Select Port Profile

The Select Port Profile page appears when you click Change Profile on the Port Profile Settings pane.

A port profile allows you to easily configure a serial port based on how you intend to use that port. By selecting one of the pre-defined profiles, the configuration options are focused only on the settings required for that particular profile.

The Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family supports the following port profiles:

• Console Management: Manage a serial device's console port over a network connection. The Console Management profile allows you to access a Digi device's console port over a network connection. Most network devices such as routers, switches, and servers offer one or more serial ports for management. Instead of connecting a terminal to the console port, cable the console port to the serial port of the Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family product. Then using TCP/IP utilities like reverse telnet, network administrators can access these consoled serial ports from the LAN.

  

  See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information.

• Custom: The Custom profile is an advanced option to allow full configuration of the serial port. Use the Custom profile only if the serial port does not fit into any of the predefined port profiles. For example, when network connections involve a mix of TCP and UDP sockets. See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information.

• DialServ: The DialServ profile allows connecting a Digi DialServ™ device to the serial port. Digi DialServ is an RJ-11 phone line simulator that allows legacy devices with built-in modems to communicate across LANs/WANs. This profile configures the Digi device to connect/tunnel serial data to an external host when the DialServ receives an incoming call, causes the DialServ to make outgoing calls, and tunnels TCP data from the incoming connection over the Dialserv when TCP traffic is received on the configured ports on the Digi device.

  Important DialServ interoperation requires this profile.

• Local Configuration: The Local Configuration profile allows you to sign in and access the command line interface when connecting directly to a serial port on a Digi device. This profile provides a login from the Digi device. See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information.

• Modem Emulation: The Modem Emulation profile allows you to configure the serial port to act as a modem. The Digi device server emulates modem responses to a serial device and seamlessly sends and receives data over an Ethernet network instead of a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). This allows you to retain legacy software applications without modification and use a less expensive Ethernet network in place of public telephone lines. See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information.

• RealPort: Use RealPort to map a COM or TTY port to this serial port of your Digi device. The COM/TTY port appears and behaves as a local port to the PC or server. RealPort is also known as COM Port Redirection. See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information. Refer to Install RealPort software for basic RealPort installation instructions. Refer to RealPort Installation User's Guide for more detailed instructions on installing and configuring the RealPort driver on your PC or server.

  When you configure a RealPort profile, the Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family product relinquishes control of the serial port to the host that has the RealPort driver installed. The computer applications send data to this virtual COM or TTY port and the RealPort driver sends the data across the network to the corresponding serial port on the Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family product.

  

  The network is transparent to both the application and the serial device.

  Important Install and configure the RealPort software on each computer that uses RealPort ports. See Assign a profile to a serial port for installation instructions. You need to configure the RealPort software with the IP address of the Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family product.

• Serial Bridge: The Serial Bridge Profile configures one side of a serial bridge. A bridge connects two serial devices over the network as if they were connected with a serial cable. This is also referred to as serial tunneling. Each serial device is connected to the serial port of a Digi device server. You must configure one Digi device as the client and the other Digi device as the server.

  This profile configures each side of the bridge separately.

  

  See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information.

• TCP Sockets: Auto-Connect (TCP client) to another host on the network or allow incoming connections on this serial port (TCP server). The TCP Sockets profile allows serial devices to communicate over a TCP network. The TCP server allows other network devices to initiate a TCP connection to the serial device attached to the serial port of the Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family product. The TCP client will establish a TCP connection to a defined IP address and port number.

  

  For more information about the TCP Sockets, see the following:

  • Automatic TCP connections (Automatic Connection)

  • TCP and UDP network port numbering conventions

  See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information about assigning a profile.

• UDP Sockets: Allows the automatic distribution of serial data from one host to many devices at the same time. The UDP Sockets profile allows serial devices to communicate using UDP. The UDP Server configuration allows the serial port to receive data from one or more systems or devices on the network. See Assign a profile to a serial port for more information.

  The UDP Client configuration allows the automatic distribution of serial data from one host to many devices at the same time using UDP sockets.

  The port numbering conventions shown in the TCP Sockets Profile also apply to UDP sockets.

  

Not all port profiles are supported in all products. Supported port profiles varies by Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family model. If a profile listed in this description is not available on the page, it is not supported in the Digi Connect and ConnectPort TS Family product.

If you selected a port profile, the port number associated with the port profile appears at the top of the page. You can change or retain the profile and adjust individual settings.

Everything displayed on the Serial Ports Configuration page between Port Profile Settings and the links to the Basic Serial Settings and Advanced Serial Settings depends on the selected port profile.