Requires Optional LAN/X.25 Software

NAME

rlb − remote loopback diagnostic

SYNOPSIS

rlb [−e] [−t]

DESCRIPTION

rlb is a diagnostic program for LAN/9000 Local Area Network (LAN) products.  to use this diagnostic, NetIPC software must be installed on the system. 

rlb tests communication with other nodes on a LAN.  The Remote Communications Test mode is used to initiate the exchange of messages between the local system and known remote nodes on the network.  Messages can be exchanged with specified nodes or can automatically poll all nodes listed in the node name file.  Parameters such as message length, number of messages, timeout value, and display of message round trip times can be set.  rlbdaemon must be running on any system being interacted with when using Remote Communications Test mode. 

Commands are read from stdin, prompts and error messages are written to stderr, and status and message exchange displays are written to stdout.  The interrupt signal, usually the Break key, can be used to generate an interrupt of a currently executing command, if rlb is initiated interactively.  If commands are read from a file, Ctrl-| causes control to return to the shell. 

rlb accepts either complete command words or unique abbreviations of one or more letters.  Commands treat uppercase and lowercase letters as equivalent.  Multiple commands can be entered on one line if they are separated by spaces, tabs or commas. 

The options are:

−e Echo the input commands on the output device. 

−t Suppress the display of the command menu before each command prompt.  This option is identically equivalent to the Test Selection mode terse command.  The default for rlb is verbose. 

Available Test Selection mode commands are:

menu Displays the Test Selection mode command menu. 

quit Terminates the rlb program. 

remote Puts the diagnostic in Remote Communications Test mode. 

terse Suppresses display of command menus. 

verbose Restores default display of command menus. 

Commands available in the Remote Communications Test mode are:

name Prompts for the name of a node name file used by the all command to determine which nodes to exchange messages with.  The node name file must be an ASCII text file and have the following format:

• One node name per line. 

• Each node name can be followed by a comment. 

• Each node name consists of the name field, and the optional environment and organization fields, which are separated by periods. 

• Each field of the node name can be up to 16 alphanumeric characters in length and must begin with an alphabetic character. 

• Empty node names are not allowed. 

all Causes rlb to poll all nodes on the local network listed in the node name file.  The list of nodes to be polled is taken from the node name file.  The node name file is specified with the Remote Communication Test mode name command.  The default is /etc/diagnodes. 

continue Forces rlb to continue message exchanges with a remote node, even if transmit/receive message data differs.  The default is to terminate the exchange if the data differs. 

display Causes rlb to compute and display message round-trip times.  Round-trip time is the time messages take to make the round trip between the local node and a remote node.  The operator can enter a trigger value to control how often the times are displayed.  The default for display is off. 

end Returns rlb to Test Selection mode. 

length Prompts for a new message length for messages being exchanged with remote nodes.  The default length is 100 bytes and the maximum length is 1450 bytes. 

menu Displays the Remote Communications Test mode command menu. 

number Prompts for a new value for the number of messages to be exchanged with remote nodes.  The default value is 1.  To set number to a value greater than 10, you must have appropriate privileges.  The maximum allowable number is 231 − 1. 

quit Terminates the rlb program. 

single Prompts for a node name, then executes message exchanges with that remote node. 

timeout Prompts for a new timeout value, which determines how long rlb waits for a response from a remote node.  The default value is 10 seconds.  The maximum allowable timeout value is 600 seconds. 

AUTHOR

rlb was developed by HP. 

SEE ALSO

linkloop(1M), nodename(1), ping(1M), rlbdaemon(1M). 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  HP-UX Release 9.0: August 1992