1.20 TCP/IP WEB NET Server NVM MPFS

The Web Net Server Non-volatile Memory (NVM) MPFS configuration demonstrates creating an HTTP web server on a Microchip evaluation board. The Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Microchip Proprietary File System (MPFS) is used for storing the web pages in the internal Flash.

This demonstration uses the HTTPNET server module that supports encrypted communication with NET_PRES layer and third-party TLS service provider (like wolfSSL).

TCP/IP WEB NET Server NVM MPFS MCC Configuration

The following Project Graph diagram shows the Harmony components included in the WEB NET Server NVM MPFS application demonstration.

• MCC is launched by selecting Tools > Embedded > MPLAB® Code Configurator from the MPLAB X IDE and after opening the project, TCP/IP demo project is ready to be configured and regenerated.

• TCP/IP Root Layer Project Graph

  The root layer project shows that UART2 peripheral is selected to do read and write operation for TCP/IP commands.

  This is the basic configuration with SYS_CONSOLE, SYS_DEBUG and SYS_COMMAND modules. These modules are required for TCP/IP command execution.

  

  WolfSSL component is selected for secure connection which supports TLS and WolfSSL-Crypto component is selected for MD5 and SHA authentication.

  The file system component is required to select MPFS module. This is the below snapshot for the FS configuration.

  

  NOTE - The above diagram contains FreeRTOS component and that is required for RTOS application. For bare-metal(non-RTOS) FreeRTOS component shouldn't be selected.

  TCP sockets calculate the ISN using the wolfSSL crypto library.

• TCP/IP Configuration

  • PIC32MZ DA Starter Kit / PIC32MZ EF Starter Kit

    

• TCP/IP Required Application

  TCP/IP demo use these application module components for this demo.

  Announce module to discover the Microchip devices within a local network.

  DHCP Client module to discover the IPv4 address from the nearest DHCP Server.

  DNS Client provides DNS resolution capabilities to the stack.

  HTTPNET Server module is selected to run the web_server for the port number 443.

  NBNS NetBIOS Name Service protocol associates host names with IP addresses. This assign of human-name host names to access boards on the same subnet.

  SMTP CLIENT let applications send e-mails to any recipient worldwide.

  SNTP Simple Network Time Protocol updates its internal time periodically using a pool of public global time servers.

• TCP/IP Data Link Layer

  Internal ethernet driver(ethmac) is enabled with the external LAN8740 PHY driver library for both the starter kits. The MIIM Driver supports asynchronous read/write and scan operations for accessing the external PHY registers and notification when MIIM operations have completed.

TCP/IP WEB NET Server NVM MPFS Hardware Configuration

This section describes the hardware configuration for PIC32MZ DA/EF Starter Kit and one can be used for the respective application demonstration.

1. This section describes the PIC32MZ DA Starter Kit default hardware configuration which uses the on-board debugger and programmer for this application demonstration.

   • Refer to the PIC32MZ DA Starter Kit User Guide for the programming/debugging options supported & setting up the hardware.

     

   • Connect micro USB cable from the computer to the DEBUG USB connector(J19) on the PIC32MZ DA Starter Kit

   • Connect micro USB cable from the computer to the USB-UART connector(J5) on the PIC32MZ DA Starter Kit

   • Establish a connection between the router/switch with the PIC32MZ DA Starter Kit through the RJ45 connector on PHY daughter board

2. This section describes the PIC32MZ EF Starter Kit default hardware configuration which uses the on-board debugger and programmer for this application demonstration.

   • Refer to the PIC32MZ EF Starter Kit User Guide for the programming/debugging options supported & setting up the hardware.

     

   • Connect the mini USB cable from the computer to the USB DEBUG connector on the PIC32MZ EF Starter Kit

   • Connect the mini USB cable from the computer to the USB-UART connector on the PIC32MZ EF Starter Kit

   • Establish a connection between the router/switch with the PIC32MZ EF Starter Kit through the RJ45 connector on PHY daughter board

TCP/IP WEB NET Server NVM MPFS Running Application

The HTTPNET server module uses Microchip Proprietary File System (MPFS) to read web pages from the Non-Volatile Memory (NVM). The Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) is one of the memory media is used to store the web server pages.

This table list the name and location of the MPLAB X IDE project folder for the demonstration.

Running Demonstration Steps

1. Build and download the demonstration project on the target board.

2. If the board has a UART connection:

   1. A virtual COM port will be detected on the computer, when the USB cable is connected to USB-UART connector.

   2. Open a standard terminal application on the computer (like Hyper-terminal or Tera Term) and configure the virtual COM port.

   3. Set the serial baud rate to 115200 baud in the terminal application.

   4. See that the initialization prints on the serial port terminal.

   5. When the DHCP client is enabled in the demonstration, wait for the DHCP server to assign an IP address for the development board. This will be printed on the serial port terminal.

      • Alternatively: Use the Announce service or ping to get the IP address of the board.

      • Run tcpip_discoverer.jar to discover the IPv4 and IPv6 address for the board.

3. Execution :

   After the successful board bring up, the console output becomes

   

4. HTTP Server Output -

   An HTTP server is hosted by the demonstration application. Open a web browser and direct it to the board running the HTTP server by typing the URL in the address bar (for example, https://mchpboard_e or https://< ip-address as shown in the console > ), and then pressing Enter.

   

   The demonstration application features following:

   1. Dynamic Variables and Real-time Hardware Control - On the Overview page the LEDs can be clicked to toggle the LEDs on the Microchip hardware development board. The SWITCHes on the Microchip hardware development board can be pressed to toggle the Buttons on the web page. The dynamic variables can be updated in real-time on the HTTP server.

   2. Form Processing - Input can be handled from the client by using the GET and POST methods (this functionality controls the on-board LEDs and is operational only on the Explorer 16 Development Board)

   3. Authentication - Shows an example of the commonly used restricted access feature

   4. Cookies - Shows an example of storing small text strings on the client side

   5. Server Side Includes - An example of how SSI can be used to support dynamic content

   6. File Uploads - Shows an example of a file upload using the POST method. The HTTP server can_accept_a user-defined MPFS/MPFS2 image file for web pages.

   7. Send E-mail - Shows simple SMTP POST methods

   8. Dynamic DNS - Exercises Dynamic DNS capabilities

   9. Network Configuration - The MAC address, host name, and IP address of the evaluation kit can be viewed in the Network Configuration page and some configurations can be updated

   10. MPFS Upload - A new set of web pages can be uploaded to the web server using this feature, which is accessed through http://mchpboard_e/mpfsupload

   Notes:

   • For the LED and SWITCH functionality portion of the demonstration, configure the GPIOs connected to LEDs and Switches on Microchip hardware development board, through the Pin Configuration manager in MPLAB® Code Configurator (MCC).

   • The location of the MPFS image is fixed at the beginning of the Flash page specified by DRV_MEMORY_DEVICE_START_ADDRESS. The size of the MPFS upload is limited to DRV_MEMORY_DEVICE_MEDIA_SIZE in the demonstration. The HTTP File Upload functionality has to be enabled when the project is generated.