Coraid

Connecting to an appliance via CEC

Coraid appliances are accessible in several ways: a null-modem serial cable with the settings of 9600–8-N–1, KVM or preferably with the Coraid Ethernet Console (cec). CEC is a method for obtaining a console connection to the SR appliance using standard Ethernet frames. CEC is very lightweight and does not include any security or encryption mechanisms. This document outlines how to install cec on both a Linux and Windows host and connect to a Coraid shelf. NOTE: CEC requires a standard Ethernet NIC connected to the storage network in order to function.

Linux

Downloading cec

The latest version of cec can always be found under the “Related Software” section of our SR Support Page, or directly from Sourceforge where it is hosted. Currently, the url is https://sourceforge.net/projects/aoetools/files/cec/.

Installing cec

The cec client will compile and run on Linux, Solaris, and any BSD variants which support bpf. This example assumes you have a C compiler and make utility installed:

  • user@svr:~$ tar -xzf cec-14.tgz
  • user@svr:~$ cd cec-14
  • user@svr:~/cec-14$ make
  • + gcc -Wall -g -c cec.c
  • + gcc -Wall -g -c linux.c
  • + gcc -Wall -g -c hba.c
  • + gcc -Wall -g -c utils.c
  • + gcc -o cec cec.o linux.o hba.o utils.o
  • user@svr:~/cec-14$ su
  • Password:
  • root@svr:/home/user/cec-14# make install
  • mkdir -p /usr/sbin
  • cp cec /usr/sbin
  • + mkdir -p /usr/share/man/man8
  • + cp cec.8 /usr/share/man/man8/cec.8
  • root@svr:/home/user/cec-14#

Using cec

The cec client should be run as root or root-equivalent. The command usage for cec is simple:

cec [-s shelf] [-m mac] interface

Note that the default shelf address is -1 if it has not been set by the administrator.

In this example our shelf number is 9 and the initiator interface connected to the SR is eth0:

  • root@svr:~# cec -s 9 eth0
  • Probing for shelves ... shelf 9 found.
  • connecting ... done.
  • Escape is Ctrl-
  • SR9>

If you would prefer to chose from a list of shelves available on that interface, you can omit the -s option:

  • root@svr:~# cec eth0
  • Probing for shelves ... done.
  • SHELF | EA
  • -1 002590650E26,002590F47E22
  • 9 0025909B2567
  • [#qp]: 9
  • connecting ... done.
  • Escape is Ctrl- -SR9>

Pressing the escape sequence will return you to cec’s selection menu:

  • SR9> >>> q
  • SHELF | EA
  • -1 002590650E26,002590F47E22
  • 9 0025909B2567
  • [#qp]: q
  • root@svr:~#

From there you can pick either a shelf number (-1 or 9), quit (q), or re-probe (p) the interface for shelves. Selecting a shelf number of -1 will default to the first mac address on the list if multiple shelves do not have shelf addresses. If you wish to select a different shelf, but have not yet set up its shelf number, you can start cec with a -m mac option to connect directly to that shelf.

Once connected, you can execute commands as if connected to the local console. The SR command set can be viewed by entering help while detailed command descriptions are found in the SR Software User Manual located on the SR Support page.

To exit the cec terminal, press CTRL - , then q to quit.

Windows

Downloading cec

Click here to download the latest version of Windows CEC.

Installing cec

Windows CEC requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 update (may require reboot) and when the installation starts, it will attempt to download/install this update automatically. If for any reason it fails, please download the update manually from Microsoft or use Windows Updates.

The latest version of WinPcap is also required.

Once the install has finished, you have the option to view a short readme file and it is recommended that you do so for additional details and requirements for Windows CEC.

Using cec (Start Menu > All Programs > Coraid > Windows CEC)

When the program starts, it automatically opens the ‘Shelf Probe’ dialog at which point you can connect to whichever shelf number you need.

Once connected, press ENTER and you should be at the prompt for the specified shelf at which point you can execute commands as if connected to the local console. The SR command set can be viewed by entering ‘help‘ while detailed command descriptions are found in the SR Software User Manual located on the SR Support page.