Bind
The Bind parameter is used to specify the logical board(s) to which the
TCP/IP protocol stack should bind. If this parameter is not given, then the TCP/IP
protocol stack binds with the first logical board that uses a frame type supported by TCP/IP. Frame types which
support TCP/IP for Ethernet and token-ring networks are:
Ethernet
| Ethernet_II
Ethernet_SNAP |
Token-Ring
| Token-Ring_SNAP
|
The Bind parameter may be given in short form or long form. The short form looks like:
Bind NE2000
In this example, the Bind parameter directs the TCP/IP stack to bind with a logical board from the first TCP/IP-supporting logical board associated with an NE2000 board instance. This is useful when there are two or more different board instances which are all capable of supporting TCP/IP but only one of them is intended to use the TCP/IP stack. The short form of the Bind parameter will direct the TCP/IP stack to bind to a logical board associated with the desired board instance.
The long form of the Bind parameter must be used whenever there are multiple board instances which will be using the TCP/IP protocol stack. The long form looks like this:
Bind NE2000 #1 Ethernet_II EXEC_NET
The required values are: board driver name, board instance, frame type, and a network name. With the exception of the last value, the purpose of the long form of the Bind parameter clearly is to designate a specific logical board, or {board instance, frame type} pairing, to which the TCP/IP stack should bind.
The final value, the network name, has meaning only in conjunction with other parameters within the Protocol TCPIP section. Because there is only one logical board per board instance that can be bound by the TCP/IP protocol stack, the network name value can be used to refer uniquely to the physical network attached to each network board. Other TCP/IP parameters will then use the network name value to associate IP addressing information with each network board.
The following example shows the Link Driver and Protocol TCPIP sections needed to support TCP/IP on two different network boards (some of the parameters shown have yet to be discussed in later paragraphs):
Link Driver NE2000
By a chain of associations, the NE2000 board is connected to an Ethernet network named EXEC_NET and the TOKEN board is connected to a token-ring network named SALES_NET. Without the network names, the TCP/IP protocol stack would not know which board was assigned which IP address and related information.