Send from MacOS and rec on Ubuntu through network

[Wuqiqi123]

I tried to send from MacOS and rec on Ubuntu through network, but it does not work for me.

ecal.ini

; --------------------------------------------------
; NETWORK SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; network_enabled                  = true / false                  true  = all eCAL components communicate over network boundaries
;                                                                  false = local host only communication
;
; multicast_config_version         = v1 / v2                       UDP configuration version (Since eCAL 5.12.)
;                                                                    v1: default behavior
;                                                                    v2: new behavior, comes with a bit more intuitive handling regarding masking of the groups
; multicast_group                  = 239.0.0.1                     UDP multicast group base
;                                                                  All registration and logging is sent on this address
; multicast_mask                   = 0.0.0.1-0.0.0.255             v1: Mask maximum number of dynamic multicast group
;                                    255.0.0.0-255.255.255.255     v2: masks are now considered like routes masking
;
; multicast_port                   = 14000 + x                     UDP multicast port number (eCAL will use at least the 2 following port
;                                                                    numbers too, so please modify in steps of 10 (e.g. 1010, 1020 ...)
;
; multicast_ttl                    = 0 + x                         UDP ttl value, also known as hop limit, is used in determining
;                                                                    the intermediate routers being traversed towards the destination
;
; multicast_sndbuf                 = 1024 * x                      UDP send buffer in bytes
;
; multicast_rcvbuf                 = 1024 * x                      UDP receive buffer in bytes
;
; multicast_join_all_if            = false                         Linux specific setting to enable joining multicast groups on all network interfacs
;                                                                    independent of their link state. Enabling this makes sure that eCAL processes
;                                                                    receive data if they are started before network devices are up and running.
;
; bandwidth_max_udp                = -1                            UDP bandwidth limit for eCAL udp layer (-1 == unlimited)
;
; shm_rec_enabled                  = true                          Enable to receive on eCAL shared memory layer
; udp_mc_rec_enabled               = true                          Enable to receive on eCAL udp multicast layer
;
; npcap_enabled                    = false                         Enable to receive UDP traffic with the Npcap based receiver
;
; tcp_pubsub_num_executor_reader   = 4                             Tcp_pubsub reader amount of threads that shall execute workload
; tcp_pubsub_num_executor_writer   = 4                             Tcp_pubsub writer amount of threads that shall execute workload
; tcp_pubsub_max_reconnections     = 5                             Tcp_pubsub reconnection attemps the session will try to reconnect in
;                                                                    case of an issue (a negative value means infinite reconnection attemps)
;
; host_group_name                  =                               Common host group name that enables interprocess mechanisms across
;                                                                    (virtual) host borders (e.g, Docker); by default equivalent to local host name
; --------------------------------------------------

[network]
network_enabled                    = true
multicast_config_version           = v2
multicast_group                    = 239.0.0.1
multicast_mask                     = 255.255.255.0
multicast_port                     = 14000
multicast_ttl                      = 2
multicast_sndbuf                   = 5242880
multicast_rcvbuf                   = 5242880

multicast_join_all_if              = false

bandwidth_max_udp                  = -1

shm_rec_enabled                    = true
tcp_rec_enabled                    = true
udp_mc_rec_enabled                 = true

npcap_enabled                      = false

tcp_pubsub_num_executor_reader     = 4
tcp_pubsub_num_executor_writer     = 4
tcp_pubsub_max_reconnections       = 5

host_group_name                    =

; --------------------------------------------------
; COMMON SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; registration_timeout             = 60000                         Timeout for topic registration in ms (internal)
; registration_refresh             = 1000                          Topic registration refresh cylce (has to be smaller then registration timeout !)

; --------------------------------------------------
[common]
registration_timeout               = 60000
registration_refresh               = 1000

; --------------------------------------------------
; TIME SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; timesync_module_rt               = "ecaltime-localtime"          Time synchronisation interface name (dynamic library)
;                                                                  The name will be extended with platform suffix (32|64), debug suffix (d) and platform extension (.dll|.so)
;
;                                                                  Available modules are:
;                                                                    - ecaltime-localtime    local system time without synchronization
;                                                                    - ecaltime-linuxptp     For PTP / gPTP synchronization over ethernet on Linux
;                                                                                            (device configuration in ecaltime.ini)
;                                                                    - ecaltime-simtime      Simulation time as published by the eCAL Player.
; --------------------------------------------------
[time]
timesync_module_rt                 = "ecaltime-localtime"

; ---------------------------------------------
; PROCESS SETTINGS
; ---------------------------------------------
;
; terminal_emulator                = /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator -e    command for starting applications with an external terminal emulator. If empty, the command will be ignored. Ignored on Windows.
;                                                                       e.g.  /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator -e
;                                                                             /usr/bin/gnome-terminal -x
;                                                                             /usr/bin/xterm -e
;
; ---------------------------------------------
[process]
terminal_emulator                  =

; --------------------------------------------------
; PUBLISHER SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; use_shm                          = 0, 1, 2                       Use shared memory transport layer (0 = off, 1 = on, 2 = auto, default = 2)
; use_tcp                          = 0, 1, 2                       Use tcp transport layer           (0 = off, 1 = on, 2 = auto, default = 0)
; use_udp_mc                       = 0, 1, 2                       Use udp multicast transport layer (0 = off, 1 = on, 2 = auto, default = 2)
;
; memfile_minsize                  = x * 4096 kB                   Default memory file size for new publisher
;
; memfile_reserve                  = 50 .. x %                     Dynamic file size reserve before recreating memory file if topic size changes
;
; memfile_ack_timeout              = 0 .. x ms                     Publisher timeout for ack event from subscriber that memory file content is processed
;
; memfile_buffer_count             = 1 .. x                        Number of parallel used memory file buffers for 1:n publish/subscribe ipc connections (default = 1)
; memfile_zero_copy                = 0, 1                          Allow matching subscriber to access memory file without copying its content in advance (blocking mode)
;
; share_ttype                      = 0, 1                          Share topic type via registration layer
; share_tdesc                      = 0, 1                          Share topic description via registration layer (switch off to disable reflection)
; --------------------------------------------------
[publisher]
use_shm                            = 2
use_tcp                            = 0
use_udp_mc                         = 2

memfile_minsize                    = 4096
memfile_reserve                    = 50
memfile_ack_timeout                = 0
memfile_buffer_count               = 1
memfile_zero_copy                  = 0

share_ttype                        = 1
share_tdesc                        = 1

; --------------------------------------------------
; SERVICE SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; protocol_v0                      = 0, 1                          Support service protocol v0, eCAL 5.11 and older (0 = off, 1 = on)
; protocol_v1                      = 0, 1                          Support service protocol v1, eCAL 5.12 and newer (0 = off, 1 = on)
; --------------------------------------------------
[service]
protocol_v0                        = 1
protocol_v1                        = 1

; --------------------------------------------------
; MONITORING SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; timeout                          = 1000 + (x * 1000)             Timeout for topic monitoring in ms
; filter_excl                      = ^__.*$                        Topics blacklist as regular expression (will not be monitored)
; filter_incl                      =                               Topics whitelist as regular expression (will be monitored only)
; filter_log_con                   = info, warning, error, fatal   Log messages logged to console (all, info, warning, error, fatal, debug1, debug2, debug3, debug4)
; filter_log_file                  =                               Log messages to logged into file system
; filter_log_udp                   = info, warning, error, fatal   Log messages logged via udp network
; --------------------------------------------------
[monitoring]
timeout                            = 5000
filter_excl                        = ^__.*$
filter_incl                        =
filter_log_con                     = info, warning, error, fatal
filter_log_file                    =
filter_log_udp                     = info, warning, error, fatal

; --------------------------------------------------
; SYS SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; filter_excl                      = App1,App2                     Apps blacklist to be excluded when importing tasks from cloud
; --------------------------------------------------
[sys]
filter_excl                        = ^eCALSysClient$|^eCALSysGUI$|^eCALSys$

; --------------------------------------------------
; EXPERIMENTAL SETTINGS
; --------------------------------------------------
; shm_monitoring_enabled           = false                         Enable distribution of monitoring/registration information via shared memory
; shm_monitoring_domain            = ecal_monitoring               Domain name for shared memory based monitoring/registration
; shm_monitoring_queue_size        = 1024                          Queue size of monitoring/registration events
; network_monitoring_disabled      = false                         Disable distribution of monitoring/registration information via network
;
; drop_out_of_order_messages       = false                         Enable dropping of payload messages that arrive out of order
; --------------------------------------------------
[experimental]
shm_monitoring_enabled             = false
shm_monitoring_domain              = ecal_mon
shm_monitoring_queue_size          = 1024
network_monitoring_disabled        = false
drop_out_of_order_messages         = false

On ubuntu

>>> route -n | grep  239.0.0.
239.0.0.0       0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     1      0        0 enp0s31f6
239.0.0.0       0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     1000   0        0 lo

>>>./ecal_sample_person_rec

On MacOS

>>> sudo route -v add -net 239.0.0.0 -netmask 255.255.255.0 0.0.0.0
u: inet 239.0.0.0; u: inet 0.0.0.0; u: inet 255.255.255.0; RTM_ADD: Add Route: len 132, pid: 0, seq 1, errno 0, flags:<UP,GATEWAY,STATIC> locks:  inits: sockaddrs: <DST,GATEWAY,NETMASK> 239.0.0.0 default 255.255.255.0 route: writing to routing socket: File exists add net 239.0.0.0: gateway 0.0.0.0: File exists

>>> netstat -nr | grep 239.0.0  
239.0.0            0.0.0.0          UGmS              en0

>>> ./ecal_sample_person_snd_tcp
eCAL::Config - Could not load ini file, using defaults. File name : ecal.ini CTCPReaderLayer - TCPPubSub (Info) -Publisher 0.0.0.0:0: Created publisher and waiting for clients. person id    : 1 person name  : Max person stype : 0 person email : [email protected] dog.name     : Brandy house.rooms  : 4 person id    : 2 person name  : Max person stype : 0 person email : [email protected] dog.name     : Brandy house.rooms  : 4 person id    : 3 person name  : Max person stype : 0 person email : [email protected] dog.name     : Brandy house.rooms  : 4

[FlorianReimold]

eCAL on MacOS is pretty much untested, as we don't own the hardware and Apple forbids to use Virtual Machines for development. So I am a little surprised that you got as far as you did. Good Job! 😃

your last command line displays eCAL::Config - Could not load ini file, using defaults. File name : ecal.ini. So this tells us, that your ecal_sample_person_snd_tcp on MacOS is running in default configuration, which is local mode.

We have a small section about the ecal.ini file location in our documentation. So I would suggest the following:

1. Set the ECAL_DATA variable to the directory that your ecal.ini is in and then start the sample from the same console.
2. If that works, but you don't want to specify that path every time, you can
   • Put the ecal.ini to /etc/ecal/ecal.ini (is that Linux-style directory a thing on macOS?)
   • Compile eCAL with a custom CMAKE_INSTALL_SYSCONFDIR. You can specify that variable on command line via -DCMAKE_INSTALL_SYSCONFDIR=/whatever/you/like. eCAL will then try to load the ecal.ini from an ecal subdirectory that must exist in that path (so /whatever/you/like/ecal/ecal.ini)

[Wuqiqi123]

I modified the source code of ecal, so the default is same as shown in ecal.ini

[FlorianReimold]

Does the normal ecal_sample_person_snd and ecal_sample_person_rec work? So just UDP multicast without TCP?

[Wuqiqi123]

Run ecal_sample_person_snd and ecal_sample_person_rec both on Mac works(but not always works, if I run ecal_sample_person_rec multiple times, it will blocks), while run ecal_sample_person_snd_tcp and ecal_sample_person_rec doesn't.

[Wuqiqi123]

Can ecal's registration process change to TCP?
I test tcp_pubsub on ubuntu, MacOS, QNX, and it works.

[FlorianReimold]

eCALs Registration traffic is sent via UDP Multicast. That's why you need to set the routes for 239.0.0.1/24 to the interface you want the data to be sent to. eCAL's registration traffic cannot be set to TCP, as for technical reasons TCP does not have a multiast option and therefore no way of sending discovery data to all machines on a network

By default, eCAL will also exchange data via UDP multicast, if the subscriber is a remote one (i.e. on a different host in the network). TCP is not used by default at all. However, if you configure eCAL to exchange data via TCP (which is what the ecal_sample_person_snd_tcp does), you still need UDP multicast to work properly in order to make eCAL nodes find each other and exchange the initial parameters for switching to TCP.

Please check if the UDP Multicast transport works properly first, if you have issues with eCAL Communication. You can do that e.g. by starting eCAL Mon on both Machines and checking the "Hosts" Tab. If both machines see each other's host, everything schould be working fine.

If they however cannot see each other, You can start Wirekshark and check, if the UDP Multicast packages are actually sent to the correct interface. For that, simply capture the traffic of the outgoing interface, filter for UDP traffic and check for traffic sent to 239.0.0.1.

• If there is none, something is not configured properly on your machine
• If both machines send the UDP multicast traffic to the correct interface, but neither one receives the traffic, you have an issue in your network setup (e.g. a router firewall may block the multicast packages)

[Wuqiqi123]

Thanks. I will try it.