CMG-DCM

(Platinum
Firmware)

Operator's Guide
Part No. MAN-DCM-0010

Designed and manufactured by

Güralp Systems Limited
3 Midas House, Calleva Park
Aldermaston RG7 8EA
England

Proprietary Notice: The information in this

manual is proprietary to Güralp Systems Limited
and may not be copied or distributed outside the
approved recipient's organisation without the
approval of Güralp Systems Limited. Güralp
Systems Limited shall not be liable for technical
or editorial errors or omissions made herein, nor
for incidental or consequential damages resulting
from the furnishing, performance, or usage of this
material.

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CMG-DCM (Platinum Firmware)

Table of Contents

1 Introduction...........................................................................3
1.1 Hardware Overview............................................................................3
1.2 Software Overview.............................................................................3
1.3 Document Conventions......................................................................4

2 Controlling the CMG-DCM........................................................6

2.1 Connecting by Serial Port...................................................................6
2.2 Using the Web Interface (HTTP).........................................................7
2.3 Connecting by SSH.............................................................................9

3 Operation.............................................................................10
3.1 Diagnostics.......................................................................................10
3.2 Removable Disk...............................................................................13
3.3 Digitiser Control...............................................................................14

4 Configuration........................................................................16
4.1 Configuration System.......................................................................16
4.2 IP Address Configuration..................................................................16

5 Revision history....................................................................18

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1 Introduction
The CMG-DCM (Data Communications Module) is a versatile
module intended to integrate a seismic sensor with various
communications systems. It can also act as a stand-alone data
recorder.

This document describes the basic features and is intended for

field operators. Users desiring more control and more features
are invited to refer to MAN-DCM-0011, the technical reference
manual. Furthermore, additional functionality can be added on
request – contact Güralp Systems for further information.

The CMG-DCM is a Linux-based device but this document

assumes no Linux knowledge.

1.1 Hardware Overview

The CMG-DCM has been through two major hardware releases,
the mk2x and the mk4, and several minor releases. The mk2x
and the mk4 are the only releases supported by the Platinum
firmware. To date, most CMG-DCM units produced have been
mk2x.

The main difference between the mk2x and the mk4 hardware
is that the mk4 uses modern components, and is thus more
cost-effective to build and can be maintained more easily by
Güralp Systems. The mk4 hardware is more flexible and can
thus be tailored to specific projects.

... TODO ...

1.2 Software Overview

The CMG-DCM software is very flexible and can be configured
to perform many tasks. An overview of its capabilities is
presented here:

● Data acquisition

● Data can be acquired via Ethernet or serial ports.

● Currently only GCF is operational (for Güralp digitisers)

but other protocols can be added on request.

● Recording

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CMG-DCM (Platinum Firmware)

● Data can be recorded to removable disk in various

formats. Recording initially occurs to internal flash,
which is flushed to removable disk only when full. This
allows power to be saved.

● Removable disk can be removed at any time without

data loss.

● Currently, only GCF recording is operational, but other

formats will be added shortly (planned: SEED volumes,
miniseed, SAC, GSE, CSS).

● Data forwarding

● GCF output via serial port or TCP stream.

● GCF output via Scream (TCP/UDP).

● WIN output (Japanese format; TODO: description).

● QSCD output (Quick Seismic Characteristic Data;

designed by KIGAM).

● GSMS output (Güralp Seismic Monitoring System).

● Other protocols will be added on request (planned:

SEEDlink, CD1.0, CD1.1, CNSN).

● Network communication

● The CMG-DCM has a built-in wired Ethernet connection.

● Modem support (Iridium, GPRS, etc.).

● Other connectivity options, such as wireless Ethernet

(IEEE802.11) and Bluetooth can be added on request.

● Processing

● Various types of data processing can be carried out by

the DCM. Please contact Güralp sales for more
information.

1.3 Document Conventions

When displaying serial communications, a fixed-width typeface

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will be used:

Example of serial communications

Text produced by terminal is normal. Characters to be entered by
user are emphasised.

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2 Controlling the CMG-DCM

As the CMG-DCM is a very versatile device, it offers several
flexible control methods.

2.1 Connecting by Serial Port

When you are first starting with a CMG-DCM, you can connect a
serial cable between its Data Out port and a PC or other
terminal device. The default settings for a CMG-DCM's Data Out
port are as follows:

● 115200 baud

● 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit (8N1)

● No flow control.

Once you have connected a serial cable, you can run a terminal
emulator to interact with the CMG-DCM. Under Windows you
are advised to use the terminal emulator shipped with Scream
v4.5 (TODO: Scream v4.5 is not released, until this occurs
another terminal emulator such as Hyperterminal must be
used). Under Unix the minicom terminal emulator (see
http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom) is recommended,
although any terminal emulator can be used.

Once connected, press return a few times to ensure the

terminal is responding. If a terminal session has just been
closed, it can take up to 10 seconds for a new session to start.
You should be presented with a login prompt.

The username used is root, which is the standard Unix root

user. The password is set to rootme when shipped from the
factory. To log in, type root and press enter then, when
prompted for the password, type rootme and press enter. You
will then be presented with a shell prompt, which will accept
commands:

dcm999 login: root

Password: rootme
dcm999 ~ #

The output may vary slightly due to the configuration of the

unit. In particular, the hostname (dcm999 in this example) will
change.

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2.2 Using the Web Interface (HTTP)

The CMG-DCM provides a web (HTTP) interface which is
intended for most configuration and control tasks. This is the
recommended way of controlling the DCM.

To use the web interface, you must first set up a network

connection. If the CMG-DCM is connected to a network via a
hub or switch, you must find its IP address. If you intend to
directly connect the CMG-DCM to a PC via a crossover cable,
some additional steps are necessary.

If the network you are running does not use DHCP (dynamic
host control protocol), and the CMG-DCM has not been
configured to use a static IP address, you must first connect via
a serial port and configure a static IP address. See below for
how to do this.

To find the IP address of a CMG-DCM connected to the network,

you can log in using a serial terminal (see above) and run the ip
command. The IP address will be shown as in the example
below (where it is underlined):

dcm999 ~ # ip addr eth0

1: eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500
qdisc pfifo_fast qlen 1000
link/ether 00:0b:97:b8:d3:0e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 192.168.0.1/24 scope global eth0

If you are using an IPv6 network, you will instead see an IP

address after the word inet6. In practice, most networks today
are IPv4, as in the above example.

If the CMG-DCM does not have an IP address configured, the

output from ip will not display an IP address. In this case, you
will have to use a serial terminal to set one.

Setting a static IP address

To temporarily set a static IP address, log in to the DCM via a
serial terminal and issue the following command:

dcm999 ~ # ip addr add 192.168.0.1/24 dev eth0

You can change the IP address to anything you wish. The above
example uses 192.168.0.1 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0. A
PC connected to this network could communicate with the
CMG-DCM if it was configured to use an IP address of (for

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example) 192.168.0.2 with a matching netmask of

255.255.255.0.

This static IP address is temporary, and will only persist until

the CMG-DCM is rebooted or powered off. See the section on
network configuration to see how to permanently set a static IP
address.

Connecting to the web interface

Now that the IP address of the CMG-DCM has been determined,
you are able to connect to its webserver. Simply type the IP
address of the unit into the web browser's address bar. You
should be prompted for a username and password. The default
username is root and the default password is rootme.

If the browser fails to connect, the most likely explanation is

that the machine running the browser does not have working
network communications with the CMG-DCM. This can be
verified by pinging the IP address of the unit. To resolve this
sort of situation, ensure that the cables are functioning (which
can be easily verified by diagnostic lights on nearly all
switches/hubs). Also double-check that the PC and CMG-DCM
are on the same subnet (which means the netmasks must
match and the first sections of the IP address must match).

Once connected and verified, you should be presented with an

interface which resembles the following screenshot:

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2.3 Connecting by SSH

SSH is the most flexible way to control a CMG-DCM, but it is
intended for more advanced operations. Most control and
configuration will be achieved more easily through the web
interface. To use SSH, you must find the IP address of the unit
(see previous section).

Once you have the IP address, issue the SSH command on the
PC you are using:

ssh root@192.168.0.1

Substitute 192.168.0.1 with the IP address of the DCM. You will

be prompted for a password; the default password is rootme.

Once connected, you will be presented with a shell prompt

which is ready to accept commands.

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3 Operation
This section details how to control the DCM. Some functionality
is only available through the terminal (serial or ssh); see the
previous section for details on connecting. To change the way
the DCM operates, see the next section for details on
configuration.

3.1 Diagnostics
System Status
To view the overall system status, simply go to the front page
on the web interface (or choose the “System status” link in the
left-hand frame within the “Summary” box). This displays one
box per item. Boxes may be red (bad), green (good) or white
(no information).

Using the terminal, you can run the command libstatus-query

to view the same information, e.g.:

TODO: paste output.

Red boxes indicate that some part of the system is

malfunctioning, and require further investigation. Malfunctions
could occur due to hardware failure but the most likely
explanation is an incorrect configuration item.

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System Events
To view a list of important system events via the web interface,
choose the “System events” link in the left-hand frame within
the “Summary” box.

Using the terminal, you can run the command sysevent-query

to view the same information, e.g.:

TODO: paste output.

At present, very few components use the system events

interface; in future, all system logging will take place using this
interface.

System Log
The most important source of information is the system log
facility (“syslog”). This logs all messages from programs and
from the Linux kernel. At present, this can only be viewed
through the terminal. In future, it will be integrated with the
system events page.

To view the system logs, you can view the file /var/log/messages
. Older files are available as /var/log/messages.1,
/var/log/messages.2, etc. Under Linux you may use the following
commands to view the file:

● tail /var/log/messages
Views the last few entries.

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● tail -f /var/log/messages
As above but also follows the log in real-time. Use ctrl-C
to stop.

● less /var/log/messages
Views the whole log file; use Home/End/Up/Down keys to
navigate.

● vi /var/log/messages
Those users familiar with the vi text editor may wish to
use it as the most powerful way to view log entries.

● grep -i 'string' /var/log/messages

Searches for a string or pattern in the log file. This search
is case insensitive (-i flag).

Incoming Data
The status page has one box for each GCF acquisition process.
This box will be updated every minute to reflect the number of
packets that have been acquired.

To view details of incoming data in GCF format, use one of the

following terminal commands:

● dumpdata
Displays a one-line summary of each received GCF block.

● dumpstatus
Displays the details of received status and unified status
blocks. This can be used to quickly determine whether a
digitiser has a GPS lock etc.

● dumpsm
Displays incoming strong motion data.

● data-mux-gcf-dump
This is the underlying program used internally by the
previous three commands. It can be used for further
investigation.

To view incoming data in intermediate format (IF – TODO

explain this somewhere), use the following terminal command:

data-mux-if-dump -d

Using the -d flag shows the SEED names for all data blocks.
This is a good way of checking that GCF to SEED mapping is
working as expected.

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3.2 Removable Disk

The removable disk can be removed at any time without
compromising data integrity. However, for efficiency, it is best
to remove the disk while it is powered down.

To determine whether the disk is currently in use or not, view

the status page. If the removable disk has been accessed
within the past week since the last power up, its details will be
displayed on this interface. If the disk is currently in use, that
will also be displayed.

TODO: screenshots.

The CMG-DCM allows control of the removable disk through the

web interface. Click on the “Removable Disk” link in the “Tools”
box in the left-hand menu frame. The same interface may be
used via the terminal by invoking the rdisk command.

TODO: screenshot of rdisk ncurses interface.

To prepare a new disk for writing to, you must format and
partition it. The CMG-DCM accepts disks formatted in either
ext3 (which is faster and more reliable, but can only be read
under Linux systems) or vfat (slower and possibly less reliable,
but can be read under all operating systems).

The disk can be formatted by any computer, but the CMG-DCM

also has the capability of formatting the disk itself. Using the
rdisk program, select the Format disk option. After the disks
have been powered up and scanned (which may take up to a
minute), you will be presented with a list of disks and a
partition or format option.

If you do not know the difference between partitioning and

formatting, then use the partition option. Select the disk from
the list (usually there will only be one disk but the CMG-DCM

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supports multiple devices), and press the format or partition

button. This will take some time to complete.

TODO: at present, the partition option does not work in the web
interface. You must use the ncurses interface.

To view and possibly download files on the CMG-DCM, select

the View filesystems option. This will power up any connected
disks and, after a short delay, present a list of attached disks
and their details (filesystem, free space). Select a disk and you
will be able to browse through the list of files.

To view the status of the flash buffers, you can run the terminal
command data-journaller-dump (see below). To initiate an
immediate flush to disk, use the “Flush” option in the
removable disk interface.

dcm999 ~ # data-journaller-dump /var/spool/data-journaller/*

================ /var/spool/data-journaller/0 ================

Magic : C54549CBEBD84770 (version 0)
Filesize : 0000000002000000 (33554432 bytes)
Write offset: 0000000001FFFA8F (33553039 bytes)
Program : unused

================ /var/spool/data-journaller/1 ================

Magic : C54549CBEBD84770 (version 0)
Filesize : 0000000002000000 (33554432 bytes)
Write offset: 00000000011386B7 (18056887 bytes)
Program : journaller

In this example, buffer 0 is unused and buffer 1 is 18Mb/32Mb

full. If the disk is being written, then one of the buffers will
display “Program: scribe”. TODO: example

3.3 Digitiser Control

When you are using the DCM's terminal, you can also gain
access to terminal mode on any connected digitiser. To do this,
run the “data-terminal” command, and select the desired
digitiser from the list.

TODO: screenshot.

This will launch a minicom session allowing you to

communicate with the digitiser terminal. If the session times
out, or you close it manually (e.g. by issuing the “go”
command), then you will see the message “Killed by signal 15”
and minicom will exit shortly thereafter.

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If you wish to upload digitiser firmware, the firmware files may

be found under /usr/share/firmware on the DCM.

TODO: explain how to use X-MODEM upload.

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4 Configuration
The CMG-DCM is set up to work with Guralp equipment by
default. All serial ports except Data Out expect GCF (Guralp
Compressed Format) input at 38400 baud (the default baud
rate of the CMG-DM24mk3 digitiser); by default, GCF is
recorded to disk, and by default, a Scream server is running on
TCP/UDP port 1567.

There is significant additional functionality which can be

enabled, but must first be configured. Configuration can take
place in three ways: through the web interface
(recommended), on the terminal (serial or ssh), or by editing
configuration files directly (covered in MAN-DCM-0011).

4.1 Configuration System

The CMG-DCM uses a consistent configuration system that can
be used either through the web interface or through the
terminal.

When using the web interface, the links in the “Configuration”

box in the left-hand menu frame allow access to the various
configurable items. When using the terminal, the “gconfig”
program can be run, which allows access to the same set of
options.

TODO: explain how to use.

4.2 IP Address Configuration

To change the IP address used by the DCM's network port, you
can use the “Network Configuration” link in the left-hand menu
box “Configuration”, or run “gconfig networktop” on the
commandline.

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Next, select the line “eth0 – Primary wired network interface”

to tell the configuration system that you would like to configure
the external Ethernet port.

To configure the CMG-DCM for DHCP, simply select “Use

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol” under the “Configuration
method” option and press submit. DHCP is the recommended
way to configure networks, as it centralises management and
solves many tricky problems (setting of default routes, etc.).

If you need to use a static address, change “Configuration

method” to “Apply fixed values from this form” and submit
your IP address, netmask and default route (if available) in the
following boxes. You can then submit the form.

Note: changes to the network configuration do not take effect

until the DCM is restarted. (TODO: remove this).

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5 Revision history
2008-03-16 A New document

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