Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pilchuck!amc-gw!john
From: john@amc-gw.amc.com (John Sambrook)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.encore
Subject: inactivity_timer on original Annex box
Message-ID: <1068@amc-gw.amc.com>
Date: 19 Dec 89 18:53:36 GMT
Reply-To: john@amc-gw.amc.com (John Sambrook)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Lines: 62

Hi,

I hope this is a reasonable place to ask this question.  If there is a better
place to ask it please let me know.  Also, I tried calling the local Encore
office, but they aren't answering their telephone.

We have an original Annex box.  I would like to use it for connecting multiple
serial ports from a Honeywell DPS-6 computer to our Engineering ethernet.  The
DPS-6 is operated by our MIS department and many of our engineers need to 
access it.  Unfortunately, the system has a limited number of serial ports,
so we need share them and optimize their use.

The problem I am having is that the inactivity_timer doesn't seem to work.
The Annex software I am running is something labelled '4.0 Beta'.  I think
this is an old release, but it is the most current release that I could 
find.  I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me what the current release
level is.

Here is the configuration information for the serial ports that I would
like to connect to our MIS system:

        echo Setting serial port parameters for MIS ports:
        port 2
	set port mode slave
	set port location mis
	set port type hardwired
	set port speed 9600
	set port bidirectional_modem N
	set port default_modem_hangup Y
	set port control_lines flow_control
	set port input_flow_control start/stop
	set port output_flow_control start/stop
	set port ixany_flow_control Y
	set port forwarding_timer 0
	set port inactivity_timer 2
	set port input_is_activity N
	set port output_is_activity Y
	set port reset_idle_time_on output
	set port allow_broadcast N
	set port port_server_security N
	
I have also defined a rotary for the MIS system as follows:

    	mis: ps_visible direct_camp_on=ask 2@annex+mis

This allows me to say "telnet mis" from any system on our ethernet and
be connected to the MIS system.  This works fine.

The problem is that, if I leave the connection completely idle, it never
times out.  That is to say, the inactivity timer doesn't seem to be working.
If I telnet to the annex box and connect to the CLI, I can see that the
job is accumulating idle time.  However, the connection is never broken, 
which is what I would expect.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,

-- 
John Sambrook                             DNS: john@amc.com
Applied Microsystems Corporation	 UUCP: amc-gw!john
Redmond, Washington  98073               Dial: (206) 882-2000 ext. 630