Extron electronic SFI244 Series, IPL T SF24 user manual Glossary

Glossary

Glossary

10/100Base-Tis Ethernet which uses unshielded twisted pair (UTP - Cat 5, etc.) cable, where the amount of data transmitted between two points in a given amount of time is equal to either 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps.

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a protocol which assigns an IP address to a device based on the device’s MAC or physical machine address.

Custom Web page is any file that can be loaded into an IPL box and served by the IPL’s internal Web server. A custom Web page can provide control of devices attached to the IPL without use of the Global Viewer (GV) or Global Viewer Configurator (GVC) software. This is true with or without an accompanying event script. Any number and size of graphics can be used, but if they are too large to fit on the IPL, you can write your Web page so that they can be served from another Web server. If you install Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) on your desktop, you can serve any page on its hard disk. The IPL functions like a little computer with a Web server—you can use it for various Web tasks.

DHCP is the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), a standardized communications protocol that enables network administrators to locally and automatically manage the assignment of IP addresses in an organization’s network.

Driver is a Global Viewer Configurator (GVC) compatible package. It includes the event script that controls devices.

Ethernet is a network protocol that uses MAC addresses instead of IP addresses to exchange data between computers. Using ARP (see above) with TCP/IP support, Ethernet devices can be connected to the Internet. An Ethernet LAN typically uses unshielded twisted pair (UTP) wires. Ethernet systems currently provide transmission speeds of 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps.

Event script is a program that runs on an IPL box and issues queries and commands to the attached devices. Event scripts are written in the “Extron C” language (.sc), and compiled into an event script (.evt). The Global Viewer Configurator performs this compilation. The compiled result (.evt) is loaded onto the IPL box. The Extron C language is similar to ANSI C, with some differences. As long as event scripts are turned on, event scripts run continuously on the box.

Floating is the condition of a device or circuit that is not grounded and not tied to any established potential.

Global Viewer (GV) is a set of Web pages (HTML, XML, JS) and graphics that are loaded into the memory of an IPL. These pages provide an interface for controlling devices attached to the IPL.

They communicate with the event scripts running on the IPL, and the event scripts issue commands and queries. This communication between the Web pages and the event scripts occurs through predetermined memory locations in the IPL. The GV is initially created by the Global Viewer Configurator (GVC); however, it is possible to edit the GV HTML, XML, and JavaScript files outside of the GVC. This edited GV is called a “hard-coded” or manually generated GV.

Global Viewer Configurator (GVC) is a Windows-based program that, based on user input, creates a Global Viewer (GV). The GVC requests system information such as which devices you have and your current list of IP addresses. With this information, GVC creates a GV for your specific devices. The GVC also compiles the event scripts and loads the GV and event scripts onto the box. When using the GVC, the user must specify the port number for each device (to be controlled, attached devices must be on that port). In order for multiple IPL devices to appear in the same GV, all the devices must be configured at the same time using the GVC.

HTTP is an acronym for the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a Web protocol based on TCP/IP, that is used to fetch HyperText objects from remote Web pages.

Hysteresis (deadband) is the lag that exists between the responding parameter and the changing parameter.

Internet Protocol (IP) is the protocol or standard used to send information from one computer to another on the Internet.

IP address is a unique, 32-bit binary number (12 digit decimal number, xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) that identifies each sender and each receiver of information connected to a LAN, WAN, or the Internet. IP addresses can be static (see static IP) or dynamic (see DHCP).

IP net mask is a 32-bit binary number (12 digit decimal number, xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) used on subnets (smaller, local networks) to help the router determine which network traffic gets routed internally to local computers and which network traffic goes out on the rest of the network or the Internet.

Media Access Control (MAC) Address is a unique hardware number given to devices that connect to a network such as the Internet. When your computer or networking device (router, hub, interface, etc.) is connected to a LAN or the Internet, a table (see ARP) relates the device’s IP address to its corresponding physical (MAC) address on the LAN.

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