Q: How do I use a port server with Honeywell Experion?

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Q:	How do I use a port server with Honeywell Experion?

A:	If you are using Honeywell's Experion software, generally the ports are set up using "raw TCP" mode, not using NativeCOM. Visit Honeywell for specific product documentation on how to set up the ports. Assuming you are using Experion, you can set up the ports as follows: RCS Terminal Servers If you are using RCS terminal servers, you should configure each port as follows: Go to Port Parameters and select the port you want to configure Set the Baud Rate, Character Size, Stop Bits, Parity and Flow Control to match your device. Set the Interface Type to match your device Set "Need DCD" to "ignore" Set "Reverse Telnet" to "Enabled" Set "Custom Configuration" to "none" Click "Apply Changes" You should also set the TCP Keepalives to recover the port if the host unexpectedly dies. Go to TCP Keep Alive Set tcp_keepidle to something like 30 or 60 seconds Click "Apply Changes" NDS Terminal Servers If you are using NDS terminal servers, you should configure each port as follows: Go to Serial Settings and select the port you want to configure Set the Electrical Interface to match your device Set the Baud Rate, Databits, Parity, Stopbits, and Flow Control to match your device. Click "Save Changes" You do not need to enable any service settings (like DCD, reverse telnet or custom configuration) on the NDS, it is set up for reverse telnet by default. You should also set the TCP Keepalives to recover the port if the host unexpectedly dies. Go to Network Settings Under TCP Keep Alive, set "Seconds to wait..." to something like 30 or 60 seconds Click "Save Keep-Alive" Accessing Ports from Experion Once your port server is configured (either RCS or NDS), set up Experion to connect to the RCS or NDS IP address and TCP port 800n, where n is the serial port you are connecting to. For example, to connect Experion to serial port 3, you would tell it to connect to TCP port 8003. Setting the IP Address of the RCS or NDS Experion does not use NativeCOM ports (virtual COM ports) to talk to the RCS or NDS serial port. But the Honeywell procedures use the NativeCOM tools to assign the IP address to the RCS or NDS. If NativeCOM or the Port Server Utility is installed on your system, the following will configure the unit with a static IP address: Click Start->Programs->NativeCOM->Port Server Utility or Start->Programs->Systech->Port Server Utility If your unit shows up in Step 1, you can set the IP address as follows: Click the IP address or "Click to assign" Pause a second Click it again It should turn into an edit box (like you would see to change a filename in a Windows directory listing) Enter the new IP address you want Press <Enter> What to do if you have problems: If your unit does not show up in Step 1 and you are running XP, you must disable the XP Firewall to be able to access the unit. If you are running Vista, Vista blocks the Port Server Utility. You can work around this by using the command line utility "ncctool" which is installed along with NativeCOM. To use this: Open a command prompt window (Start->Run->"cmd"->OK) and use "cd" to go to the directory where NativeCOM? is installed. Usually this is: cd "c:\program files\systech\nativecom" Then run "ncctool discover" to find your unit. If it shows up and you want to assign a static IP address, you can run "ncctool setip". For example: ncctool setip 00:80:44:0C:B7:10 192.168.1.123
	Answer Last Updated: October 15, 2009