Serial port device servers ...

[electron]

Someone asked me to take a look at automating a network of serial devices (not HA related). There are hundreds of serial ports involved, and I am trying to find a reliable serial port device server supporting as many ports as possible. I am familiar with the Digi/Comtrol hardware, but does anyone else have any other suggestions?

 

[scriptx]

I don't know if it is applicable, but I have seen "serial port hubs" that back into a single USB port. From a software perspective, it should just look like a bunch of serial ports once the driver creates the appropriate com ports.

 

[electron]

Yea, that's a pretty basic component. The issue is that I might have 300+ devices to control, all using serial ports, so I'm not convinced a regular operating system can even handle that. I was hoping to find something which offers a large number of ports, and provides me with an Ethernet interface (and just use multiple of those devices).

 

[DavidL]

I use comtrol, but you already mentioned that one.
Here is another popular one that I am sure you have used / heard about:
http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/categ...+Device+Servers

There are also software based com ports. http://www.virtualserialport.com/products/vspdxp/

Is this a manufacturing system that demands control?

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

I've used Cyclades, Digi and Cisco(but reverse telnet) and never had problems with them.

 

[electron]

David, it involves a very large campus sized building which has these little devices all over the place. They are controlled via a serial connection. If it was just a few devices, I would just use the usual Digi/Comtrol type device, and map the ports in the OS. But since I have a very large number of these devices to deal with, I was hoping there was something more 'industrial' out there, and maybe even avoid mapping the ports on the OS altogether (and just use a TCP connection to interact with these devices).

 

[Michael McSharry]

Perhaps I do not see the issue, but 300 ports is just 300/16 about 25 16 port IP/Serial devices such as the the Lantronix EPS16. The RS232 based applications I write talk directly to the IP address and and modern computer will have no problem with data rates of these slow devices.

 

[kmitchell]

Dan,

I've used a product from Baytech Associates called an "M Series Data Acquisition Controller" which is a 16-slot chassis with up to 15, 4-port rsr232 cards and a chassis communications module with ethernet connectivity. I just checked their site and I don't see it listed any longer. It looks like they've evolved into remote site management products for data centers but it may be worth a call to them. They're at http://www.baytech.net . This was the most cost effective solution I was able to find and I had over 2000 ports being monitored.

Ken

 

[hult]

Someone asked me to take a look at automating a network of serial devices (not HA related). There are hundreds of serial ports involved, and I am trying to find a reliable serial port device server supporting as many ports as possible. I am familiar with the Digi/Comtrol hardware, but does anyone else have any other suggestions?

What is it about the Digi and Comtrol that needs improvement ? ( Price comes to mind ;-) Or do you simply want to know that you've seen all the options?

The 32 RJ45 connectors on a Comtrol DeviceMaster RTS 32 pretty much take up the entire area of the back of its 1U rack case. Unless you are thinking of using a connector/connection with less than eight conductors, it is hard to imagine being much more compact .

So one can pack an admixture of 320 RS232/422/485 ports in 18" of rack space. At that density, cable management can be the limiting factor. I'd look for a setup that addresses that well.

HTH ... Marc ( who jist 'happens' to have a Comtrol DeviceMaster RTS 32 that is surplus to his needs ;-)