Hardware and Connectivity 27
Getting to Know Your IOLAN
Console/Serial Switch
Located at the back of the desktop IOLAN models is a switch that controls whether serial port 1 is in
Console or Serial mode.
Look at your model to verify the direction of the ON switch position. ON indicates that serial port 1
is in Console mode; otherwise serial port 1 is in Serial mode.

Console Mode

Console mode is used when you have a direct connection between a serial device (like a terminal or a
PC) and the IOLAN, accessed by the Admin user to configure/manage the IOLAN. Console mode
automatically sets serial port settings as:
zSerial Interface to EIA-232
zSpeed to 9600
zFlow Control to No
zBits to 8
zStop Bits to 1
zParity to None
Console mode also displays extra system messages.
Serial port 1 will ignore any Serial Port settings when in Console mode, so you need to turn Console
mode off to use serial port 1 in your network.

Serial Mode

Serial mode is used when the IOLAN acts as a communications server, or anytime you are not
connecting directly to the IOLAN to configure it. You can connect directly to the IOLAN in Serial
mode, but the IOLAN will not display all the messages/information you will get in Console mode.
Note: When the console switch is in the on position, the LED will cycle on and off (flashes green).