Linux Netatalk-HOWTO: Utilities
by Anders Brownworth
[anders@thehamptons.com] 		2.1.0
October 12, 1999
http://www.thehamptons.com/anders/netatalk/utils.html
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Linux Netatalk-HOWTO
Utilities

There are many handy utilities distributed with netatalk such as a command line version of the popular BinHex / Stuffit conversion programs and an AppleTalk Echo program similar to the ping program for TCP/IP.

  • aecho - Appletalk Echo - similar to ping

  • getzones - Returns the current zonelist

  • megatron - converts files to and from .hqx and .sit

  • nbplkup - Appletalk name lookup - similar to nslookup

  • nbprgstr - Registers an item in the Appletalk name space.

  • nbpunrgstr - Unregisters an item in the Appletalk name space.

  • pap - Printer Access Protocol - lets you print to an AppleTalk printer.

  • papstatus - Shows you the current status of an Appletalk printer.

  • psorder - Changes the page order of a Post Script print job.

  • nu - A small perl script I wrote to tell you who is on your netatalk server.

Appletalk, like TCP/IP, is a network protocol, or language. Both TCP/IP and Appletalk can hapily coexist on the same Ethernet wire without disrupting one another. As with any network however, there are going to be problems that you will have to diagnose and it is important to keep the distinctions between Appletalk and TCP/IP clear in your mind. The new version of AppleshareIP makes the matter even more interesting by encapsulating Appletalk packets inside TCP/IP. If you are having trouble with a server, make sure you understand what protocol to troubleshoot.

All of the utilities above deal with the Appletalk protocol (or classic Appletalk) directly. If you are having problems with an AppletalkIP server, you should try the following:

  • Ping the server directly from the client Macintosh. (try MacPing) If this test succeeds, you know the Mac has a valid TCP/IP stack and is communicating with the remote server. If not, you problem lies with TCP/IP somewhere.

  • Telnet to the "AFP over TCP" port (548) and see if it waits for a command or closes the connection. It's a little hard to do this on a Mac so try from either the Netatalk machine, or better yet, another Unix box on the same ethernet. Type:

    telnet yourmachine 548

    and see if it lets you type somthing. If it just closes without letting you type somthing, then the server is not accepting connections on the Linux side of the fence. More often than not this indicates that your server process is simply not running.

Origional document: [http://thehamptons.com/anders/netatalk/utils.html]