cnsview Command

Purpose

Provides information about changes to the parameters of a 7318 and its associated devices and drivers.

Syntax

cnsview [ -x SubCommand ] [ -c SubCommand ] [ DeviceList ]

Description

The cnsview command is normally used with Model P10s, but it can also be used with Model S20s that have P10-style ports. The command can execute subcommands from an interactive session or noninteractively when commands are passed as command-line arguments. Any subcommand that can be entered interactively can also be entered using the command line. For example:

cnsview -c "show traffic" 

displays the number of bytes exchanged over a 7318 port. The argument following the -c flag is the subcommand to be executed.

Note: Because this subcommand consists of two words, you must enclose the subcommand in quotes before it is passed to the AIX shell.

The same command can be entered interactively with the following sequence:

cnsview 
>
>
 show traffic 
>
>
 quit 

The >> (greater than) characters are the cnsview command prompt, similar to the AIX shell prompt.

When used interactively, the cnsview command reads input from standard input and displays the results of commands, if any, to standard output. You can use AIX file redirection and pipes for both input and output.

Note: Most end users should not have any need to use the cnsview command. It is intended primarily for the system administrator.

Flags

Selecting Devices

Most of the cnsview subcommands apply to a selected device or devices. If you do not otherwise specify a device, the cnsview command assumes the serial line or the 7318 currently in use. If you do not specify a 7318 port and attempt to run a command from a TTY device that is not a 7318 port, such as the system console, the command may report an error such as:

cnsview: operation not supported on /dev/console 

You can select one or more devices by listing them on the command line. For example:

cnsview -c "set hibaud" /dev/tty2 /dev/tty3

This command sets the hibaud property on two ports.

When you use the cnsview command interactively, you can also specify devices, using the set device subcommand. For example:

cnsview
>
>
 set device /dev/tty2 /dev/tty3
>
>
 set hibaud
>
>
 quit 

Note: When you are using the set device subcommand interactively, the shell file-name expansion facility is not available. Therefore, you must type in the full file name of each device.

You can select any device known to AIX, but most of the commands only work on 7318 devices.

You can use the show device command to display the list of selected devices. For example:

cnsview -c "show device" 

This command shows the device you are currently using.

Physical Port to TTY Mapping

Issue the cnsview commands to locate a physical port for a particular device, as shown in the following example.

cnsview -c "show devmap" /dev/tty6

The output is similar to the following:

cnsview -c "show eaddr" /dev/cns01

The output is similar to the following:

00406e0000bf

Where the value of station is used to build the device name. For example, a value of 1 for the station parameter is for the device, /dev/cns01.

Permissions

Only a 7318 device owner or a root user can run cnsview subcommands that affect the device. Subcommands that affect multiple devices such as the daemon command can only be run by a root user or a user with write access to the /dev/cns file.

cnsview Subcommands

The following subcommands can be used with the cnsview command:

set Property 

set Property 1 

set -Property

set Property 0 

Properties

Each device managed by the cnsview command has a collection of parameters or properties that the show command can display. The set command can modify some of these parameters.

Properties can be scalar (meaning they have a single value) lists that have multiple values, or aggregates that are a collection of properties selected by subproperty. Lists are like arrays in a programming language; aggregates are like structures. Scalar properties can be one of the types shown in the table below.

The cnsview command displays properties depending on their type and on the number of devices selected. When you select a single device, a scalar or list property displays as the value or list of values on a line by itself. For example:

show device 

/dev/tty2 

An aggregate displays with the subproperty name followed by a colon and then the value of the subproperty. For example:

show errors
 
parity: 0
frame:  1
overrun:2 

An aggregate qualified with a single subproperty displays like a scalar. For example:

show errors parity 
 
2 

When you select multiple devices, scalar values display with the device name and a colon preceding the value. For example:

set device /dev/tty2 /dev/tty3
 
show errors parity
 
 /dev/tty2:      2
/dev/tty3:      0 

When you select multiple devices, an aggregate displays as a table. For example:

set device /dev/tty2 /dev/tty3
 
show errors
 
                parity  frame   overrun 
 
/dev/tty2:        2        0       1
/dev/tty3:        0        1       0 

Global Properties

The following Global Properties table describes the global properties of the cnsview command:

Serial Port Properties

The following Serial Port Properties table describes the cnsview command properties and subproperties for serial ports:

Note:The -x flag only accepts the comstatus, comstats, sysstats, memstats, and heapstats subcommands.

Parallel Port Properties

The following Parallel Port Properties table describes the cnsview command properties and subproperties for 7318 LPT devices such as /dev/lpt01:

Note:The -x flag only accepts the comstatus, comstats, sysstats, memstats, and heapstats subcommands.

7318 Properties

7318 properties apply to/dev/cnsXX, where the XX parameter is the number of the 7318 on the system. Most of these parameters show contents of the nonvolatile RAM in the 7318 and are not directly relevant to the 7318 software package.

Note: The 7318 properties cannot be set using the cnsview command. They are for display only.

Exit Status

This command returns the following exit values:

Security

Access Control: You must have root authority to run this command.

Related Information

None