In the case of IPStats, it dumps the TCP/IP specific operating parameters and statistics. It will give a node operator a good idea of how well the node is operating, and what kind of load it may be experiencing. It can be very helpful to occasionally save this information dump and evaluate it from time to time to see just how well the node is operating.
When you view the IPStats information dump, it will appear as a string of 20 numbers separated by spaces. There is no text associated with it, you will need to have a cheat-sheet handy to "decode" it. Here's the general form of the information dump after you issue the command "IPStats", with output from the node listed as N1, N2, etc:
N1 displays what the default AX.25-level IP connection type is - Virtual Circuit or Datagram- for both the radio and the serial ports. It is a number from 0-3. Here's what these numbers mean:
0 = Mode Virtual Circuit is used on both ports, radio and serial
1 = Datagram mode on radio port, Virtual Circuit on serial port
2 = Virtual Circuit on radio port, Datagram Mode on serial port
3 = Datagram mode on both ports, radio and serial.
N2 displays if IP Routing is enabled on the node. The number 0 indicates that routing is disabled, 1 indicates enabled.
N3 is the "Time-to-Live" value. This is the maximum number of hops, or relaying nodes, that the IP packet will pass through. Once this value is exceeded, the packet is unceremoniously dropped, ie., it "dies".
N4 is the number of received IP frames
N5 is the total number of IP headers the node has received
N6 shows the number of IP address errors the node received
N7 is the count of IP Datagrams (packets) that have been forwaded.
N8 shows a count of protocols that the node has heard, but can't identify.
N9 is another counter, showing the number of dropped IP frames
N10 counts the number of IP frames delivered
N11 is the number of IP requests for output
N12 shows a count of the IP datagrams dropped by the receiving nodes
N13 is the number of datagrams refused due to no route available
N14 is a count of IP reassembly timeout errors
N15 tells how many times it experienced an "IP Reassembly Required" error
N16 is how many times an IP datagram was sucessfully reassembled
N17 Counts how many times an IP datagram was unable to be reassembled
N18 is the number of times a datagram was sucessfuly sent in fragments
N19 shows the the opposite - IP fragmentation failures
N20 shows us how many times an IP fragmentation was initiated by this node
This is a lot of information that might get you thinking about the complexity of IP in general. We will clear this up a bit for you when we conclude this series with a special section detailing how to configure a node for TCP/IP use.
#WAPR1:WX9APR-1}
Callsign Pkts
Port Time
KE9PW-5 40248 1 2:5:1
KA9JAC
KA9JAC-5 2374 0 2:5:1
KE9PW-5
KA9JAC 276
0 2:5:27 KE9PW-5
The first 4 columns of output should be pretty easy to figure out - they show the originating node, the total L3 packet count from that node, the port number the node is heard on and time since the last L3 packet was heard from the originating node. The last column is not labeled and idicates the destination of the L3 packet last heard.
The first line, for example, shows us that the node KE9PW-5 was heard relaying 40,248 L3 packets on Port 1, the last one being 2 hours, 5 minutes and one second ago, and that these packets were destined to KA9JAC.
#WAPR1:WX9APR-1} Links:
WX9APR-1 KB9ALN 4 0 0
WX9APR-1 KB9ALN-15 4 0 0
Note the third column, link state. This is not defined in the documentation included with the X-1Jr4 firmware package. 4 seems to indicate that the stations are currently linked. Other numbers may indicate that a station is in the process of setting up or closing a link. In our example, WX9APR-1 is linked to KB9ALN on port 0 and there have been no retries associated with this link.
That's all for this part. Next time, we'll continue our alphabetical
exploration of the Sysop commands for these nodes.