Lat node names, service name and connections. Just for clarification.

An image that supports Lat terminals and Protocol translations such as the commserver or enterprise images, will automatically be aware of Lat service advertisements from other nodes.

hopper#show ver
Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software 
IOS (tm) 2500 Software (C2500-J-L), Version 11.2(12.1), MAINTENANCE INTERIM SOFTWARE
Copyright (c) 1986-1998 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Mon 02-Mar-98 15:01 by tlane
Image text-base: 0x0303F1BC, data-base: 0x00001000


hopper#show lat servi
Service Name     Rating   Interface  Node (Address)
ALBIE                84   Ethernet0  ALBIE (aa00.0400.0a28)
  Ident:        Welcome to OpenVMS VAX V7.1    
ALFIE                67   Ethernet0  ALFIE (aa00.0400.1728)
  Ident:        Welcome to OpenVMS (TM) VAX Operating System, Version V7.1    
ALPHIE               71   Ethernet0  ALPHIE (0800.2be6.9ec9)
  Ident: @sys$manager:announce.txt

and because Lat is a valid input and output transport for the async ports, the router will respond to Lat solicits directed at the router.

hopper#show line 2
 Tty Typ     Tx/Rx     A Modem  Roty AccO AccI  Uses    Noise   Overruns
   2 TTY   9600/9600   -    -      -    -    -     0        0        0/0
 
Line 2, Location: "", Type: ""
Length: 24 lines, Width: 80 columns
Baud rate (TX/RX) is 9600/9600, no parity, 2 stopbits, 8 databits
Status: Ready
Capabilities: none
Modem state: Ready
Group codes:    0
Modem hardware state: noCTS noDSR  DTR RTS
Special Chars: Escape  Hold  Stop  Start  Disconnect  Activation
                ^^x    none   -     -       none         
Timeouts:      Idle EXEC    Idle Session   Modem Answer  Session   Dispatch
               00:10:00        never                        none     not set
                            Idle Session Disconnect Warning
                              never 
Modem type is unknown.
Session limit is not set.
Time since activation: never
Editing is enabled.
History is enabled, history size is 10.
DNS resolution in show commands is enabled
Full user help is disabled
Allowed transports are lat pad v120 mop telnet rlogin nasi.  Preferred is lat.
No output characters are padded                                            ^
No special data dispatching characters                       --------------



line 2 3
 transport input all

There are two ways to establish a Lat connection. A device can either request a connection to a service based on a Service advertisement that has been seen and cached ie;

hopper#show lat servi
Service Name     Rating   Interface  Node (Address)
ALBIE                84   Ethernet0  ALBIE (aa00.0400.0a28)
  Ident:        Welcome to OpenVMS VAX V7.1    
ALFIE                65   Ethernet0  ALFIE (aa00.0400.1728)
  Ident:        Welcome to OpenVMS (TM) VAX Operating System, Version V7.1    
ALPHIE               71   Ethernet0  ALPHIE (0800.2be6.9ec9)
  Ident: @sys$manager:announce.txt

Or a device can solicit a connection to a node name "x", containing a port named "y" . in the following example, the vax has an application port (lta400) defined to connect to node hopper , port 2

ALFIE>mc latcp show port lta400
 
Local Port Name:   _LTA400:          Local Port Type:  Application (Queued)
Local Port State:  Inactive
Connected Link:     
 
 Target Port Name:     2                Actual Port Name:                     
 Target Node Name:     HOPPER           Actual Node Name:                     
 Target Service Name:                   Actual Service Name:                  

and if I try to make the connection we see

>set h/dte lta400
 
%REM-I-TOQUIT, connection established
 
Press Ctrl/\ to quit, Ctrl/@ for command mode

and

hopper#debug lat event
LAT event debugging is on
hopper#
hopper#
00:18:06: LAT: Host Initiated connection from ALFIE to :2, sc=1
00:18:06: LAT2: created new inbound session
00:18:06: LAT2: Host-initiated connection complete
00:18:06: LAT2: DataB: +FlowIn +FlowOut Parity 2A       Mode Interactive(0)      Speed *19200/*19200
00:18:06: LAT2: DataB ignored

hopper#who
    Line     User      Host(s)                  Idle Location
*  0 con 0             idle                 00:00:00 
   2 tty 2             idle                 00:00:18 ALFIE
   9 aux 0             Async interface      00:00:47 

The router has taken the default node-name of "hopper" (Lat is case insensitive), which is the hostname of the router. If I wish to assign a different a node-name I can....

hopper#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
hopper(config)#lat node-name froggie
hopper(config)#^Z

If the Vax now tries to connect ...

ALFIE>set h/dte lta400
 
%REM-I-TOQUIT, connection established
 
Press Ctrl/\ to quit, Ctrl/@ for command mode
 
 
 
%REM-E-PORTRXERR, port receive error
-SYSTEM-F-HANGUP, data set hang-up
 
%REM-S-END, control returned to node ALFIE
%SYSTEM-F-HANGUP, data set hang-up
ALFIE>


hopper#
hopper#show deb
LAT:
  LAT event debugging is on
hopper# 

The router no longer responds to the solicit request from the Vax, because the router no longer has the node-name hopper.

To avoid the admin overhead of nodenames, we can define a service on the router ..

hopper#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
hopper(config)#lat service rodent enab
hopper(config)#^Z 

This now means that the router will send out Lat service advertisements for the service "rodent"

and sure enough the Vax can see the "SAP"s.

ALFIE>mc latcp show servi
 
Service Name      Status       Identification
----------------  -----------  -------------------------------------------------
ALBIE             Available    .Welcome to OpenVMS VAX V7.1    
ALFIE             Available    .Welcome to OpenVMS VAX V7.1    
ALPHIE            Available    @sys$manager:announce.txt
PRINTERC          Available    
RODENT            Available    



ALFIE>set h/lat rodent
%LAT-S-CONNECTED, session to RODENT on node FROGGIE established
%LAT-I-TODISCON, type ^\ to disconnect the session
 
User Access Verification
 
Username: 

hopper#
hopper#
00:26:10: LAT: Host delay = 4 tics
00:26:10: LAT: Got new inbound host connection


00:26:10: LAT10: created new inbound session
hopper#

Note that the method of connection to a service name and a node/port pair is different. The Service connection gives a vty session

hopper#who
    Line     User      Host(s)                  Idle Location
*  0 con 0             idle                 00:00:00 
   9 aux 0             Async interface      00:00:36 
  10 vty 0             idle                 00:01:05 ALFIE 

The node/port combination gives a tty connection.

hopper#who
    Line     User      Host(s)                  Idle Location
*  0 con 0             idle                 00:00:00 
   2 tty 2             idle                 00:01:24 ALFIE
   9 aux 0             Async interface      00:00:22 

This is worth bearing in mind depending on whether you want a host based application or terminal session during the connection. Applications and print queues tend to prefer the tty style connection.

I'm curious as to why this is, but I'm too lazy to find out right now.