjector will reboot. It is normal for this value to count to approximately 5 seconds before resetting as the RackInjector sends out pings at 5 second intervals.

To change the ICMP Watchdog configuration, click on the gear icon in this section of the interface. A dialog box will pop up, asking you to update the configuration. After you click ‘Accept Changes’, the configuration will be saved and will take effect immediately.

SNMP

This section allows you to configure the SNMP functionality of the RackInjector. SNMP is used by SNMP monitoring tools to retrieve data from the RackInjector.

Note

This version of the RackInjector utilizes the following MIBs:

• PACKETFLUX-SMI
• PACKETFLUX-TC
• PACKETFLUX-PRODUCTS
• PACKETFLUX-POWERCONTROL-MIB
• PACKETFLUX-GNSS-MIB
• PACKETFLUX-SENSORS-MIB
• IF-MIB
• EtherLike-MIB
• IANAifType-MIB
• SNMPv2-MIB
• SNMPv2-SMI
• SNMPv2-TC

This documentation only covers basic configuration in this section, and does not include details about these MIBS. These details are contained in the MIB files themselves and can be viewed with a MIB viewer or browser

This section contains the following information:

• System Contact, Name and Location. These fields are reported to a SNMP monitoring tool to help the user of the tool to identify the system being monitored. They should be filled out with information appropriate to this RackInjector. These values are changed by clicking on the gear icon in this section of the interface.
• R/O Community. Clicking on the statement ‘click here to change’ will allow you to set a community string for read-only access to the device. Community strings are used like passwords via SNMP.
• R/W Community. Clicking on the statement ‘click here to change’ will allow you to set a community string for read-write access to the device. NOTE: In this version, we only support read-only access to the RackInjector. As a result, this string will be treated as a second read-only community until a future version of the RackInjector firmware supports read-write access.

Firmware Upgrade Page

This page permits uploading of updated firmware to the RackInjector and activating an already uploaded firmware. This page has two sections.

Existing Firmware Files

This section of the Firmware Upgrade page shows which Firmware files are currently on the RackInjector’s SD Card. It contains the following columns:

• Version. This corresponds to the date the firmware was released.
• Status. This shows the status of this firmware. The status will be one of three types:
• Inactive. This means that the firmware is not running, and is not selected for upgrade.
• Run After Reboot. This means that the RackInjector will upgrade to this firmware version after the next reboot.
• Currently Running. This means that the Firmware shown is the currently running firmware in the RackInjector.
• Icons. The icons on the right-hand side of this section allow you to perform actions on the firmware. Currently, the only icon which will appear is the ‘download’ icon ( ), which can be clicked on to select this firmware for upgrade.

Upload Firmware Files

This section of the Firmware Upgrade page is used to upload firmware to the RackInjector. The procedure is as follows:

1. Download the latest firmware from the PacketFlux website.
2. IMPORTANT: Before starting any uploads, click on ‘Reboot RackInjector’ to help ensure a successful upload. Wait for a few seconds for the unit to reboot (you may want to check Uptime on the System Status screen).
3. Click on the ‘Choose File’ button. Select the file which you downloaded from the website.
4. Click on ‘Upload Firmware File’ button. The firmware file will be uploaded to the RackInjector. After the RackInjector processes the upload, the firmware will appear on the list in the ‘Existing Firmware Files’ section.
5. Once the firmware appears on the list, you can click on the Checkmark next to the firmware file to select the file for upgrade. The status of this firmware file will change to ‘Run After Reboot’.
6. Click on the Reboot RackInjector button.
7. The RackInjector will reboot. Once it has completed its reboot process, the Status of the firmware file you selected will change to ‘Currently Running’.
8. Click on refresh in your web browser to load the most recent version of the web interface. If you do not perform this step, the web interface will not update, and it will not appear that anything has changed.

System Log Page

This page displays the content of the system log. It has one section which takes up the entire screen.

Note

If the log file does not appear on this screen, it may be too large to appear. If this occurs, we’d recommend downloading the log (if needed), and then clearing the log, using procedure described below.

The log file is useful to help troubleshoot problems with the RackInjector. Most customers should not need to refer to it.

The time shown in the first portion of each line is the length of time since the system was rebooted. In a future version of the firmware, this may be replaced with the actual date and time.

In addition, we have currently enabled full debugging logging in this firmware, to help diagnose any problems which our customers may have. We will allow the user to select how much logging they desire in a future release.

If you need to download the log, you can click on the download icon in the upper right-hand corner of the System Log section. This feature will be useful if we ask for a copy of the log file to help diagnose an issue.

If you would like to clear the system log, click on the trash can icon in the upper right hand corner of the System Log section. This should be done when the log gets quite long, and the log is not needed.