Real Com Mode - Moxa Technologies NPort 5200 Series User Manual

Real COM Mode

NPort 5200 comes equipped with COM
drivers that work with Windows
95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP systems, and also
TTY drivers for Linux systems. The driver
establishes a transparent connection
between host and serial device by mapping
the IP:Port of the NPort 5200's serial port
to a local COM/TTY port on the host
computer. This operation mode also
supports up to 4 simultaneous connections,
so that multiple hosts can collect data from
the same serial device at the same time.
The driver used for Real COM Mode comes with the NPort 5200 Windows Administrator. The
driver is installed automatically on your computer when you install NPort 5200 Administration
Suite.
One of the major conveniences of using Real COM Mode is that Real COM Mode allows users to
continue using RS-232/422/485 serial communications software that was written for pure serial
communications applications. The driver intercepts data sent to the host's COM port, packs it into
a TCP/IP packet, and then redirects it through the host's Ethernet card. At the other end of the
connection, the NPort 5200 accepts the Ethernet frame, unpacks the TCP/IP packet, and then
transparently sends it to the appropriate serial device attached to one of the NPort 5200's serial
ports.
Real COM Mode allows several hosts to have access control of the same NPort 5200. The driver
that comes with your NPort 5200 controls host access to attached serial devices by checking the
host's IP address. Refer to Accessible IP Settings in Chapter 5 for more details.
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