MSP432E401Y: DHCP Server example

Hello Jim,

Our Ethernet expert will be back Monday, I'll flag this for him to look at and respond to then.

Best Regards,

Ralph Jacobi

Hi,

  I find these few posts that I think will be helpful. 

https://e2e.ti.com/support/processors-group/processors/f/processors-forum/505226/handling-dhcp-client-timeout

https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/arm-based-microcontrollers-group/arm-based-microcontrollers/f/arm-based-microcontrollers-forum/991644/msp432e401y-ndk-dhcp-client-options

Hi,

Those posts look more related to DHCP Client issues. I am trying to run a DHCP server - there is an option to add one in the syscfg gui, but it does not appear to work simply by selecting it. It compiles and runs, but the service report function shows that the service has failed to start correctly. I have discovered that it seems necessary to change the netctrl ipv4 library from the min version to the full version, and I have hacked in some bits it then seems to need to compile (natpakt.c) but it still does not start and I'm stuck!

Any ideas?

Thanks

Jim

Hi Jim,  

  Sorry, I'm not so familiar with SimpleLink myself. 

Jim Whitehouse said:

I have tried using one of the Launchpad TI RTOS ccs demo projects, and adding a DHCP server in the config GUI.

Are you saying by adding the DHCP server service in sysconfig is not sufficient to work or at least compile?

Jim Whitehouse said:

So far, I have figured out that I need to change the netctrl_min_ipv4.aem4f library to netctrl_full_ipv4.aem4f. I also "borrowed" natpakt.c from the library sources, to provide something the linker was moaning about.

I suppose netctrl_min_ipv4.aem4f only contains the minimal library in order to reduce the memory footprint for most services that are not needed. I think it is possible to rebuild the library to just include the features you need but I think netctrl_full_ipv4.aem4f will have every features. 

I wonder if some timing issue as described in this post is relevant to your issue. https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp-low-power-microcontrollers-group/msp430/f/msp-low-power-microcontroller-forum/866576/msp432e411y-ndk---trying-to-obtain-gateway-ip-address/3209979?tisearch=e2e-sitesearch&keymatch=CfgGetImmediate#3209979

Hi,

If you just add a DHCP server to a TI RTOS project with the network also enabled, it compiles and runs but nothing happens. I added a service report function borrowed from the HTTP server examples:-

void serviceReport(uint32_t item, uint32_t status, uint32_t report, void *h)
{
 static char *taskName[] = {"Telnet", "", "NAT", "DHCPS", "DHCPC", "DNS"};
 static char *reportStr[] = {"", "Running", "Updated", "Complete", "Fault"};
 static char *statusStr[] = {"Disabled", "Waiting", "IPTerm", "Failed","Enabled"};

Display_printf(display, 0, 0, "Service Status: %-9s: %-9s: %-9s: %03d\n",
 taskName[item - 1], statusStr[status], reportStr[report / 256],
 report & 0xFF);

/* report common system issues */
 if ((item == CFGITEM_SERVICE_DHCPCLIENT) &&
 (status == CIS_SRV_STATUS_ENABLED) &&
 (report & NETTOOLS_STAT_FAULT)) {
 Display_printf(display, 0, 0, "DHCP Client initialization failed; check your network.\n");

while (1);
 }
}

This then reports:

Service Status: DHCPS    : Failed   :          : 000

Setting a breakpoint and stepping out leads to netsrv.c - static void ServiceSpawn( void *hCfg, void *hCfgEntry )

In here we find:

#if NETSRV_ENABLE_DHCPSERVER
case CFGITEM_SERVICE_DHCPSERVER:
{
    CI_SERVICE_DHCPS *pt = (CI_SERVICE_DHCPS *)pa;
    pa->hService = DHCPSOpen( &NTA, &(pt->param) );
}
break;
#endif

which is disabled.

I added NETSRV_ENABLE_DHCPSERVER and _NDK_EXTERN_CONFIG to the project config, then it doesn't build unless the lib file is changed to the full version (which is no problem).

It also can't find NatSetConfig which I solved by stealing a copy of natpkt.c from the library source code - perhaps I need to include another library but I have no idea what I'm doing here!

It then compiles and runs but still reports failure to start DHCPS.

This seems to be because:

DHCPSOpen()

...

rc = CfgGetImmediate( 0, CFGTAG_IPNET, pNTA->IfIdx, i,
sizeof(ci_net), (unsigned char *)&ci_net );

returns zero.

This seems to be looking through a table for something with CFGTAG_IPNET - which it doesn't find.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Jim

Hi Jim,

 Sorry for the delay. I have been searching e2e and come across this thread that I hope may be helpful.

https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/c2000-microcontrollers-group/c2000/f/c2000-microcontrollers-forum/993624/tms320f28388d-launching-the-dhcp-server-service-using-ndk-library?tisearch=e2e-sitesearch&keymatch=dhcp%20server#

 Please refer to the reply by Yashwant. Although the post is pertaining to a different device but I think the suggestion he made should be platform independent. In order to support DHCP server, the STACK library needs to change to ti/ndk/stack/lib/stk_nat.aem4 instead of ti/ndk/stack/lib/stk.aem4 in addition to linking to netctrl_full_ipv4.aem4f library. He also suggested to increase the stack size as it may not be sufficient. 

  Please also refer to the user's guide about the STACK library. https://software-dl.ti.com/simplelink/esd/simplelink_msp432e4_sdk/2.20.00.20/docs/ndk/NDK_Users_Guide.html#SPRU5239674

Hi,

Thanks for the help. Using the stk_nat.aem4 lib certainly fixed the problem with missing NatSetConfig.

Unfortunately, the DHCPS still refuses to start. I see in Yashwant's final comment, he mentioned adding

netAddr.NetType = CFG_NETTYPE_DHCPS;

I assume this is critical but I can't see anywhere to put it!

The generated code looks just like that in Yashwant's thread and ends with:

CfgAddEntry(hCfg, CFGTAG_SERVICE, CFGITEM_SERVICE_DHCPSERVER, 0, sizeof(dhcps), (unsigned char *)&dhcps, 0);

The constant CFGTAG_SERVICE is 3 and results in the item being added to a list at index 2.

Later, when we try and start the server, DHCPSOpen() calls:

rc = CfgGetImmediate( 0, CFGTAG_IPNET, pNTA->IfIdx, i, sizeof(ci_net), (unsigned char *)&ci_net );

Here, CFGTAG_IPNET is 4 so looks in the list at entry 3, which is empty, so fails.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Jim

Hi Jim,

 Sorry, I must admit my knowledge and experience in NDK and DHCP services is lacking. What is your index value? you pass in the variable i for the index. I don't know if you have the correct index. Have you tried  calling CfgGetEntryCnt() to get the total number of instances?  Have you tried CfgGetEntry() instead of CfgGetImmediate()?

I also find the below information which may be helpful. 

This link talks about CFG_NETTYPE_DHCPS. 

https://software-dl.ti.com/simplelink/esd/simplelink_msp432e4_sdk/3.10.00.11/docs/ndk/html/group__ti__ndk__inc__nettools__inc____Cfg.html#ga98d70b19e7c1a356d918ea640b441338

This link talks about  Virtual Net Server reported by DHCP SERVER if you search the key word CFG_NETTYPE_DHCPS

https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-rtos-jacinto7/06_02_00_21/exports/docs/ndk_3_61_01_01/docs/ndk/NDK_API_Reference.html

Section 6.3 of the below link talks about DHCP server. 

https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-rtos-jacinto7/06_02_00_21/exports/docs/ndk_3_61_01_01/docs/ndk/NDK_API_Reference.html#dhcp-server-service

Hi,

I too am tentatively picking my way around the NDK. Sorry, I can't call a different function - this is all NDK driver stuff.
So far, I have found that this is happening in the ConfigBoot task in netsrv.c

void NS_BootTask( void *hCfg )
    static void ServiceScan( void *hCfg )
        static void ServiceSpawn( void *hCfg, void *hCfgEntry )

In ServiceSpawn we find

#if NETSRV_ENABLE_DHCPSERVER
    case CFGITEM_SERVICE_DHCPSERVER:
    {
        CI_SERVICE_DHCPS *pt = (CI_SERVICE_DHCPS *)pa;
        pa->hService = DHCPSOpen( &NTA, &(pt->param) );
    }
    break;
#endif

We then jump to dhcps.c

void *DHCPSOpen( NTARGS *pNTA, NTPARAM_DHCPS *pNTP )
...
i = 1;
while(i)
{
    rc = CfgGetImmediate( 0, CFGTAG_IPNET, pNTA->IfIdx, i,sizeof(ci_net), (unsigned char *)&ci_net );
    if( rc <= 0 )
        goto error_abort;

That was the origin of tag = CFGTAG_IPNET = 4.

int CfgGetImmediate( void *hCfg, uint32_t Tag, uint32_t Item, uint32_t Instance, int MaxSize, unsigned char *pData )
{
    void *hCfgEntry;
    int rc,size;

    /* Get entry */
    rc = CfgGetEntry( hCfg, Tag, Item, Instance, &hCfgEntry );

int CfgGetEntry( void *hCfg, uint32_t Tag, uint32_t Item, uint32_t Index, void **phCfgEntry )
{
...

    /* Find the first entry. If no entries found, return */
    pe = _CfgEntryScan( pc->pCfgEntry[Tag-1], Tag, Item, 0, 0 );

This looks up pc->pCfgEntry[3] which is 0 so returns null - things go downhill from there.

There is an entry for [2] which was put in by the generated code in static void ti_ndk_config_dhcps_init(void *hCfg).

Any ideas?
Thanks

Jim

Hi Jim,

  I'm trying to understand if DHCP server service would require the file descriptor table, perhaps not. I'm wonder if CfgGetImmediate is called from a task that initializes the file description table by calling fdOpenSession in the beginning and fdCloseSession() at the end.

https://e2e.ti.com/support/processors-group/processors/f/processors-forum/715672/rtos-ti-rtos-proc-taskself-and-fdopensession-taskself

I understand that you are using the netctrl_full library which should already contain the support for DHCP server service. I'm just wondering if you were to rebuild the library manually with NETSRV_ENABLE_DHCPSERVER  set to 1 in packages\ti\ndk\inc\netctrl\netsrv.h, will it give the same problem?

#define NETSRV_ENABLE_DHCPSERVER 1