diff -r bb3215fe5c65 -r 70dbf6cff28c documentation/ethercat_doc.tex --- a/documentation/ethercat_doc.tex Wed Nov 05 15:01:04 2008 +0000 +++ b/documentation/ethercat_doc.tex Wed Nov 05 15:27:14 2008 +0000 @@ -2196,24 +2196,25 @@ %------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -\section{Monitoring and Debugging} +\section{Debug Interfaces} \label{sec:debug} -\index{Monitoring} +\index{Debug Interfaces} EtherCAT buses can always be monitored by inserting a switch between master and slaves. This allows to connect another PC with a network monitor like Wireshark~\cite{wireshark}, for example. -For convenience, so-called ``debug interfaces'' are supported. Debug interfaces -allow to monitor EtherCAT traffic with a network monitor (like Wireshark or -tcpdump) running on the same machine. To use this functionality, the master -sources have to be configured with the \lstinline+--enable-debug-if+ switch -(see sec.~\ref{sec:installation}). +For convenience, so-called ``debug interfaces'' are supported. Debug +interfaces allow to monitor EtherCAT traffic with a network monitor (like +Wireshark or tcpdump) running on the master machine without using external +hardware. To use this functionality, the master sources have to be configured +with the \lstinline+--enable-debug-if+ switch (see +sec.~\ref{sec:installation}). Every EtherCAT master registers two read-only network interfaces. These are -named \textit{ecdbgmX} (main device) and \textit{ecdbgbX} (backup device for -future use), where X is the master index. The debug interfaces are listed in -the below output: +named \textit{ecdbgmX} (main device) and \textit{ecdbgbX} (backup device, for +future use), where X is the master index. The below listing shows debug +interface among some standard interfaces: \begin{lstlisting} # `\textbf{ip link}` @@ -2228,9 +2229,9 @@ link/ether 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff \end{lstlisting} -While a debug interface is enabled, the corresponding master forwards all -frames sent and received to or from the bus to that interface. Interfaces can -be enabled for example with the command: +While a debug interface is enabled, all frames sent or received to or from the +physical device are additionally forwarded to the debug interface by the +corresponding master. Interfaces can be enabled with the below command: \begin{lstlisting} # `\textbf{ip link set dev ecdbgm0 up}`