For those who have used the le_data interface, the following brief comparisons provides additional clarity for le_dcs and eliminate confusion.

le_dcs Migration Tips

Unlike the le_data interface that supports only one active data connection at a time and allows no definite choice over which one to pick and use, the le_dcs interface supports multiple at any moment and the choice over which to choose. While applications' choices and control on a device are increased, they have greater responsibilities over connectivity selection and management.

Unlike le_data, le_dcs does not perform any of the following network operations automatically:

• Rank-walk over different technologies upon connection failures to pick the next channel to try reconnecting back.
• Automatically add a channel's assigned gateway addresses as the device's default, when the channel comes up.
• Automatically add a channel's assigned DNS server addresses into the device's global name server table when the channel comes up.

With multiple applications on a device using le_dcs over multiple channels, they need to collectively know and decide on which default gateway addresses and DNS server addresses to install and when. For performing these tasks the le_net interface is offered. Please refer to le_net_interface.h for its corresponding API details.

Warning

Any client application that continues to use the le_data interface needs to beware of the new reality that multiple data channels could have been active if some others have started them via the le_dcs interface. The one that it has started might not have the device's default gateway and DNS server addresses set on its network interface, because although these network configurations would be automatically inserted by the le_data interface, some other data channel that got established later via le_dcs and le_net could have set these configurations onto another network interface instead. Thus, the network admin of any Legato device on which both le_data and le_dcs plus le_net would be used together has to understand the network topology and manage its routing configurations properly at any time.

le_net Migration Tips

The le_data interface automatically adds default gateway and DNS server addresses for the single data channel that it manages. While the le_dcs interface introduces the capabilities to manage multiple channels, this le_net interface is developed and separated out from le_data for enhanced flexibility and capabilities to manage a device's network and route configurations in the presence of multiple applications using multiple active channels.

Warning

Avoid having some applications use le_dcs together with le_net and some use le_data simultaneously. Both models manage network and routing configurations differently and conflicts could arise. The more reliable way is to have all the applications on a device use either le_dcs with le_net or le_data. Applications using le_net with le_dcs would experience the sudden appearance of a new default gateway address and route when another application has brought up another channel via le_data_Request(). This would generate traffic issues over those channels established and managed via the le_net and le_dcs interfaces.

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