--- url: /kb/embedded/qnx/networking/index.md --- # QNX Networking: io-pkt & QNET ## Networking Architecture QNX networking is implemented entirely in user space by the **io-pkt** (I/O Packet) stack — a user-space TCP/IP implementation derived from **NetBSD**'s networking code. This gives it: * Full BSD socket API compatibility * User-space fault isolation (io-pkt crashes don't take down the kernel) * Dynamically loadable protocol and driver modules * True POSIX sockets ``` Application │ socket() / connect() / send() / recv() ▼ C Library (POSIX socket API) │ MsgSend → io-pkt resource manager ▼ io-pkt-v6-hc Process │ [TCP/IP stack: BSD-derived — IPv4, IPv6, TCP, UDP, SCTP, ICMP] │ [Protocol modules: dll/devnp-*.so] ▼ NIC Driver Module (devn-*.so or devnp-*.so) │ hardware DMA ▼ Network Hardware (GbE, Wi-Fi, etc.) ``` *** ## Starting io-pkt ```bash # Start the network stack (IPv4 + IPv6, high-capacity variant) io-pkt-v6-hc & # Start with a specific NIC driver io-pkt-v6-hc -d /lib/dll/devnp-speedo.so & # For embedded boards with onboard GbE (e.g., NXP i.MX8): io-pkt-v6-hc -d fec address=0x30BE0000,irq=118 & # Multiple NICs on one io-pkt instance io-pkt-v6-hc \ -d /lib/dll/devnp-speedo.so \ -d /lib/dll/devnp-e1000.so & ``` ### io-pkt Variants | Binary | Description | |--------|-------------| | `io-pkt-v6-hc` | IPv4 + IPv6 + high capacity (default for SDP 7.x+) | | `io-pkt-v4-hc` | IPv4 only + high capacity | | `io-pkt-v6` | IPv4 + IPv6 (standard capacity) | *** ## Network Configuration ### Static IP Configuration ```bash # Configure network interface en0 with static IP ifconfig en0 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 up # Add default gateway route add default 192.168.1.1 # Add DNS (edit /etc/resolv.conf or set via DHCP) echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" >> /etc/resolv.conf ``` ### DHCP Client ```bash # Start DHCP client on en0 dhclient en0 # Or use the built-in QNX DHCP client dhcpcd en0 # Auto-configure (common in BSP startup scripts) if_up en0 dhcp_start en0 ``` ### Showing Interface Status ```bash ifconfig -a # show all interfaces ifconfig en0 # show en0 details netstat -rn # routing table netstat -an # all sockets netstat -s # protocol statistics ``` Example `ifconfig en0` output: ``` en0: flags=8843 mtu 1500 address: 00:11:22:33:44:55 media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT full-duplex) inet 192.168.1.100 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255 inet6 fe80::211:22ff:fe33:4455%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1 ``` *** ## POSIX Socket Programming ```c #include #include #include #include #include /* ── TCP Server ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── */ int server_fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0); int opt = 1; setsockopt(server_fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, &opt, sizeof(opt)); struct sockaddr_in addr = { .sin_family = AF_INET, .sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY, .sin_port = htons(8080), }; bind(server_fd, (struct sockaddr *)&addr, sizeof(addr)); listen(server_fd, 5); struct sockaddr_in client_addr; socklen_t client_len = sizeof(client_addr); int client_fd = accept(server_fd, (struct sockaddr *)&client_addr, &client_len); char buf[1024]; recv(client_fd, buf, sizeof(buf), 0); send(client_fd, "OK\n", 3, 0); close(client_fd); close(server_fd); /* ── UDP Client ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── */ int sock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0); struct sockaddr_in dest = { .sin_family = AF_INET, .sin_port = htons(9000), }; inet_pton(AF_INET, "192.168.1.200", &dest.sin_addr); sendto(sock, "ping", 4, 0, (struct sockaddr *)&dest, sizeof(dest)); close(sock); /* ── IPv6 TCP Client ─────────────────────────────────────────────── */ int fd = socket(AF_INET6, SOCK_STREAM, 0); struct sockaddr_in6 addr6 = { .sin6_family = AF_INET6, .sin6_port = htons(443), }; inet_pton(AF_INET6, "2001:db8::1", &addr6.sin6_addr); connect(fd, (struct sockaddr *)&addr6, sizeof(addr6)); ``` *** ## Non-Blocking I/O and select()/poll() ```c #include #include #include /* Set socket non-blocking */ int flags = fcntl(fd, F_GETFL, 0); fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK); /* poll(): wait on multiple fds */ struct pollfd fds[2]; fds[0].fd = server_fd; fds[0].events = POLLIN; fds[1].fd = pipe_read_end; fds[1].events = POLLIN; int ret = poll(fds, 2, 5000); /* 5 second timeout */ if (ret > 0) { if (fds[0].revents & POLLIN) accept_connection(); if (fds[1].revents & POLLIN) read_pipe_data(); } /* select() */ fd_set readfds; FD_ZERO(&readfds); FD_SET(server_fd, &readfds); struct timeval tv = { .tv_sec = 1, .tv_usec = 0 }; select(server_fd + 1, &readfds, NULL, NULL, &tv); ``` *** ## Unix Domain Sockets ```c #include /* Server */ int srv = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0); struct sockaddr_un su; memset(&su, 0, sizeof(su)); su.sun_family = AF_UNIX; strncpy(su.sun_path, "/tmp/myapp.sock", sizeof(su.sun_path) - 1); unlink(su.sun_path); bind(srv, (struct sockaddr *)&su, SUN_LEN(&su)); listen(srv, 5); /* Client */ int cli = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0); connect(cli, (struct sockaddr *)&su, SUN_LEN(&su)); send(cli, "hello", 5, 0); ``` *** ## NIC Driver Modules (devnp-\*.so) QNX uses **loadable NIC driver modules** rather than compiled-in drivers: | Driver Module | Hardware | |--------------|----------| | `devnp-speedo.so` | Intel Pro/100 (Speedo) | | `devnp-e1000.so` | Intel Pro/1000 (GbE) | | `devnp-bcm*.so` | Broadcom GbE | | `devnp-fec.so` | NXP FEC (Freescale Fast Ethernet) | | `devnp-dwcgmac.so` | Synopsys DesignWare GbE | | `devnp-mxgebc.so` | Myricom 10 GbE | | `devnp-ath.so` | Atheros Wi-Fi | ### io-pkt Driver Options ```bash # Load with driver-specific options io-pkt-v6-hc -d /lib/dll/devnp-e1000.so \ "ioaddr=0xe0000000,irq=11,speed=1000,duplex=full" & # Specify multiple driver instances (multiple NICs) io-pkt-v6-hc \ -d "/lib/dll/devnp-fec.so address=0x30BE0000,irq=118,phy=0" \ -d "/lib/dll/devnp-fec.so address=0x30BF0000,irq=119,phy=1" & # After startup, configure each interface ifconfig fec0 192.168.1.100/24 up ifconfig fec1 10.0.0.1/8 up ``` *** ## QNX Native Networking: QNET **QNET** (QNX Transparent Distributed Processing) is QNX's native network protocol that makes remote processes appear local. It extends the QNX IPC model across a network: ``` Node A Node B ─────────── ─────────── My program Remote server │ │ │ ConnectAttach( │ │ remote_nd, ← node descriptor │ │ server_pid, │ │ server_chid) │ │ │ │ MsgSend(coid, ...) ══════════════► MsgReceive() ◄══════════════════════════════════ MsgReply() ``` ```bash # Load QNET support npm-qnet & # Show connected QNET nodes ls /net/ # Output: node1, 192.168.1.101, myserver # Connect to a remote node cd /net/192.168.1.101/ # Open a remote file cat /net/192.168.1.101/tmp/logfile.txt # Run a program on remote node using on utility on /net/192.168.1.101 ls -la / # In C: get node descriptor for remote node uint32_t nd = netmgr_remote_nd(NETMGR_ND_LOCAL_NODE, "192.168.1.101"); int coid = ConnectAttach(nd, remote_pid, remote_chid, _NTO_SIDE_CHANNEL, 0); MsgSend(coid, &msg, sizeof(msg), &reply, sizeof(reply)); ``` *** ## Firewall / Packet Filtering QNX uses a BSD-derived **packet filter (pf)** or `ipf` for firewalling: ```bash # Enable IP forwarding (for NAT/router use) sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 # IPFilter rules (similar to Linux iptables) # Edit /etc/ipf.conf # Block all incoming except SSH: # block in all # pass in proto tcp from any to any port = 22 keep state # Load rules ipf -f /etc/ipf.conf # NAT configuration (/etc/ipnat.conf) # map en0 192.168.2.0/24 -> 0/32 # Apply NAT ipnat -f /etc/ipnat.conf ``` *** ## Network Namespaces (SDP 8.0) QNX SDP 8.0 supports **separate network namespace instances** for container-like isolation: ```bash # Create a second isolated network stack instance io-pkt-v6-hc -p /dev/io-net2 -d devnp-e1000.so & # Configure the second instance nicinfo -p /dev/io-net2 en0 ifconfig -p /dev/io-net2 en0 10.1.0.1/24 up ``` *** ## Network Diagnostics Tools ```bash # Ping ping 192.168.1.1 ping6 fe80::1%en0 # Trace route traceroute 8.8.8.8 # DNS lookup nslookup google.com host google.com # Netstat netstat -rn # routing table netstat -an # all connections + listening sockets netstat -s # per-protocol statistics netstat -i # interface statistics # Interface statistics nicinfo # QNX NIC statistics tool nicinfo en0 # specific interface # Bandwidth test (requires netserver on target) iperf3 -s & # server mode iperf3 -c 192.168.1.1 # client, TCP throughput test iperf3 -c 192.168.1.1 -u # UDP test # Packet capture tcpdump -i en0 -n port 8080 tcpdump -i en0 -w /tmp/capture.pcap # Socket statistics fstat # open files + sockets per process ``` *** ## SCTP Support QNX io-pkt supports **SCTP** (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) for multi-homed, multi-stream reliable transport: ```c #include #include int fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_SEQPACKET, IPPROTO_SCTP); struct sctp_initmsg init = { .sinit_num_ostreams = 5, .sinit_max_instreams = 5, .sinit_max_attempts = 3, }; setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_SCTP, SCTP_INITMSG, &init, sizeof(init)); struct sockaddr_in addr = { .sin_family = AF_INET, .sin_port = htons(9900), .sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY, }; bind(fd, (struct sockaddr *)&addr, sizeof(addr)); listen(fd, 5); ``` *** ## Summary: io-pkt vs QNET | Feature | io-pkt (TCP/IP) | QNET | |---------|----------------|------| | Protocol | TCP/IP, UDP, IPv4/IPv6 | QNX native protocol | | API | POSIX sockets | QNX IPC (ConnectAttach) | | Transparency | No (need to know IP:port) | Yes (same as local IPC) | | Transport | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, serial | Any io-pkt-enabled link | | Firewall | pf/ipf | None (OS-level only) | | Use case | Internet/LAN communication | QNX-to-QNX node IPC | | Priority-aware | No | Yes (IPC priorities preserved) |