You have configured your PAD with an IP address, subnet mask and default gateway and are now experiencing difficulty communicating with your serial device through the EtherPAD. Follow this checklist to get up and running FAST.

Plug the EtherPAD into your Ethernet network. Ping the device to confirm Ethernet connectivity.



Check the PIN assignments of your application serial cable. Your cable should resemble one of the following options (Note that the EtherPAD application serial port is a DB-25 connector): Under most circumstances the following cable configuration will suffice.

Crossed serial cable


Some applications may require the use of hardware-based flow control. Handshaking allows for higher data rates. In this case a seven-wire cable should be connected as follows, using either a 9-pin or 25-pin connector for the computer's serial port.

Full Crossed serial cable


Some devices will not transmit any data unless their DSR and CTS signals are asserted. An easy way to fix this is to simply drive these signals using the devices own DTR signal. In this the three wires should be connected as follows and the indicated loops should be added.

Null-Modem Crossed Serial Cable


In order to connect the EtherPAD's application port to a DCE class device (such as a modem) a straight serial cable should normally be used. In this case a nine-wire cable should be connected as follows, using either a 9-pin or 25-pin male connector for the DCE class device.

Straight Serial Cable


Next…

Configure the Application Serial Ports' parameters such as Data and Stop Bits, Parity, Speed and Connection Type. These parameters must match your serial device's serial communication parameters.

Configure Applications that will be running on the EtherPAD. These include TCP, UDP and Data Logging.

Install COM port re-director software (e.g. Dial/OUT IP) on the controlling PC and configure the newly created virtual COM port with the IP address and TCP port of the EtherPAD concerned.

Set your serial application to use the newly created virtual COM port from step above.

Don't choose an actual COM port number that exists on your machine. Use control panel/system/hardware to check what the COM numbers are that are installed on your machine. They would typically be COM1 and COM2.

If you really need to use COM1 or COM2 (your application may only have these as options) you have to disable the COM ports on your PC and then reassign them as COM3 and COM4 or whatever port names you wish to use.

When connecting two EtherPADs in a back-to-back (EtherPAD RJ45 to EtherPAD RJ45) configuration, it must be remembered that the EtherPADs need to be configured as a MASTER/SLAVE pair. This means that one of the EtherPADs, MASTER, will be programmed with the SLAVE EtherPADs' IP address and Local TCP Port while the SLAVE PAD will have no values for these parameters. The MASTER PAD will also be set up to Connect (Connection Type - Passive, Device Networking) and the SLAVE PAD to be passive (Connection Type - Active, Device Networking)