WINCI Version 1.7, a Windows Packet-Driver for Common-ISDN-API 2.0 DLL-Interface

Herbert Hanewinkel, April 1997
heha@biochem.mpg.de

WINCI is Shareware

WINCI, as it is provided, is a demo version. To make use of the full capabilities of WINCI you have to register WINCI. The basic registration fee for a single user version of WINCI is DM 70,-. Please read the file winci.txt for details.
As long as you have NOT registered WINCI you may test WINCI for 30 days without a registration code. In this case WINCI will stop forwarding data 20 min after startup.

Disclaimer

The program and this documentation is
Copyright (C) 1995-1996 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

WINCI (WINdows Common Isdn packet driver) emulates an ethernet-type (class=1) Packet-Driver for IP-Routing or remote Ethernet bridging over ISDN under Microsoft Windows. WINCI communicates with the ISDN card using the Common-ISDN-API-2.0-DLL specification (an international standard for accessing ISDN cards). Because of this, WINCI is completely hardware independent.
WINCI was developed for use with Trumpet Winsock, to provide a simple and easy way for Internet access over ISDN.
WINCI 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.
WINCI can communicate at least with the following commercial systems:
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, Spider Routers, SunLink ISDN 1.0 & 1.0.2.
WINCI is a Windows program for use with CAPI 2.0 DLL implementations. WINCI was written for use with ISDN BRI PC cards.
The current version of WINCI 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.

The latest version of WINCI is available on www.biochem.mpg.de/~heha or via ftp from:ftp.biochem.mpg.de in directory /pc/isdn.

Installation

  1. To use WINCI 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 WINCI.INI. Please read the configuration guide for details
  2. To load the Packet Driver into memory run WINCI.EXE under Windows after starting your CAPI software and before starting your Internet software (e.g. Trumpet TCPman).
  3. To load WINCI automatically with Trumpet TCPman, you can use the following trick:
    1. change to your Trumpet WINSOCK directory
    2. Rename TCPMAN.EXE to TCPMAN1.EXE
    3. Copy WINCI.EXE and WINCI.INI to the WINSOCK directory
    4. Rename WINCI.EXE to TCPMAN.EXE

    e.g:
    cd \WINSOCK
    ren TCPMAN.EXE TCPMAN1.EXE
    copy \WINCI\WINCI.*
    ren WINCI.EXE TCPMAN.EXE

Monitoring and Control

1.WINCI displays the state of an ISDN connection on its status page and on the icon:

_ = free,
D = D-channel up,
C = B-channel requested,
B = B-channel up,
A = connection set up,
additional information for PPP:
L = LCP configuration up,
I = PAP/CHAP configuration up, IPCP configuration started,
P = PPP connection up

2.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.

Help

Info displays program version information.

Deinstallation

Unloading WINCI with an active Packet Driver application may cause a PC to crash. Close the Packet Driver application (e.g. Trumpet Winsock) before closing WINCI.

Options

WINCI.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.
WINCI [Flags PacketInterrupt [ConfigFile]]]

Flags this argument is currently ignored for compatibility with previous versions.
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 WINCI configuration file. If the name is not given, it defaults to "WINCI.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.

Ethernet characteristics

WINCI works as an ethernet type Packet Driver. The ethernet address of WINCI 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 WINCI.
Changing the ethernet address may be required when connecting two WINCI's with direct applications using an ethernet bridging protocol.

Support

The latest version of WINCI is available on www.biochem.mpg.de/~heha or via ftp from:ftp.biochem.mpg.de in directory /pc/isdn.

Warranty

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.
There is absolutely NO WARRANTY, expressed or implied with this software. If you choose to use this software, you assume all risk.