WISPA Version 2.0, a Windows Packet-Driver for Common-ISDN-API 1.1 DLL-Interface
Herbert Hanewinkel, Dec 1997
heha@biochem.mpg.de
Registration
WISPA is Shareware
WISPA, as it is provided, is a demo version. To make use of the full
capabilities of WISPA you have to register WISPA. The basic registration
fee for a single user version of WISPA is DM 70,-. Please read the file
wispa.txt (German version: wispa-d.txt)for
details.
As long as you have NOT registered WISPA you may test WISPA for 30
days without a registration code. In this case WISPA will stop forwarding
data 15 min after startup.
Disclaimer
The program and this documentation is
Copyright (C) 1993-1997 by Herbert Hanewinkel,
All Rights Reserved.
It is provided as shareware with the following limitations:
This program is copyrighted and it is not in the public domain. It
may not be distributed for profit or included in any CD-ROM or diskette
software collection without permission. This applies in particular to commercial
PD libraries. The program is not to be resold or distributed for sale with
other programs which are for sale without my express written permission.
There is no warranty or claim of fitness or reliability. The program
is distributed AS IS, and as such the author shall NOT be held liable for
any loss of data, down time, loss of revenue or any other direct or indirect
damage or claims caused by this program.
If you are a distributor of ISDN products and would like to distribute
unregistered versions of this software or to sell registered versions of
this software with printed hard copy manuals, please contact me. You may
not bundle or otherwise distribute this software with any other software
without my express written permission (i.e., on the same diskettes as part
of a commercial package, compressed along with other software, etc.).
Overview
WISPA (Windows ISdn PAcket driver) emulates an ethernet-type (class=1)
Packet-Driver for IP-Routing or remote Ethernet bridging over ISDN under
Microsoft Windows. WISPA communicates with the ISDN card using the Common-ISDN-API-1.1-DLL
specification (a standard defined by German ISDN card manufacturers and
the German Telekom). Because of this, WISPA is completely hardware independent.
WISPA was developed for use with Trumpet Winsock, to provide a simple
and easy way for Internet access over ISDN.
WISPA supports a large set of protocols for communication with other
vendors ISDN routers or servers. Among these protocols are: LAPB, Frame-Relay,
PPP, SLIP, Cisco-HDLC.
WISPA is a Windows program for use with CAPI 1.1 DLL implementations.
WISPA was written for use with ISDN BRI PC cards.
WISPA can communicate at least with the following commercial systems:
3COM Sonix Arpegio, ACOTEC MPR, Ascend Routers, AVM MPR 3.0, Biodata
ISDN Router, Cisco Routers, Conet S2M Router, INS/CLS Banzai ISDN Router,
netCS ISDN Router, RzK SLIP Bridge, SGI Indy ISDN 1.0 & 1.1, Shiva
AccessPort, Spyder Routers, SunLink ISDN 1.0 & 1.0.2.
The current version of WISPA supports two independent active connections
at a time. Alternativly a connection can use both B-channels for loadsharing.
Loadsharing can be configured as static or dynamic (bandwidth on demand).
Dynamic loadsharing can be used concurrently with a second independent
connection.
Loadsharing over two channels is implemented using simple round robin
scheduling, because IP doesn't require the original packet sequence. This
is completely hardware independent and supported by many router systems.
It works the same way as Cisco implements loadsharing over to X.21 interfaces.
With this kind of loadsharing it is possible to get a performance of up
to around 13kBytes/s. MLPPP will be available in a future release.
Installation
-
To use WISPA you have to set up a configuration file with your ISDN configuration
as described in the configuration guide. The default name for the configuration
file is WISPA.INI. Please read the configuration guide
for details.
-
To load the Packet Driver into memory run WISPA.EXE under Windows after
starting your CAPI software and before starting your Internet software
(e.g. Trumpet TCPman).
-
To load WISPA automatically with Trumpet TCPman, you can use the following
trick:
-
change to your Trumpet WINSOCK directory
-
Rename TCPMAN.EXE to TCPMAN1.EXE
-
Copy WISPA.EXE and WISPA.INI to the WINSOCK directory
-
Rename WISPA.EXE to TCPMAN.EXE
e.g:
cd \WINSOCK
ren TCPMAN.EXE TCPMAN1.EXE
copy \WISPA\WISPA.*
ren WISPA.EXE TCPMAN.EXE
Deinstallation
Unloading WISPA with an active Packet Driver application may cause a PC
to crash. Close the Packet Driver application (e.g. Trumpet Winsock) before
closing WISPA.
Users Guide
Options
WISPA.EXE can be started with the following optional command line arguments:
(You can enter arguments for a Windows program via the Properties menu
of the Programmanager.)
WISPA [Flags PacketInterrupt [ConfigFile]]]
Flags
-
- null option
-
-unload sends an unload request to an already running copy of WISPA.
PacketInterrupt defines the software interrupt for the Packet Driver
application. The value has to be in the range from 0x60 to 0x80. The default
PacketInterrupt is 0x60.
ConfigFile specifies the name of the WISPA configuration file.
If the name is not given, it defaults to "WISPA.INI". The configuration
file is a readable text file. How to set up a configuration file and a
complete reference of all configuration options is described in the configuration
guide.
Menus
To control and monitor ISDN connections the program offers the following
menus:
File
Setup starts the Notepad with your configuration file. You have
to restart the program to load a modified configuration file into memory.
Register prompts for the licence key and your name, company.
The personal information in the name field must be at least 12 characters
long. To activate a licence key you have to restart the program. After
restart check the info menu to know if the licence information was accepted.
Save Buffer saves the screen contents to a file. If the file
exists the contents is appended to the file.
Exit terminates the program
View
Status selects the status page for display.
Configuration displays the active configuration.
Log dislays a connnection and optionally trace log.
Trace
Use the trace only for debugging NOT in normal operation.
CAPI Messages logs all messages exchanged with the CAPI software
(except data transfer)
PPP Setup allows to trace the setup of a PPP connection. PPP
data packets are not logged.
Application Interface logs information related to the upper layer
interface (packet or NDIS)
Control
Connect manually connects to an IP destination. In case of PPP
with authentication the program prompts for authentication information.
The initial setting of the repeated dial request option depends on the
Preferences configuration.
Disconnect disconnects all active ISDN connections or terminates
a repeated dial reuqest.
Reset Statitstics resets all counters.
AutoDial enable or disabes the auto dial feature.
Preferences defines the initial program settings. Selectable
are the language of menus and messages, the cost per unit and currency
value and the initial setting of the repeated dial option. All settings
are saved in a file ISDNMON.INI.
-
The program beeps on connect and disconnect. If the Play Sound option
is checked, the program will play the .WAV files assigned to "ISDNup" on
connect and "ISDNdown" on disconnect.
-
The Save Log option will automatically save the log pages on program
exit (only for registered users).
-
If Show Up Time is selected the icon or taskbar title will show
the connect time.
Help
Info displays program version information.
Connection state
The state of an ISDN connection is displayed on its status page and in
place of an icons title by the following codes:
_ = free,
D = D-channel up,
C = B-channel requested,
B = B-channel up,
A = active, ISDN connection up,
additional information for PPP:
L = LCP configuration up,
I = PAP/CHAP configuration up, IPCP configuration started,
P = PPP connection up
additional information for SLIP:
S = SLIP configuration up
Ethernet characteristics
WISPA works as an ethernet type Packet Driver. The ethernet address of
WISPA is defined as: 00-00-0xFB-0xAA-00-<pkt-int>. (Thanks to RzK, Asbach,
Germany for using numbers from their official 00-00-0xFB range.) "pkt-int"
is replaced by the software interrupt number in the range 0x60 to 0x80
used for accessing WISPA.
Changing the ethernet address may be required when connecting two WISPA's
with direct applications using an ethernet bridging protocol.
Avaliability
The latest version of WISPA is available on www.biochem.mpg.de/~heha
or via ftp from:ftp.biochem.mpg.de
in directory /pc/isdn.
Support
Please mail comments, questions, problems to heha@biochem.mpg.de.
I can not guarantee any level of technical support, or for any length of
time. In general, I will give priority to registered users.
Warranty
There is absolutely NO WARRANTY, expressed or implied with this software.
If you choose to use this software, you assume all risk.