Description Industrial and commercial measurement and control systems often have standalone devices with unused serial ports. B B SmartWorx ESRx Serial Servers allow you to connect those ports into your existing LAN or WAN, giving you access to more information and the ability to configure, manage and troubleshoot those devices from a control room, office or a distant location via a WAN. Save the cost, time and trouble of carrying a laptop out to devices located in distant, cold, dirty or uncomfortable environments. ESRx Serial Servers are built for industrial environments, featuring an IP30 approved, slim line, DIN rail mountable case. They operate from a range of voltages using AC or DC power, feature terminal block power connectors and even support redundant DC power. An external power source is required (not included, sold separately). Connect a serial device to the ESRx’s serial port and connect the ESRx to your LAN. Your networked computer ‘sees’ the device over the network as a virtual serial connection. ESRx serial servers support TCP or UDP protocols and allow transmit-to and receive-from multiple IP addresses. There are four methods of configuration: Vlinx Management Software, Web Server, Telnet, or a direct RS-232 console connection using a terminal program. Operation(See operating manual for more details.) ESRx serial servers can be accessed and configured from any web browser (ie, Internet Explorer) on the LAN/WAN allowing you to remotely manage the software and your serial device and do off-site troubleshooting. Vlinx ESRx Serial Servers provide automatic resumption of the TCP data connection in case of a power failure or loss of an Ethernet connection on either the client or server. Once the Heartbeat connection is established, the server sends a signal to the client every five seconds until communication is re-established. Without this feature, a device that loses a connection and stops communicating would not be able to reconnect without a person physically attending to the problem. The Heartbeat feature works with virtual COM and TCP direct IP connections.Vlinx Manager Software allows easy access to the serial server to configure the server and its ports, upgrade firmware and monitor port status and activity. When the Vlinx Manager opens, it will search for and display all serial servers on the network. The Monitor Port feature allows you to use any PC on the LAN/WAN to actively view and troubleshoot the communications status. It shows when there is a client connection to the server and the client IP address. It displays the number of bytes transmitted and received, as well as the status of the hardware handshaking lines.
