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Crestron e-control Database Manager
Introduction
The term "server" does not imply
a need for specialized hardware.
Any PC meeting the minimum
requirements on page 7 will
suffice to run swserver.exe.
6
Introduction
What is Crestron e-control™ Database Manager?
Crestron e-control Database Manager (SW-DBM) empowers any Crestron control
system with database capability.
Simply by asserting specific signals, your control systems can send arbitrary text,
whole text files, canned messages, alerts, status updates, etc., to any e-mail address.
Messages can be sent to a control system for display and to assert specific signals.
The actual database access is not carried out by the control systems themselves, but
by the freely distributed Crestron e-control Software Server. SW-DBM is a
licensable component of this "server" application (swserver.exe) which is
hosted on a standard PC running Windows
following core technologies:
Signal-level communications with the control system
Access to database tables
Access to external services (such as e-mail servers) through the PC's network
connection.
The server is connected to the control system via either a serial cable through an
RS-232 port or an Ethernet network through a LAN port. To effect the latter type of
connection, the control system relies on an intermediary, the Crestron CNX Gateway,
to translate communications protocols.
To aid in making all this clear, the following illustrated discussion of system
terminology and topology should prove useful at this point.
System Terminology and Topology
This manual simultaneously discusses several different inter-connected computer
systems. To reduce confusion, throughout the manual, these systems are referred to
using the terms in the following table. (Also refer to the diagrams on the next page.)
Term
The system
or the control system
The server
or the software server
The gateway
or the CNX Gateway
The control system(s) are connected to the server via direct RS-232 serial connection
or via TCP/IP to the gateway and thence via TCP/IP to the server.
N
: "Connected via TCP/IP" means any node (computer) visible on the Local Area Network
OTE
(LAN). If the LAN is connected to the Internet, this could include any node visible anywhere on the
Internet. Since a node can also see itself, this implies that multiple services can run on the same
machine. For example, the gateway and the server can be "self-hosted" in this way.
®
95 or Windows NT
Explanation
One of a number of Crestron control
system(s), which may include any combination
of the following models:
CNMS
-
,
-
, and
CNMSX
PRO
CNMSX
AV
The Crestron Software Server,
swserver.exe, which runs on a PC under
®
®
Microsoft
Windows
95 or Windows NT
A communications conduit that sits between
the server and the control system(s).
Installation & Reference Guide — DOC. 5823
SW-DBM
®
and provides the
,
,
CNRACK
.
CNRACKX
®
.
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