Instruction manual

5-1
SECTION 5. NETADMIN
5.1 OVERVIEW
NetAdmin provides seven basic functions for
setting up and maintaining the network. The
network health is displayed on the NetAdmin
main screen. The other functions are accessed
from the submenu displayed when VIEW is
selected from the NetAdmin main menu. Each
function is briefly introduced here and described
in detail in following sections.
NETWORK HEALTH (Main Screen)
Provides a pictorial representation of the
network with each station colored to show its
status, the time stamp the last data collected
from each station, the total number of stations
where data is being collected, and a graph
indicating the status of each station for the last
12 hours. Additional displays are provided to
monitor and log low-level port activity including
a slider control to pause all network
communication for a period of time.
NETWORK DESCRIPTION (View Submenu)
Used to describe the datalogger network. The
left side of the screen shows the pictorial
representation of the network as entered, the
right side shows specific information for the
selected device.
STATUS/WARNING/FAULT (View Submenu)
Displays color coded messages (Black for
status, Blue for warning, and Red for faults)
about the network. A setup screen allows the
selection of the type of messages (Status,
Warning, or Fault) and from which stations
messages should be displayed. These
messages can be logged to disk.
CLOCK CHECK/SET (View Sub menu)
Allows the clocks in the network to be set or
checked. This can be done manually or
automatically at a user-specified interval.
PROGRAM DOWNLOAD (View Sub menu)
Allows '.DLD' datalogger programs to be
downloaded to the dataloggers. Multiple
stations and programs can be selected and
queued.
KEYBOARD/DISPLAY (View Submenu)
Allows remote keyboard access of each
datalogger in the network.
RF LINK TEST (View Submenu)
Allows the testing of Radio (RF) links. To test
RF links the ID switch settings of the RF95T or
RF232T must be known. This allows testing of
the radio hardware before the stations are
brought on-line.
All of these functions, accessed from the VIEW
submenu, are active as long as NetAdmin is
running. The individual windows (views) may
be closed without affecting their operation if the
NetAdmin main program with the network
health display is left running (e.g., the automatic
clock sets will take place, even if the Clock
Check/Set window is closed, as long as
NetAdmin is running). NetAdmin can be
minimized and the functions will still be active.
5.2 NETWORK DESCRIPTION (NODES,
PATHS, AND ADDRESSES)
NetAdmin is used to create descriptions of the
datalogger network. When the MAKE THE
OPEN NET DESCRIPTION ACTIVE menu
option is selected, NetAdmin transfers the
current network description to DLSMGR.
DLSMGR will use the current information to
establish communication with the dataloggers
(stations). Net descriptions can be saved at any
time. Descriptions are saved with a ".NET"
extension. When a description is saved, a text
(printable) version is also saved with a ".TXT"
extension. Multiple descriptions can be entered
and saved but only one can be active at a time.
Once a description is made active, DLSMGR
will continue to use it even if NetAdmin is
stopped and restarted. It is unnecessary to
make a description active again unless the
description is changed or a different one is
used.
A network description contains information
regarding what dataloggers are in the network
and what devices are used to communicate with
the dataloggers. The dataloggers and
communication hardware are organized as a
hierarchy. This can also be thought of as a