Knowledgebase

Issue:

How to get my serial application to communicate with a serial device that is remotely connected over a network.

Solution:
Pre-requisites from the Perle WEB site downloads: https://www.perle.com/downloads/
Download the latest Trueport driver for your Windows computer.
Download and install the latest IOLAN Device Manager on your Windows computer.
Download and upgrade the IOLAN with the latest IOLAN firmware.
Ensure that your Windows computer NIC and the IOLAN device server are connected to the same network switch/hub or connected directly.

The following configuration example uses a 1-port IOLAN Device Server. If you have a multiple port IOLAN Device Server specify the additional number of COM ports and configure the additional serial ports on the IOLAN Device Server.

TRUEPORT COM FOR WINDOWS CONFIGURATION

During the installation of Trueport specify the IP address of the IOLAN Device Server. Since this example uses a 1-port model specify 1 for the number of COM ports and the accept the starting available COM port. This will be the COM port which your Serial application will use in order to communicate with the remote serial device. The serial device will be connected to the serial port of the IOLAN Device Server. Once the Trueport installation is complete click Finish.

IOLAN SERIAL PORT CONFIGURATION

Assuming the steps to assign an IP address in the IOLAN Device Server has been completed, connect to the IP address using a WEB browser or use the IOLAN Device Manager which you downloaded and installed on your Windows computer. The default username is admin and password is superuser.
1. Under the “Configuration” options, select “Serial folder”, then select “Serial Port”.
2. Select the “Edit” button to make changes to the Serial Port.
3. Select the “Change” profile button, select “Trueport” and then click t “Apply”.
4. In the General tab use the default setting “Listen for Connection (Client initiated connection)” and the TCP port 10001.
5. Select the “Advanced” tab and “Enable TCP Keepalive”.
6. Select the “Hardware” tab. Refer to Note1.
7. Select the “Packet Forwarding” tab and enable “Optimize Network Throughput”.
8. Click “Apply” to save the changes.
9. Click “Reboot IOLAN” to allow the changes to take effect.

Note1: It is NOT necessary to configure the “Hardware” interface type and speed settings if you have the Trueport virtual COM port configured by default for “FULL mode” and the serial device interface type is EIA-232. By default, Trueport runs in FULL mode allowing the Windows serial application to use its own speed settings directly with the serial device. The IOLAN serial port Hardware settings will be ignored. However, if the serial device interface type is EIA-422 or EIA-485 and/or the Trueport COM port is configured for Lite mode, then you will need to configure the IOLAN serial port with the same interface type and speed settings as the serial device.