1. User Interface¶
eProsima DDS Router is a user application executed from command line and configured through a YAML configuration file.
1.1. Source Dependency Libraries¶
eProsima DDS Router depends on Fast DDS fastrtps
and fastcdr
libraries.
In order to correctly execute the Router, make sure that fastrtps
and fastcdr
are properly sourced.
source <path-to-fastdds-installation>/install/setup.bash
Note
If Fast DDS has been installed in the system, these libraries would be sourced by default.
1.2. Application Arguments¶
The DDS Router application supports several input arguments:
Command |
Option |
Long option |
Value |
Default Value |
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Readable File Path |
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Unsigned Integer |
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String |
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1.2.1. Help Argument¶
It shows the usage information of the application.
Usage: Fast DDS Router
Connect different DDS networks via DDS through LAN or WAN.
It will build a communication bridge between the different Participants included in the provided configuration file.
To stop the execution gracefully use SIGINT (C^) or SIGTERM (kill) signals.
General options:
Application help and information.
-h --help Print this help message.
-v --version Print version, branch and commit hash.
Application parameters
-c --config-path Path to the Configuration File (yaml format) [Default: ./DDS_ROUTER_CONFIGURATION.yaml].
-r --reload-time Time period in seconds to reload configuration file. This is needed when FileWatcher functionality is not available (e.g. config file is a symbolic link). Value 0 does not reload file. [Default: 0].
-t --timeout Set a maximum time in seconds for the Router to run. Value 0 does not set maximum. [Default: 0].
Debug options
-d --debug Set log verbosity to Info (Using this option with --log-filter and/or --log-verbosity will head to undefined behaviour).
--log-filter Set a Regex Filter to filter by category the info and warning log entries. [Default = "DDSROUTER"].
--log-verbosity Set a Log Verbosity Level higher or equal the one given. (Values accepted: "info","warning","error" no Case Sensitive) [Default = "warning"].
1.2.2. Version Argument¶
It shows the current version of the DDS Router and the hash of the last commit of the compiled code.
1.2.3. Configuration File Argument¶
Please refer to Configuration File for more information on how to build this configuration file.
1.2.4. Reload Time Argument¶
Set the Reload Timer in seconds.
1.2.5. Timeout Argument¶
This argument allow to set a maximum time while the application will be running.
Setting this argument will set the number of seconds the application will run until it is killed.
While the application is waiting for timeout, it is still possible to kill it via signal.
Default value 0
means that the application will run forever (until kill via signal).
1.2.6. Debug Argument¶
This argument enables the DDS Router logs so the execution can be followed by internal debugging information.
This argument sets Log Verbosity Argument to info
and
Log Filter Argument to DDSROUTER
.
For more information about debugging options, refer to Log.
Note
If this argument is used with any of the other arguments of debugging, the behavior depends on the order of parser of the arguments.
1.2.7. Log Verbosity Argument¶
Set the verbosity level so only log messages with equal or higher importance level are shown.
1.2.8. Log Filter Argument¶
Set a regex string as filter.
Only log messages with a category that matches this regex will be printed
(ERROR
messages will be always shown unless Log Verbosity Argument is
set to ERROR
).
1.3. Configuration File¶
A DDS Router requires one and only one YAML configuration file as the operation of this application is configured via this YAML configuration file. Please refer to DDS Router Configuration for more information on how to build this configuration file.
This YAML configuration file must be passed as argument to the DDS Router when executed.
If no configuration file is provided as argument, the DDS Router will attempt to load a file named
DDS_ROUTER_CONFIGURATION.yaml
that must be in the same directory where the application is executed.
If no configuration file is passed as argument, and the default configuration file does not exist
in the current directory, the application will fail.
1.4. Reload Topics¶
The topics that the DDS Router is routing could be changed at runtime.
Including topics in configuration’s allowlist
will create new Writers and
Readers for each Participant in the Router.
Removing a topic from allowlist
will disable this topic, and so it will stop routing data in such topic.
Be aware that disabling a topic does not eliminate the entities of that topic.
So, if a topic has been active before, the Writers and Readers will still be present in the DDS Router and will still
receive data.
There exist two methods to reload the list of allowed topics, an active and a passive one. Both methods work over the same configuration file with which the DDS Router has been initialized.
1.4.1. File Watcher¶
A File Watcher is a process that runs in the background and watches for changes in the DDS Router configuration file. Every time the file is changed, the OS sends a notification, and the File Watcher listens such notification and interacts with the DDS Router in order to reload the topics. This event occurs every time the configuration file is saved.
FileWatcher is used in every DDS Router execution by default. However, this method does not work properly in specific scenarios where the file being watched is not a real file but a link (e.g. Kubernetes executions).
1.4.2. Reload Timer¶
A timer could be set in order to periodically reload the configuration file. The configuration file will be automatically reloaded according to the specified time period.
1.5. Log¶
Log module of DDS Router uses the Fast DDS logging module.
This log has 3 severity levels: INFO
, WARNING
and ERROR
.
Every log has also a category associated.
This is how a log looks like:
Date Category Severity Log message Function
2022-11-16 14:58:13.375 [MODULE_SUBMODULE Error] It has happen ... because of ... -> Function main
Every log entry has several parts:
Date: format:
year-month-day hour::minute::second::millisecond
with millisecond accuracy. This is the time when the log was added to the log queue, not when it is printed.Category: Reference to the module where the log was raised. It is used to filter logs.
Severity: Could be
Info
,Warning
orError
.Log message: The actual log message.
Function: Name of the function or method that has produced this log entry.
Note
For INFO
logs to be compiled, the DDS Router must have been compiled with CMake option CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
,
or compiled with CMake option LOG_INFO=ON
.
If Fast DDS has been compiled in debug mode, it will print the logs of the DDS Router and Fast DDS mixed.
In order to skip Fast DDS logs, compile fastrtps
library with CMake option -DLOG_NO_INFO=ON
or CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE
different to Debug
, or use the argument ``
1.6. Close Application¶
In order to stop a DDS Router application, use one of the following OS signals:
1.6.1. SIGINT¶
Send an interruption SIGINT | ^C
signal (signal value 2) to the process.
Press Ctrl + C
in the terminal where the process is running.
1.6.2. SIGTERM¶
Send an interruption SIGTERM
signal (signal value 15) to the process.
Write command kill <pid>
in a different terminal, where <pid>
is the id of the process running the DDS Router.
Use ps
or top
programs to check the process ids.
1.6.3. TIMEOUT¶
Setting a maximum amount of seconds that the application will work using argument --timeout
will close the
application once the time has expired.