stp(7P)

stp - Scheduled Transfer Protocol

As shipped in IRIX 6.5.22. Last changed in IRIX 6.5.15.

NAME
     stp - Scheduled Transfer Protocol

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/socket.h>
     #include <netinet/in.h>

     s = socket(AF_STP, SOCK_SEQPACKET, IPPROTO_STP);

DESCRIPTION
     STP is a data transfer protocol that uses small control messages to pre-
     arrange data movement. Buffers are allocated at the sending and the
     receiving end before the data transmission, allowing full-rate, non-
     congesting data flow between the end devices.  The control and data may
     use different physical media, or may share a single physical medium.

     The read(2) or recv(2) and write(2) or send(2) system calls should be
     used to transfer data over STP sockets. By the very nature of STP, a send
     operation on an STP socket must have a corresponding receive at the peer
     in order for progress to be made.  This is because STP is fundamentally a
     ``no-copy'' protocol, where transfers are a-priori scheduled to occur
     directly from user-space to user-space: there is no intermediate copy of
     user-payload into kernel-space.  If the user buffer is not aligned on a
     double word boundry it may be realigned inside kernel memory resulting in
     a bcopy of user data depending on the type of physical NIC.

     The sendmsg(2) and recvmsg(2) system calls may be used in a restricted
     fashion for scatter-gather operations.  The msg_name and msg_namelen
     fields in the msghdr structure are ignored.  The msg_iov field has the
     following restrictions.  If the msg_iovlen == 1 then the vector (buffer)
     being sent must only meet the device alignment restrictions.  If msg_len
     is greater than one then the msg_iov[0].iov_base must end on a 2^ST_BUFSZ
     boundry. The middle vectors msg_iov[1].iov_base thru msg_iov[msg_iovlen-
     2].iov_base must be of length 2^ST_BUFSZ if they exist.  The last vector
     msg_iov[msg_iovlen-1].iov_base must start on a 2^ST_BUFSZ boundy.  The
     first, middle and last vector must also meet the device alignment
     restrictions. The msghdr may contain zero length vectors which are
     removed before sending.

     STP supports several socket options which can be tested with
     getsockopt(2) and manipulated with setsockopt(2).  These options are
     defined in <netinet/st.h>.


     ST_CTS_OUTSTD
          Tells the ST socket how many outstanding clear-to-sends (CTS-es) the
          initiator of a write()/send() can handle. Other things remaining
          equal, increasing this value pipelines the data transfer, and is
          expected to increase bandwidth.  The default value for ST sockets is
          128. The data type for the {set|get}socketopt is an unsigned short.

     ST_BLKSZ
          Modifies the BlockSize parameter, as defined in the ST protocol
          standard. Other things remaining equal, a larger blocksize is
          expected to increase bandwidth. The parameter is specified as a
          power of 2. The default block size is 24 (16 MB). The maximum block
          size is 24.  The data type for the {set|get}socketopt is an unsigned
          short.


     ST_BUFSZ
          The size of buffers to use for the transfer. As explained in the ST
          protocol specification, this information is exchanged between the
          initiator and the responder of a transfer during connection set-up.
          Other things remaining equal, a larger bufsize is expected to
          increase bandwidth. Note that setting a bufsize of N bytes makes
          sense if and only if the user buffer's physical memory fragments are
          each of size at least N bytes. The parameter is specified as a power
          of 2. The default bufsize is 14 (16 Kbytes).  The data type for the
          {set|get}socketopt is an unsigned int.


     ST_STUSZ
          The default size of the Scheduled Transfer Unit (STU) to be
          transmitted.  (STU is similar to an MTU - Maximum Transfer Unit - on
          most networks.) This can be throttled down by the other end-point
          per the STP specification. The parameter is specified as a power of
          2. Default size is 24 (16777216 bytes) on GSN and 10 (1024 bytes) on
          all versions of ethernet. Also note that the actual STU size is the
          minimum of the ST_BLKSZ and ST_STUSZ parameters, per the STP
          specification.  The data type for the {set|get}socketopt is an
          unsigned int.


     ST_OUT_VCNUM
          The virtual circuit to be used for payload packets -- can be set to
          2 or 3. The default VC used for payload packets is 3.  [This
          parameter makes sense for Gigabyte System Network hardware only.]
          The data type for the {set|get}socketopt is an unsigned char.


     ST_TX_SPRAY_WIDTH
          The size of spray to be used for sending payload. This parameter can
          be set to 1, 2, 4, or 8. The default spray size used for a send is 1
          ("no spray").  [Setting the spray width should be done very
          carefully, since it is easy to get garbled data on a transfer if all
          parameters of the spray are not exactly right.  This parameter makes
          sense for the Gigabyte System Network hardware only.]  The data type
          for the {set|get}socketopt is an unsigned char.

     ST_RX_SPRAY_WIDTH
          The size of spray to be used for receiving payload. This parameter
          can be set to 1, 2, 4, or 8. The default spray size used for a
          receive is 1 ("no spray").  [Setting the spray width should be done
          very carefully, since it is easy to get garbled data on a transfer
          if all parameters of the spray are not exactly right.  This
          parameter makes sense for the Gigabyte System Network hardware
          only.]  The data type for the {set|get}socketopt is an unsigned
          char.


     ST_USE_APPEND_PORT
          This allows the user to specify to the STP stack to use an append
          data port.  This parameter can be 0 to use normal port or 1 to have
          it be an append port.  [This parameter makes sense for the Gigabyte
          System Network hardware only.]  The data type for the
          {set|get}socketopt is an unsigned char.


     ST_MAP_PORT_DIRECT
          This allows the user to specify a hardware port to use directly
          instead of having the STP stack assign one.  This parameter can be 0
          to let the STP stack choose a hardware port or 1 to have it user
          specified.  The user specified value is the port to which the socket
          is bound.  [This parameter makes sense for the Gigabyte System
          Network hardware only.]  The data type for the {set|get}socketopt is
          an unsigned char.


EXAMPLE
       int sd;        /* socket file descriptor */
       u_char st_port_spray =  1;
       uint     st_port_stusz = 14;
       uint     st_port_bufsz = 14;
       ushort st_port_blksz = 24;

       ... OPEN SOCKET ...

       if(setsockopt(sd, IPPROTO_STP, ST_TX_SPRAY_WIDTH,
                     &st_port_spray, sizeof(st_port_spray)) < 0) {
         perror("setsockopt ST_TX_SPRAY_WIDTH failed");
         exit(-1);
       }

       if(setsockopt(sd, IPPROTO_STP, ST_RX_SPRAY_WIDTH,
                     &st_port_spray, sizeof(st_port_spray)) < 0) {
         perror("setsockopt ST_RX_SPRAY_WIDTH failed");
         exit(-1);
       }

       if (setsockopt(sd, IPPROTO_STP, ST_STUSZ,
                      &st_port_stusz, sizeof(st_port_stusz)) < 0) {
         perror("setsockopt ST_STUSZ failed");
         exit(-1);
       }

       if (setsockopt(sd, IPPROTO_STP, ST_BUFSZ,
                      &st_port_bufsz, sizeof(st_port_bufsz)) < 0) {
         perror("setsockopt ST_BUFSZ failed");
         exit(-1);
       }

       if (setsockopt(sd, IPPROTO_STP, ST_BLKSZ,
                      &st_port_blksz, sizeof(st_port_blksz)) < 0) {
         perror("setsockopt ST_BLKSZ failed");
         exit(-1);
       }



DIAGNOSTICS
     A socket operation may fail with one of the following errors returned:


     [EISCONN]      when trying to establish a connection on a socket which
                    already has one, or when trying to send a datagram with
                    the destination address specified and the socket is
                    already connected.


     [ENOTCONN]     when trying to send a datagram, but no destination address
                    is specified, and the socket hasn't been connected.


     [EHOSTUNREACH] The desination address can not be reached.  Check
                    harp/arp.


     [EPIPE]        The socket had an error and the connection was torn down.


     [ECONNABORTED] The socket had an error and the connection was torn down.


     [EADDRNOTAVAIL]
                    when an attempt is made to create a socket with a network
                    address for which no network interface exists.


     [ETIMEDOUT]    A keepalive timer or send/recv timer has expired and the
                    operation was aborted.

     [EINVAL]       The page size of buffers passed to send/recv is too large
                    or small based on the  specified blocksize.  This can also
                    be received when an invalid socket option is attempted.


     [EPROTONOSUPPORT]
                    Trying to use STP on a device for which it is not
                    supported.


     [EOPNOTSUPP]   Most likely trying to send/recv OOB data which is not
                    supported.


     [ENOBUFS]      The system has run out of memory for an internal data
                    structure.


     [ENOMEM]       The system has run out of memory for an internal data
                    structure or the blocksize is greater than the maxdmasz
                    (maximum DMA size - see systune(1M)).


     [EFAULT]       Tried to send/recv in a buffer that is not owned by the
                    application.


SEE ALSO
     send(2), recv(2), intro(3), write(2), read(2), systune(1M)
     IRIX Network Programming Guide,
     ANSI T11.1/Project 1245-D: Scheduled Transfer Protocol specifications at
     http://www.hippi.org