Spinel CLI Reference

The Spinel CLI exposes the OpenThread configuration and management APIs running on an NCP build via a command line interface. Spinel CLI is primarily targeted for driving the automated continuous integration tests, and is suitable for manual experimentation with controlling OpenThread NCP instances. For a production grade host driver, see [wpantund]: https://github.com/openthread/wpantund.

Use the CLI to play with NCP builds of OpenThread on a Linux or Mac OS platform, including starting a basic tunnel interface to allow IPv6 applications to run on the HOST and use the Thread network.

The power of this tool is three fold:

As a path to add testing of the NCP in simulation to continuous integration
As a path to automated testing of testbeds running NCP firmware on hardware
As a simple debugging tool for NCP builds of OpenThread

System Requirements

OS	Minimum Version
Ubuntu	14.04 Trusty
Mac OS	10.11 El Capitan

Language	Minimum Version
Python	3.6.8

Package Installation

# From pyspinel root
sudo python setup.py install

Usage

NAME

spinel-cli.py - shell tool for controlling OpenThread NCP instances

SYNOPSIS

spinel-cli.py [-hupsnqv]

DESCRIPTION

    -h, --help            
    	Show this help message and exit

    -u <UART>, --uart=<UART>
       	Open a serial connection to the OpenThread NCP device
	where <UART> is a device path such as "/dev/ttyUSB0".

    -p <PIPE>, --pipe=<PIPE>
        Open a piped process connection to the OpenThread NCP device
        where <PIPE> is the command to start an emulator, such as
        "ot-ncp-ftd".  Spinel-cli will communicate with the child process
        via stdin/stdout.

    -s <SOCKET>, --socket=<SOCKET>
        Open a socket connection to the OpenThread NCP device
        where <SOCKET> is the port to open.
	This is useful for SPI configurations when used in conjunction
	with a spinel spi-driver daemon.
	Note: <SOCKET> will eventually map to hostname:port tuple.

    -n NODEID, --nodeid=NODEID
        The unique nodeid for the HOST and NCP instance.

    -q, --quiet
        Minimize debug and log output.

    -v, --verbose
        Maximize debug and log output.

Quick Start

The spinel-cli tool provides an intuitive command line interface, including all the standard OpenThread CLI commands, plus full history accessible by pressing the up/down keys, or searchable via ^R. There are a few commands that spinel-cli provides as well that aren't part of the standard set documented in the command reference section.

openthread$ cd tools/spinel-cli/
spinel-cli$ ./spinel-cli.py
Opening pipe to ../../examples/apps/ncp/ot-ncp-ftd 1
spinel-cli > help

Available commands (type help <name> for more information):
============================================================
channel            diag-sleep  leaderdata       quit
child              diag-start  leaderweight     releaserouterid
childmax           diag-stats  macfilter        rloc16
childtimeout       diag-stop   masterkey        route
clear              discover    mode             router
commissioner       eidcache    ncp-ll64         routerupgradethreshold
contextreusedelay  exit        ncp-ml64         scan
counter            extaddr     ncp-tun          state
debug              extpanid    netdataregister  thread
debug-mem          h           networkidtimeout tun
diag               help        networkname      v
diag-channel       history     panid            version
diag-power         ifconfig    ping
diag-repeat        ipaddr      prefix
diag-send          keysequence q

spinel-cli > version
OPENTHREAD/gd4d4e9d-dirty; Aug 11 2016 14:40:44
Done
spinel-cli > thread start
Done
spinel-cli > state
leader
Done
spinel-cli >

Running the NCP Tests

The OpenThread automated test suite can be run against any of the following node types by passing the NODE_TYPE environment variable:

NODE_TYPE	Description
sim (default)	Runs against ot-cli posix emulator
ncp-sim	Runs against ot-ncp posix emulator with spinel-cli
soc	Runs against CLI firmware on a device connected via /dev/ttyUSB

Manual run of NCP thread-cert test

# From top-level of openthread tree
./bootstrap
./configure --with-examples=posix --enable-cli-app=all --enable-ncp-app=all --with-ncp-bus=uart
make
cd tests/scripts/thread-cert
NODE_TYPE=ncp-sim top_builddir=../../.. python Cert_5_1_02_ChildAddressTimeout.py VERBOSE=1

Run entire NCP thread-cert suite

# From top-level of openthread tree
make distclean
./bootstrap
NODE_TYPE=ncp-sim BUILD_TARGET=posix-distcheck DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS="--with-examples=posix --enable-cli-app --enable-ncp-app=all --with-ncp-bus=uart --with-tests=all" make -f examples/Makefile-posix distcheck BuildJobs=10 VERBOSE=1

Command Reference

OpenThread CLI Commands

The primary intent of spinel-cli is to support the exact syntax and output of the OpenThread CLI command set in order to seamlessly reapply the thread-cert automated test suite against NCP targets.

See cli module for more information on these commands.

Diagnostics CLI Commands

The Diagnostics module is enabled only when building OpenThread with the --enable-diag configure option.

See diag module for more information on these commands.

NCP CLI Commands

These commands extend beyond the core OpenThread CLI, and are specific to the spinel-cli tool for the purposes of debugging, access to NCP-specific Spinel parameters, and support of advanced configurations.

help
?
v
exit
quit
q
clear
history
h
debug
debug-term
ncp-tun
ncp-ml64
ncp-ll64

help

Display help all top-level commands supported by spinel-cli.

spinel-cli > help

Available commands (type help <name> for more information):
============================================================
channel            diag-sleep  leaderdata       quit
child              diag-start  leaderweight     releaserouterid
childmax           diag-stats  macfilter        rloc16
childtimeout       diag-stop   masterkey        route
clear              discover    mode             router
commissioner       eidcache    ncp-ll64         routerupgradethreshold
contextreusedelay  exit        ncp-ml64         scan
counter            extaddr     ncp-tun          state
debug              extpanid    netdataregister  thread
debug-mem          h           networkidtimeout tun
diag               help        networkname      v
diag-channel       history     panid            version
diag-power         ifconfig    ping
diag-repeat        ipaddr      prefix
diag-send          keysequence q

help <command>

Display detailed help on a specific command.

spinel-cli > help version

version

    Print the build version information.

    > version
    OPENTHREAD/gf4f2f04; Jul  1 2016 17:00:09
    Done

v

Display version of spinel-cli tool.

spinel-cli > v
spinel-cli ver. 0.1.0
Copyright (c) 2016 The OpenThread Authors.

exit

Exit spinel-cli. CTRL+C is also okay.

quit

Exit spinel-cli. CTRL+C is also okay.

clear

Clear screen.

history

Display history of most recent commands run.

spinel-cli > history
ping fd00::1
quit
help
history

debug

Get whether debug verbose output is enabled.

spinel-cli > debug
DEBUG_ENABLE = 0

debug <enabled>

Set whether debug verbose output is enabled.

spinel-cli > debug DEBUG_ENABLE = 0

spinel-cli > debug 1
DEBUG_ENABLE = 1
spinel-cli > version
TX Pay: (3) ['81', '02', '02']
RX Pay: (53) ['81', '06', '02', '4F', '50', '45', '4E', '54', '48', '52', '45', '41', '44', '2F', '67', '38', '62', '63', '34', '62', '31', '64', '2D', '64', '69', '72', '74', '79', '3B', '20', '41', '75', '67', '20', '33', '31', '20', '32', '30', '31', '36', '20', '31', '30', '3A', '34', '38', '3A', '35', '33', '00', '40', '33']
OPENTHREAD/g8bc4b1d-dirty; Aug 31 2016 10:48:53
Done

debug-term

Get whether debug terminal title bar is enabled.

debug-term <enabled>

Set whether debug terminal title bar is enabled.

ncp-tun

Control sideband tunnel interface.

ncp-tun up

Bring up Thread TUN interface.

spinel-cli > ncp-tun up
Done

ncp-tun down

Bring down Thread TUN interface.

spinel-cli > ncp-tun down
Done

ncp-tun add <ipaddr>

Add an IPv6 address to the Thread TUN interface.

spinel-cli > ncp-tun add 2001::dead:beef:cafe
Done

ncp-tun del <ipaddr>

Delete an IPv6 address from the Thread TUN interface.

spinel-cli > ncp-tun del 2001::dead:beef:cafe
Done

ncp-tun ping <ipaddr> [size] [count] [interval]

Send an ICMPv6 Echo Request via a posix host system call.

spinel-cli > ncp-tun ping fdde:ad00:beef:0:558:f56b:d688:799
16 bytes from fdde:ad00:beef:0:558:f56b:d688:799: icmp_seq=1 hlim=64 time=28ms

ncp-ml64

Return the Mesh Local 64-bit IPv6 address for the node.

spinel-cli > ncp-ml64
fdde:ad00:beef:0:558:f56b:d688:799
Done

ncp-ll64

Return the Link Local 64-bit IPv6 address for the node.

Vendor package

Extension of the Spinel CLI with custom properties and commands. This plugin-like extension adds vendor-specific commands and properties to pyspinel in a way that does not impact the implementation of core pyspinel functionalities.

The vendor package contains the following modules:

MODULE	DESCRIPTION
vendor	Module that provides a specific vendor commands.
const	Module with constants for vendor spinel extension.
codec	Module that provides a vendor property handlers.
Each module comes with an example that shows how to add specific vendor codecs and constants.

Vendor commands

The vendor package adds several vendor-specific pyspinel commands. Use the help command to list them all.

spinel-cli > vendor help
Available vendor commands:
==============================================
help

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History