Expanding Portserver Ii With Additional Ports; Description Of Portserver Ii Hardware - Digi PortServer II User Manual

Expanding PortServer II with additional ports

The standard PortServer II provides 16 serial ports. If you require additional ports at
any time, you can connect external modules from the Digi International PORTS range
to PortServer II's EBI (External Bus Interface) connector, as described below.
Note: Data speed through the serial ports under sustained load may be less than that
specified if you connect external modules.

Description of PortServer II Hardware

The Digi PortServer II intelligent terminal server allows you to connect up to 64 RS-
232 asynchronous serial devices (such as terminals and printers) to an Ethernet
network. Both Twisted Pair (10BaseT) and Thinnet (10Base2) cabling connectors are
provided on the side of the PortServer II box. If your network uses Thicknet cabling,
use a transceiver from Digi International.
The PortServer II hardware features a 20 MHz 32-bit IDT 3051 RISC microprocessor
and a 82596 32-bit network interface controller. It includes 2 Mbytes of flash
memory, 2 Mbytes of RAM, and four Cirrus quad UARTs with Direct Memory
Access (DMA). Self-tests on power-up help ensure reliability. Front-panel LEDs and
controls can be used for diagnostic testing and performance checks, monitoring either
RS-232 or Ethernet activity.
PortServer II features Digi International's External Bus Interface (EBI) connector,
which can be used to "daisy-chain" up to three external Digi PORTS modules
(PORTS/16em, PORTS/8em and PORTS/8emp) to add extra ports.
After the power-up self-tests and loading of the operating software (either from
firmware or downloaded from the network), PortServer II sends login messages to all
terminals connected to it. (Ports set up as printers or modems do not receive login
messages; the factory default sets all ports as terminals.)
When they receive the login prompt, users can log into the PortServer II. Depending
upon their privilege level (as defined by the system administrator), they can issue
commands to the PortServer II to change parameters or connect to one of the network
systems. The PortServer II software allows the system administrator to set up
password-protected accounts with various privilege levels to restrict users' access to
systems on the network.
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