Troubleshooting the Network
With as many steps there are and as many options to set in this system somewhere along the line a mistake could be made, or even the best software setup won’t work at a particular site because of some external reason. If you have trouble in Unit Scan, or Uploading, or a call button or dialing on the master gives you an error tone or ignores you there are three procedures you can try to troubleshoot the problem and narrow down the possibilities of the cause.
Using the Command Line
If you can’t upload to a particular device, the first thing to check is that it is still connected to the network. You can Ping it using the command window in windows XP. The command window is found by clicking the Start button, choosing Run… and then typing in CMD, which will open the command
window for DOS style command line operations. Make sure your device is connected to the same network as your PC, and that they have different IP addresses, and then attempt to ping it using “ping 192.168.1.1” or whatever IP address you are trying to reach.
In most scenarios Ping will
succeed, since very few routers block it. Routers however tend to restrict traffic on some ports, especially on large networks with lots of applications running. To test if there are problems with a particular port, use Telnet in the command line after a successful ping. The command is “telnet 192.168.1.1 5000” where 5000 is the port we are testing. Telnet will, depending on the network, return with either an error or will simply show a blank screen with a flashing cursor. The flashing cursor means you are “in” and can send information to that port without it being blocked by some firewall, close the window and check every other port your system uses (only 80,
If ping cannot find the address or telnet throws an error, there may be a power problem, or the address is incorrect, duplicate or invalid or there could be a network problem such as blocked ports or other restrictions.
Testing with Unrestricted Network Hardware
One of the best ways to troubleshoot a network problem is to recreate the network’s IP settings on a consumer level router not connected over a WAN and attempt to ping, try the menu option Configuration
(such as the PoE switch from PowerDsine) typically do not block internal traffic which is the main reason we recommend setting up the equipment in this simulated test environment before deploying it in the field. It will however block incoming WAN traffic it does not recognize, so try to keep everything on one bench with only one piece of networking hardware; do not use multiple switches or routers for the initial setup and test. It is highly recommended to get the equipment up and running before taking it to a heavily restricted network.
Each router has a configuration page (contact the manufacturer for documentation), the only thing you’ll need to adjust is to tell it what the LAN IP addresses will look like. Will it be on the subnet 192.168.1.X or will it be 192.168.0.X or will it be something else entirely. It is all up to you, but the LAN
should match the first three octets of IP addresses of your equipment. The default IP address is 192.168.1.1, and if you haven’t been able to get Unit Scan to find anything, then setup the simulated test network on the 192.168.1.X subnet and then try Unit Scan again. If this doesn’t work, proceed to the next step, Using a Web Browser.
Note: Power over Ethernet is the preferred way to power
The limitation with these sources is that they limit the distance the station can be from the power source and electrical outlet at about 5ft, which can be difficult for AN IP door stations located at a remote gate without power, which is why we recommend Power over Ethernet from PowerDsine see http://www.microsemi.com/powerdsine/ for more information.
Using a Web Browser
A web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox can be used to communicate to AN equipment if you know the IP address. Initially the IP address is 192.168.1.1 (although you may have changed it in Unit Scan) and the default user name is