Introduction; Memory Regions In Smartware - Patton electronics SmartNode Series Software Configuration Manual

6 • System image handling

Introduction

This chapter describes how to load and maintain system images and driver software. System images contain the
application image and driver software images. The application image represents the software running Smart-
Ware, which has to be stored in the persistent region of the memory. Driver software images contain software
that also has to be stored in the persistent region of the memory and are used for optional PMC interface cards.
This chapter includes the following sections:
•

Memory regions in SmartWare

• Boot procedure and bootloader (see
• Factory configuration (see
• System image handling task list (see
All Patton SmartNode devices are shipped with a default system image, which is stored in the persistent flash
memory of the SmartNode at the factory. The system image contains the application image and driver software
images that together build SmartWare. In addition a factory configuration is loaded to the SmartNode at the
factory, which sets initial SmartWare parameters. Therefore the user is neither has to load a system image not
the factory configuration to the SmartNode prior using it.
Your own operational configuration files are stored in the SmartNode flash memory, and copies may also be
stored on a remote server. Transferring configuration files between the flash memory and a remote server
requires the use of the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). The TFTP server must be accessible through one
of the SmartNode IP interfaces. TFTP is not possible over the console interface.
In the following sections the focus is on SmartWare memory regions and the software components that can be
copied within the memory or moved between a TFTP server and the memory of the SmartNode. Since Smart-
Ware uses a specific vocabulary in naming those software components, refer appendix A,
tions" on page 407 to ensure that you understand the concepts.

Memory regions in SmartWare

The SmartNode memory used by SmartWare is divided into several regions as shown in
A remote TFTP server is used for up- or downloading configurations, application and driver software images to
or from the SmartNode's memory. In the SmartWare command syntax, the file path of a file on the TFTP
server that is used for image upload or download is prefixed with tftp: followed by the absolute file path starting
from the root directory of the TFTP server.
The flash memory stores data contained in it persistently and is made up of two logical regions called flash:
and nvram:, which are used as follows:
• The application image, a bootloader image and one or more driver software images have to be stored in the
logical region flash: of flash memory.
• Configuration files have to be stored in the logical region nvram: of the flash memory. The factory default config-
uration is always loaded, and may be restored by pressing the SmartNode reset button; see the getting started
guide that came with your SmartNode. The startup, or user-specific configuration, is also stored in nvram.
The factory configuration is read-only, and is contained in the persistent memory in the logical region nvram:
of the SmartNode. It can be used if no user-specific configuration is available to start-up SmartWare with a
minimal functionality. This configuration is named "factory-config" in the SmartWare terminology. A dedi-
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page 72)
page 73)
SmartWare Software Configuration Guide
"Terms and defini-
figure 13 on page 63.

Introduction