28
Serial Ports
The following parameters are configurable in console-server mode:
ListeningTCPPortNumber
You can also access a serial port through the IP address of the Console Server and the
listening TCP port number of the serial port.
If the IP address of the Console Server and the serial port are assigned as
192.168.123.100 and the listening TCP port number is 4001, the user can connect to the
port as follows: telnet 192.168.123.100 4001
Protocol
Select “Telnet”, “SSH”, or “Raw TCP” as the protocol. If users are using a telnet client
program, select “Telnet”. If users are using an SSH client program, select “SSH”. When
“Raw TCP” is selected, direct TCP socket communication is available between the
Console Server and the remote host.
InactivityTime-Out
Enable this feature to avoid a client holding on to a TCP connection when there has been
no activity on a serial port for a long period of time. If “Inactivity timeout” is enabled,
and there is no data activity between the Console Server and the telnet/SSH client for
the specified inactivity time-out interval (i.e., no data activity through the serial port), the
existing TCP session will automatically be closed. If you want to maintain the connection
indefinitely, configure the inactivity time-out period to “0”.
TCPKeep-Alive(NoCongurationRequired)
In order to avoid TCP-connection lockup, the Console Server will continue to check the
connection status between the telnet/SSH client and the Console Server by periodically
sending “keep alive” packets. If the telnet/SSH client does not answer the packets, the
system will assume that the connection is down. The Console Server will then close the
existing telnet/SSH connection, regardless of the inactivity setting. This will prevent the
TCP connection from locking when an application is improperly closed or the network
link is interrupted.
Terminal-ServerMode
In terminal-server mode, the Console Server’s serial port is configured to wait for data
from the device connected to the port. If data is detected, the Console Server will initiate
a TCP session as a telnet or SSH client to a predefined server. The server must be
defined by users before the port can be configured for a telnet or SSH client. This mode
can be used to access servers on the network from a serial terminal. RawTCP is also
supported with the terminal-server mode.