This guide will take you through the process of establishing client-server connection over the TCP/IP network:
Sharing a local serial port on the server side:
1. Select Connection → New server connection from the main menu or select Server connection in the Home window:
2. Specify the connection name;
3. Choose the local COM port you want to share;
4. Check Create as virtual port if you want a virtual COM port to be created for this connection. Virtual ports work exactly like real ones and fully emulate their settings. Their main advantage is speed and also the fact that you can create any number of virtual ports you want and with arbitrary names;
5. Enable Strict baudrate emulation in the Serial port settings if you checked Create as virtual port and expect to send data in large blocks (2 KBs or more). This will limit the baud rate of the virtual port to the value it is actually opened with and will usually prevent potential data loss;
6. Configure Network settings:
- In the TCP port field set the port on which you want the server to listen for client connection;
Note: The TCP port you select should be allowed by your firewall and should not be already in use by another application.
- Select data transmission protocol:
- Raw data transmission: This mode lets you establish a raw TCP session, where all data will be transmitted as it is sent, without any protocol-specific application-layer formatting.
- Telnet protocol (RFC 2217): Telnet with RFC 2217 extensions gives the server and the client the facilities to exchange the COM port configuration information, with the ability to notify the remote end of any changes in the settings or the line states of the local COM port.
- Click Create:
Now the COM port is shared over the network and can be accessed from the client side.
Note: When creating a Server connection you can also configure: Serial port settings, Connection settings, Security settings and Signal lines settings. For more details, please refer here.
Connecting to the shared serial port from the client side:
1. Select Connection → New client connection from the main menu or select Client connection in the Home window:
2. Specify the connection name;
3. Choose the local COM port to be used in the connection;
4. Check Create as virtual port if you want a virtual COM port to be created for this connection.
5. Enable Strict baudrate emulation in the Serial port settings if you checked Create as virtual port. This will limit the baud rate of the virtual port to the value it is actually opened with and will usually prevent potential data loss;
6. Select the data transmission protocol:
- Raw data transmission: This mode lets you establish a raw TCP session, where all data will be transmitted as it is sent, without any protocol-specific application-layer formatting.
- Telnet protocol (RFC 2217): Telnet with RFC 2217 extensions gives the server and the client the facilities to exchange the COM port configuration information, with the ability to notify the remote end of any changes in the settings or the line states of the local COM port.
7. Specify the hostname or IP address of the server you are connecting to and the TCP port you selected when creating the Server connection.
8. Click Create:
When creating a Client connection you can also configure: Serial port settings, Connection settings, Proxy settings,Security settings and Signal linessettings. For more details, please refer here.
To find out how to establish a UDP/IP connection between serial ports, refer to this section.