RUT955 USB Tools

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The information in this page is updated in accordance with the RUT9XX_R_00.06.07 firmware version.

Summary

This chapter is an overview of the USB Tools service in RUT955 routers.

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Network Shares

The Network Shares section is used to manage Network-attached storage (NAS) such as USB drives, SD cards and hard drives. The router supports the following file system architectures:

FAT32*
NTFS**

* supports SD cards with a capacity of up to 32 GB
** NTFS support available from FW version RUT9XX_R_00.05.02 and newer

Mounted File Systems

The Mounted File Systems tab displays information on mounted USB drives and SD cards. To view an attached drive, connect it to the router and click the Refresh button:

field name	description
Filesystem	Name of the Linux filesystem. For better clarity, lets take a closer look at the filesystem name from the example above: /dev - the directory of device files. Everything in the Linux filesystem is either a file or a directory; /dev is the location of device files. Every device is represented by a file in the /dev directory sd - identifies block devices* (capable of carrying data) a - the letter immediately after sd signifies the order in which the device was first found (a, b, c, ...) 1 - signifies the partition on the device So the full string /dev/sda1 denotes the first partition of the first block device * SD cards will be identified as MultiMediaCard (MMC) devices and the identifier will begin with the mmcblk string instead of sd
Mount Point	A mount point is a directory in the currently accessible filesystem on which an additional filesystem is mounted (i.e., logically attached). The /mnt directory and its subdirectories are intended for use as the temporary mount points for mounting storage devices. The mount point becomes the root directory of the newly added filesystem, and that filesystem becomes accessible from that directory
Available	Amount of available memory in the mounted drive. This column also displays the total capacity of the drive
Used	Amount of used memory in the mounted drive
Safely Remove Disk	Unmounts the drive so that it becomes safe to disconnect from the router

SSH commands

Devices can be mounted or unmounted manually by using SSH commands.

Mounting

The mount command attaches a filesystem to the file hierarchy. The basic syntax for the command is:

mount -t type device dir

Where:

-t - the filesystem type. If this value is omitted, the command will try to determine the type automatically
device - file name of the device. Refer to section 2.1 for examples
dir - directory that will be used as the mount point for the device. Refer to section 2.1 for examples

Example command:

mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1

Unmounting

The umount command detaches filesystem from the file hierarchy. The basic syntax for the command is:

umount device

Example command:

umount /dev/sda1

Using the umount command is analogous to clicking the "Safely Remove Disk" button. Therefore, the attached drive can be safely disconnected after using umount to detach it.

Samba

Samba is a software solution for using the Server Message Block (SMB) networking protocol, which provides shared file access between nodes on a computer network. The Samba tab in RUT955's WebUI is used to configure network access (look to section 2.2.1 for details) to storage devices connected to the router's MicroSD slot or USB connector.

field name	value	description
Enable	yes \| no; default: no	Toggles Samba ON or OFF
Hostname	string; default: Router_Share	Name of the Samba server
Description	string; default: Router_Share	Short server description
Workgroup	string; default: WORKGROUP	Name of the server's workgroup

Shared Directories

The Shared Directories section is used to configure access to connected storage drives or individual directories contained in those drives. A shared directory must be added before it can be configured:

field name	value	description
Name	string; default: none	Name of the shared directory.
Path	file path; default: none	Path to the shared directory. To share an entire drive, choose an automatically generated path from this drop-down box (for example, /mnt/sda1). To share a specific directory on the drive, specify the full path to that directory (for example, /mnt/sda1/shared/video)
Allow guests	yes \| no; default: no	Enables guest access, which allows anonymous connections to the shared directory
Allowed users	string; default: none	Defines which users can access the shared directory. Users can be created from the Samba user tab (refer to section 2.3 for details). If Allow guests is checked, this field becomes inactive
Read-only	yes \| no; default: no	Makes the directory read-only, which means the shared directory can only be accessed to view and read files
Delete	- (interactive button)	Deletes the configuration related to the shared directory

Samba Users

Samba users are users that can be granted access to shared directories (as described in section 2.2.1. To add a new user, enter a custom username and password and click the add button:

field name	value	description
Username	string; default: none	Name of the new user
Password	string; default: none	Password of the new user

Printer Server

The Printer Server provides the possibility to configure access to a printer that is connected to the USB port of the RUT955 device. The Add button lets you add and manage additional printers. To configure a printer instance, click the Edit button located next to it:

field name	value	description
Enable	yes \| no; default: no	Turns support for the printer ON or OFF
Device	default: N/A	Printer's device file. Will become automatically generated once you connect a printer to the USB port
Port	integer [9100..9109]; default: 9100	TCP listener port
Bidirectional mode	yes \| no; default: yes	Turns bidirectional mode ON or OFF

For step-by-step instructions on how to use a printer with RUT955, click here

USB to serial

The router's USB connector can also be used as a serial port. The only type of serial connection available via USB is Over IP.

In Over IP serial type the device provides a connection to a TCP/IP network for the devices connected via the serial interface. The figure below is an example of available configuration fields for the Over IP serial type and the table below provides information on these fields:

field name	value	description
Enabled	yes \| no; default: no	Enables the RS232 service
Baud rate	300 \| 1200 \| 2400 \| 4800 \| 9600 \| 19200 \| 38400 \| 57600 \| 115200; default: 115200	Data rate for serial data transmission (in bits per second)
Data bits	5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8; default: 8	Number of data bits for each character
Parity	None \| Odd \| Even; default: None	In serial transmission, parity is a method of detecting errors. An extra data bit is sent with each data character, arranged so that the number of 1 bits in each character, including the parity bit, is always odd or always even. If a byte is received with the wrong number of 1s, then it must have been corrupted. However, an even number of errors can pass the parity check. None (N) - no parity method is used Odd (O) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be odd Even (E) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be even
Stop bits	1 \| 2; default: 1	Stop bits sent at the end of every character allow the receiving signal hardware to detect the end of a character and to resynchronise with the character stream. Electronic devices usually use one stop bit. Two stop bits are required if slow electromechanical devices are used
Flow control	None \| RTS/CTS \| Xon/Xoff; default: None	In many circumstances a transmitter might be able to send data faster than the receiver is able to process it. To cope with this, serial lines often incorporate a "handshaking" method, usually distinguished between hardware and software handshaking. RTS/CTS - hardware handshaking. RTS and CTS are turned OFF and ON from alternate ends to control data flow, for instance when a buffer is almost full Xon/Xoff - software handshaking. The Xon and Xoff characters are sent by the receiver to the sender to control when the sender will send data, i.e., these characters go in the opposite direction to the data being sent. The circuit starts in the "sending allowed" state. When the receiver's buffers approach capacity, the receiver sends the Xoff character to tell the sender to stop sending data. Later, after the receiver has emptied its buffers, it sends an Xon character to tell the sender to resume transmission
Serial type	Over IP; default: Over IP	Specifies the serial connection type.
Protocol	TCP; default: TCP	Protocol used in the communication process
Mode	Server \| Client \| Bidirect; default: Server	Device's role in the connection: Server - the device waits for incoming connections Client - the device initiates the connection Bidirect - acts as client by default but waits for incoming connections at the same time
No leading zeros	yes \| no; default: no	When checked, indicates that the first hex zeros should be skipped
Client settings: Server address	ip \| host; default: none	IP address or hostname of the server that the client will connect to
Client settings: TCP port	integer [0..65535]; default: none	Server's port number
Client settings: Reconnect interval (s)	integer; default: none	Time period (in seconds) between reconnection attempts in case a connection fails
Server settings: TCP port	integer [0..65535]; default: none	Internal TCP port number used to listen for incoming connections
Server settings: Timeout (s)	integer; default: none	Disconnects clients after they remain inactive for an amount time (in seconds) specified in this field
Output	OC Output \| Relay Output; default: OC Output	Output to indicate that the application switched from client (default) to server state (this field becomes visible only in Bidirect mode)
Output state	1 \| 0; default: 0	Output state value during which the application reverts to server mode (this field becomes visible only in Bidirect mode)

USB Modem

Click here for step-by-step USB modem set up instructions.

RUT955 is compatible with the following USB modems:

Huawei MS2131i-8