Problems using INET v. 2.6.0 and parsim - broken links

[Jan Raddatz]

Hi everyone,

there seems to be a problem with using INET and parallel simulation. I attached a screenshot of my simulation model. The simulation is divided into 4 partitions with three visible on the screenshot.

The link between the partitions is an DataRateChannel.

Those channels are not connected when running the simulation in parallel. I narrowed the problem down to class EtherMACBase.

It seems that the instances stay in disconnected state when in parallel simulation. 

Did anyone experience the same problem or knows how to solve it? 

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Jan Raddatz]

I've digged into the sources and I think there is a problem with determining wether a gate is "connected" or not.

cGate::isConnected distinguishes between beeing embedded into simple and non simple modules.

 However, beeing embedded into a placeholder module is not treated properly. I changed the function as follows:

bool cGate::isConnected() const

{

    // for compound modules, both inside and outside must be non-NULL,

    // for simple modules, only check outside.

    if (getOwnerModule()->isSimple())

        return isConnectedOutside();

    else if (getOwnerModule()->isPlaceholder())

        return isConnectedOutside();

    else

        return prevgatep!=NULL && nextgatep!=NULL;

    /*

    // for compound modules, both inside and outside must be non-NULL,

    // for simple modules, only check outside.

    if (!getOwnerModule()->isSimple())

        return prevgatep!=NULL && nextgatep!=NULL;

    else

        return isConnectedOutside();

    */

}

Now it works! Might not be the best solution though. If someone more experienced might countercheck I would be glad.

Best Regards 

[Jan Raddatz]

Furthermore, EtherFrame.msg lacks the implementations for packing and unpacking.

In order to use it with parallel simulation, these functions should be added to EtherFrame.msg inside the cplusplus {{ }} marked area.

inline void doPacking(cCommBuffer *buffer, MACAddress& addr) {

buffer->pack(addr.getInt());

}

inline void doUnpacking(cCommBuffer *buffer, MACAddress& addr) {

uint64 value;

buffer->unpack(value);

addr = MACAddress(value);

}