User guide

Chapter 3 Setting Up RealPort (COM Port Redirection) 15

What is RealPort

Many serial devices, including barcode scanners and sensors, don’t have

an Ethernet port. And even if they did, the applications that run them work

on COM1. They know nothing of networking or TCP/IP. Many of these

applications were written before TCP/IP and Internet were common.

RealPort allows you to really network enable your device with our device

servers. With a Digi device server, you can easily connect your device to

the network. The legacy application, however, may not support TCP/IP.

That’s where RealPort comes in.

Installed on a network-based PC, RealPort emulates a serial port. That is,

the application “thinks” it is working with a real serial port, such as COM1.

When the application sends data to this serial port, RealPort ships the data

across the network to the device server which in turn routes it to the serial

device. This is also referred to as COM Port Redirection. The network is

transparent to both the application and the device.

In the example that follows, the RSLogix software and the PLC

communicate as though they were connected with a serial cable.

RealPort Setup Overview

To set up a RealPort configuration, complete the following tasks:

1. Configure the device server for RealPort. See "Configuring the Device

Server for RealPort" on page 16.

Chapter 3

Setting Up RealPort (COM Port

Redirection)

IGI