Introduction to the Comtrol nslinktool:

This will be a very basic introduction to the nslinktool application. This is “as is” and is a “work in

progress”.

DESCRIPTION

Comtrols’ nslinktool is an X11 based GUI front end that allows the user to perform common

administrative tasks related to the DeviceMaster. The Comtrol nslinktool is written in Python using the

tkinter package and both must be installed to run nslinktool.

REQUIREMENTS

1. tkinter package installed on your Linux system

2. The latest Comtrol nslink driver installation. (ftp://ftp.comtrol.com/dev_mstr/rts/drivers/linux/)

ENVIRONMENT

Comtrols' nslinktool does not use any environment variables other than those used by the Python and

tkinter packages.

Operations

Start by going to your nslink driver installation directory or usr/sbin to run “make” then "make install".

This will install nslinktool in /usr/sbin which is normally on root's PATH after installing tkinter and run

./nslinktool&

The Comtrol nslinktool performs three major functions:

1. Start/stop/restart the NS-Link device driver and its associated daemon. It also allows the user to

control whether the driver will be started automatically at system boot.

2. Edit the configuration file /etc/nslink.conf.

3. Examine and configure the IP addressing information in DeviceMasters.

Driver Administration

The initial window that is seen when nslinktool is started is the driver administration window. It contains

four lines of status information and seven buttons:

This should start the Comtrol NS-Link GUI as seen here:

Command Button graphics will be shown individually

Status Lines

Init system:

Shows what kind of init system is

loaded as the system.

Kernel module:

Shows whether the nslink kernel

module is currently running in the

kernel. This is based on the

information available in

/proc/modules.

Daemon:

Shows whether the daemon nslinkd is

currently running. This is based on the

file /var/run/nslinkd.pid and the

existence of a matching PID in /proc.

Driver startup:

Shows whether the driver and daemon

are configured to be loaded/run at

system boot. This is determined by

querying the init system in use.