TroubleshootingArctic GPRS/EDGE devicesV. 2.0

Lauri Helenius

Technical Support

Contents

This slide set provides information for troubleshooting the Viola Systems (2G) Arctic devices.

Contents:• Troubleshooting overview• Identifying the Arctic device• Utilities/Tools for troubleshooting• Syslog messages• Frequently asked questions• Arctic bootup, related erros• Contacting the Technical Support

Troubleshooting process

• Define the environment – how it should work• Technologies, products, protocols, network design

• Gather the symptoms – how you see the problem• What is not working, where you can see it

• Isolate the root cause – analyze, rule out• Follow good troubleshooting practices *)

• Create a solution – focus for permanent solution• Permanent solution rather than a quick fix

• Document the solution – store the work for later use• Follow good documentation practicies

*) E.g. Kepner-Tregoe, Pareto, Fault tree, cause-and-effect, ITIL RPR

Troubleshooting process

Some tips:

• Create a troubleshooting plan

• Gather as much information from the system as you can

• Draw a picture

• Learn technologies

• Test in lab environment

• Use flow charts

• Search the Internet

• Try one variable at the time and track changes

Identifying the Arctic device

The Arctic device can be identified with the following:• Unique MAC address

• The sticker at the bottom of the device

• In command line: cat /proc/config/ethaddr• From the Arctic GUI System

• Product/HW serial number• The sticker at the bottom of the device

• From the Arctic GUI System

• IMEI of the device’s cellular modem• Arctic GUI Tools Modem info

• In command line: modeminfo

• Firmware version as additional information• From the Arctic GUI System

• In command line: firmware

UtilitiesAn open source toolbox for troubleshooting and supporting

the Arctic devices would include e.g. the following programs:

Wireshark• Network protocol analyzer

WinSCP• Secure copy for Windows

Notepad ++• Text editor e.g. for processing log files in PC

PuTTY• Telnet/SSH/serial client

Jsummer• Calculating and checking message digests

Open ofice suite• e.g. "Draw" for drawing network diagrams

Arctic’s connectionOpen Arctic Configurator GUI Network Summary. Check from “Network

Interface Summary” that you can see the following interfaces:1. - Ethernet2. - Loopback3. - GPRS4. - VPN

If GPRS interface is missing, check Arctic's GUI Network GPRS:- "GPRS enabled" = Yes- Access Point Name = <check from your cellular provider>- PIN code = <the PIN code of SIM, if enabled>- GPRS username = <check from your cellular provider> or try dummy value- GPRS password = <check from your cellular provider> or try dummy value

If VPN is missing, check Arctic's GUI Network L2TP/SSH-VPN:- Use (L2TP/SSH)-VPN = yes- Primary interface = GPRS- Primary server IP = <public IP address of M2M GW>- Primary server port = 1701 (L2TP) or 22 (SSH)

Arctic’s connection -II

If you have changed the VPN port from default in M2M GW, enter the value of the new port.

Check as well that the M2M GW allows the connections from Internet to the changed VPN port (Firewall’s Input table: accept UDP (L2TP-VPN) or TCP (SSH-VPN) for new port).

- The L2TP-VPN username (if L2TP-VPN is used) must be the same as Arctic’s hostname and also same name is configured in M2M GW's L2TP-VPN peer settings

- The L2TP-VPN password (if L2TP-VPN is used) = must be the same than configured in M2M GW's L2TP-VPN peer settings

- The Arctic’s hostname must be the same as the SSH-VPN peer’s name in M2M GW.

Syslog

• Arctic device has embedded Linux, which prints important messages to the syslog.

• The syslog can be read in console/telnet connection by command cat /var/log/messages

• In order to show ten most recent messages and constantly the new messages appearing in the syslog, use command tail -f /var/log/messages

• Some times it may be difficult to exit from “tail –f” command output with <ctrl-c>. The following command can be used repetitively: tail -15 /var/log/messages

Syslog messages

• Serial port RS1, console or data mode?<15> Mar 5 21:14:30 serialgw[RS1]: Checking RS1 mode

(console or data)

<15> Mar 5 21:14:30 serialgw[RS1]: RS1 is on data mode

• Is there an accepted connection coming in to serial GW?<15> Mar 5 21:14:45 serialgw[RS1]: incoming tcp connection

from 172.30.30.30

<15> Mar 5 21:14:45 serialgw[RS1]: Incoming TCP connection

accepted • Multiple consecutive connection attempts? Check the “new

connection priority parameter”.<15> Mar 5 21:20:28 serialgw[RS1]: New connection request

<15> Mar 5 21:20:28 serialgw[RS1]: Already connected, rejecting

• How the Modbus GW serial port shows in the log?<15> Mar 5 20:03:37 modbusgw[RS2]: Network protocol is

ModbusTCP

Syslog messages - II

• L2TP peer not enabled in M2M GW?<28> Jul 23 07:14:40 pppd[171]: LCP: timeout

sending Config-Requests

• SSH-VPN not enabled in M2M GW or Wrong SSH key for Arctic in M2M GW?

<11> Jul 24 06:35:23 syslog: Couldn't set tty to PPP discipline: Interrupted system call

• Wrong GPRS APN, username and/or password?The following messages repeated five times with 0.0.0.0:

<15> Jul 16 11:25:07 syslog: sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x1 <addr 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns1 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns3 0.0.0.0>]

Frequently asked questions

Q: The IP-address and netmask are missing in Arctic’s GUI (they cannot be read) and I cannot set them.

A: You have probably set them in arctic> command line with command setenv ipaddr=<IP address>, setenv netmask=<netmask> and saveenv.

The problem is that those parameters should be given with space as a separator for parameter and value. Using equal sign (=) as a separator will cause an error in parsing the value.

Correct with going to the arctic> command line in console connection by hitting any key within three seconds from device start, then re-enter the values without equal sign, e.g. as to following:

setenv ipaddr 10.10.10.10setenv netmask 255.0.0.0saveenvboot

Frequently asked questions

Q: How to restore the Arctic to the factory defaults?

A: There are two methods:• From the Arctic GUI Tools Default settings

• In command line: /etc/defaults/setdef.sh

Note that the IP address and netmask are not reverted back to defaults. You can change them by the following commands in arctic> command line (via console):

setenv ipaddr 10.10.10.10

setenv netmask 255.0.0.0

saveenv

boot

Frequently asked questions

Q: There is a wrong PIN number entered in Arctic, how to change it?

A: The wrong PIN number can be seen in syslog:<15> Mar 10 05:15:04 setpin: PIN status:Requires PIN1

<15> Mar 10 05:15:04 setpin: PIN attempts left:1 (Arctic requires >=2 for PIN1)

<15> Mar 10 05:15:04 setpin: Please check SIM manually

• PIN can be changed as follows:Put the SIM card to a mobile phone, enter the correct PIN number, change the Arctic’s PIN number to the correct one and re-insert the SIM card to Arctic.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Why the GPRS connection is ended after approximately two minutes?

A: 1) You have enabled connection checking from Network/Monitor menu but not set the correct (available) IP address to GPRS “ICMP Echo settings”.

2) The “PPP idle timeout” is set to two minutes and the connection is idle for that time.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How to check current DNS servers used by Arctic?

A: There are three methods:• From the Arctic GUI Network Ethernet

• In command line: cat /var/run/ppp_resolv.conf (file exists if the DNS servers are received from the network)

• From syslog:<13> Mar 9 21:10:14 syslog: primary DNS address <IP_address><13> Mar 9 21:10:14 syslog: secondary DNS address <IP_address>

Note: The DNS services are usually not needed in Arctic. In such case, use manual configuration for

DNS, but leave fields empty.

Frequently asked questions• Q: What is the console mode in RS1 interface of Arctic?• A: In Arctic GPRS gateway, there is a switch that

controls the RS1 serial port’s mode. There are two operating modes; • Console for connecting to Arctic’s command line interface

• RS1 for using the port with RS-232 applications

• The following picture illustrates the correct orientation with the switch for either console mode or RS1 mode.

• When toggling the console switch, the power of the Arctic must be switched off.

Console RS1 port

The correct switch position for Duplex setting.Some manuals may have had incorrect switch orientation for it.

Frequently asked questions• Q: How to set the DIPs for RS2?

• A: In Arctic GPRS gateway, there is a DIP switch that controls the RS2 serial port’s settings. The following picture illustrates the orientation of the DIP switch, correct settings and pinout.

• The silk print for positions “0” and “1” may be missing in some Arctic devices, note that the print “0” denotes the OFF position and print “1” denotes the ON position.

--9

-RXD - (in)8

TXD/RXD + (out/in)TXD + (out)7

--6

GNDGND5

--4

TXD/RXD - (out/in)TXD - (out)3

-RXD + (in)2

--1

RS-485 Half duplex

RS-485 Full duplex

Pin

RS-485 termination0=OFF, 1=ONTermination4

RS-485 biasing0=OFF, 1=ONBias3

Full duplex (4-wire) or half duplex (2-wire)0=Full, 1=Half duplexDuplex2

Interface's operation mode0=RS-232, 1=RS485Interface specification1

DescriptionStateFunctionSwitch nr.

Arctic bootup • The LEDs will indicate whether the Arctic is able to boot

up properly or not.• LEDs will act according to the following scheme at bootup:

• If the LEDs other than power LED are not lit, it would indicate a problem with CPU module or power supply.

Arctic bootup Bootup errors:

• Root file system is corrupted or erased:JFFS: Failed to build tree.

JFFS: Failed to mount device 2a:02.

Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 2a:02

• The system can’t load kernel:arctic> boot

Enabling watchdog

## Booting image at ff820000 ...

Bad Magic Number

arctic>

Contacting Technical Support Before contacting Viola Systems Technical Support, make

sure that the following pre-requisites are met:• The allegedly faulty device has been tested with good

troubleshooting practicies• There is a list of the problems/findings/faults available• If the problem is network related, a detailed network

diagram is available

When sending a device back to Viola systems, follow these instructions:1. Ask the VR (RMA) number beforehand via mailbox

support@violasystems.com2. Enclose sender information (return address) and fault

description3. Send the item back to address

Viola Systems Ltd.Technical Support / <VR number>Lemminkaisenkatu 14-18 A20520 TurkuFINLAND