Chapter 2: Overview
2. Overview
2.1 Introduction
Industrial and commercial measurement and control systems often have standalone devices with unused serial ports. Black Box® Serial Servers allow you to connect those ports into your existing LAN or WAN, giving you access to more information and the ability to configure, manage, and troubleshoot those devices from a control room, office, or even a distant location via a WAN. Save the cost, time and trouble of carrying a laptop out to devices located in distant, cold, dirty, or uncomfortable environments.
Connect your serial device to the serial port and connect the server to your LAN. Your networked computer “sees” the device over the network as a virtual serial connection. Black Box serial servers support TCP or UDP protocols and allow transmitting to and receiving from multiple IP addresses. There are four methods of configuring serial servers: via Management Software, Web Server, Telnet, or via a direct
2.1.1 Applications
•Access remote devices with serial ports via your network.
•Manage, configure, and program devices remotely via a Web server.
•Use for industrial devices such as PLCs, drives, motor controls, process analyzers.
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•Traffic
•Retail/point of
2.1.2 Manager Software
The Manager software allows easy access to the serial server to configure the server and its ports, upgrade server firmware, and monitor port status and activity. When the Manager opens, it will search for and display all serial servers on the network.
2.1.3 Monitor Port
The Monitor Port feature allows you to use any PC on the LAN/WAN to actively view and troubleshoot the communications sta- tus. It shows when there is a client connection to the server and the client IP address. It displays the number of bytes transmitted and received as well as the status of the hardware handshaking lines.
2.1.4 Web Server
Black Box serial servers can be accessed and configured from any Web browser (such as Internet Explorer) on the LAN/WAN. This allows you to remotely manage the software and your serial device. It also allows
2.1.5 Heartbeat Connection Protection
LES400A series Serial Servers provide automatic resumption of the TCP data connection in case of a power failure or loss of an Ethernet connection on either the client or server. Once the Heartbeat connection is established, the server sends a signal to the client every five seconds until communication is
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